#''oh please vote for trump. please. you don't understand how bad it is and how much we need this.''

[paradoxgavel]

living in a small rural town where nearly everyone fuckin worships trump is hell on fucking earth

[opossumanon]

I was reading the reblogs of a post that basically said "Don't be a doomer about Kamala Harris being a black woman and worrying that racism and misogyny will lose her the vote, go out and campaign and vote and she'll win because we made her win" (Correct) and man...

The amount of people who get so obnoxious screaming about how voting for anybody in this election is morally horrible (No, it's our basic right and duty as Americans), how the rest of the world matters too (No shit Sherlock) and how "The leftism is leaving your bodies the second your rights are being threatened" and no????? Since when did being leftist mean shooting yourself in the foot to protest someone else being hurt????

To be clear, leftism is at the end of the day the belief that all people matter, all people deserve rights and happiness, housing is a human right, food and water is a human right, self-determination is a human right, war is bad, billionaires should never exist, etc. etc.

Leftism also means THINKING instead of just acting emotionally. Gaza doesn't benefit if we refuse to vote for Harris. The Democratic Party won't go "Oh no, the people are mad we didn't support Palestine :C" and even if they somehow did it wouldn't matter because Trump would be President and we'd all be fucked and he'd bomb Palestine anyways and then take a piss on their ashes.

Also it's important to note that Harris was part of the reason why Biden started to swing to the middle regarding Palestine and Israel. Harris pushed Biden into doing a lot of the leftist things he's done. Harris can be pushed too, we can elect her and say "Congrats on winning the office, now do these things for us" and she'll be more likely to follow through than fucking Donald "I can shoot a guy in the middle of the street and people would still vote for me" Trump.

I won't be able to vote in this election, but my goals/hopes for our future as a country are

Elect Harris

Bully Harris into cutting off support to Israel and pressuring them into returning the land stolen from the Palestinians

Make ranked voting a thing

Demolish the Electoral College with exploding car hammers

Get Trump tossed into prison for his countless felonies, plus treason

For fuck's sake people, please understand that the best way to help Palestine and the rest of the world, as well as ourselves, is to strategize, and voting for Harris is the best strategy we got right now, because "lol I'm gonna firebomb a Walmart" is never helpful. It's just talking the talk to sound all high and mighty while being a lazy shit and doing nothing of import.

Anyways before I dip remember that voting is harm reduction, especially make sure to vote in all your local elections, donate if possible, be an active member of your community, pick a particular cause you can fight for and fight for it, and you'll be way more helpful than any of the dumbasses screaming and crying about "boycotting" voting...Cuz that's totally how this works [insert facepalm emoji]

[crayzkrypto]

Just some thought's I had abt the current situation: (Tw: political thinking & some existential thinking.) (This is the ONLY time I will say smthn like this I promise. (I don't really like politics in general or rlly at all >_<))

-Kat's: "Oh shit, we're doomed." thoughts-

You may share, repost, and spread this post around ONLY IF YOU DO NOT SUPPORT TRUMP. Please do not do so if you support his greedy ass, thank you for understanding in advance. IN ADVANCE TO ADD ON AS WHAT WAS SAID BELOW ORIGINALLY, DO NOT REPLY IF YOU SUPPORT HIM, THANK YOU.

If trump gets the dictatorship he wants we are all royally fucked.

If trump wins he WILL remove the rights of minorities, he WILL ruin the progress people have already made in terms of equality for minorities.

I ain't stayin if this place is being ruled by a cheeto king (Not my fault he made himself look like a cheeto ✨)

Trump is to say the least- I wouldn't put it past him in turning around and backstabbing our country as soon as he gains control over it.

As someone related to the big H man in history, I gotta admit, I don't rlly want a dictatorship.

Having a xenophobic and racist president would be hell for quite a lot of people.

Having a transphobic, sexist, ableist, and homophobic president would be hell for many.

Having a dictatorship is like erm, going back to the older days if you know what I mean, and it feels icky and disgusting in every way possible istg.

A rich person who only supports other rich people and treats non-rich people shitty; would not be such a great president, no offense to people out there.

If I were 18 rn I'd be voting for the poc presidential candidate, who's a woman, and supports minorities, and supports the people currently in very bad living situations.

Trump only cares about HIMSELF, he wants to live like a king, that is quite the opposite of what America was built on.

Do we really want someone as greedy, untrustworthy, selfish, and cruel as that in control- (To say the least I am genuinely a bit worried abt him potentially winning the election...) (Do not reply to this post or interact with me at all if you support Trump, are homophobic, ableist, transphobic, sexist, racist, etc, thank you. Idc that you support him or think that what he is doing is at all right, because it isn't right, I will remove your message if you come attacking me for saying what genuinely think abt this situation.) (And before people come in saying this or that is "perfect" or "the right way": * Keep in mind, nothing in this life is "perfect", there are always imperfections, there is always something uneven or not perfectly lined up, absolutely nothing is set in stone, nothing is a perfectly carved edge, there is always a crack somewhere, always a dent here or there, always a mistake in one place or another, I will never believe that anything in life is truly perfect, not for as long as I live. Because the truth about life, is that it will always be; wild, unpredictable, random, and imperfect. No one controls the outcome, every variable influences the hands of time, every variable is a random chance to affect. * Technically; nothing is "the right way to do things", since all things are technically just made up from this person, that person, or our ancestors, the "right way" you believe in is usually based on opinion or what you have been taught, heck, every word in the dictionary has been made up by someone else, somewhere else, at some point in time or history. It's all just opinions, beliefs made by those before you, and things you have been taught, people make their own choices in life and that is how it goes. You may believe in one thing, and support this person in life or that person, but do not expect or force everyone to do the same. ) (DO NOT: attack me for anything on this post, I mean it. Ty for understanding ^ ^ ! (Includes forcing opinions abt if you support Trump, and why you think I should think the same as you, listen: I DO NOT CARE! I won't support him, and never will, for various reasons, end of story.))

You MAY repost this post and spread it around IF, and ONLY IF, you do not support trump !

