#Netanyahu is helping Trump’s campaign

[cyarsk52-20]

I guess that revenge vote against VP Harris, who has no power to help then yet, isn’t working out for them.

I guess that revenge vote against VP Harris, who had no power to help you yet, isn’t working out for you. Isreal now owns your land, and Netanyahu is going to let Trump and Jared build on your land. You dumb Muthafuquers, all these Palestine people are going to be killed because you wanted revenge. Cutting off your nose to spite your face!

[lets-steal-an-archive]

By Bernie Sanders | July 13, 2024

I will do all that I can to see that President Biden is re-elected. Why? Despite my disagreements with him on particular issues, he has been the most effective president in the modern history of our country and is the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump — a demagogue and pathological liar. It’s time to learn a lesson from the progressive and centrist forces in France who, despite profound political differences, came together this week to soundly defeat right-wing extremism.

I strongly disagree with Mr. Biden on the question of U.S. support for Israel’s horrific war against the Palestinian people. The United States should not provide Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing extremist government with another nickel as it continues to create one of the worst humanitarian disasters in modern history.

I strongly disagree with the president’s belief that the Affordable Care Act, as useful as it has been, will ever address America’s health care crisis. Our health care system is broken, dysfunctional and wildly expensive and needs to be replaced with a “Medicare for all” single-payer system. Health care is a human right.

And those are not my only disagreements with Mr. Biden.

But for over two weeks now, the corporate media has obsessively focused on the June presidential debate and the cognitive capabilities of a man who has, perhaps, the most difficult and stressful job in the world. The media has frantically searched for every living human being who no longer supports the president or any neurologist who wants to appear on TV. Unfortunately, too many Democrats have joined that circular firing squad.

Yes. I know: Mr. Biden is old, is prone to gaffes, walks stiffly and had a disastrous debate with Mr. Trump. But this I also know: A presidential election is not an entertainment contest. It does not begin or end with a 90-minute debate.

Enough! Mr. Biden may not be the ideal candidate, but he will be the candidate and should be the candidate. And with an effective campaign taht speaks to the needs of working families, he will not only defeat Mr. Trump but beat him badly. It’s time for Democrats to stop the bickering and nit-picking.

I understand that some Democrats get nervous about having to explain the president’s gaffes and misspeaking names. But unlike the Republicans, they do not have to explain away a candidate who now has 34 felony convictions and faces charges that could lead to dozens of additional convictions, who has been hit with a $5 million judgment after he was found liable in a sexual abuse case, who has been involved in more than 4,000 lawsuits, who has repeatedly gone bankrupt and who has told thousands of documented lies and falsehoods.

Supporters of Mr. Biden can speak proudly about a good and decent Democratic president with a record of real accomplishment. The Biden administration, as a result of the American Rescue Plan, helped rebuild the economy during the pandemic far faster than economists thought possible. At a time when people were terrified about the future, the president and those of us who supported him in Congress put Americans back to work, provided cash benefits to desperate parents and protected small businesses, hospitals, schools and child care centers.

After decades of talk about our crumbling roads, bridges and water systems, we put more money into rebuilding America’s infrastructure than ever before — which is projected to create millions of well-paying jobs. And we did not stop there. We made the largest-ever investment in climate action to save the planet. We canceled student debt for nearly five million financially strapped Americans. We cut prices for insulin and asthma inhalers, capped out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs and got free vaccines to the American people. We battled to defend women’s rights in the face of moves by Trump-appointed jurists to roll back reproductive freedom and deny women the right to control their own bodies.

So, yes, Mr. Biden has a record to run on. A strong record. But he and his supporters should never suggest that what’s been accomplished is sufficient. To win the election, the president must do more than just defend his excellent record. He needs to propose and fight for a bold agenda that speaks to the needs of the vast majority of our people — the working families of this country, the people who have been left behind for far too long.

At a time when the billionaires have never had it so good and when the United States is experiencing virtually unprecedented income and wealth inequality, over 60 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, real weekly wages for the average worker have not risen in over 50 years, 25 percent of seniors live each year on $15,000 or less, we have a higher rate of childhood poverty than almost any other major country, and housing is becoming more and more unaffordable — among other crises.

This is the wealthiest country in the history of the world. We can do better. We must do better. Joe Biden knows that. Donald Trump does not. Joe Biden wants to tax the rich so that we can fund the needs of working families, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor. Donald Trump wants to cut taxes for the billionaire class. Joe Biden wants to expand Social Security benefits. Donald Trump and his friends want to weaken Social Security. Joe Biden wants to make it easier for workers to form unions and collectively bargain for better wages and benefits. Donald Trump wants to let multinational corporations get away with exploiting workers and ripping off consumers. Joe Biden respects democracy. Donald Trump attacks it.

This election offers a stark choice on issue after issue. If Mr. Biden and his supporters focus on these issues — and refuse to be divided and distracted — the president will rally working families to his side in the industrial Midwest swing states and elsewhere and win the November election. And let me say this as emphatically as I can: For the sake of our kids and future generations, he must win.

Bernie Sanders is the senior senator from Vermont.

[thebreakfastgenie]

If Harris' campaign was faultless is that you saying that you support genocide or like, that you didn't know about her pro-genocide stance?

You know I've kept quiet about this for various reasons but I think that was a mistake.

Referring to the Harris's position as a "pro-genocide stance" is a bad rhetorical trick. The left has done it before, calling people COVID-deniers and climate-deniers for not sharing your exact position. It's not helping your cause. Most people don't see "support for Israel in line with the mainstream status quo" as a "pro-genocide stance." I don't believe that deep down you really think Harris's position is identical to full-throated support for genocide. Only one candidate has said he wants Gaza turned into a parking lot. That candidate won, so come January you're probably going to find out what full-throated American support for genocide looks like. People who don't agree with your description of Harris's policies as pro-genocide think you sound absurd. They think you're a crank with fringe positions. Whether you're right or not always using the most extreme possible language is only alienating more people and making fewer people take you seriously. Having observed this for a while now, I don't believe most cases are people trying to make a sincere moral argument. Most cases I see, like your message, are bad faith shock value. I see this happen so much, you confuse radical politics with base edginess.

