#trump will be worse i guarantee

[yaldabaoth]

I try not to get Political on my accounts but election anxiety is real

[grymmdark]

my sister just dropped a whole rant on how she's not gonna vote in the next election and how everything is fucked politically etc. and it was all so depressing and nihilistic i just dont know how to respond. like yeah that stuff sucks i agree but giving up isn't gonna make it suck less.

she went on about how if the republicans do win that'd somehow make the democrats actually get their shit together when in reality it wouldn't cus it'd only make them look better without having to put the actual work in.

and yeah unfortunately the Democrats know that people will vote blue no matter who and so can get away with shitty and mediocre candidates, but part of the issue is that the democrats have so little power that people dont get to be picky. if people didn't have to scramble for whatever democratic candidate to attempt to stop republicans, and instead we could be more confident that a democrat would get elected then they could get to be picky.

[wewindondowntheroad]

my sister in law over the weekend was saying how she wasn't going to vote because of Biden and Palestine, and it gives me the horrors

[nientedal]

What progress at home has biden enacted? What policies of his show that he is making progress that prove he is actually different than trump?

I like to pretend I have faith in humanity, so I'll answer as if you're asking this in good faith.

Biden's DEA has lifted restrictions on telehealth prescriptions to make appointments and assistance more accessible.

He put a funding package into place to help unhoused people get access to mental and physical healthcare, as well as short-term and long-term housing.

He has attempted and is still attempting to get student debt relief through - this was blocked by Republican judges appointed by Trump, but he's still working on it.

Infrastructure repair - his administration has budgeted funds to actually fix some severely-damaged and frequently-traveled bridges.

Trying to expand access to healthcare to include undocumented immigrants who came to the USA as children (Dreamers) under the Affordable Care Act. Support for Navigator programs and outreach has also been increased.

He has vetoed Republican-led bills that were attempting to overturn environmental protections - one that would have forbidden investment fund managers to consider climate change in their portfolios (I have two degrees in accounting and this is actually huge), and another that would have overturned restrictions on agricultural runoff into our waterways.

He and his administration worked for ages to get rail workers paid sick days.

This is just some of what he's been doing. Meanwhile, Trump and other Republicans want to criminalize the lives of LGBT people like you and me. They want to eliminate no-fault divorce and force births that will kill parents or devastate them financially. They have stated flat out that they want to install a military dictatorship in the USA. They attempted to put that in motion on January 6th, 2021. They failed once. They will do better next time.

One party wants to house the homeless and expand social safety nets, while the other one wants to criminalize homelessness. One of them wants a future in which I might be able to vote to change how much of a war machine my country is, while the other one wants to eliminate my ability to vote entirely. Those are not the same. Those literally are opposites.

At the end of the day, all you and I can do is choose to do the least amount of harm possible. You and I cannot choose to do no harm. This is the USA, we sell war, you and I cannot choose to do no harm. I wish we could, my god do I wish we could, but that is not an option. So we grieve for the harm we couldn't eliminate and work to minimize the harm that is done. Despite all the crap they support, Democrats are the minimum amount of harm right now. Acting like they aren't is exactly what brought us to an election where our options are a future where we are either wading in blood or drowning in it.

Not voting for Biden will not help Palestine. Not voting for Biden will guarantee a Republican president who will make the situation in Palestine WORSE. AND it'll hurt a lot of other places as well, both at home and abroad, because Republicans are about business and the USA is in the business of war! And I would very much like that to change someday! I would very much like to someday be able to choose to do no harm! And I know what I have to do to try for that future, so what are YOU going to do? There is no standing off to the side in this. If you aren't helping pull, you're the dead weight we're pulling. Are you going to dig your feet into the mud and blood and drown us there? Or are you going to get the fuck off your ass, grit your teeth, and help us pull free?

[eowyntheavenger]

Palestine and the US election

I’m done with Twitter soundbite takes that voting blue = supporting genocide. I see a lot of people making an argument that goes like this: "Biden has sent arms to Israel, helping its government commit genocide against Palestine. Therefore, voting for him in the 2024 US election, if he is the Democratic nominee, is supporting genocide, and NOT voting for him helps Palestine." There's a lot wrong with this view, so let's break it down.

It's true that Biden has sent a lot of arms to Israel and bypassed Congress multiple times to do it, and it's indefensible. I'm ashamed that any US politician would help Israel wage its brutal, genocidal war against the Palestinian people. As one of Israel's closest partners, the US could actually be using its leverage right now to put pressure on Israel’s government—I’m thinking about how apartheid in South Africa fell, in part, because of international pressure. That's what should be happening, but instead the US government is literally just helping Israel kill Palestinians.

I wish there were a strong pro-Palestine candidate in the upcoming election. The best bet in that regard would probably be Bernie Sanders, since he's prominent enough, well-liked enough, and has good ideas, not just on this issue but on many things (and yeah, he's way too old, but so are the current frontrunners). But he's already ruled out another run. Unless an amazing candidate materializes and wins the Democratic nomination (please vote in the primaries where you live), it will probably be Biden running against Trump. It’s not guaranteed, but it’s likely.