[sugarpuptard]

?! oh my god please don't vote conservative/trump. they're actively trying to take away reproductive rights, lgbt rights, and safety for minorities. trump is a convicted felon that was impeached twice and tried to stage a coup. i'm genuinely concerned that your fiancé is a trump supporter, generally trump supporters tend to be extremely misogynistic and queerphobic. if you support trump i'm gonna block because i can't handle having someone who doesn't support human rights on my dash.

i didnt vote at all in my life yet so i didn't vote for him lol and i prob wont be voting until i get a better understanding, and uhh i do support human rights where have i said anything like that (ﾟヘﾟ)？

feel free to block if you want to but i am all for rights. i dont actually support him since his personality and other not good ideas and things he said/done that were bad overthrow the ones that make a lil more sense that i've seen in the past up to this point

it seems to often be basically the same with all sides tho as far as i've seen ;w; so that makes things extra confusing, so i dont rlly label myself with any political thing rn, but i dont understand the concern now with my fiancé since ppl wanna assume things ;-; he hasn't treated me or others wrong even with differences in beliefs, i never understood how ppl cant just co-exist and respect each other even with different views, people are so confusing

[babeyvenus]

I get you are afraid. But Handmaid's Tale is literally just a racist conservative white woman's fantasy of "what if what happened with enslaved women and Indigenous Americans all happened to white women instead. Wouldn't that be super fucked up? Oh yeah and all the Black and Brown people died off in this world, please pity us"

We've been through it. The system has never left. At best white women have to suffer alongside us and start giving a damn. But aside that we got each other

I cannot feel bad for someone who voted against their own rights to even be considered a PERSON. Even if they realized it too late or not.

I'm sure you know, but the majority race voted for Trump were white women and white men. We were the majority OPPOSITE. And now, there are white men going around antagonizing black women more often and screaming "your body, my choice" to other women, ever since the election. That's the problem. And to add onto the Handmaid's tale, that's literally where they're trying to send ALL OF US. Bc Republican white women don't seem to understand that women having no rights includes them as well.

He wants to get rid of education. Makes no sense.

I'm an interventionist, already having a hard time getting kids to WANT to read books in highschool bc it's important that they gain some type of comprehension skills and they are LACKING. But that is literally what Trump wants. He wants dummies to follow him.

And bc they were the majority, I actually had high hopes that they voted against him, but NO. We were the only ones that had one priority. One assignment and half of the female population couldn't even follow through. And now some of them either feel bad and are looking for sympathy or are gonna be suffering alone in this bc we've been saying this for years that Trump is nowhere near a good person to be president. They didn't wanna listen. I can't help anyone that doesn't see what the problem is and the OBVIOUS choice on how to avoid it. They didn't want to.

Shit, they should've given a damn a LONG time ago. I don't know if they were just expecting us to be the only ones to have our rights taken away or what but I cannot stand around and help. We did our part. For YEARS. Letting them stand on our backs and having to fight to be even in the same place as them. The system is far from flawed.

[spurgie-cousin]

Hoo boy SpurgieCousin, these anons sitting out the election to protest the war in Gaza or voting 3rd party to teach the democrats a lesson, or whatever their reason is have me stressed! As an elder millennial, I remember Ralph Nader peeling away enough 3rd party votes to give the election to Bush over Gore in 2000. Even though that administration gave us wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, the deaths of my friends, classmates, etc in those wars, the destruction of their futures when they came home with PTSD and missing limbs, lies about weapons of mass destruction, war crimes, Guantanamo bay AND the worst economic recession since the Great Depression- which was a fantastic time to try and enter the job market after college btw- I still think a 2nd Trump term would be worse. The only reason Trump’s first term was only a partial catastrophe was because it was incredibly incompetent and we were able to coast on a lot of momentum of the Obama years. I don’t think a 2nd term would flounder as much. I really really hope (beg)your readers reconsider their choice regarding Joe Biden. It’s not a perfect system and it’s not a perfect candidate-it never is. I appreciate their idealism- I was young once too- but not voting does not absolve them from the consequences of what may happen if this country elects Trump again. You will have complicity in negative things either way you vote, so please please vote in a way that does not make things worse. Ok, thank you for letting this geriatric millennial rant!

Oh I think that's a perfect example tbh. I'm a younger millennial so I was growing up as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars played out, and it was the first thing that ever really ignited a political rage in me. Horrible news for my very republican/George Bush voting family lol.

Unless they're very politically versed, I don't know if Gen Z or even the youngest tier of millennials really get how fucking awful the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan was. Just tons of civilians and American soldiers dead because of Bush's ego, and his ego is nothing compared to Trump's.

I think the only big difference is a lot of third party voters at that time didn't totally understand what Bush was capable of, whereas we know what a Trump presidency will be like..... we know if he promises to make gay marriage illegal and strip back more women's Healthcare rights and and more money to Netanyahu to destroy Gaza, he WILL try to do it. He's already had similar successes.

I have voted third party, I hate to discourage people from doing so because I think a third party candidate that we can rally behind is our only hope out of this 2 party shit show. We don't have anyone like that this election season, far left progressives hate Jill Stein, nobody else has the name recognition at this point to have any chance against with major candidate, and we know the end result will be either the trash can on fire that is our government right now or that trash can on fire with an added layer of dog shit on top, y'know? They're both bad sure but I just highly disagree that one isn't worse for vulnerable Americans and Gazans alike.

[the-martyrfication-of-the-matron]

You normally understand my anger so I am gonna vent a moment.

My friends are pissed at me because I berated them for not voting when every single one of them had the time and resources to and are deeply affected by how this presidential outcome goes.

"people lifes have to come first before we think about the world right now esp when it comes to the election like the slogan its your right to vote its cool if u dont wanna" - Quote from my friend that couldn't be more untrue. I fear none of them have a brain cell to rub together to form a thought. No reason the majority of them are majoring in art and yet are somehow failing some of their classes cause they clearly don't understand subtext, nuance, or any form of understanding. I know I am being very harsh, but they do not understand the severity of their actions.

The vote count will take a few days, but I do know if Trump wins, I am going to abandon my friendship with those folks. They are showing that they don't care about others and their community of Queer and POC folks. Probably gonna do it anyway cause a lot of their excuse was "We are all just starting adulthood🥰 please be easy" when we are all almost 2 years out from high school and the majority could have still voted in high school.