It's not doing anything to help Palestinians. Your screaming at people that they support genocide because they won't want Trump to be president hasn't worked. Now the guy with a settlement named after him is going to be in charge and he's already said he'll let Netanyahu do whatever he wants. If I turned around what you say to Democrats on you, and said you need to do a better job of persuading people and not alienating them, you'd probably say "but there's genocide on the line!" But... that's exactly it, isn't it? If making rhetorical concessions and saying things you found cringe, or you generally feeling kinda bad, was the price of stopping a genocide, wouldn't it be worth it? This kind of messaging comes from people who are more invested in the moral high ground of yelling at people about genocide than in doing anything about it. I don't respect that.

[gveret-fic]

Sorry but all you Americans actively campaigning against Kamala Harris right now are insane.

Republicans have passed a bill to compel the shipment of weapons to Israel.

Ben Gvir has endorsed Trump.

Miriam Adelson, who donated $20 million to Trump in exchange for moving the US embassy to Jerusalem (which he did), wants him to help annex the West Bank.

Meanwhile Trump himself says he'd give Israel the support it needs to win and Netanyahu seems to be deliberately delaying a ceasefire deal for a Trump win.

Let me tell you what four years of a right-wing extremist religiously fundamentalist anti-democratic government can do. Actually, I don't need to tell you, you've all been watching intently for months now. And it didn't even take four years. It took one.

You think your country is a fascist imperialist mass murdering theocracy now? You haven't developed the political imagination necessary to conceptualize how much worse it can get. But Trump can certainly help you with that.

[pudding-parade]

Sorry, but I have to get political on all your asses, at least those of you who live in the US. It will be a one-time thing on this subject, the only thing that I will say here about the election before it happens. And yeah, I'm going to say this on a blog devoted to a stupid video game. Why? Because I know that I have younger American people who follow me here, and if y'all are like some of the younger people I've talked to in real life and online in other venues, I have concerns. So I'm going to say all this as an old-ass, progressive American. Because if I can wake up one apathetic mind out there, it will be worth it. And if you're pissed at me for making a single political post at this important juncture, then fuck off and unfollow me or send me nasty messages or whatever you want to do. I don't care. And I'm not cutting this, either.

My dear followers: Donald Trump cannot -- CANNOT -- become president again.

Late last night, Trump posted on his Truth Social account a video containing language and images reminiscent of the World War era. It was about his fantasies of what America would be like, should he win the general election in about five months. It contained suspicious imagery and phrases like "creating a unified Reich." Does that sort of language sound familiar? Especially when combined with his rhetoric about immigrants being "vermin" that "poison the blood of our country?" Ring any bells? I'm sure it does for any German folks who might read this.

Trump's post was only taken down about 12 hours later, after backlash over it, and then Trump claimed that a "low level staffer" posted it, not him. Which is either a lie OR he was lying when he said previously that only he and his campaign's communications director have or will ever have access to that account. If you want more info about this, here's a short video from Jesse Dollemore, an independent commentator:

This election isn't about liberal/progressive vs. conservative. It truly doesn't matter what your personal ideology is because this election is about saving democracy. This is about preserving your freedoms, because we won't be able to do anything about any other issue, whatever our individual ideologies and pet issues are, if our basic freedoms upon which this country was founded -- freedom of speech and to protest, freedom of (and from) religion, freedom of the press -- are chipped away until they are gone. Because that's what autocrats do. They want freedom only for themselves, and Donald Trump and his cronies and hangers-on are all autocrat wannabes.

And if you -- Yes, you, even if you're sitting in the middle of blood-red state -- don't vote for Joe Biden, you will be doing your part to hand the autocrats what they want, because a non-vote or a vote for anyone other than Biden is in fact a vote for Trump and autocracy. Similarly, you must also vote for Democrats for all other positions, local, state, and federal so that America's overt flirtation with autocracy that's been going on since at least the 1990s might finally end once and for all.

Yes, yes, I know: "But Genocide Joe!" Think about it: Do you seriously think that Trump, who licks Netanyahu's asshole because he sees him as the kind of "strong man" that Trump wants to be, is going to help Gaza? Or that he'll go against Putin and continue aid to Ukraine? Because if you think that he will do either of those things, I have several bridges I'd like to sell you. No, Trump is going to "put America first." He says it all the time, and what he means by that is that he will do nothing except whatever it takes to keep himself and his cronies in power while also isolating America by severing ties to our allies. Gaza will be given to Netanyahu just as Ukraine will be given to Putin, should Trump win, and he won't give a shit. In the end, Biden (and Harris, should she have to take over) will listen and help Gaza, maybe not as much as we'd like because the Middle East situation is complicated and there are no simple solutions, but a Biden-led government will certainly help more than another Trumpian government would. And Biden will definitely continue to aid Ukraine, because that situation isn't complicated at all.

And in the end, it's not really about Ukraine and Gaza, though they are of course important. It's about us. Should Trump get into the White House again, he will surround himself with people who want America to be a plutocratic and authoritarian autocracy, very similar to Putin's Russia. This is not hyperbole. This is fact. A vote for Trump -- either actual or de facto by fucking around with not voting or voting for a third party because you think it's a "protest" -- is a vote to end democracy, plain and simple, which might very well mean that you'll never be able to protest again another day.

