Former democratic party activists are organizing Muslims and Arab-Americans in Swing states to vote against Biden with the demand that he support a ceasefire in Gaza.
I'll allow them a little bit of electoralism this time.
Good article. It’s not the main point but I liked this section:
The lie that Obama is Muslim was always code for “He’s Black.” But in 2008 liberals couldn’t say that they wouldn’t vote for someone who is Black. Post-racial anti-Blackness had to be more subtle. After seven years of the War on Terror, it was widely accepted that Muslims are subhuman and our lives disposable. So it was easy for people to simply say that they wouldn’t vote for someone who is Muslim.
It never occurred to me - though it’s obvious to me now - that all the accusations of Obama being a Muslim were really just the way white folks were able to launder their unwillingness to accept a black man as president. That’s why they doggedly held on to that belief despite how it was so obviously not true.
Eh, the people who kept bringing up that he was a muslim, born in kenya, etc were always hardcore chuds who had no problem being abhorrently racist.
Yeah but a favorite racist tactic is to throw accusations that are false/baseless so the liberal will debate you and thus validate the point as worth talking about.
That was the vast majority, yes. But plenty of Hillary primary supporters didn't vote for Obama in the general. And we know plenty of conservative Democrats have, shall we say, some work to do on racial issues, even if they aren't dressing up in white robes on the weekends. That Venn diagram is a circle.
His middle name is hussian.
That's why they think his Muslim
You would think the cia would of gave him a different middle name at birth 🤷
It never occurred to me - though it’s obvious to me now - that all the accusations of Obama being a Muslim were really just the way white folks were able to launder their unwillingness to accept a black man as president.
I think Ta-Nehesi Coates wrote a couple of books about that
I know no one here will want to hear this. But that’s lazy thinking and revisionist history. He got elected twice. The same folks calling him Muslim and asking for his birth certificate are now chanting Let’s go Brandon and doing other horrible stuff.
I’m sure a percentage of people think he’s extra bad for being black, but they were going to hate him just as much for being liberal.
213,313,508 eligible voters in 2008, 131,407,000 voted, 95% of black voters for Obama, 59,948,323 went to McCain (a supermajority of them white) even after eight years of George Bush, when polled conservatives policies are highly unpopular with a supermajority of the population (whites included)
Race, demographics, and cultural identity have far more valence on the outcome of elections than ideological commitments, especially in a country with such poor political education
The supermajority of all voters are white.
The majority of Obama voters were white.
Conservatives in 2008 were almost exclusively white.
Race for sure played a factor, it always does. But it absolutely does not outweigh ideology.
Conservatives also exist within the democratic party and in 2008 they were Hillary people, many of whom were still mad at Obama for ruining her coronation the first time which led many of them to not vote for him
Conservatives in 2008 were almost exclusively white
Exactly that's my point, and the supermajority of non-whites voted for Obama, while the majority of white voters who voted went for McCain, if ideological commitment formed the core of election outcomes then that wouldn't have been the case, and we would see a more even distribution among demographic groups
The majority of McCain and white Obama voters voted the way they did because Obama was black, the conservatives voted the way they did because he was liberal and to be liberal is to be black or support black causes, and white Obama voters (aside from the ones who genuinely didn't care he was black) voted for him because voting for the first black president would've been a cultural signifier they could use as social capital in the more cosmopolitan spaces they inhabit
White Obama voters who voted a second time couldn't have cared less about his ideological promises because he betrayed all of them in his first term
Holy shit that’s insane.
Go look at the graphs of the electorate before and after 2008. It is not wildly different.
A majority of people did not vote because of race.
You’re drawing very sweeping conclusions from one and a half data points.
