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Completely feckless. Effectively an endorsement of Harris despite getting absolutely nothing in return. The people who want the genocide to continue (like Harris) were just proven to be strategically correct in writing off this movement because they knew they could and they'd just come crawling back to the lesser evil. What's worse is that this spinelessness discredits any future movements or protests on the issue.
Somehow telling people to vote for Harris is "not an endorsement," because liberals think you can do the exact same action and it's meaningfully different if you feel kinda bad while doing it.
What exactly is your ideal outcome? They successfully prevent Harris from being elected, Trump gets in, funds the construction of the Israeli version of Auschwitz, and the Palestinians getting thrown into gas chambers will think "at least the Americans voted on principle"?
My ideal outcome is that Harris caves and stops the Israeli version of Auschwitz which is already happening. Failing that, my ideal outcome would be that the protesters establish a credible threat going forward that supporting genocide will result in tangible political consequences. Establishing such a threat is far more important is far more important than any one election, especially when both people are pro-genocide.
The moment you commit yourself to the ideology of lesser-evilism, you have sacrificed every ounce of bargaining power you might have wielded. The concerns of reliable voters don't factor into any politician's calculus. I can't figure out whether liberals just have terrible instincts regarding wielding power, or if it's just that they don't care to wield it because they're satisfied with the status quo.
Your words would have more weight if you weren't in full support of the Uyghur genocide in China.
Oh yeah, just look at all that genociding going on!
No, it's people like you refusing to accept reality but rather willfully hiding in your racist propagandized little bubble who can't be taken seriously.
Another .ml user who also loves the genocide of Uyghurs. I'll make a note that you are a racist like they are.
I still don't understand why any of you so-called "leftists" are carrying water for a state capitalist nation that produces hundreds of billionaires. Must be that you actually love authoritarianism and don't give a shit about economics at all.
That's nonsense. Why on earth would she listen to me once she's already secured my vote and the presidency? She knows that she can do nothing and that I'll just "pretend" that she will next time too. Of course, I find the idea of acting based on an obviously false "pretense" that's based on nothing but imagination to be completely ridiculous.
This is just, "You have to give them everything they want while asking nothing in return" with extra, nonsensical steps. You're telling me I'm supposed to wait until I have less bargaining power to try to bargain. Of course, there's already been widespread protests during an election year and the democrats not only did not give an inch, but forcibly suppressed them. So how exactly do you envision people gaining enough leverage for them to actually change?
Oh, ok. So when mid terms come around, and Kamala's done nothing I want, then you'll be fine with me withholding my vote, right? Or are you going to be telling me the exact same thing you're telling me now? If you're genuinely alright with me withholding my vote during the midterms, what's the difference between then and now?
How? What method do you expect me to use to push her? And why should I have any confidence in that method working when it's not working during an election year, when she most needs people's votes and support?
There was a major wave of campus protests this year over the genocide in Gaza, all over the country.
Again, you just want me to give them everything they want while asking nothing in return and you're trying to pretend otherwise without offering any sort of coherent strategy. If that's not what's happening, walk me through what you expect me to do and when.
That analysis makes no sense on multiple levels. First of all, since I don't live in a swing state, my downballot/midterm votes are far more important than my vote for president. Second, if my vote for president was so important, that would be all the more reason for me to use it as leverage. Third, the fundamental dynamics are the same for downballot races as the race for president, there is nothing unique about the presidential race that would mean I should treat it differently. If withholding a vote is an effective strategy downballot, then it is an effective strategy in the presidential race. And if the risk of Trump getting elected is too great to employ that strategy in the presidential race, then the risk of another Republican getting elected downballot should be a deterrent too. Lastly, there is virtually no chance that Kamala could be pressured to change her position during the midterms when she herself is not up for reelection.
The only way I can make any sense of your logic is if Trump is uniquely horrible compared to other Republicans, and I don't really consider that to be the case.
Well, let's see. For the past 20 years, my entire adult life, my ideals have been saying that we should stop slaughtering people in the middle east. In that time, the democrats ran Kerry, a hawk, Obama, a hawk, Clinton, a hawk, Biden, a hawk, and now Harris, a hawk. The result of that was nearly a million people dead in Iraq and Afghanistan, some more in other countries like Yemen, and now more and at a faster rate than ever in Palestine. And what exactly do they have to show for any of it in terms of making people's lives better? I think it's pretty clear which side the failure is on.