How bad could Trump be, you ask? Who cares who is president? Well, have a look at Project 2025. It's a 900-page "playbook" for the next "conservative" administration. (In quotes because there is nothing "conservative" about these people, including Trump and his cronies; they are radicals.) It is nothing less than a plan to destroy the federal government, the Constitution, and the freedoms that it enshrines and protects, which means the end of democracy. They published a similar tome before Reagan was elected, and once he was in, Reagan followed through with a lot of it. I have no doubt that Trump would, too, given that his "Agenda 47" platform is basically the same. Here is an article that summarizes Project 2025 and details some of its directives. And here is an article from Time Magazine, of all things, where the writer of it interviewed Trump about his vision for America, should he win. The first line of the article is, "Donald Trump thinks he’s identified a crucial mistake of his first term: He was too nice." You can read the transcripts of the interviews, too, so you can rest assured that the interviewer isn't being hyperbolic.

It ain't good, folks. Part of this extreme-right agenda is ridiculously expanding the power of the executive branch so that it would no longer be checked and balanced by Congress and the Supreme Court, which effectively turns the presidency into a dictatorship. And if Biden does not win, at least some of this bullshit will come to pass, especially because Trump already has the Supreme Court in his pocket. And he'll be able to appoint more young, far-right lunatics to that, too, should he win.

I'll repeat that Trump CANNOT win. I'll be the first to say that, as a pretty extreme (but also pragmatic) progressive, I'm not Biden's biggest fan, for various reasons. He is way farther right than I am, though he has been far more progressive-friendly than I expected and he has gotten some very good things done. But even if he wasn't and hadn't, he will preserve democracy and because of that, I will be voting for him without hesitation. I won't even have to hold my nose. Trump and his cronies in Congress and the Supreme Court will destroy democracy if you -- Yes, YOU! -- let them. And if you let them by deciding not to vote or doing some sort of lame "protest" vote, especially if you live in that handful of states where every presidential vote matters, you will have no one to blame but yourself and others like you. People being apathetic or doing "protest" votes is what got us Trump the first time around.

For fuck's sake, do the right thing.

[h--hannah--h]

something i’m not hearing anyone say is that even if palestine is the only thing you care about in this election you should still be doing everything in your power to keep trump out of office, because although trump hasn’t taken the firmest stance against palestine (to my knowledge), he has made his opinions on muslims and “terrorists” EXTREMELY clear, and i have zero doubts that if he wins he will start contributing to the genocide directly. even if kamala continues on with biden’s inaction, it will be less awful than what trump will probably do to help his friend netanyahu. especially when you consider that historically kamala has been better than biden on foreign policy. i’m not just voting blue for the sake of the US, i also know what republicans will do to palestine if we let them win.

with that said the comment kamala made in the video going around was insanely stupid both in general and for the campaign, i really hope she turns it around somehow and avoids the division that that bullshit will cause

[girlactionfigure]

🚨 IDF PREPARES FOR GROUND MANEUVERS AGAINST HEZBOLLAH, CALLS UP RESERVE BRIGADES TO DEFEND NORTHERN ISRAEL 🚨

⚠️ The IDF has successfully completed airstrikes on 60 Hezbollah targets, guided by the Intelligence Directorate. These strikes targeted Hezbollah's intelligence infrastructure, including intelligence-gathering tools and command centers, which are critical to the enemy’s situational assessment capabilities. See illustration image.

🚨 In light of the ongoing conflict with Hezbollah, the IDF has called up two reserve brigades for operations in the northern arena. This mobilization is essential to maintain defense efforts against Hezbollah and to create conditions that would allow residents in northern Israel to safely return to their homes.

🚨 Major General Ori Gordin, the Commanding Officer of the IDF Northern Command, has indicated that the army is prepared for ground maneuvers as the conflict with Hezbollah enters a new phase. He emphasized the readiness of armored forces, although the government has yet to authorize an invasion of Lebanon. During a visit to the 7th Brigade at the northern border, MG Gordin stressed the importance of preparedness to shift the security dynamics and allow the safe return of northern residents. He also noted the operation, named Northern Arrows, has already inflicted significant damage on Hezbollah’s firepower and leadership.

⚠️ American officials have suggested that the situation in Lebanon is approaching a full-scale war. Despite the U.S. administration’s reluctance to use the term, the rapidly escalating conflict indicates Washington’s diminishing ability to influence the situation.

⚠️ Hospital directors in central Israel, south of Haifa, have been instructed by security officials to increase their alert level in anticipation of potential emergency admissions. Hospitals are preparing to receive patients from northern Israel and to handle additional casualties, should the situation escalate.

⚠️ Meanwhile, the IDF launched another strike deep into Lebanon, targeting Ras Al-Ata, about 30 kilometers north of Beirut. According to Sky News Arabic, the strike resulted in the elimination of senior Hezbollah field commander, Fuad Shafiq Khazal.

🎗️In a broader diplomatic effort, Reuters reports that the U.S. is pushing for a ceasefire agreement linking Lebanon and Gaza. Prime Minister Netanyahu informed his ministers that he has authorized Ron Dermer to communicate to the U.S. that Israel is open to a temporary ceasefire in Lebanon to negotiate Hezbollah's withdrawal without further conflict. While the chances of this deal materializing are considered low by Israeli officials, agreeing to the proposal could help Israel gain international legitimacy if Hezbollah refuses.

The U.S. is keen on securing a ceasefire for several reasons:

1. The upcoming U.S. elections are just over a month away, and the Biden-Harris administration is eager to achieve a ceasefire agreement in Gaza or secure the release of hostages, a demand from the progressive base of the Democratic Party.

2. The lack of progress in securing peace only strengthens former President Trump’s position. Republicans argue that under Trump’s leadership, the war might not have broken out. With Trump positioning himself as the candidate who can prevent wars, this situation bolsters his standing.

3. Uncommitted Democratic voters could boycott Vice President Harris if no ceasefire is reached, a concern for her campaign, as losing these votes could sway the election in Trump’s favor.