Here's what people need to understand: the election will not be "genocide Joe" vs. "pro-Palestine candidate." It will most likely be a choice between these two candidates:

On the one hand, Biden, who has armed Israel, but can be pressured to change his policies because he can be pushed left; who is not a wannabe dictator; who will not destroy what's left of the country's democratic norms; who will not encourage coups, political assassinations, or jail his political opponents; who will not utterly stifle dissent.

Or on the other hand, Trump, who is beholden to a fanatical evangelical base that backs Israel no matter what, that actually wants more conflict because they are part of a death cult. Trump, who is not susceptible in any way to pressure from the left, but is susceptible to pressure from the right and the far right. Trump, who has been clear all along about his desire to be a dictator; who will destroy what's left of democratic norms; who has already encouraged a coup to overthrow a democratic election, encouraged the assassination of his own vice president, and is openly planning to jail his political opponents if he returns to the White House.

(This isn't even touching on Trump's positions on trans rights, gay rights, women's rights, the environment, policing, immigration, or his racism against every group he could be racist against, or his liability for sexual assault, or a whole bunch of other issues).

There's a very convincing argument that Netanyahu actually wants Biden to lose the US election and Trump to win. That's because Netanyahu knows that Biden has in the past responded to pressure from his own party and the public. If there are a lot of people criticizing his policies, it gives him pause. Trump doesn't operate like that. If millions of Americans criticize his policies as inhumane he just lashes out at them. In short, Biden views criticism from the left as a liability that he has to act on. Trump views criticism from the left as an incentive to be even worse.

Biden is not the candidate I want. But you need to understand that if Trump wins the election, he won't just arm Israel like Biden is doing now: he will do that and more. Not only will he help Israel escalate its war, your very freedom of speech to support Palestine will be under attack. Trump might even decide that financial support for Palestinians or charities that help Palestine = financially supporting terrorism, and use that as a pretext to arrest and jail people. You think he and his far right goons wouldn't go that far? If Trump wins this election, you shouldn't be surprised if this kind of thing happens, and much worse.

Do you want the US to accept Palestinian refugees? Because it won't accept them under a Trump presidency. A key Republican talking point in this election is "the US shouldn't take Palestinian refugees because they're probably all terrorists." This isn't just a Trump thing, it's something other Republicans are saying, but obviously you can imagine where Trump would fall on this issue given his infamous Muslim ban and conflating refugees with terrorists. These are just a few examples of how Trump would actually be even worse for Palestine than Biden—which is saying something.

In this upcoming election there is no neutral option. There is no morally pure option. There just isn't, I'm sorry. Refusing to vote will not help Palestine. Refusing to vote will only help Trump win, and will give every single person in the United States who is fighting for a better world a significantly harder battle to fight.

It goes without saying that there are things everyone should do to help Palestine besides voting in an election. But I'm writing this post that is about voting because I'm genuinely worried by how many so-called leftists want to give up their right to vote—a right that older generations had to fight tooth and nail for—because they think it won't achieve anything. If voting didn't achieve anything, Republicans wouldn't be trying so hard to suppress your vote.

I'll conclude by saying that nuance is not this site's specialty, but please try to understand what I'm actually saying here before attacking me in the notes. Finally, people being antisemitic or islamophobic on this post will be blocked. People denying that Israel is committing genocide against Palestine will be blocked. Trump supporters, tankies, and people who say that Biden and Trump are the same will be blocked. So will people who say "voting is pointless" or "but Biden did this bad thing—" Biden fucking sucks, I know that very well, so if you're going to try to make that argument to me then stop right now and read the post again.

[qqueenofhades]

Is it foolish of me to sympathize with how marginalized people on the far-left are incredibly frustrated that the Democratic establishment isn't as scared of/desperate to please them as the Republican establishment are toward the MAGA fringe? I guess from their perspective, voting feels like begging - most of the people who hear you won't even glance at you, let alone drop you a coin. But you still have to do it, or else you (or worse, your family) are *guaranteed* to starve.

Okay, a few thoughts here. Note: for you and the other people who have recently sent politics asks, I have been very deliberately NOT talking about it for the last few months. I had to break it yesterday because of the Orange Menace finally getting fucking convicted, but I do want to go back to not doing that (at least for the next few weeks/months/until whatever else stupid happens). So while I will answer this, I am generally not going to answer others and my apologies for that, but yeah. It's just so much and I have GOT to keep myself sane until November somehow. (Or God forbid, afterward, but you know.)

First off, most members of the American far left aren't actually marginalized people, or at least not marginalized enough that their personal well-being seems in any way likely to be affected by their loud and ceaseless campaign to tell other people not to vote. Actual marginalized people who have lived in America for any length of time are *well* aware of how the government and the state can be weaponized against them; witness how black community organizers will voice well-deserved criticisms of the Democratic establishment or other aspects of American party politics that are frustrating for everyone, but they will still always tell people to vote. Black people are also extremely aware that earning the right to vote was an incredibly long, difficult, and bloody battle that they were never given it for free, and the white power establishment fought them having it at every turn. They are thus far more aware than your average white online leftist that voting matters, because they had to work so hard to get it (and still to defend it as various red states launch openly racist assaults on voting rights, especially aimed at disenfranchising people of color). Witness how Bernie also got literally zero traction with African American voters, despite being the darling of the (white) online left.