They can't "uwu I am just a little guy" their way out of this. They aren't even showing self-preservation at this point. Apparently ignoring the sharks will make them go away in their mind.

I get this sentiment so much.

I’ve also been holding a lot of disdain to third party voters in America recently. Because all voting third party does in America is make themselves feel better, honestly. A vote not for Kamala Harris in this election is a vote for trump, and I think people don’t understand the repercussions this will have *across the world*.

Third party voting itself isn’t inherently evil. It happens a lot in the UK, and it’s a good thing it happens. It puts a lot of pressure on the main parties to get their shit together. HOWEVER, even this year, everyone was saying not to vote third party because no one wanted the fucking Tories again. And the best way to ensure we don’t get Tories is to ensure we got Labour. And Kier Starmer can suck a fat cock, but he’s better than Kemi ‘I think people aren’t having kids bc we’re too generous with maternity leave’ Badenoch.

And studying politics at a time like this is STRESSFUL bro because I see people saying shit all the time about how impactful voting third party is, and I am screaming at the screen because the impact it has is making you feel like a moral and good person for ensuring a trump win. Same goes for non-voters. Like this election, the emphasis shouldn’t be on ‘oh but voting Kamala makes me feel like a bad person’, it should be ‘hey so if Trump is elected people will fucking die and I can put my personal feelings aside to ensure that doesn’t happen’

But no

Everyone is just fucked.

[halt-kun]

Hunter x Hunter Chapter 405 - Masquerade

At the end of this chapter, we'll probably be halfway up to the next hiatus

It's going to be fine most likely as Togashi has some chapters ready for the future. It'll be Shueisha's choice

So now we switch to the troupe and the mafia

I've been missing the Heil-yi plot though, I love their weird relationship to murder and nen. For them it feels like a videogame. They'll probably not have nice death (like Luini)

Cashew might survive for a long time though. AND she is most likely a specialist.

Is that Hisoka ?

it would fit him

IT IS

Very pretty chapter cover

look at him !

So will it be about Hisoka then ????

VANILLA ???? YOU !?!? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

just ants ? I think you would have loved them my dude

I can understand Halkenburg too

Hisoka is vanilla in the sense that he isn't a monsterfucker then ? HAHAHA

And he likes simple one to one fights without too much covenants.

HAHAHAAHHA I love this chapter

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Wait two Hisoka's ? I can only see Illumi masquerading but Illumi isn't the vanilla one. Unless he is trying to get in character ? Roleplay isn't vanilla my dude. THE NILE IS A RIVER IN EGYPT, YOUR HUSBAND IS GAY

So is the Hisoka hiding behind a pillar Illumi ? The one that talked with Hinrigh ? Noooooo, I'm thinking too much

We'll know soon enough

IT'S BONOLENOVVVVVVVV WHAAAAAT

HAHAHAHA

So the Hisoka that talked with Hinrigh was actually a fake as I supposed.

And it was a plan for Chrollo to let the troupe roam free

nice

he smort

CHACHACHA

Now he's Owl

did that guy see him transform ???? At least go to a toilet or somewhere private. Oh I forgot about Korutopi, maybe it's a bad idea too

Oh interesting, is it a time limit forever ? It doesn't get reset after each transformation ? Because how long did Bonolenov discuss with Owl

This Owl is fun looking too

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

YOU KILLED HER

YOU BITCH

SHE WAS COOL

At least the scrawny blood manipulator is alive

Lynch died

Zakura lives

Well, she did kind of dig her own grave there

SMART BONO

I'm actually enjoying spending some time with Bono

I hope he won't die

But he probably will then, bad match-up since Bungee gum can just cancel his dance moves and basically seal his nen. And now he's getting a focus chapter.

And he's alone near Hisoka

So smart to also disguise your murder,I guess Bono isn't an amateur at killing and hiding bodies

Well, everyone knows Chrollo's very saaaaaad

I'm scared

But this is going to be fine

Oh ! Who's ability then ? A zodiac's ? Beyond's ?

Was 9 Shal or Korutopi, Wasn't Shal 6 ? Or maybe it was Paku's

Oh noooooo I bet this guy was part of the snuff movies industries

"underprivileged chidren" were not properly taken care of I bet

Please Chrollo don't say sheeple because that will make you use like all your charisma. You're not a weird alt right incel or a trump voter. Media are mostly just neo liberal and capitalist since most journalist come from that class. It makes them very bad at handling information and makes them more prone to tolerating far right ideas and then want to censor left-wing ideas more critical of the actual problem that capitalism is.

I get what he meant though but also people won't believe undocumented claims. A forum isn't the best place to get informed dude. If that guy was actually influent and did such bad stuff, I bet you could have easily exposed him with your brain. Some actual field journalists or victim associations probably got wind of such things too.

Anyway, I'll say it here for the united statesians around, go VOTE. Sorry if this seems insensitive. Your country has a lot of reach in global geopolitics and if it became an autocratic fascist christian state based on lies. Then it will fuck up a lot of stuff. Your election system is fucked with two parties and single round elections. Don't make me begin on the supreme court. Voting isn't supporting someone, it's a tool to make the system suck less so you can politically organize at bettering it. It's just a paper with names. Also from what I understand you also vote for counties and state representatives who have also some form of power and maybe suck less. Not voting will just lead to you brooding that "everyone is the same, nothing ever changes". Not voting just leads to less people being involved in politics. If you can't put a name on paper, you won't do much more.

All of that just because Chrollo said Sheeple LMAO

Smart NOBU

they clearly are not really mafia anymore, they're more akin to the troupe

rogue killers that do as they want

Nobu will agree with me I bet,

he kinda likes them

I LOVE YOUUUUUUU NOBU

YESSSSSSSS

AND

they be real revolutionists. I kinda like them know

Guillotine the ruling class. Kings don't need their heads. Educate the people, let them become their own guiding lights.

Am I a french cliché ? MAYBEEEEEEEEE

They're just psychopaths though

so I doubt they've real ideas behind what they're doing. They're also killing passengers

and such people will just bring ruin to a country

They won't build anything out of the ruins they create.