Go look at the graphs of the electorate before and after 2008. It is not wildly different.
lmao yeah that just strengthens my point, otherwise if ideological commitments swayed voters then YOU have to explain why white Obama voters didn't punish him for betraying those ideological commitments in his first term, it's almost like demographics and cultural signifiers were more important than concrete ideology, and the need for cultural identification among white liberals only intensified between 2008 and 2012 after the mostly cultural conservative backlash against Obama and HIS Democratic Party, a backlash that surprise surprise found its expression in racial politics
A majority of people did not vote because of race.
What a profound argument, I've now changed my mind
it's almost like demographics and cultural signifiers were more important than concrete ideology
Great point.
Since most in the US have no concrete ideology, there are only demographics and cultural signifiers. Politcal Parties are just lifestyle brands
I think the difference here that you're not addressing, is that no one claimed Biden or even Hillary were Muslim. They only did that with Obama. Yeah they would have hated Obama if he was white too, just like the hated Clinton before him. But no one called Bill Clinton a Muslim. I don't see anything revisionist or lazy about this idea. It may or may not be right, but i don't think its lazy or incongruent within the historical context.
I’m sure a percentage of people think he’s extra bad for being black
This seems kind of hand wavy regarding the existence and level of rascism in the US. Obviously, i hate Obama for all the legitimate reasons to hate him, but there was a nonstop barage of rascist attacks against him that drowned out real critiques of his ghoulish, status quo admin.
The US is a white supremacist state. Its not just a certain percentage, its the bedrock of the US project.
I know no one here will want to hear this.
Why? Or do you just want to sound like a condescending redditor?
Sorry sweatie, but Trump would commit even more genocide! Vote for diet genocide, Biden 2024!
Sam Seder once said if he had a choice between a guy who wanted to open 1 concentration camp vs a guy who wanted 5 concentration camps, he'd vote for the 1 concentration camp guy
Liberals do seem to regularly confuse moral depravity with practicalism
I remember that. It was pretty dumb.
The question was put to him like that by Tim Pool though, and Pool's take on it was obviously a million times dumber
Trump would definitely double down on the "decapitating babies" story. Biden just forgot it entirely.
Biden probably forgets his own name at this point, so that's not really something to hand him
Oh, by no means was I commending him. Israel's lies are just so lurid that Trump would go ham with them. Probably a couple more hate crimes in the States, but little difference beyond Biden at this point.
"When you vote for the lesser of two evils what happens? You always get evil, and you always get less" - who knows but I heard it somewhere
Genocide Joe vs Trump is a debate over whether to drive off a cliff while following the speed limit or at 120 MPH.
The best possible argument you can make for Biden is that the left isn't organized enough to be endorsing accelerationism
It's not a real good one
From a purely tactical electoralist perspective, you are better off showing up to vote for down-ballot state and local officials and leaving national ones blank. It's the opposite of what people normally do, which is just not show up if they don't like the national candidates. The parties look at the difference in votes both between candidates and in terms of the overall number cast.
Accelerationism is when you spend the first Tuesday ocurring after a Monday in November gooning on your couch instead of voting to re-elect the guy who's arming genocidaires and spreading blood libel in addresses to the nation.
I remember reading something like that from one of the Witcher books from that one Pole writer.
Edit:
“Evil is Evil. Lesser, greater, middling… Makes no difference. The degree is arbitary. The definition’s blurred. If I’m to choose between one evil and another… I’d rather not choose at all.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, The Last Wish
The point of this quote by Geralt in the story is that Geralt is wrong and using it as an excuse to avoid taking action to protect innocent lives. The result of this stance of his is that he butchers several people in a public square and gets driven out of town and forever labeled "The Butcher of Blaviken." Only a couple pages after this 'evil is evil' monologue he says, verbatim, "We have to choose the lesser evil!"
where do you come from?
where do you go?
I'll never vote for Genocide JoeAyoub also posted: “This onslaught on Gaza teaches us one VITAL lesson as Arabs and Muslims. The whole ‘seat at the table’ strategy is a FAILURE. Being token parts of the Democratic Party, ‘the inside game,’ can’t even deliver a Ceasefire on Gaza. It can’t even slow a Genocide of Palestinians enabled by Biden, Kamala Harris, and the ‘Diversity & Inclusion’ Democrats who throw Arab and Muslims under the same table they strove to sit at.”