Hispanic people are also (rightfully) frustrated at how both American parties can use Latino immigrants as a political football, but they're still backing Biden by 30-point margins. We hear a lot of chatter about Trump supposedly gaining ground with voters of color -- maybe he has, though I doubt it, but that's still incremental gains from the massive holes he was in before, and where he generally remains. Arab Americans are (rightfully) angry with Biden over Gaza, but even in the much-hyped Michigan primary, he got roughly the same amount of "uncommitted" voters as Obama did as an uncontested incumbent in 2012, and most of them have said they'll grit their teeth and vote for him in the general election anyway. Yes, a few of them have decided not to, but they are not the size of the Black and Latino populations in America insofar as electoral power, and many of them have grudgingly decided that as bad as Biden might be on this particular issue (though far less so than the social media groupthink would paint him) the alternative (i.e. Trump openly promising to deport everybody who's not white and crack down on pro-Palestinian protests and anything else) is much, much worse.

And yet, white leftists seem utterly incapable of making these same calculations. Frankly, I'm not sure they actually care about Gaza, let alone anything else they say, because if so, they wouldn't be slavering at the mouth to let Trump back in there to "teach a lesson" to Biden, Democrats, and everyone else who was not Smart And Clever Enough to sanctimoniously sit on their hands and let the fascists take over. I know this because they spent all their time lying about Biden and distorting his record and insisting people not vote even before October of last year, and then it only got ten thousand times worse. I'm not saying that all leftist or leftist-identified people are white, but they are disproportionately predominant in leftist spaces and in pushing the idea that there's "no difference" between the parties and somehow Trump and Biden are morally equivalent or will have the same amount of impact on what will happen after one of them is elected. That is, yes, because they are white and they have the privilege of assuming that a weaponized fascist government will not go after them for that reason (even though Trump and his surrogates are now claiming that "everyone" who opposes Trump has to be "dealt with.") As such, when you say that marginalized far-left people are frustrated with the Democrats, I'm... not entirely sure that's true. Marginalized people AND the far left are both frustrated with the Democrats, but one of those groups has generally still decided not to voluntarily disenfranchise themselves, and the other is pumping out Vladimir Putin-wet-dream anti-voting propaganda at every chance they get.

There is also the fact that America is not a left-wing country in any sense of the word, and that while it's easy for the MAGA Republicans to go ever further far-right and promise to be even more outrageously cruel and stupid and fascist than ever before, but that's not an actual policy or a plan. It is also a strategy of diminishing returns; witness the fact that for all the cruelty and stupidity Republicans have pumped into the public arena since 2016, they haven't actually been that good at winning elections, and most of their major successes have come from Trump winning in 2016 and thus being able to stack SCOTUS and the district and circuit courts with hand-picked right-wing nut jobs, who are functioning exactly as they were designed to do. (Which Hillary Clinton warned about, along with everyone else, and yet she was taken out by the exact same dirtbag leftist disinformation moral purity machine that is working overtime to handicap Biden for the exact same reasons.) Mainstream Democrats warned about this before the 2016 election and were scorned and laughed off. Indeed, the entire Online Left continues to resolutely deny that the extremist SCOTUS is responsible for anything (It's Biden's Fault) and thus are likewise identical to Trumpies. And since they also want Trump to get back in there and teach a lesson to the Democrats, they're just as anti-democratic, dangerous, stupid, and deliberately short-sighted as actual MAGATs, and can by no means be considered allies to the singular movement of keeping fascists out of power. That is our only present goal.

If Democrats bent over to everything the far left asks for (which is often a combination of tankie gobbledygook, various vague ideas about Communism utopia where capitalism magically vanishes with no consequences, half-baked revolution cosplays, and other stuff that is functionally equivalent to the wildest lunacies of MAGA) they would never win an election again, and that would be exactly what the fascists want. Witness how they struggled when they were branded "defunders of the police" and "socialists" and other effective responses to the mildest milquetoast efforts for reform or accountability. And the political climate right now is just far too dangerous to throw everything to the wind and prance out some pipe-dream perfect-utopia plan. I'm sure you've heard about Project 2025 and how the far-right Heritage Foundation is planning to systematically implement fascism at all levels of the country, the instant they have a compliant Republican president and congress. I would take all these people crying about Biden even a fraction more seriously if they weren't openly jonesing for something that is so unbelievably, incredibly worse.

For example: I currently have major beefs with literally the entire foreign policy of the Biden administration right now. I think they're being too hard on Ukraine (forbidding them to strike targets on Russian soil with American weapons, which would end the war faster) and, despite some promising signs and open displeasure, still far too easy on Israel. They looked foolish after insisting that Rafah was a red line and then essentially making up an excuse that what's going on now is not a "major operation." Secretary of State Blinken floating the idea of helping Congress censure or neuter the International Criminal Court arrest warrants issued for Netanyahu and co. was also one of the fucking stupidest things I've heard from a serious (i.e. non-Trumpist) American diplomat in a long time. So we respect the ICC when it issues warrants for tyrants we don't like (Putin), but when it issues one for tyrants we still do, apparently (Netanyahu), then bingo, it's back to the bad old habit of ignoring international law like we're special and it doesn't apply to us, and allows all the other bad actors around the world to do the same by pointing at America and correctly pointing out that we ignore it when it doesn't suit our purposes. I think this is wrong and I don't agree. So? What am I going to do?