And yes mafia are also bad because they just seek to maintain the "balance" in other words, the system in place. They just found an ecological niche where they can thrive and keep a priviledged role

Indeed what will you do my guys

Hahahaha, so the Heil-yi are already in the Char family

Did someone kill this guy and morph into him like Bono ? Or was this guy on their side the whole time.

OHHHHHHH

interesting enhancement ability

I know this guy is after the royal guards

to kidnap them so that they have someone close enough to kill a prince as a Heil-yi

And Tse's childhood friends were prime targets for that.

But now he's talking about nen. And if he snifs their head, he can identify what ? their nen ability ?

Ah yes, Sodom is a manipulator I think

Well they'll definitely bring back someone

Oh so they indeed want to have non nen users

then does it mean Dogman can identify the nen type and proficiency of people unable to use nen ?????

"Grinding" hahahaha

they're horrible

Hum

their names are Demon for the black haired guy I think

The blond guys fled Hinrigh did he not ?

I checked and Quorolle (black coat) is an emitter that indeed fled against Hinrigh

Tevelares did too and is an enhancer

did they change their fit too ?

Want to feel like they upgraded ?

Good luck Hinrigh

Ah just some teasing, I see you Togashi.

Well I've missed these plot lines

it was fun

[qqueenofhades]

I hope this doesn’t sound too ignorant, but as a non-American (South African here!), everyone is saying that this election is very incredible and different than others? Something about how the democrats have managed to hang on to power and it’s very close? What makes that so unique, and why is it so surprising that the democrats still (likely) have the senate? Shouldn’t you have a democratic congress because you have a democratic president? Here we do have a bunch of different parties, we don’t really have to main ones that always win, except the same corrupt party keeps getting elected again and again because it’s a very unfair system. While I do personally view Nelson Mandela as a hero to our country, his party has fallen so far from his beliefs and everyone is still so obsessed with him, and that seems to be much the case with America and the founding fathers, if I’m not mistaken?

I’m really sorry and I hope this doesn’t come across as sarcastic or dumb, I just don’t fully understand American politics and am a bit confused about your elections, and are they genuinely as bad and messed up as ours? Thank you so much!

Oh Jesus. Asking for a beginner-level crash course on American politics is a bit like asking for a beginner-level crash course on nuclear physics, but I'll do my best. Short answer: yes, American elections are fucked up to such a cosmic degree that it's truly astonishing that they still work at all, and yes, as many of my recent posts have discussed, it's shocking that the midterms went as well for the Democrats as they did. Because:

There are 50 states. Every single state has a considerable degree of autonomy over their own voting laws, voter eligibility, whether voters can register online, vote absentee, etc etc. Thus, the states run by Republicans have been rushing to enact as many restrictive voting laws as possible, meaning that this impacts who is able to actually cast a ballot (and indeed, have that ballot counted).

Each state is also very often "gerrymandered," aka divided into districts where one party has a better chance of winning than the other. Republicans, because they suck, also draw districts that erase or severely reduce Black voting power. For example, if you have District 1 that is 80% Black and therefore something like 80% Democratic, you cut little bits off the edges and put those in red districts, so you turn one safe-Democratic seat into multiple swing or Republican-leaning seats. It sucks.

The Supreme Court, after Trump got three picks with lifetime appointments, has 6 conservatives and 3 liberals, which means that if the conservatives vote as a bloc (as they often do), they can overrule pretty much anything they please (as long as it is a pending case before them). This has been especially notable with voting-rights cases this cycle, and was also the reason that Roe vs. Wade (the right to an abortion in all 50 states) was overturned this summer, capping 50 years of Republican efforts to do just that.

Every election, with the big exception of one, is won the old-fashioned way (whoever gets the most votes wins). The exception is the presidential election. There, it doesn't matter if you win the popular vote, as long as you win the Electoral College. Because of racism, each state in America has a certain number of electoral votes that reflect its population. California, with 40 million people, has 55 electoral votes; Wyoming, with 300,000, has 3. (And yet, they both also get two senators! This seems fair). Therefore, winning the popular vote in blue California is more important than winning the popular vote in red Wyoming.

This is also where we get the term "swing states." These states don't consistently vote Republican or Democratic, so whoever can win those has a better chance of winning the presidency. For example, Pennsylvania voted for Trump (red) in 2016 and for Biden (blue) in 2020, by relatively small margins each time. Yes, the Electoral College is a horrible system and we all know it. It's why Trump became president in 2016 despite losing the nationwide popular vote; he eked out just enough votes in key states to win the Electoral College (you need 270 electoral college votes to win; there are 538 up for grabs overall).

Likewise, the midterm elections are, almost without exception since 1934, used to punish the incumbent president's party for the perceived fuckups of the last two years. So if the president is Republican, the midterms lean Democratic; if the president is Democratic, the midterms lean Republican. The reason that everyone is so surprised at the Democrats doing well is because of 80+ years of historical precedent dictating that they would take a beating. But because Republicans have gotten so crazy, people shied away from voting for them. The Republicans were projected to win up to 5 Senate seats and up to 40+ House seats. As of this writing, they have won... zero and 8, or thereabouts, and it's still not clear who will secure 218 of the 435 seats in the House, which is the amount needed for a majority. Some of those House wins are also offset by the Democrats winning Republican seats back from them, hence why overall control is still up in the air.

So in other words, Congress is LESS likely to be Democratic when the president is Democratic, rather than the same party.

Trump's big thing after he lost in 2020 was to yell to the high heavens about imagined "voter fraud," which was clearly the only reason he could possibly have lost. This is why he tried to launch a coup and sent the January 6 mob to attack the Capitol during Congress's certification of the 2020 election results.

There are probably a ton of other factors I am forgetting, but yes, once again: I cannot possibly emphasize enough what a shitshow it is, and the fact that despite all of the above, the Democrats are guaranteed to keep the Senate and are still in the running for House control. Even if the Republicans do win the House, it will be by such a tiny margin that they will have trouble doing anything except wasting everyone's time with pointless revenge investigations. Democrats will still control the Senate and the Presidency until 2024, and thus can block House GOP nonsense and continue to confirm judges, which is very important after the number of unqualified right-wing hacks that Trump stuffed onto the bench with lifetime appointments.