The lesser evil argument for Biden is very weird to me because as a non-American it doesn't materially seem better than Trump. Objectively it's been equally bad if not worse, and while not all of that is due to particular features of Trump or the Dems, a think a decent amount is due to how viciously hawkish and shamelessly imperialist the Biden regime has been, from Ukraine to Israel and a lot more in between. Like on the international level I'd argue that Biden has been demonstrably more destructive.
The most convincing 'lesser-evil' argument seems to me to basically be that a Trump presidency would be worse for minorities, for immigrants, non-white people, and LGBT people. Now I agree that they would be more likely to introduce federal-level legislation if they could, but I also haven't seen any real effort by the Biden gov to combat transphobic legislation by fascistic Republicans at the state or local level, or to do anything real for them for that matter. Again LGBT folks and racial minorities are a woke virtue-signalling marketing asset to be invested in for the Dems, as they base their electoral campaigns now no longer on class points, no longer appealing to working class interests (whereas the Republicans have positioned themselves as doing so), but instead appealing to those with college educations. I have comrades who argue that Trump would crack down harder on the left and make it more difficult to organize, but I'm not completely convinced by this. It's not become easier under Biden.
In any event, I don't know how people can make a non-nationalist lesser-evil argument once you've seen Biden literally go on stage with Bibi and give unconditional support to apartheid, settler-colonialism and ethinic cleansing.
Legitimately think it's worse under Biden.
Stopped labor strikes, stopped covid relief (motherfucker still owes me $600), student debt relief is gone, roe is gone, anti Trans laws are way worse, inflation is slowing down but everything's still twice what it cost 2 years ago.
Literally the only difference is when there's a republican president republicans don't do as much to actively pass speople off and dems pretend to care about progressive issues.
When there's a dem president liberals just tell minorities and poor people ro stop complaining because it's making them look bad and republicans do shit to whip up their base that democrats are completely unwilling to oppose.
Agreed on everything. Especially student loans. It takes forever to get disability and Biden has put a time limit on how long you can go without a job. I dont think this was a thing before.
judges nominated by the former administration,
nice try, but everyone knows the Democrats strategy chose Trump (and other more fascistic right wing capitalists) because they can only get votes by showing off how they're a "lesser evil" like you believe:
https://www.salon.com/2016/11/09/the-hillary-clinton-campaign-intentionally-created-donald-trump-with-its-pied-piper-strategy/
2018: https://observer.com/2017/10/democrats-revive-failed-pied-piper-strategy-for-2018/
2022: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/19/opinion/democrats-far-right-midterms.html "The Republican Party isn't capable of governing a democracy. And yet Democrats keep helping some of its most unhinged candidates."
Biden had half a dozen good options for stopping this and did none of them. Restructuring the court, bullying the dems in Congress into passing a roe codifying law, declare a public health emergency, or open abortion clinics on federal lands. He did none of these, sadly, because Dems see Roe being overturned as a fundraising opportunity. All the women and children being harmed in the interim by government getting between them and their doctors be damned.
Perhaps the most frustrating attribute of the Dems is when they do control the majority of governmental branches, they still do nothing, complaining all the while that republicans will yell at them if they do, or the senate parliamentarian won’t let them, or whatever bs excuse to not fight for their voters. However, someone dares to challenge the status quo, you’ll never see a dem more vicious. It’s pathetic, gross, and disheartening.
my personal favorite is whenever the dems have a majority a group of conservatives sprout up in the ranks of the party to vote down laws with any degree of progressive policy
Lol 'I have no argument against anything else and I don't actually understand how U.S. politics work, but I'm actually completely right and justified at being a snot-nosed little shit about it '
Democrats were never the lesser evil, I'm also not American but it doesn't even take more than a simple look to understand this
Bush 1 Iraq war
Clinton Yugoslavia
Bush 2 Iraq-Afghanistan
Obama- More Afghanistan, drone campaign, Syria etc
Trump - Syria, almost Iran, China
Biden - Russia, Palestine
If you want to add Bernie - anti-Cuban statements, pro-Israel statements, pro-Ukraine statements etc. Fucking loser is just another FP ghoul too.