After previous unsuccessful attempts to secure a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, more ambitious efforts are now underway as noted above, according to journalist Amit Segal. However, a Lebanese report from Hezbollah states that the group rejects any ceasefire involving Lebanon unless it also includes Gaza.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Ellie Quinland Houghtaling at TNR:

He may not be in office, but Donald Trump has been speaking with the powers that be about Israel’s war on Gaza—but it’s not in an effort to end the genocide. Instead, Trump has allegedly been talking with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to avert a cease-fire deal, fearing that doing so could help Vice President Kamala Harris win in November, according to PBS. “The reporting is that former President Trump is on the phone with the Prime Minister of Israel, urging him not to cut a deal right now, because it’s believed that would help the Harris campaign,” said PBS’s Judy Woodruff Monday night. “So, I don’t know where—who knows whether that will come about or not, but I have to think that the Harris campaign would like for President Biden to do what presidents do, and that’s to work on that one.” It wasn’t immediately clear if Woodruff was referring to a new report, or an Axios story last week that cited two U.S. sources as claiming that Trump and Netanyahu had spoken on the phone about cease-fire and Gaza hostage talks. Netanyahu’s office and Trump both separately denied the report. “I did encourage him to get this over with. You want to get it over with fast. Have victory, get your victory, and get it over with. It has to stop, the killing has to stop,” Trump said at a New Jersey press conference on Thursday, referring to their meeting at Mar-a-Lago last month. But he also criticized cease-fire demands.

Donald Trump’s scheme to deny Kamala Harris and Joe Biden a chance to negotiate a ceasefire to end the war in Gaza for political reasons is a brazen violation of the Logan Act, as Trump has advised Israel Apartheid State PM Benjamin Netanyahu to NOT negotiate a ceasefire deal.

[amaditalks]

“He may not be in office, but Donald Trump has been speaking with the powers that be about Israel’s war on Gaza—but it’s not in an effort to end the genocide.

Instead, Trump has allegedly been talking with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to avert a cease-fire deal, fearing that doing so could help Vice President Kamala Harris win in November, according to PBS.

“The reporting is that former President Trump is on the phone with the Prime Minister of Israel, urging him not to cut a deal right now, because it’s believed that would help the Harris campaign,” said PBS’s Judy Woodruff Monday night. “So, I don’t know where—who knows whether that will come about or not, but I have to think that the Harris campaign would like for President Biden to do what presidents do, and that’s to work on that one.”

It wasn’t immediately clear if Woodruff was referring to a new report, or an Axios story last week that cited two U.S. sources as claiming that Trump and Netanyahu had spoken on the phone about cease-fire and Gaza hostage talks. Netanyahu’s office and Trump both separately denied the report.”

****

Right now, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is in Israel, trying to get the ceasefire and long-term peace deal that both Israel and Hamas have already tentatively agreed to hammered out and brought to fruition. President Biden has been clear that this is one of his top priorities for his remaining months in office. Kamala Harris has made it clear that this is something that must get done. Even with a tentative agreement, both sides are slow walking the process of ending this ongoing horror.

It would be exactly like Trump and completely in line with his long-term behavior for him to try to undercut this peace process, at the cost of human lives, for his own benefit. That’s who he is. And he and Netanyahu are close. Biden and Netanyahu very much are not. He and Netanyahu are both, after all, criminals. Birds of a feather and all of that.

I cannot reiterate more strongly, especially for those of you who are still hedging about voting for Kamala Harris because of Palestine that you are making a grave error and have been all along. It is time to course correct.

If you care about the lives of Palestinian people, you cannot do anything that risks Donald Trump returning to the White House. End of story. 

[mask131]

Since the French news have been blasting about the US elections since this morning, here are (if you are interested) some of the points highlighted by French commentators, journalists, politicians, politologists, and that I randomly caught this morning. If you wonder how French media are seeing this:

There are "racial minorities" among the Trump supporters and followers, despite Trump's openly racist and borderline eugenic discourse. Especially among the Latino people, where Trump gained quite a following. Why? Most of the non-White voters of Trump are men, and adhere to his conservative ideals beyond his racism. Especially over one point: homophobia. His Latino followers are hoping that by electing him they will get rid of transgenders people and the "woke madness" once and for all - this specific point of his campaign, despite actually being quite "minor", truly was a big thing for them, and his fearmongering about "Schools will turn your little boys into little girls" echoed with them. Latinos aren't the only minority to vote for Trump, but they are the ones French media speak the most about.

Turns out, Kamala Harris didn't cause a massive support of women across America: many of them still voted Trump. On a related note, commentators noted that it seems the United-States really are not willing to have a female president at all.

Part of the reason why people didn't see the red wave coming was because they under-estimated the middle-class, which is where Trump has his greatest following. The middle-class, and the literal middle of America, as this is where he resonated the most, unlike the coasts where he met some resistance (though it has been noted the coasts are more "upper-class" than the rest of the country)

Another part is how people neglected the economical factor: most Trump followers, many of those that voted for Trump, are putting their hopes and faith in him for bringing back the financial ease and comfortable lifestyle they used to have, for battling the financial crisis and inflation. Turns out, money IS indeed the motor of everything, and it was Trump's promises of money and wealth for everybody that truly won them over.

That and immigration: these are apparently the two big points that truly had Trump winning, from New-York where people are inded fed up with the mayor's handling of immigrants, to Kansas where... there's one of the smallest number of immigrants, almost none, but they're still very firghtened and angry at the issue. Trump's promises of sending the army down to the Mexican border had already formed a following base years before, but now he is also pulling on the lever of "I will bring back your men home so that they won't have to die in another land for foreigners". Interestingly, it means that with him (and his followers) the USA is giving up its former role of being the arbitrator of the world and the "policeman global conflicts". Trump promises that the American army will only care about the USA, its borders and nothing else. Even though it is also a lie because whole he speaks of bringing the soldiers home, he of course has a whole different discourse when it comes to the weapons and political plays. By this I mean:

Trump is very insistent on defending, protecting, helping Israel - or, to be more precise, he is very clear that he is a good friend and the main support of Netanyahu, and that he will help him lead his wars as much as he can. He will also helps them worsen, because unlike for example Biden and Harris which after unconditional support for Israel admitted things were going to far, a ceasfire was needed, and denounced Israel causing disastrous mass-deaths, Trump is very clear that he doesn't believe in ceasefires, nor does he belive that Israel and Palestine can coexist peacefully. Furthermore: Trump aligns on Israel because he has a strong personal beef with Iran, which is one of Israel's main enemies, originally in a more indirect, but now much more direct way. Trump even suggested that Israel be more open and violent in its attacks of Iran, even saying they should hit nuclear sites. It doesn't help that Iran is one of the countries suspected of trying to mess up with the votes and parazite the campaigns with misinformation (the other big one being Russia, but since Trump loves Putin he doesn't speak much about THIS invasion of American politics).