[einsteinsugly]

You're one of my very favorite blogs and we're very often on the same page so please don't take offense, but I really have to disagree with the implication that the "establishment" dems are as bad or even almost as bad as Trump. Trump is a narcissistic sociopath who appeals to our very worst natures and poses dangers far beyond what we've ever seen from a president of either party. And in this particular election a vote for a third party 'wild card' who has no realistic chance of winning is just helping to ensure that that evil, amoral sociopath will have the power to destroy democracy. I don't usually speak out, but I know you understand having to voice your opinion sometimes and your post worried me that there was a "both are about equally bad options" false equivalency going on. Thanks for reading!

Oh, I live in NY, so my vote essentially doesn't matter. I can literally vote any way I want, and the state will be blue regardless. It's ridiculous that one's vote only matters in swing states, but alas.

A previous post classified Jackie/Kelso and Clinton as the lesser of two evils. It's like getting a 20 on a test (Trump) and a 62 on a test (Clinton). They're both still failures. For example, Clinton...

*Called African American kids "superpredators" in the 90s.

*Supported DOMA in the 90s.

*Voted for the Iraq War and the Patriot Act.

*The DNC was on her side in the 2016 primary, when they were supposed to be neutral.

*She got heaps of corporate money during her campaigns, and during a speech, she said she was going to get "dark money" out of politics. Not money.

*She literally responded (I'm paraphrasing) with "I'm a woman" in regards to a question about how she was anti-establishment.

*****

In essence, the main branch of the current Democratic Party is literally akin to the Republican Party in the 60s/70s, economically and systemically. And current Republicans are off the fucking spectrum. I call them the pirate party. In Europe, the Clintons, Nancy Pelosi, etc, would be establishment right wing. And Bernie would be slightly left of center. Yeah, most of the Republicans are fucking terrible, and they're the bigger evil. They will stand in the way of progress five out of five times. Establishment democrats are still a hindrance to progress, though, and will stand in the way four out of five times. That's so much better, isn't it? *Groans*

[seewetter]

I've given this some thought & I want to share my thoughts why I think this makes voting against Trump (highly) justifiable (as someone who previously did not think that).

I think most people in this discussion probably will stop reading at that point, so I've put the rest under the cut.

Part 1: How people discuss the election

So far, I've been exposed to discussions on Tumblr (about the upcoming American elections) that felt very hostile & not very thoughtful.

People would highlight Project 2025 -- but this was prior to this Supreme Court decision. This decision allows Trump to explore all illegal avenues with impunity. As long as it is not a "private" matter, the Supreme Court has given the green light to illegal presidential pursuits.

So when discussions happened prior to this Supreme Court decision, all I had to go on to understand what Project 2025 could mean was news articles and this wiki page. Such sources of information often don't clearly differentiate between what Project 2025 might do versus what it is overtly intended to do. They also don't clearly differentiate between which parts of Project 2025 are easy to implement vs difficult to implement.

Part 2: Why Trump seemed less dangerous till now

To me, Donald Trump was not exactly efficient at undermining human rights or basic freedoms. At one point, Democrats offered Trump to finance half his border wall (the one made of concrete) and he rejected the money entirely. At another point, Trump's desire to have military tanks present at a ceremony was unceremoniously blocked by a handful of people in the army who refused to cooperate.

It's not that I didn't see or feel damage that Trump did. Hostilities in foreign relations, deliberately non-cooperative American government officials, damage to regional economies, plus horrific health advice as well as some pretty discriminatory laws (and later, a Supreme Court ruling that Trump took credit for, the striking down of Roe vs Wade). And the list goes on, but crucially, even the Jan 6 coup attempt was pretty meagre even compared to what is happening in Gaza under Biden's funding.

Whenever I compared Trump and Biden, it would stand out to me how much more nasty Biden was than Trump. The Biden administration deports more people than Trump, militarizes the border more severely, Kamala Harris famously told Guatemala migrants not to come to the United States (ostensibly, not to come illegally, though what she was describing sounded like they just don't want immigration from Guatemala, period). I continue to think these acts are horrific and I continue to be concerned that Democrats knew about Roe vs Wade in advance and prepared no response, except Biden's promise to overturn it (later) if people would please be so kind as to re-elect him. Dangling people's reproductive rights over their heads to force them to give you power is not nice.

Part 3: How Biden supporters sound to the outside world

Whenever Biden defenders argued that a second Trump term would be worse, they would simply point to Project 2025 or to Trump's more extreme rhetoric and say "you see, the second time will be much worse".

I want people to absorb how stupid that sounds. I have no skin in the game, I'm not American. I won't be voting in that election, I just have to live with the outcome. But when Trump barely fulfilled a single promise to voters and seemed mostly ineffective, when Biden overall caused much worse damage than Trump in his term -- why would this be a bad vote? Because a single person who worked on Project 2025 (unlike all the other people who worked on it) is a Christian Nationalist? Because Project 2025 might dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but the mechanism for how this will be done is completely unclear -- and with Trump's track record of not achieving anything, the likeliest outcome is that just as Biden boasted of record oil sales, so too will Trump? Oh wait, Project 2025 will downsize but not abolish EPA... wow, really setting their sights on radical change there. To be fair, they want to dismantle NOAA, but none of Biden's defenders cared to explain how valuable NOAA is or what it's loss would mean for America or the world. I agree that sentences like "EPA's staff, including the science advisor, would be selected based in managerial skills rather than scientific qualifications" sound chilling. But Biden has had a track record of doing this exact type of thing too -- of simply implementing ideas that the Trump administration set in motion.

Wikipedia quotes the New York Times as reporting "Project 2025 seeks to place the entire Executive Branch of the U.S. federal government under direct presidential control, eliminating the independence of the DOJ, the FBI, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and other agencies". But the phrasing "seeks to replace" doesn't sound nearly as threatening as "describes a plan for how the president will replace".

Wikipedia quotes the Washington Post as saying that the Insurrection Act will be used to deploy US military as a police force and I do have a serious concern with how that could end for student protesters who -- while advocating for Gaza -- have all this to worry about.