Meanwhile economically and socially the US continues to deteriorate since the beginning of the current neoliberal era(late 80s-90s) as you noticed and maybe Bernie gets a honorable mention for being just a bump on the steep downhill road, nothing more.
Heck we noticed and commented some time now since the beginning of the Ukraine war that current FP is in some ways even more deranged than even what Kissinger would do. Indeed some would even say current policy makes Kissinger look competent in comparison. That's how bad it is. And to be honest some argument does mention that Kissinger was from an era where the US actualy somewhat respected their peer adversaries, these days its all end of history BS.
Biden was much more a hawk on China than Trump. Trump talked shit, Biden drastically escalated the trade war.
Deep state counter-revolution against Trump's anti-fed program
I'm not praising Trump, if you somehow don't understand that. Trump is just too much of an arrogant moron who acts with little direction beyond merely saying things that appeal to his base and sometimes calling for such-and-such person to be killed.
he also campaigned as such - I will be tougher on china was a focus of his campaign in summer 2020
good post, I'd also add Palestine '08 and '14 under Obama where Israel committed a lot of the same crimes as today, and Obama gave them his full unconditional support and said they have a right to defend themself.
and maybe Bernie gets a honorable mention for being just a bump on the steep downhill road, nothing more.
reminds me of Labour, where Corbyn was really only an a strange anomaly. Stürmer's the real continuation of Labour - saying cutting off water, food, fuel to Gaza is cool and good (human rights lawyer btw).
Heck we noticed and commented some time now since the beginning of the Ukraine war that current FP is in some ways even more deranged than even what Kissinger would do. Indeed some would even say current policy makes Kissinger look competent in comparison. That's how bad it is. And to be honest some argument does mention that Kissinger was from an era where the US actualy somewhat respected their peer adversaries, these days its all end of history BS.
the Kissinger era ghouls seemed to have a strategy they were following. I have no clue what the US is doing now. they're rapidly getting rid of any credibility they had, alienating allies in the area, etc. the empire is deteriorating fast.
In terms of foreign policy democrats have been dogshit, and as BynarsAreOk pointed out this isn’t new. I think it’s worth giving context why even a number of leftists are saying that Biden is the lesser of two evils with regards to FP, which really boils down to the fact that Trump’s more heavily genocidal policy aspirations were heavily dampened by resistance from dems and dissenting republicans. He basically called for BLM protestors to be massacred, he would be even more dogmatically in support of the Palestinian genocide based on what I know of him (and accordingly zionists love him), he started and popularized the sinophobic rhetoric and really ramped up anti Chinese FP in a way no other president that I know of has. Now, Biden hs continued many of these problems but a pattern seems to be established that the far right normalizes these things and the right (“moderate” republicans) and center right (dems) continue them. One of the major fears is that another term with Trump at the helm, especially if he has a republican majority in congress, the political ratchet will keep moving further at a much faster pace.
He basically called for BLM protestors to be massacred, he would be even more dogmatically in support of the Palestinian genocide based on what I know of him (and accordingly zionists love him), he started and popularized the sinophobic rhetoric and really ramped up anti Chinese FP in a way no other president that I know of has.
He also went from some concrete steps towards normalizing relations with Iran under Obama to an actual exchange of fire with them. An attack on Iran is one of the more realistic imperialist ambitions and it would kill the most people of anything short of a nuclear exchange. He also stepped backwards on Cuba, though not to anywhere near the same degree.