The fascinating thing is that there ARE Muslim followers of Trump. Muslim Trumpists exist, despite all the above, and Trump's fearmongering based on Islamic terrorism. French journalists asked them why they voted for Trump, and their answer was "To punish Biden". They wanted to punish Biden (and by extension Harris) for helping Israel in the Israel-Palestine conflict. When answered back that Trump vowed to prevent any Muslim person from entering the USA and to reject Palestinian immigrants, the Muslim voters explained that at least Trump only closed the frontier, while Biden "killed" their "brothers".

Another consequence of Trump's promises to have all American soldiers return home: it is likely the American forces will pull out of Ukraine. It was already a big complaint on his part to send so much money in Europe, and when he met with Zelensky he publicly said that he considered on the same level as Putin and wouldn't favor any of them. Add to that how much he said that Putin was great and his friend, and how he said with him the Ukrainian war would be solved in 24 hours, and how ominously Putin's official message after the election was "The Kremlin will judge the new president on his actions, not his intentions"... Oh yes and how Trump LITERALY SAID "Ukraine is gone" not that long ago, despite Ukraine still fighting for its life and to defend Europe as a whole... It is pretty clear that Trump just wants to kick Ukraine into Russia's maw, and that his "solution" for the war is to have Russia win Ukraine. As he said for the Israel-Palestine conflict, he doesn't believe in ceasefire nor in peaceful cohabitation... It also helps that a LOT of his followers don't know where Ukraine is or what it looks like, and that many of them didn't even know Ukraine existed before Russia attacked it.

Because of this, the French president official reaction to Trump's election was first a message saying "Congrats for winning by a landslide", quickly followed by another one saying "I am very happy to announce that me and the Chancellor of Germany are going to work on making a stronger, safer, more independant Europe". Aka: we know that Europe can't count on America anymore, we know that we have been too Americanized and have grown dependant of the USA, time to pull ourselves together and let America in its own mess.

Oh and also: since Trump believes climate change is a scam, despite huge storms hitting twice where he lives with disastrous consequences, and promises to rely a lot on fossil fuel and polluting business to bring back American economy to the top and make the USA the wealthiest country... The world is kind of fucked as a whole, and the weather is going to be FAR WORSE.

Plus: this time Trump's domination is far more powerful than before, as he got almost full powers, benefits from the consequences of his previous presidency, doesn't have people against him in his own party (unlike the first time he got elected), has gotten rid of those that tried to criticize or slow him down around him, AND this time he actually knows what he is doing, as the first time it seemed he wasn't planning on actually becoming president.

There's probably more about it, but that's just a handful of what I got from the news channel this morning as I woke up. Be it true or false, whether you agree or not, I just share in case you ever wondered how it looks from over here.

Now back to regular programs.

[mariacallous]

I know a lot of them are just Russian bots running psyop campaigns, but I wonder how many of the people refusing to vote for Harris because of Gaza realize that they're doing exactly what Netanyahu wants them to do. He clearly wants Trump to win and knows that Gaza supporters aren't going to vote for Trump, so the best he can hope for is for them to not vote at all (or vote for Jill Stein, which is functionally the same as not voting given that she polls at 2% on a good day).

There are two candidates with a chance to win. One of them clearly doesn't care about Gaza and would be advised by people like Jared Kushner, who talks about Gaza's valuable "beachfront property." The other cares at least a little about Gaza and would be advised by at least some people who care a lot about it. I think it's safe to say who the people of Gaza would rather see win.

And that's not even mentioning the West Bank, where the Biden administration has placed sanctions on extremist Israeli settlers over the loud objections of hardliners in the Israeli government, something that would almost certainly be maintained and maybe even expanded under Harris but would probably be undone under Trump.

Voting for Jill Stein or refusing to vote isn't helping Palestinians, it's letting Russian trolls trick you into doing Netanyahu's bidding.

A lot of them don’t care, or at least say they don’t.

[fuzzballsheltiepants]

People always want to say that we shouldn't let politics divide us. That used to be true. The thing is, voting for Trump in this election tells me a lot about who you are as a person. So does abstaining, or voting third party.

If you support Trump, you are telling the world that you don't care about disadvantaged people, you don't care about the LGBTQ+ community, you don't care about the Black community, the Indigenous community, the Latino community. You don't care about pregnant people having complications, or those who don't wish to be pregnant. You don't care about seniors, who are looking at loss of Social Security and Medicare prescription benefits, and the retirement age being raised. You don't care about your own right to vote in the future. If you support Trump, you don't care about honesty, or decency, or fidelity. You don't care about competence. You can deny this, but if at the same time you're filling out your ballot for this man, your denials will ring hollow.

In the past 2 weeks, we've seen Trump's campaign have a horrifically racist rally in MSG. We've seen him threaten political enemies with facing a firing squad. We've seen him pretend to fellate a microphone. We've seen him lie about knowing Epstein, and we've gotten access to tapes of Epstein talking about the real Donald Trump, the one who he was friends with for decades. And we've seen him once again dog-whistling the Proud Boys.