Part 4: The new Supreme Court decision changes things

The recent Supreme Court decision shifts the scales of power in the direction of Trump and the Heritage Foundation. This means that the lives of many people (and the future of democracy or the freedom to stop climate change without global war or internal collapse) would, if Trump wins, be in the palm of his hand. A hand that likes crushing things for fun.

I haven't fully made up my mind yet, but I do think that Biden's monstrosity might be more controllable than that. I am also aware that while Biden is currently a greater nightmare for immigrants than Trump ever was, his administration is far more reliable to enforce protection for queer and indigenous communities, which matters and is always a major drawback of voting undecided or voting Trump.

Part 5: unsolicited advice for people trying to get Biden elected

Having said that, I think that the pro-Biden faction needs to stop catastrophizing (or at least stop catastrophizing around every single person they meet who disagrees with their voting intentions).

The more you catastrophize Trump, the less you sound like you have carefully weighed the drawbacks of a Biden presidency and the lives and freedoms it will cost. Look at those posts above. Do these people, (with their ALL CAPS and their bold face WITH ALL CAPS AND !!!!) seem like they are calm and collected enough to make helpful decisions about your life and the lives of people around you (the people of the world)?

Part 6: the realistic danger of Donald Trump being above the law

I will, for now, say that I think a president who can't commit illegal political acts is someone who has a lot more freedom to pursue highly illegal plans. And I will say, for now, that this looks like the first step to make Project 2025 real and to more-or-less end democracy in America. Come the 2029 election, Trump could, illegally, rig the election and be within his rights as president. Biden could too, but Biden has spoken out against these powers, while Trump seems to genuinely revel in the idea.

With a caveat (that giving one man legal immunity does not mean he will necessarily be that much more powerful in a broad system like the American state and that I agree that Trump may be just as effective on a second term as on his first) I will say that a renewed Biden presidency seems to be a safer option now for people who want to avoid the kind of risks that Trump bombastically announces to the world. Trump's rhetoric often doesn't match his governance, but he has also proven that it sometimes does. The nightmare can be real and I would suggest people keep their eyes out for more Supreme Court rulings.

Zionist billionaire Miriam Adelson has stepped in to fund the Trump campaign, as has the Republican Jewish Coalition.

The recent Supreme Court ruling to give presidential immunity from the law was one of the goals of Project 2025.

Part 7: a plan for a better future

A comprehensive strategy for the people of the US (and for Gaza, for climate change and democracy) will (almost certainly, though I'm open to changing my mind as new facts emerge) benefit from a Democrat presidency more than a Republican one.

Putting this as a meme so maybe y'all will actually read it.

Held: Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts.

And this is why we cannot let Trump win another term: he now has complete immunity for any acts he "officially" performs as president. You thought he was bad before? Now he will have zero fear. He will do whatever he wants. And what he wants is outlined in Project 2025.

[chaosvents]

i hate election years living with my parents, man. the world is burning, the arctic is melting, the wealth gap is spreading, wages are stagnant, cost of living is skyrocketing, and rights are being taken away and regulated at the whim of old men with hearts full of hate. meanwhile i have to gently talk my mother through an explanation of why it's bad that donald trump said he'd be a dictator, but only on his first day. she also said if biden loses he will also incite an insurrection? and that idk what makes her think that but she also yelled at me for saying trump is a convicted criminal. "so is joe biden" not... not for attempting a coup in response to losing an election though. but she doesn't see the difference. granted my mom kind of revels in her stupidity, i don't really understand her. she's proud of not knowing things, but i'm very much the type of person who is trying to learn every minute of every day, i jokingly call it 'need to know everything disease' and it is a blessing and a curse. the curse is Knowing How Bad It Really Is, obviously. but the blessing is knowing wtf is going on with the world. but she's proud of not knowing anything i'm ever talking about. she's been married to my dad for almost 30 years and she jokes nonstop about how her eyes glaze over when he talks about his work (that he's been doing for 40 years). like... that's not the flex you think it is?

anyway. all rants end up with my mother because she's the root of most of my trauma. my point here is that i was telling her i was anxious about the election and she decided to spend a couple hours arguing. and her point just drives me nuts. basically, she's not voting out of protest ("i'll vote when i see a good option, im 55 and i never have"). no amount of gentle slow explaining can convince her why that's not the protest she thinks it is. her secondary point is that all politicians are vicious criminals who hate you. which, like, yeah, but she uses it as an excuse to play dumb. she's proud of not knowing literally anything at all about politics because the depth and breadth of her knowledge is "politics is boring and politicians are bad". like please. please. the anti-intellectualism is killing me. why do you hate learning.

and that's another thing she does that makes me insane! she's one of those "i make fun of you because i love you" people and bringing it up will just get you a fuckton more teasing. i've spent a decade begging her not to constantly make fun of and bully me because it makes me feel like im in school again. but every time i bring it up she asks "if i didnt tease you how would you know i love you?" as if i wouldn't feel so much more loved if she listened to me. anyway one of the things she teases me about is that i like to learn. i will bring up something cool i learned and she immediately bursts into laughter. i've asked her questions afterwards and she always answers like "i don't know, i wasn't really listening". i'll tell a story and she'll respond with something completely random in a way that shows she wasn't listening even a little bit. that happens especially when im excited and telling good news and she responds with "oh, it'll be okay, hopefully tomorrow is better". like???? okay not only were you not listening, you also see my excitement and joy and assume you need to comfort me? what the fuck is wrong with her.

my sister is a nurse and her and i talk about this all the time. my mom acts stoned constantly. she takes 30-60 seconds to respond to any question and her response is "...what?" at least 1/3 of the time. the rest of the time it's a toss-up whether her response will be a random sentence she pulled out of her ass, or something that has anything to do with the topic being discussed. she doesn't do drugs either! no weed, no pills, not even alcohol. i swear to god she's proud of being stupid and slow. like she's doing it on purpose. she never used to be like this. it makes me want to slap her. wake the fuck up! react to something! join a conversation! learn something about your kid or husband! fuck!

[the-firebird69]

Trying to remember Lord John remillard tried to get the surgical suite from Concord Massachusetts and he thought he did he took the walls out and he took the equipment and he thought it matched it was the right room no. He was two floors down or one floor down

In the song my name is Luca comes to mind and she's trying to use it as a threat it's absolutely true and Hera went nuts on her and it worked now Trump is upset in the max say that's reserved for us.