Well, you see. I'm going to vote for Biden and I am going to give him money and I am going to remind everyone I know that they have no moral option but to do the same. I do this because I am aware that despite my disagreements, Biden is acting from a cautious anti-interventionist standpoint and does not want to throw American military might around recklessly or dangerously like good ol' George Dubya or Trump or even Obama and the drones. He is listening to sober mainstream advisors who have (however incorrect and useless) ideas about "avoiding escalation" and trying to bring conflict to a managed end. He is doing this with a realistic appraisal of the power of the office of American presidency and he's not going to capriciously end democracy and become a full-blown fascist dictator on day one, as Trump has openly and repeatedly promised to do. Yes, if there was a viable option apart from Biden, maybe I would think about voting for them, but there is not, and literally everyone who does not actively vote for him is helping Trump. I do not care about any other contrived and disingenuous online squealing. I know that Biden does not want the war in Gaza to go on for no reason and for maximum carnage; Netanyahu and Trump both do. That is just to name one thing.

So: yes. I absolutely understand being frustrated with the Democrats and wishing they would push harder and etc. But I am also aware that they can be pushed, that they are the only option right now, and the people who huff and puff and whine and groan about how it's such a moral imposition to vote for them are literally doing the fascists' work for them, and that is not acceptable. If they want a better system or a better world that isn't just useless internet fantasies about magical end-of-days Raptures fixing everything, also a la the crazy fundamentalists, they will have to get off their ass, do the work, and create that change. I will be happy to vote for that candidate when or if they arrive. In the meantime, I will continue to do my damndest to ensure that we even have a chance to get there. So yeah.

[notchainedtotrauma]

Joe Biden, as a senator, was notoriously against bussing, that is, the end of segregation throughout schools and was fighting it against with all his might. He was also an admirer and mentee of Strom Thurmond, who was basically the embodiment of Southern racism in all its cruelty and a notorious segregationist.

Interestingly enough, he once voted (this shouldn't be surprising, for at least one reason) to overturn Roe vs Wade: https://nypost.com/2022/05/04/biden-once-voted-to-overturn-roe-v-wade/

He is also infamous for the humiliation and harassment of Anita Hill...during the Clarence Thomas hearings. Anita Hill had suffered sexual harassement and unwanted touch at the end of Clarence Thomas. They spoke in 2019. Well, here is the source below.

I did all of this because sadly, even now, even as humans on this very website, are fighting for their lives and that of their loved ones and have to put it into the hands of strangers and look anxiously and refresh the page every hour, people will talk about single-issue voters and Project 2025 and Biden being better than Trump and Trump being worse for Palestine. That man was out for the blood of Palestinians as a fucking senator, was contributing happily to the fight against abortion and helped Clarence Thomas being nominated by ridiculing and minimizing his victim. Let me repeat the last phrase: the circus of cruelty and misogynoir he threw at Anita Hill was very probably what got Clarence Thomas in. Robinette is partially responsible for Clarence Thomas. The same Clarence Thomas that is being flown around to "exotic" islands and having his bank account fattened like a bad bitch.

And before you throw that at me, yes, Anita Hill did vote for Robinette.

But if you're going to try to convince people to vote for this man, saying he's not Trump, especially with that man's past, and no actual guarantee other than HIS WORDS, that he's actually changed (and no, the public optics of being Obama's best friend or having Kamala as a vice president don't say anything) is not going to cut it anymore. Especially when that man says in a State of the Union that abortion makes him uneasy. Also, maybe instead how telling us to vote repeatedly, you should be following the states that are putting him on the ballot on not.

And as to Palestine...if you have anything that resembles electoral politics just hush. Just hush.

[ceasarslegion]

Can you fucking believe that trump was shot bro?

This election year is gonna be crazy

Honestly I don't like how American leftists are treating it like a big joke because no matter how this played out it's only going to serve to martyr trump in one way or another. Like put all the arguments about morality aside for a second and just be pragmatic here:

This is one big fat juicey justification of the maga cult's persecution complex. They have an attempted assassination against their big kahuna that they all rally around. And you're (royal "you") treating it like a meme. Hearing about it honestly sent a chill down my whole body because this is the shit I studied in uni for my extremism program.

The GOP just got handed a fresh hot steaming silver platter to whip their followers into a blood frenzy over while the progressives are acting like it's a joke and saying the guy shouldn't have missed (when actually killing him would have nearly guaranteed a jan 6 2.0 on a WAYYY larger and scarier and organized scale imo. If not guaranteed something way worse than project 2025).

The shooter just handed the GOP their victory if the progressives don't get their fucking shit together and stop infighting over the moral qualms of filling in a bubble on a piece of paper. And they're turning it into a meme.