I think you can make a case that Republicans do worse things abroad in general, but that is quickly undercut by libs abandoning any sort of anti-imperialist sentiment whenever their guy is in the White House.
...the problem with that point is that libs railing against wars under a Republican president does not result in a Democratic president meaningfully changing anything. Where something approaching meaningful change has happened under a Democrat (the withdrawal from Afghanistan) libs have panned or ignored it, too (and of course Biden is sanctioning the hell out of Afghanistan now and I'm sure we're still fucning around with some version of the Islamic extremists we've bankrolled for the last half century, see the ETIM and Pakistan, generally).
"Trump and Republicans are bad because he nearly started a war with Iran"
Biden: hold my beer
Liberals put money before morals, conservative-liberals put evil before money. Liberals go a lot less out of their way to be evil, while conservative-liberals will give up tons of free money in order to be evil. This is one reason to vote Dem.
Secondly, America/NATO is getting its ass handed to itself, which is a good thing. I don't want them to try switching it up last minute. I want them to continue getting fucked in the ass. This is another reason to vote Biden.
China's growing, India's growing, NATO is not getting back the land from Russia, African nations are kicking out France and other westoids from their territory. The current status quo honestly seems good (apart from the ecocide but Rs will only make this worse), and having an incompetent geezer in the white house trying all the same old tricks and not switching up the playbook is a good thing IMO
In right wing, wignat circles, there's a lot of mental gymnastics they go through in order to avoid facing the elephant that wealth produces culture and innovation, rather than the other way around. One such trapeze routine is the "cold winters theory". Which holds that animals in cold climates evolve"smarter" because they have to "plan for the winter". Of course, this ignores the fact that plenty of tropical places have a dry season in place of a cold season, which requires just as much planning. More importantly, it ignores the very, very, very basic and fundamental truth that good things are good.
Having warmth and rain year round (up to a point) is good. Having food is good. Having wealth is good. Having people in power who want to kill you less, is objectively a good thing. Don't be a chud, good things are good
Trump used Title 42 against asylum seekers. Biden said "bad man" and stopped using Title 42 against unaccompanied minors. But Biden increased total enforcement by multiples. So is the "good thing" here actually just cover?
But Biden increased total enforcement by multiples.
There's a pretty good chance anyone who came in would have done that though, since the ghoul machine just gets worse every semester
the biggest difference is between the masses who vote for these politicians. The masses on one side don't want to go out of their way to kill gays and minorities. The masses on the other side do
Also there's a ton of hi-resolution change that can happen in local politics because pretty much all good people are blue or will run blue. AOC is a sellout but if all of our politicians were AOC then that would become our new baseline, and the left would be able to go even lefter
Not saying people should blindly vote blue, but yea
literal Qanon levels of mental gymnastics to claim that everyone who feels burnt and betrayed by the democrats repeatedly failing (all while Joe Biden is proudly funding a war criminal whos committed crimes worse than putin has in just a few weeks*) is actually a paid shill posting propaganda for Trump
*Serious question, if Joe Biden started sending Putin military aid to kill ukrainian children with would you continue going "vote blue no matter who"?
low effort 2016 bait. please return to
you shameless treat demon
Do you think Biden was powerless in the overturn of Roe v Wade?
hello u r clearly very smart perhaps the smartest person in the world can u plz tell me which crypto memecoin I should invest in to become rich so I can go to college and bcum as smart as u r? thank u so much god bless
The only problem here is that democrats don't care if they lose - it just means going back to being in the opposition and fleecing the
rubestrue believersDemocratic voting base by sending increasingly apocalyptic emails about whatever shit would've been happening anyway regardless of who's in charge. I'd be willing to bet money that if the voting base got whittled down to one guy in Toledo named Dave the whole system would continue to lurch on and we'd get breathless news about how the latest mass casualty shooting was influencing the Daveometer. Voter participation is just window dressing at this point.Loved getting that text
“We are currently in power but We let the republican controlled Supreme Court eviscerate abortion rights, send us money!”