-there are several other things happening. What is there looking at this Harley-Davidson idea of bringing back the 883 a.m. a lot of people want it including Mac Daddy and then so our son and daughter asked how the owners who own the company let's take a quick vote who wants at least the 883 engine to be in production she's asking for a vote please place your votes now.....

Ben Arnold yes

Mac Daddy yes

Bja yes

Aaron Minke yes

Terry c yes

Original founding person to just not have ownership Dolores yes

Our son and daughter the original designers yes

Bob seger assisted with the design and engineered it yes and for his wife who is missing yes

There are more but for now this is probably 90% of the stock ownership and 80% of the people involved in creating the bike others are casting their vote now

John Gallagher and he created the windscreen the seat and other items on the early Harley-Davidsons yes

And for my sister who is missing she helped design the Sportster yes

The women Sarah Alicia Tricia who helped design the Sportster yes

Several people who had assisted designing the cruisers and other big hogs chip from San Diego yes, Steve ahern from Otis yes, Blake hodus who helped design the motor and it was very important yes will and Bill who did the final engineering and made some changes that were drastically needed they say not that bad but needed and stop having correct us and they're saying okay yes, Tommy f who came up with the color scheme and gas tank and her son and daughter say it's one of the biggest aspects of Harley-Davidson and for the cruisers too and he says yes and he appreciates the combination, JC and Mary who headed up the team primarily no but they had several design aspects mostly the electrical and primary ignition and our son and daughter are going to say yes because they would and would say we don't see why there would be a reason why I would say no would you find one. And there's several of us so I'll say Thor and Freya and our conjuring and there's several of his cadre race really Frank Castle hardcastle Duke nukem Blockbuster in about 10 more of us he says five women and five men yes for all of the above, Jason and Lily yes and they designed the tires and it was very good design and has been a staple for road tires since oh, Neil adamiak his signature chroming method worked very well for Harley-Davidson and he says yes even if our friend doesn't understand every single damned incident that ever happened in his very short lifespan so far, Garth Myers and sister Corrine yes and they helped design the color scheme with Tommy f and they came up with a special way of presenting it now they wanted to widen the forks and it made it to staple and Hallmark and with the tank and the forks it almost sold the bike completely, The Rock and wife yes and they help the sign the actual profile to be like a chopper when it first started coming out yes and there's more and the chopper design is for speed

There are more and we want you to submit it to Mac Daddy and he can share it with people and if there are any nays

And we're asking the max involved and one is not the screaming guy several of them are submitting in a secret ballot they're about 20 involved so far 10 are saying yes around 10:00 and now now there's 12 and that's a bad number so you have to move on you're up to 14 who say yes one is blabbing and they're increasing the tempo now you have about 16 yes and Mac will have to try and get them to verify it and the waiting for the remaining four who they say we're not on board the plane thank you and he's really tired and punchy exhausted needs more nutrients has been poisoned and threatened to rags and they get that. I believe we have 20 yes. There were some people funding it and some of them are not around Daniel says yes Hope design the motor and insisted on the tie downs and our son didn't know why until later so they had to put them in and he wants in on the action so we are going to request ability to make the 883 and others are too and initial investment into the 883 it's just like with every other new motor very welcome his funding then we'll try to match others will too they say including the max and besides Trump's three and Lori and several others there are about 15 women two of them are always around and it is Jenna she helped with the color coordination of Harley Davidson to make it block letters and to make it clear and with the Chrome lettering she says yes, and the two playing The joker and Harley Quinn are saying yes and they helped study it and test it and put rubber grommets in when needed and it was needed in case you bought him out and people bought him down yes and yes, Justin says yes and says I'm in a movie and people like it and I'm in trouble and yes for his wife who we think is missing not Dead okay Justin, there's several others there's the girl who is friends with Timmy Doyle she came up with a smaller seat for ladies yes and her husband who came up with a kosher seed for men yes and he says we got to get him on board and we will, we don't need a smaller seed that's been explained, and there are several other women and several Mac women and a totally about 20 were involved some are financiers and want to finance and we will accept that and we're sending it to Mac Daddy. He's going to have a complete list of names and he's going to go through it and he is going to start to talk to manufacturers the motor is going to be very hot there's tons of demands already he wants to names in please confirm me the next 10 to 15 minutes to get it done and we're going to look for those who want to manufacturer on the list and stop making that stupid noise Chris you don't have a factory it says I'll use trumps you mean you'll have him do it no.. what will it be just look at the fax, I don't want to look at the damn fake facts and stop talking this way you stupid idiot so I'm going to try and get this done now I'm starting to get some in from my boys I'll say they're still alive and okay the obvious answer

Mac Daddy

Olympus

[nyangibun]

"white saviour" "white feminist" that's so racist, you know that, right? Just stop it. It's racist. Not this is not hate, please don't take it that way. But it's just wrong. No, I'm not white. Just someone that hates this color shit that's everywhere. RACISM ITS BAD

Oh honey… 

I don’t know if you’re trolling, in which case you really need to get a life. You literally came into my ask to be a dick to someone who’ll get the last word in. There is literally no way for you to win this argument by virtue of me always going to have a rebuttal. Seriously, go do something productive. Youtube videos of baby animals. 

And if you’re not trolling, I repeat: oh honey… 

Let me begin with:��“white saviour”. This is a modern day term derived from Rudyard Kipling’s The White Man’s Burden. In the poem, Kipling is urging the United States to basically take up colonialism as Britain and other European nations have done at the time of its publication in 1899. What the poem is basically about is the very racist notion that other countries (and by Others, Kipling meant non-white countries in Asia, Africa, the Carribean, etc) cannot govern themselves and therefore need to be colonised. It is the ‘White Man’s Burden’ to educate them and save their souls, so to speak. You can see how this is incredibly laced in racism, and I think with the benefit of retrospection, we can all say that colonialism was bad. 

The “White Saviour” term applies in various forms to modern day society. I’ll look at specifically the narrative context. Many Hollywood movies will set their stories in another country, depicting some conflict between the natives and a villainous group (other natives, a monster, aliens, whatever). They’re losing and in dire need of saving. All hope is lost, but then wait… who’s that? It’s Matt Damon a white man/woman! Yay, aren’t these non-white folks so lucky to have said white saviour? This once again implies that non-white people are Others and are completely incapable of governing or saving themselves. It’s an immensely racist way of thinking that should’ve ended with colonialism. 