No wonder the rest of the world thinks you guys are a laughing stock

[primrosing]

i genuinely do think we have to try to connect with trump supporters. i’m not saying the ultra maga people who will not listen to a word you say and believe all immigrants are evil and all abortions are murder etc. but genuinely people get pulled in by the rhetoric for valid reasons and completely shuttering them will only send them further down the trump hole.

i’ll tell you this… the rhetoric is that the democrats are corrupted and they’re making up fake charges in order to keep trump out. the democrats are so corrupt and evil that they are genuinely trying to destroy america from within by giving aid to immigrants when there’s homeless veterans on the streets, funding a proxy war in ukraine so they can start ww3, purposefully setting prices really high and making sure inflation stays through the roof, allowing abortions all 9 months of pregnancy because they hate babies, etc.

these issues are complex and hard to understand so when you listen to people tell you this day in and day out it’s easy to fall into it because you’re disillusioned with bidens administration. you can’t blame them for this because i think many people are disillusioned with biden, especially left leaning people who see the horrors happening in gaza and all of palestine for what they are: genocide.

if you’re disillusioned with biden and you listen to the narrative that harris has also been in office for nearly 4 years and hasn’t done the things she says she wants to then you will turn to your only other option which unfortunately is trump.

so i’m not saying engage with hostile racists/sexists/homophobes/transphobes/etc because in many scenarios it is not safe to talk to them, they will threaten you and they’re not going to abandon those beliefs on any whim. but the people who are voting trump because they believe he will fix the economy or that he’s being unfairly targeted or any other number of reasons that aren’t based in hatred of protected groups need to not be alienated or else they’ll fall deeper into believing that democrats really have been evil this whole time.

our completely polarized society is not going to work for much longer, we NEED to like NEED to make it unacceptable to be an ultra maga cultist and the only way to do that is to shutter THEM out of conversations. we need to find common ground with people who have genuine differing political beliefs about the way government/the economy/foreign affairs/etc should work. like actual political issues, not human rights issues that have been politicized.

i have noticed especially on this site that the polarization has gotten really bad where people are even turning in the other direction where they’ve gone so far left they also wont vote for harris. this is counterproductive. in so many ways.

i am someone who does genuinely believe ALL politicians are evil and i hate them. but i also understand that we have to play to our best interests within the system or else we will end up with trump who can only possibly make things worse. not saying harris is a miracle cure or that she’ll meaningfully make things better but think for a second about the step we’d be taking. harris is on our side with many issues even if she’s weak on them (environment, palestine, immigration). and electing a woman of color to the highest office in our land is a HUGE HUGE step. it WILL open doors for people i can guarantee that.

i know it hurts a little because we want the right things to be done and we haven’t seen that happen under harris’s vice presidency but you must must must vote for her on november 5th. please go to vote.org to check your registration and register if you’re not already. with the way this country is built voting is one of our most powerful rights. please keep in mind i am not saying that this country is built justly or that in anyway the country functions in a good way but the fact of the matter is this is how it is. don’t give up the fight for changing that, but we’re not far along enough in that fight to abstain our vote out of moral superiority. please remember: we do not live in a world where is possible to be morally pure. while we live in this world we have to do what’s best for getting to a place that’s closer to being a world/country we can be proud of.

[brain-works]

um he literally said you have to have respect for trump… in many ways even…

ooh I love this one! and to be clear, whatever I say here, this is no hate to you anon, assuming you're saying this in good faith. and also thank you for actually answering my last post with an ask, I love a good excuse to write an essay.

ALSO before I start: if anyone dares to come into my replies saying that I'm biased - yes I am. I've never denied that. if you haven't picked up on that by now I really don't know what you're doing on my blog. that being said, I also try to look at full contexts to these situations, especially since I watched this specific press conference live.

ALSO ALSO I AM IN NO WAY A TRUMP FAN. LET ME MAKE THAT CLEAR. I AM NOT DEFENDING TRUMP OR ANY OF HIS ACTIONS, PAST OR PRESENT. now, to my argument:

the first thing I need to make very clear is the environment in which he was asked this question. it might seem inconsequential that it was a press conference, but it's actually a very important context. for one, the drivers are not allowed to simply not answer a question. that's not an option that's available to them (despite some people thinking that's the case). they must answer any questions posed by the press, whether they like it or not. they're allowed to dodge questions, sure, but the only guaranteed way to get a journalist off your back is to just give them an answer they can publish. we've seen this time and time again with different drivers. they're also not allowed to make outwardly political statements without being given a hefty fine by the FIA. saying, for example, that you don't like a former president of a country that F1 wants to continue racing in is an easy way to have this fine (and potentially worse) levied against you.

secondly, with any interview, there is a massive difference between the words presented vs. how they were said. what does this mean? well, to put it simply, sometimes intent does not come across the same in text vs. in speaking. this happens a lot with Lando's interviews, where he says something jokingly or in an unserious tone, but when his words are written down, they seem much more malicious than they actually were. I'd go hunt down examples, but I want to stay on topic.

now, exactly what he said was:

and here’s a link to the video of the interview

I'm not going to say that he didn't say, in some manner, that you have to have a lot of respect for trump. however, the way in which he said it is what matters to me.

for one, spelling out that someone, regardless of who they are, is a former president of a country and should be respected for that accomplishment is a textbook diplomatic answer. again, this is regardless of who they are. I guarantee you he would've said the same thing about any other political figure in any other context, because this is a safe answer. he's not definitively praising anyone, and he's not bringing anyone down. this is not the response of someone who is a big fan of trump. this is the generic, PR-guided response of someone who can't say anything negative, but doesn't want to say anything too outwardly positive.