You were paying less for groceries in 2019? Yeah, blame the corporations who took advantage of supply chain shortages to jack up prices and then decided those higher prices were what the market would bear. The government doesn't set grocery prices, and Harris actually has a plan to try to stop price gouging and collusion. Trump has a plan to once again add tariffs to China, something he did in his first term that had absolutely catastrophic effects on US farmers when China did the same to us and started getting their soybeans from Brazil instead. You may not remember the 28 billion dollar bailout that was given - ineffectually - to Iowa farmers, but you better believe the farmers do.

You don't agree with the US continuing to fund Israel's actions? Harris has challenged Netanyahu, called the situation a humanitarian crisis, and has, with the rest of the Biden administration, been trying to negotiate a ceasefire, only to be constantly stymied by Trump. Trump brags about being besties with Netanyahu, who he talks to regularly (despite that being, you know, illegal).

You're concerned about the border? Crossings are way down this year, to 2019 levels, and that's DESPITE the bipartisan border bill being crushed in Congress due to - you guessed it - Trump pressuring the GOP not to vote for it because he thought it would help him politically.

Your rent is out of control and you want to buy a house? Harris has a plan to build hundreds of thousands of new affordable homes AND help first-time homebuyers with down payments.

Your health care costs too much? How about the Harris prescription plan, which will cap ALL prescription costs, not just for seniors, and will cap ALL insulin at $35 regardless of age or healthcare plan?

You don't want to vote, or you insist on voting for Stein despite the fact that she has no plans, doesn't know how the government works, and has done zero for this country ever? You're telling us that it's more important to keep your own hands clean instead of helping take one tiny step in the direction of freedom, the direction of equality.

Your vote is your voice. And we can hear it.

[magapatriot64]

The most prestigious election in the world. The Presidency of the United States. Usually two candidates hammering out their agendas and their promises if they are able to win the most coveted job, the Presidency. Something changed. The Democrats have changed the game. Democrats no longer run on agenda. They have no agenda. Their goal? Destroying our America. How can they win after failure upon failure? Sell fear. Sell the people their opponent is bad for business. Lie about him and scare the people if they win our Democracy will end. Democracy? They mean Democrat Power. They use a rigged media to deliver nothing but lies, fear, and bullshit propaganda. Their message? Vote for us or die a slow death.

Democrats say if you are black and don’t vote for Kamala you should check your race and if you are white and don’t vote for Kamala you are racist. This here is their way to guilt you into voting for them.

They say Trump will be a dictator. They say Trump will cause bloodbaths in the streets if he loses. All lies. They tell you Trump is for the rich, wants to end Social Security, Medicare, low prescription prices. All lies and they know it. None of that matters when the coveted prize of power is at stake. It is no holds barred and they will eat their own to keep their quest for power and end our Constitutional Republic and replacing it with a NWO. They want to be the ruling class that rules the world.

If only the people who support the Dems could stop buying the bullshit and start opening their eyes and ears and learn the truth about the Party they defend and plan on voting for.

Kamala Harris already said the quiet part out loud. They want to depopulate the world. This isn’t fake propaganda, this is reality. They no longer support our most important ally, instead support the terrorists they are fighting. Proof? Kamala refused to meet with Netanyahu but if their money laundering CEO Zelensky came to town, they’d be rolling out the red carpet and another blank check. Where does it all end? It doesn’t if they stop Trump. They tried everything from smear campaigns, to trying to lock him up, when all failed they tried to end his life. Protecting Democracy simply means protecting the Democrat Party.

How important is this election? Imagine this. If the wheels on the bus, passage of time word salad Queen ever gets the White House it’s game over. You thought Biden was a puppet of the Obama far left? Kamala makes them all look like Conservatives compared to where she wants to take this country. The budget? What budget. They’ll be printing Monopoly money. Our schools? Education will be a thing if the past. It will be all about DEI training and government control. There will be no future because there will be no country. The open borders are all part of the plan. They are our replacements. They will be the slave class to help put their operation in motion. And that will start with getting rid of us. They already want to get rid of the old and sick. Just look at Canada. They think it’s ok to end your lives.

They want to control our food, our medicine, our doctors, mandating vaccines, and telling you how to live. Do you trust them? What the hell is in the food or water we ingest? What is in all the medicine we take? The only people that no their end game is we Conservatives and they know it. That is why they labeled us MAGA. Easier for them to find us and end us. Their mind games and controlling all started with having their base brainwashed against all of us and the end goal is to take us all out.

One problem. We all know this. Trump knows this. We also have goals. Our goals are simple. Keep Trump safe, return him to the White House, and flip the script by ending every last one of them, who is running their shit show, and finally returning our America. We have God. Our faith with the chosen one, Trump will end all this madness and restore civility forever in this the greatest Country in the world. My two cents.

👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻

[republikkkanorcs]

F—k you Bernie! Fair weather friend and opportunist. Your pride and misogny led to you and your bros protesting Hillary right up to the moment when she was nominated. You sat there at the convention falsely saying she was imminently going to be indicted and arrested. Then you made no significant effort to get your bros to vote for her. By dredging up decades of debunked Republican propaganda you tarnished her so badly she lost to Trump which was the root of this whole mess we’re facing now.

You are the main reason Trump won in ‘16. Had the orange mother f—ker lost he would have scurried back into his hole and not created the nationwide Neo-Nazi MAGA movement. And considering the amount of time you have spent in the Senate your record sucks. More than half of the few things you’ve gotten passed were renaming post offices so shut the f—k up. Your bros may have ignored your misogny towards Clinton, Warren, and Harris but the rest of us haven’t you egotistical f—k.

You god-damned Dem-Socialists want the Democratic Party to fail and that’s your long game. You want this so you can anoint yourself leader of a new cult party. Dragging the Democrats before the Republikkkans are smashed is going to cause a lot of hardship for the American people now. Maybe if your lackeys in the Squad hadn’t blamed Biden for what Netanyahu was doing Harris might have been elected. Your nonsense about Dems being to far right of center is complete bullshit propaganda. If you can’t bring yourself yo be a team player when democracy is literally on the line you need to get out of the way. You never organized your bros to help Biden or Harris. The only thing you should be blasting is your old man Vermont Cabot Cheese farts you miserable misogynistic bastard.