"Give us money now and we'll fix abortion rights in 60 years when the Republicans finally let us donate Brett Kavanaugh's fossilized remains to the Smithsonian and replace him with a slightly more centrist republican!"
I can tell ya that my DSA chapter says voting for Biden is a vote for democracy
every politician (lol Cornel West) agrees that we must imitate ancient Greek/Roman society
I thought that's what freedom was the euphemism for but same difference
Mine is discussing only voting for candidates who publicly and unequivocally support ceasefire and ending military support for Israel, down to local officials.
My area has a large Arab & Muslim population though. Local Muslim organizers have been very clear on this stance already. At one rally, an iman said there was only one elected worth voting for in the whole county
Lot of disagreement over it, so I don't think we'll have chapter wide consensus. However, the majority of active members seem swayed by the argument.
Oof, my DSA are half fucking MLs with a spattering of communists and anarchists and Tony, fuck you Tony you know what you did(be a liberal)
I was already done with Biden because of his support for the RESTRICT act, but with recent events that seems kinda mundane now, can't believe how big a hole he's dug for himself
B-BUT PROJECT 2025. THE REPUBLICANS ARE GOING TO ERADICATE 95% OF THE US POPULATION AND PUSH THE HANDMAIDENS TALE BUTTON. I'VE WATCHED OVER 2600 HOURS OF THIS ON YOUTUBE BY THE MOST ACADEMICALLY RIGOROUS BREADTUBERS SO I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.
I'll have you know, my favorite breadtuber who makes 2 videos a year and $3 million/year said that you have to vote for Biden
shit that the dems could stop but won't because it will be a useful political cudgel like abortion
a bunch of fash shit the democrats will do in 2035-2040 when barron trump runs for president with a literal swastika armband on.
Some bullet points listed:
- Restore the integrity of the Department of Justice to ensure accountability by giving the FBI a hard rest, ensuring consistent litigation decisions, and enforcing immigration laws.
- Solidify our border by restructuring the Department of Homeland Security and its priorities in ways that streamline the immigration process, end unclear immigration visas, and create a more secure immigration process.
- Break up the Department of Education to strengthen education freedom, enhance parental rights in education, and protect taxpayers from student loan “forgiveness.”
This is a statement about it by the ghoul president of the Heritage Foundation:
For over two years, the Left has ignored the voice of everyday Americans leading to crippling inflation, biological males dominating women’s sports, rampant violence, and a crisis in education not seen in decades. Our country is all but unrecognizable. This is why the conservative movement is coming together to prepare for the next conservative administration. Heritage is convening the conservative movement behind the policies to ensure that the next president has the right policy and personnel necessary to dismantle the administrative state and restore self-governance to the American people. The Conservative Promise’ is just the first step in preparing future conservative leaders for the task of serving their country, and it will continue to guide the movement-wide coalition. We know what time it is; the conservative movement is on offense to restore our great nation.
This is the full document if you're interested. It's long af.
keeping creationists out of your local school board is a great example of your point 3 exception.
There's probably even some population size where local politics aren't totally inbred but aren't prohibitively big where a small group of invested leftists could elect a city counselor or county clerk, or bully an entrenched liberal into doing good things but you have to do a bunch of non-electoral organizing to get to that point.
This is where I'm at. I'm in rural New York so unless I ball my ballot up and throw it at Joe Biden so hard he dies my vote WILL NOT have any effect on national elections.
But the only reason we dont have a school board that wants to replace math and history with Bible study and Introduction to Respecting the Troops is because the 30 people in town who aren't willfully ignorant bigots organize to vote for somebody who believes public education is a good thing.
Nothing to do but prepare for the maoist uprising against New York's landlords
Votecels seething and typing essays ITT. Everyone point and laugh.