notice, for example, how he says that trump said that he was Lando's lucky charm. it would've been easy for him to state that he thought that trump was his lucky charm, but he did not. he could've even said that he hopes that trump comes to future races. again, he did not. this is an important distinction, if a small one. anyways, his body language and facial expressions also make his stance clear. he's not happy to be asked this question, he clearly does not want to answer it. in fact, as soon as he starts answering, you can see him slip into that PR mode as his face drops and he starts giving his response. this is not how someone answers a question about someone they like! and this response, once again, is very generic. he literally only mentions trump by name once throughout his actual response, and without that you could assume he was talking about literally anyone else.

for two, idk about you, but when I'm forced to publicly interact with people I don't like, regardless of the context, I don't usually insult them to their face, because that makes me look bad. and I don't usually have half the amount of cameras on me that Lando does. generally speaking, it's also not a good idea to get on the bad side of someone with as much political power as trump. we all know who he is, and we know that the people that support him can resort to dangerous actions when someone says anything remotely negative about him. so, if remaining neutral is the most negative you can be, then that's the way to go. he had no way to avoid trump - he was literally brought directly to him to shake hands - and was asked a question directly connected to trump.

saying that you have to have respect for someone in a lot of ways is not an inherently positive statement. in fact, something I say a lot of the time when I don't like a celebrity is that I respect their accomplishments, but I don't like their personality. I'm not saying this justifies Lando's response, but I am saying that if you were put in a similar situation, where you're asked a question that demands you speak positively about someone regardless of what you think about them personally (especially if your opinion is negative), you'd have a harder time answering than you think you would.

and finally, Lando is not a US citizen. he does not know the political turmoil happening in this country personally, and I wouldn't be surprised if he only knew the bare minimum of why trump is a bad person, rather than the full itemized list that Americans are very familiar with. at the end of the day, even if he was a trump fan (he's not), he does not vote in the US, nor does he have any sway over actual US voters. we all know the rhetoric of people who like trump, and nothing Lando said personally sets off any alarm bells. I'll admit that I don't love the way he phrased it, but if I could go on another whole tangent about how I hate the way that Lando's (sometimes awkward) phrasing gets misrepresented in text vs. in speech.

bonus round: if you wanted to get upset at drivers interacting with controversial figures, might I direct you to the time that Lewis Hamilton (allegedly) sprayed putin with champagne. obviously this article is tabloid-esque, but you get what I'm saying. this isn't a dig at Lewis, btw, it's just my way of pointing out that it's not new for drivers to be faced with impossible situations regarding political figures.

tl;dr if Lando wanted to say something outwardly positive about trump, he would've had the space to, but he purposefully kept it vague and generic, and that means something. these drivers cannot speak as freely as we often (mistakenly) think they can, and it's important to understand the full context of a situation rather than assume bad intentions.

[spriteforgirls]

Even if you don't care about stopping the genocide in Gaza, I need liberal democrats to understand that this is also a massive risk to her campaign. The Michigan voters who voted "undecided" in the primaries are a large enough number of voters to swing the state. And especially with her regressive border policies, there's no guarantee that New Mexico and Arizona will go in her favor either. North Carolina is still polling red, and Georgia is in a deadlock as a state with significant barriers for poor people to access voting.

"But Trump will be worse!" Okay? There's no reason not to push Kamala to be better? She's not going to lose voters if you point out that her policies on Gaza are deeply unpopular. She will, however, lose voters if she keeps pushing for unpopular policies on Gaza. As of March 2024 via a Gallup poll, 55% of Americans disapprove of Israel's military action in Gaza, and that jumps to 75% of Democrats.

"Imagine what will happen to xyz is Trump gets elected!" I'm well aware of how bad his positions are. That's why it's all the more important that Kamala makes concessions to her constituents to ensure a victory. Also, don't forget either way that you still have to hold her feet to the fire after election day. You can't spend 4 years twiddling your thumbs, allowing her to slowly capitulate more and more to Republicans.

[sageandred]

Today, I saw someone say "I do not want that genocide on my conscience" in regards to voting Democrat or Republican, and opting for a third party in place. I ask you, do you want stripped rights of American minorities on your hands or innocent children's lives due to gun violence and no efforts to reform? Because that's what this is! For the love of god, I do not understand the take of fighting for a better outcome and aiming for world peace when the unlikelihood of a third party is evident as history has shown. We live in a democracy (supposedly), but we live under a system, regardless. It's Democrat or Republican; it's Democrat or Trump, now; it's Democrat or fascist. I'm not arguing that Kamala is perfect or parts of where she focusses her attention in policies won't disappoint; that's of the reality with anyone that gets in office; that's every politician. The goal has never been vote the "lesser of two evils;" do nothing else. (I hate the indication of "evils" when I don't think every politician is an awful human being (in a system guaranteed to codemn them with questionable ethics, but that's another post). The goal is make the logical and correct decision, so you have the chance to make it better again and for them to make it better in office. If you vote third party on the basis of moral terror, you will not have that chance to make the world better how you aim to. Trump has shown you what he'll do, and made it worse.