[vintageseawitch]

HEY CHECK IT OUT

what the fuck.

if you're out of the loop, there's been a TON of activity in political tiktok, specifically in the leftist space. an obvious talkie has been attempting to spread the lie that they were paid $15,000 by the DNC (which turns out to be a lie; it was $10,000 from a third party group called Vocal so the content creator can make content about Project 2025) & then made the claim that any content creator speaking well about Democrats were all getting paid to do so, which was also a lie & even if it wasn't, who cares? people put in a ton of work & don't often get paid enough.

the next big issue: this tankie, who is a white woman that lives in California, made an outrageous claim that Angela Davis wasn't a true member of the Black Panthers & now the explosive & entirely valid conversations about racism & white supremacy exist even in leftist spaces are taking that area by storm.

black women have been talking about it quite a bit & by now they're annoyed because it sounds like they're defending Kamala Harris even though they may not like her or her policies even if they may be voting for her anyways or not.

the input & knowledge from black women is important & we all need to listen. the fact is that as white people exist, we're living in a system founded on & upheld by white supremacy & what's worse is in leftist spaces, because people believe they're the ultimate ally, they don't need to put in anymore work.

but then things get sticky. things get uncomfortable. they have to be white saviors & once again, black & indigenous folks living here will pay the price.

certain leftists can claim they're anti-genocide as much as they wish but they're only partially against a specific one going on. i don't blame them for caring because everyone should give a damn about people going through something so horrific. that said, whatever horrors have been going on to our fellow man here don't seem to bother them as much. there may be some compassion here & there but nowhere near the level of devotion to people across an ocean from us.

then you get the shit in the above screenshot. a chaos agent. a putin puppet, who is stanned by the likes of Kshama Sawant, an accelerstionist as far as i can tell as well as Hassan Abdel Salam, both of whom have admitted they know they can't win but they want Harris to lose ignoring the fact that trump wants to deport them & others like them no matter how long they may have lived here. you get jill stein, someone who can immediately call netanyahu & Biden war criminals but when pressed about her precious putin suddenly she has a problem with "name calling" (the KGB should have trained her better). she's received money from Republicans for her campaign. she's getting help from trump lawyers. trump personally thanked her by name in a speech earlier this year because even he knows she's another tool for him.

it's wild how green party voters call those voting for Harris "blue maga" but they themselves are behaving more like original maga than they will care to admit let alone see. i'm not saying that there aren't those who think Harris is perfect, but i hardly see such blind devotion the way i see people have for trump & stein. both are cult leaders. they say things their followers want to hear.

stein's response?

oh no you don't. this was from 2016:

she's full of it. a KKK leader felt safe enough to endorse her & i'm now seeing her cult followers defending her, such as believing that he was paid by Democrats to do this & that we're apparently celebrating Dick Cheney's endorsement (i saw one comment saying people think Cheney is "brat" lmao) even though there had been zero celebrating & mostly trepidation & astonishment. he's clearly not voting for Harris because he has a change of heart; even if it's for selfish reasons, he & a bunch of other old Republicans see the danger that trump possesses. they're not agreeing with policies from Harris because she's "far right" (a bullshit claim anyways); they're agreeing that any extremist takeover is NOT GOOD. leftists refuse to see this perspective.

so like i mentioned earlier, it's white supremacy. jill stein has taken a once noble party & bastardized it to the point that white supremacists & antisemites feel safe in her space (i'm not saying that being pro-Palestine means you're an antisemite. i'm pointing out that Duke is also an antisemite). it's disgusting & disturbing. she's a wealthy white woman who won't be harmed by Project 2025. she wants trump to win & she & her rabid followers are working to make that happen.

third party voters, you aren't safe. you are accelerstionists to me now regardless of reason. your voting this way or not voting at all isn't brave or impressive, it's selfish, a surrender, cowardly. you don't want to get your hands dirty but when things go to shit you will refuse to take any responsibility for your part in it. the revolution you want so badly is nothing more than your version of the Rapture & the only revolution that will be happening is a fascist one because Republicans know how to play a long game to get real results unlike you leftists. they love that your tunnel vision self-righteousness makes you stupid & willing to throw your fellow vulnerable Americans under the bus so you get to feel morally superior.

you're monstrous. i'm not bothering to try to beg or play nice with you lot since you're no better than trump's maga. a former KKK leader endorsed your precious savior & nothing you say will change that. to make excuses is to make your space safe for white supremacy. you're unsafe.

[detroitpedxing]

In Interviews, Kamala Harris Continues to Bob and Weave

Her media swing showed how she often responds to uncomfortable questions by acknowledging them, yet not fully answering them.

Running an abbreviated campaign in the final sprint before Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris blitzed the media this week in a series of interviews to speak to voters who say they still don’t know enough about her.

One thing they learned: how she keeps answering the question she wants, not the one that was asked.

Politicians, and presidents in particular, have long treated the ability to bob and weave through uncomfortable questions while remaining on message as a skill to be mastered, like the precise footing required of a carpenter navigating a high-pitched roof.

Bill Clinton’s famous line, “I feel your pain,” was deployed to diffuse an activist’s plea for details on how to end the AIDS epidemic. George W. Bush sabotaged questions about climate change by treating facts as partisan assertions. Barack Obama took his message to social media and largely avoided interviews with White House beat reporters.

This week, Ms. Harris put her own stamp on the art of the dodge.

On “60 Minutes,” she declined to answer a question about whether she considered Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, to be a close ally. She also refused to detail how she would pay for a $3 trillion economic plan.