This is even more incoherent than ever, but whatever, I guess I'll try.
Isn't it your job to show that voting for Harris would be meaningful? If my vote is meaningless, then you should have no problem with me voting however I personally prefer.
How does there being more congress members change anything about the dynamics we're discussing?
I genuinely cannot even begin to follow your logic. Walk me through how you got from point A to point B here.
The fact that Harris isn't running downballot is even more reason why your argument is completely nonsensical. Why should I withhold my vote from a different candidate, who might even be pro-Palestine, instead of withholding it from the person I'm actually criticizing? This is, again, a point in my favor.
No, I think that would be worse than not voting at all, because my vote in down ballot races is more important than the presidential race.
I don't know what this is even saying.
Again, I am extremely confused by your logic here and cannot even begin to fathom how you got from point A to point B.
The only thing I can think of is if you're using "midterms" to refer to the next presidential election in 2028, as opposed to the, you know midterm elections that happen every two years, the next being in 2026. Kamala will not be up for reelection in the 2026 midterms, because, and this is true, presidents serve four year terms. Do you think presidents having four year terms is Russian misinformation?
I'm not invested in protecting the capitalist, imperialist state. It doesn't represent me at all and frequently makes my life worse, I have zero loyalty towards it.
George W. Bush started two major wars that got nearly a million people killed, he instituted unprecedented and illegal mass surveillance programs that removed any semblance of civil liberties that once existed in this country, he used indefinite detention without trial - and he did everything with the full support of the Democrats, who have happily continued his policies without any challenge at all (despite the fact that they were allegedly meant as "emergency powers"). Trump is bad but his presidency was nowhere near as bad as that of Bush.
Yes, I was discussing Democratic foreign military policy because that is the topic that we're discussing. I don't mind discussing domestic policy, but those issues are not unrelated. The only way we'd have the funds to do the kinds of things that need to happen domestically is by cutting the unbelievably massive military budget, which is higher than the next 9 countries combined.
But even if we could, I am opposed to imperialism even if the spoils of that imperialism were distributed to the people. So bad foreign policy but good domestic policy would not be satisfactory. But even that isn't on the table, the profits of all this killing go straight to the top.
And no, it's not over. The war in Afghanistan is (now replaced with sanctions to impose starvation), but we're still involved in other places like Gaza and Yemen. We may not have boots on the ground, but my priority is not on whether American soldiers are being placed in danger, it's with stopping the violence towards the people living there.
What on earth are you even talking about? Going to war with Mexico or something?
Not a single one of these applies to me but your lazy condescension is noted.
Yeah I'm done here.
oops
Everyone, don't bother. I have made every reasonable argument against this silly narrative that I could think of since it began and not a single time has any one of these folks gone, "Yeah, Trump/GOP has promised worse" or anything remotely similar. You will receive one of a couple canned responses, which I'll paraphrase below:
They will not listen to things like how you don't support the genocide, don't support war, know things like genocides are horrible, any explanation about how it will get worse, or anything similar.
Just trying to save you some time.
Literally the exact thing I just described. If your actions are indistinguishable from someone who supports genocide, then nobody gives a shit what's going on inside your head regarding it, least of all politicians.
Centrists want to support genocide but not be judged for their support for genocide.
Just assume everyone making those arguments are just Maga trolls trying to siphon votes away from democrats. Saves your sanity
I'm fine with the arguments fundamentally. Like yeah, it's fucking horrible what's happening. Though also for the last 30 years there has always been a conflict, or voter issue, or something that divides the Center and Left and drives voters away. Now we also have a very real threat to our way of life, or what's left of it. So it's frustrating considering how these people may affect even a single person's willingness to vote, even if they are arguing in good faith.
There is no way to distinguish those arguing in good faith vs those who are trolling or arguing in bad faith, because all those parties use the same flawed arguments.
So you want Trump to win and you want Gaza eradicated, then.
So you want to reestablish the Third Reich then, got it.