You are fighting the war for Palestinians and all who are being attacked by Israel, because they are targeted minorities and you cry for the innocent lives of children being taken, but that ethnic and communal cleansing is exactly what Trump is fighting for in dictatorship in America. If you vote third party, you will also have blood on your hands, because you are voting for Trump based on the historical unlikelihood of the 3rd candidate winning. If you choose not to vote, you are forfeiting your choice and indirectly voting for whoever comes into office. You will not feel like there is no blood on your hands if you see what comes of his presidency. The amount of people I've known & seen who felt stupid for abstaining in his election after the reality of his leadership is a large pool and proof of the regret and realized actuality. Do not put yourself in the position to feel like them!

Trump has said, he will have it "fixed" so you will never have to vote in another election again if he wins. You do not get to easily rectify your choices if your opted third party loses. You will not have that chance. (Let it be noted, that also the 4 years a president spends in the house are not so easily reversible (we have still been dealing with Trump's damage in Biden's term).

P.s. Here's what Kamala has said about Gaza:

x x

Here's what Trump has said:

x

Former President Donald Trump said that Israel needs to “finish what they started” and “get it over with fast,” as he continued arguing Israel was “losing the PR war” because of the visuals coming out of Gaza.

“You’ve got to get it over with, and you have to get back to normalcy. And I’m not sure that I’m loving the way they’re doing it, because you’ve got to have victory. You have to have a victory, and it’s taking a long time,” Trump said in an interview with The Hugh Hewitt Show that aired Thursday.

x

Harris also recognized antisemitism, showing support for the community that's faced it, and that's not what this is.

Be definitive; make the choice; and don't be passive when your options are historically laid out between two separate parties!

Vote for hope, not a never-ending apocalyptic genocide with Trump.

Also, relevant to note, it's just as important to vote down ballot. Get supporting figures who will back the better choice, so that it's not all for nothing.

[odinsblog]

I just found out about Jasmine Sherman and they look really cool. Like, the policies that they say they’re going to do? The fact that they have an audiobook option for people to listen to what the policies say on their platform? (If people don’t have JAWS or screen readers on their devices, JAWS for computers.) I really hope they get far enough in the presidential race. Although Cornel West is my next choice should he get far.

Yeah, sorry but Hell NO.

I’m all for audiobooks and JAWS readers, but I’ve never heard of Jasmine Sherman before and as far as I’m concerned, Ms. Sherman is just another throwaway vote. She has the same chance of winning the next election as a randomly picked name from a hat. Same goes for Cornel West and for 🤡 RFK Jr., and same for Marianne Williamson, and in fact, same for anyone who isn’t named (I honestly cannot believe that EYE am saying this, but here we are) Joe Biden.

Look, in 2020 I went through the same journey that I think a lot of voters are going through right now: I swore up and down that I wasn’t going to vote for Biden because he had (and still has, tbqh) a lot of conservative policies that I vehemently disagree with—LOL, don’t even get me started on Title 42, okay? But at the end of the day, I carried my Black ass into that voting booth and I begrudgingly did what I had to do.

All I know is, I do not want Donald fucking Trump in the White House. That’s it. Not “lesser evilism” not “he’s the next LBJ” not anything else, except for I’m voting for the person who has the best chance of beating Trump and keeping his racist ass out of the White House. THAT’S just about my only motivation here. Dassit. Periodt. I can deal with everything else later.

And I can live with myself with that vote.

But yeah, I’m Black and I gotta live not only with myself, but I also gotta live in this world and look other people in the eye. People who don’t even have my extremely limited level of privilege.

I’m not gonna go into detail about how a Trump presidency would make literally everything worse than it already is—and yes, sadly that includes Palestine, Ukraine, transphobia, homophobia, immigration, and whatever else is allegedly important to disproportionately ☭ white, online “leftists” 🙄 who keep telling people not to vote, or keep telling people to vote for candidates who cannot win.

As far as I’m concerned, Trump getting back into the White House is an existential threat to everything I hold dear. So no, anon, I will fucking not be throwing my vote away on some random ass person I’ve never heard of before, who has no mf chance of ever winning.

And yes, I still have problems with Biden. Like, a lot of problems. Like, a LOT, lot. But he’s the best chance we got at stopping Trump, and Trump needs to be stopped. That, plus I desperately want to see Trump pay for everything he’s gotten away with so far. Voting for Biden is the best way for me to give that a chance.

So yeah, I am deathly afraid of a second Trump term. And a big part of what is driving that fear is the fact that Joe Biden is vulnerable and super beatable. Like, his winning the next election is not a guarantee—did Hillary Clinton’s completely preventable loss teach you nothing at all??

Anyway, I’m not tryna write a book here. I think I’ve made my thoughts clear on Jasmine Sherman and whoever else is the flavor-of-the-day that can’t and won’t beat Trump. Biden is really fucking up and making himself even more beatable by unconditionally supporting Israel, and if he wins he might continue to fuck up, but I promise you that Trump will do unimaginably worse to Palestinians—and that’s not hyperbole.

Lastly, I really debated long and hard about whether or not to make this post rebloggable. PLEASE don’t make me regret that decision, OKAY??