When asked on ABC’s popular daytime show, “The View,” about accusations from Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida that she had only offered to help with a hurricane as a presidential candidate, she swiftly implicated the criticism as proof of his own partisanship. When Howard Stern asked her on his SiriusXM program later that afternoon if she would select Liz Cheney, the Republican former congresswoman, for her cabinet, Ms. Harris refused to be buttonholed. “I gotta win, Howard,” she said with an air of first-things-first. “I gotta win. I gotta win.”

Her media swing provided a glimpse into how she often responds to unpleasant questions without answering them, questions the very premise of questions she finds unfair and can take it upon herself to reword a query she considers unhelpful.

Ms. Harris, 59, can turn the typically defensive crouch of a non-answer into a bit of verbal jujitsu, as she did in declining the opportunity to identify Mr. Netanyahu as an ally. She can nimbly field a query and quickly lace her reply with trip wire for her opponent, as she did last month in her debate with former President Donald J. Trump.

A trained prosecutor, Ms. Harris is lawyerly, argumentative and fundamentally defensive. She often deflects or sidesteps. She can speak passionately about her values in a way that leaves listeners feeling as if the question had been acknowledged, even if the substance remained unaddressed. To avoid delineating her stance on some issues, she will instead focus on her dedication to progress and inclusion.

Her verbal acrobatics may be contributing to the impression that some voters have that they do not know her or her policy views very well. It has become a key weakness as she rushes to sway millions of undecided voters in the battleground states.

Her opponent is playing a different rhetorical game, maybe a different sport. Mr. Trump continues to shatter the norms of generally accepted practices of political communications. He is known for defending blatant lies. He rambles and reverts to nearly decade-old slogans to avoid answering a question. He regularly sheds a prodigious amount of exaggerations and falsehoods. After two presidential campaigns in which he took pride in ignoring fact-checkers, he has recently refused to participate in interviews or debates that include fact-checking.

The roughly three dozen interviews Mr. Trump has given in the past five weeks have been almost exclusively with conservative outlets or with hosts who are openly supportive of his White House bid. He has declined an invitation for a second debate with Ms. Harris, and canceled an interview he had previously agreed to with “60 Minutes.”

There is no fair way to assess Ms. Harris’s performance while sharing the spotlight with Mr. Trump, an opponent who, earlier this week, insisted he had visited the Gaza Strip, the site of a violent war he has claimed he would end within days of taking office, without any record of him setting foot in that part of the Middle East.

But voters’ lack of familiarity with Ms. Harris means she has little choice but to endure the inequity. In a New York Times/Siena College poll last month, one out of every four voters said they needed to learn more about Ms. Harris — compared with just one of every 10 who said the same about Mr. Trump.

Voters wanting more information about Ms. Harris were primarily young and Black or Hispanic, according to the poll. They typically did not identify with either political party and largely consumed news from social media or online outlets rather than newspapers or cable networks.

Of former President Donald J. Trump’s recent interviews, all but one have been with conservative outlets or with hosts who are openly supportive of his White House bid.

Ms. Harris’s schedule was essentially a media map of those specific demographics.

During her appearance on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, a chatty entertainment program popular with Gen Z and millennial women, Ms. Harris took aim for the first time at comments made by Senator JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice-presidential nominee. She called his remarks about “childless cat ladies” in positions of power “mean and mean spirited.”

It was the 65 minutes she spent with Mr. Stern that was the most personally revealing.

Within the first few minutes alone, she engaged in a debate over Prince’s best album (she said it was “1999,” while Mr. Stern maintained it was the “Batman” soundtrack) and drolly dismissed her husband, Doug Emhoff, as a Depeche Mode fan from her perch as a self-described “hip-hop girl.”

Oct. 2, 2024

David Axelrod, the former Obama strategist who had publicly urged Ms. Harris to engage more deliberately with the media, praised her performance this week.

“Most candidates hone those skills during primary campaigns,” Mr. Axelrod said of Ms. Harris’s truncated campaign. “She was thrown into the deep end of the deepest pool there is 90 days before a general election. And if she isn’t exactly Katie Ledecky yet, she seemed a lot more comfortable than she was a few weeks ago — and the sheer repetition of doing these will help.”

Her appearance on “60 Minutes,” the one traditional news program she agreed to this week, offered some of the clearest examples of her weaving talking points with hints of policy.

Bill Whitaker, the correspondent conducting the interview, asked how she would pay for her $3 trillion economic plan, and Ms. Harris responded by touting the potential benefits for the middle class. When he pressed her, she suggested raising taxes on the highest earners. When he doubted Congress would agree, she said, in not so many words, that she was trying to win an election — not a favorable score from the Congressional Budget Office.

“I cannot afford to be myopic in terms of how I think about strengthening America’s economy,” Ms. Harris said. “Let me tell you something: I am a devout public servant. You know that. I am also a capitalist. And I know the limitations of government.”

In one revealing exchange, she was repeatedly pressed on the war in Gaza and the wedge that conflict had driven between Washington and Jerusalem as Mr. Netanyahu has refused calls for a cease-fire and defied America’s appeals for restraint by invading Lebanon.

Asked if the United States had “no sway over Prime Minister Netanyahu,” Ms. Harris described diplomatic relations with him as “an ongoing pursuit.”

Mr. Whitaker pushed back. Mr. Netanyahu “was not listening,” he said. Ms. Harris responded with a similar answer: The administration was “not going to stop pursuing” an end to the war.

Mr. Whitaker made a third attempt. This time, he asked bluntly whether she considered Mr. Netanyahu to be “a real close ally.” Ms. Harris seized control of the questions.

“With all due respect,” she began, “the better question is, ‘Do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people?’ And the answer to that question is yes.”

It was a move that at first blush appeared to be an audacious display of chutzpah over what was or was not a “better question.” Instead, it may stand as a historic marker in U.S. foreign policy: The potential 47th president of the United States deliberately declined the opportunity to call the Israeli prime minister an ally. And did so with an artful dodge.