Now, you mentioned “White Feminism” as well – well, this refers to the ignorant or blatant indifference white feminists have for people of colour, lgbtqia women, disabled women, etcetc. White feminism only takes into account the issues facing them without understanding the different nuances that a person’s race, gender, sexuality, religious affiliations, disability, etc. affect their experiences as women. It’s not even a modern day term. The British suffragette movement, while very historic and powerful, were also notoriously exclusive of women of colour. They didn’t want POC’s to benefit from the same rights they were fighting towards. This complete exclusion and disregard for women of colour is a continuous and pervasive toxic parasite in the feminist movement. 

You want to see some modern day examples, simply look at the recent US elections. 62% of white women voted for Trump, who we can all agree is a racist, sexist, homophobic orange asshat. 95% of black women, 81% of non-white women and 70% of hispanic women voted for Clinton in contrast. 

White feminism is a real concept and it is incredibly harmful to feminism as a movement. Racism is the systemic oppression of marginalised groups based upon the colour of their skin. 

Yes, racism is BAD as you say, so maybe you should educate yourself more about it, instead of coming into a stranger’s ask, which is in no way productive for anyone. 

[ultimatebottom69]

Oh please I am not even American and I am not voting. Also it's so funny to see the USA people just sayinga nd screaming and thrlwing up about how both are bad meanwhile the whole world is watching you all with the batted breath of a parent watching their child once more trying to eat the fucking paint that contains lead. You know the paint that made the child go to the hospital which ruined the world's economic.

Like please. The USA has and always has been in a two major parties election debate. The one time you all whatever you are decided to go "Nooo Imma vote for the third option wawa" well Bush happened. So. The last 50% of all voters went "Hey I don't need to vote" Trump happened.

And see I love seeing post like this who are like "Hey convince me" and then when you pull out actual facts over feelings (a sentence a lot of you like by the way until we use it against you) suddenly it's "Waa No here is a false rule I invented to feel better about myself. You are a dirty dity cootie infested liberaaaal" .

It never fucking stops. Every election. Every comment under a presidential debate tag.

So your weak "I never said Trump" is absolutely hilarious. To me who knows the USA only has to fucking choices since no one seems to worry about the election system in the country until their is an election. It's like knowing there is a fucking gas leak in the building but you worry over it only when your two guns and a single metal pin who has no relevancy whatsoever start to talk everyone goes "Oh yeah I had that shit going on."

Like don't get me wrong. This is the USA website. And I did study you all very long and hard and frankly except between Magas who would vote for Trump even if....Well the only thing so far he hasn't done on camera is kill a fucking baby at this point. Like a living baby not a mere pile of flesh stuck in a woman's uterus because yeah in europe we don't even have that debate so I don't understand the struggle at all but whatever helps them sleep at night. Knowing that babies will be birted just to srink water infected with lead. Like sure fight for babies rights yea...It would be nice that the spirit follows when the fucker is out of the womb too but I disgress.

And now we have people like you. Who are on the fence about how both sides are bad that pretend they need convincing to vote for her. Well let's be clear honey. We both know you are not even going to go vote. Like you don't want to vote for Trump or Harris cool for you. Unfortunately everytime I meet someone like you I feel like explaining to a child how the world works because UNFORTUNATELY due to how your country is built. There is only these two options. Other votes are a waste of space since the one time it worked in 2000 where the child decided he didn't want either Mcdonald or Lûnchables. He wanted spaghetti...well the jury decided that yoi all would get lunchables anyway. Hi Bush.

And everytime. At every election i hear the fated "It will be only 4 years. Don't be such piss babies."

Well brenda. How did it work out so far ?

So sincerely OP. You can debate with me or whatever I don't mind I like hearing people's opinions and things but calling me a "filthy clotie filled liberaaaal" is so funny to me since I am a filthy European and I am just tired of watching the USA's people cry and whimper over the only real freedom they ever had which has no taxes unless I am wrong.

So anyway. What were you saying again ?

It's a simple request liberals.

"Who do I vote for that won't actively fund and participate in a genocide?"

Answer that without mentioning trump, and I'll consider voting harris.

[oopsallhorrors]

Please help, my boyfriend and I are more politically opposed than I thought and I don't know how to feel

So after the earth-shattering news today that President trump unleashed on the American Public through twitter, I sent my boyfriend a series of seething texts expressing how enraged I was of this newest setback in the LGBT rights movement. I mentioned how the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell legislation was repealed only a few years ago and this is a massive step backwards.

I was hoping to get a response somewhere along the lines of “Oh god that’s awful, this isn’t okay,” or “This makes me so mad” or even a “Damn, that sucks.”

Instead he wrote “I understand that and it’s not alright, but I feel like we should let the generals and soldiers make the rules, because the army works different than the everyday life of a citizen and your not really an individual when you’re in an army, but part of something bigger and part of a “machine”.

And

“Why was Don’t ask Don’t tell that bad? It seems great to me.”

And I’m just… speechless.

I’ve always known that my boyfriend wasn’t exactly a spokesperson of LGBT or feminist issues, as I’ve had to correct and explain many things to him over the two years we’ve been together such as terminology, certain political schools of thought, and how there is still room for a lot of improvement on all of these matters in the United States. But still, I’m bisexual and he knows this, and I also told him I was very liberal early in our relationship and he didn’t mind at all even though he’s moderate, so I continuously wrote off his ignorance as him being innocently misinformed since he rarely the internet or watches the news and has to hear about current events from his friends.

But this. This feels different. Since Trump was elected and I voted for Hillary and he voted third party we’ve started arguing more and more about politics, but he’s never said anything that has made me question if our sense of morals just too different

to;dr: How do you know when you and your partners’ politics are too different to continue a relationship? I really love my boyfriend and I know he loves me. He’s very supportive and caring and he treats me well, but I don’t think I can be with someone who turns a blind eye to transphobia. Maybe that’s not what he’s doing, but it sure feels like it.