Like, I know that a lot of people who unconditionally LOVE Joe Biden (that’s not me, btw) and the Democratic Party will be tempted to add, “VOTE BLUE NO MATTER WHO!” to this post, but I am begging you to please resist that urge, okay? I don’t know how to precisely put it into words, but unless you’re already convinced and have decided to vote for Biden, there’s just something about adding that braindead slogan that is incredibly off putting. It’s like an annoying ad that you want to skip and ignore on YouTube; it’s vapid; it’s old + tired; it’s lowkey offensive, and it tells people that you haven’t really given a lot of thought to anything and you’re just another insipid Blue MAGA sycophant blindly hopping on the bandwagon. Please find a better more intelligent way to express your support of Biden, okay?

ALSO, if you just search for Jasmine Sherman on Tumblr, you get a lot of anonymous asks like this

And sorry, but having lived through the 2016 and 2020 interface elections, yeah, it just smells fishy af. Chipping away at Biden votes is another way to help get Trump re-elected. And Trump supports Putin and Netanyahu

[dragonkeeper19600]

If you can’t bring yourself to be enthusiastic about voting for Biden or Trump, then you need to vote for Biden.

I’m dead serious. If you’re unsatisfied with how America is being run now, you do not want to see what it will become under a second Trump term.

If you want to see even a chance of improvement in the United States in the next few years, then you need to vote for Biden. Trump and Project 2025 will only make this country worse.

MAGA is poised to take a torch to all the freedoms we have left.

Your only shield is a second Biden term.

You may have complaints about how Biden has run this country. It’s only natural. No president has ever had a flawless administration.

But you can rest easy knowing that under Biden, no matter how much you criticize the president, you will never face any legal consequences for doing so.

I cannot guarantee that will be the case if Trump is reelected.

SCOTUS has emboldened Trump to do whatever he wants if he’s reelected. Can anyone guarantee your safety in those circumstances?

Vote Biden. For your family’s sake. For your friend’s sake. And for your own sake.

Biden 2024

[wizardysseus]

it's hard for me to describe the dread i feel about my job as a librarian—a job i love, which brings me so much joy—because people perceive book banning as a local issue, or an issue of certain states, but it operates on a much broader level, too. if you love your library, you should know what's happening in libraries and how much worse it could get.

yes, on the local level, it matters that you know who is on your library board and what they stand for, even though you might have only indirect control over who those people are. (my library board, for instance, is not voted in but appointed by the mayor, a position that doesn't technically run on partisan lines but in practice absolutely does.) your library board is probably who makes the final call when a book is challenged about whether to remove it from the hands of the people. and if the board is not committed to serving the community the library serves, they can take the freedom to read and access certain information away from people. which is, as you probably know, fascist.

and if you care about your local library, you should care about preventing conservatives from taking positions of power at every level, obviously including the national level. project 2025 explicitly seeks to shut down public institutions and criminalize librarians who distribute "pornographic" material — that is, queer and especially trans books. we have also seen a push to destroy works by authors of color banned for "teaching critical race theory," which means speaking to racism at all.

maybe there's no guarantee that a democrat being president means your local library won't be gutted. but there is every sign that if trump is reelected, public schools and libraries will be defunded, queer literature will be classed as pornography, and librarians will registered as sex offenders. that affects me as a librarian and a queer person, but i'm white and present female in a field that is still overwhelmingly white and female. we have no shortage of work to do within libraries to change that, but punishing queer librarians and librarians of color will only set us back and make librarianship more hostile, if it remains a viable profession at all. and all of this rebounds for the worst on our most marginalized communities.

i care about our rights, and i care whether you vote.

i recommend book riot's literary activism newsletter to learn more.

[theculturedmarxist]

I like how libs, mostly white cishets, talk about how trump is worse than Biden while using every minority under the sun as their scapegoat victim. "oh but gay people will suffer worse under trump" "oh but minorities will suffer worse under trump" "oh but disabled people will will suffer worse under trump" instead of asking the people they seem to be "fighting" for what they think. And the smugness too thinking they figured it out and how they are the main smart person that has figured it out and everyone around them is stupid. I honestly do hope trump wins and is as horrible as they say he will be they really deserve it. Oh and this coming from someone who is gay, a minority, and disabled, Biden has materially been worse than trump has been. If the vote blue maga people want to do something useful they should kill themselves

I like how libs, mostly white cishets

I think the problem is less their physical identity and more that they're comfortable petite bourgeois/Professional-Managerial Class types. For them, Trump is worse than Biden. While the PMC isn't exclusive to the Democratic Party, that's where you'll find that they predominate. They're the same people that are saying "what do you expect me to do, NOT work at Raytheon?"

Minorities, the disabled, etc, sure, they care about them, but only insofar as they care about themselves as a part of that group. This mindset is fixed in their heads even if only subconsciously because their own position requires exploiting all those identities as they exist in the working class. Sure, they care about the quality of life of their paraplegic employees, but they'd damn well better clock in on time.

The promise of the Democratic Party is that its members aren't supposed to be touched by the same miseries as the hoi polloi. Their credentials mark them out as a better sort of person. They're smarter, they worked harder, they earned it. They don't really have a problem with the GOP preying on people, they have a problem with the GOP preying on them. Just take this leaking dickhole as an example:

It's fine to talk shit about Biden! 😌 But you still better vote for him🤬

The problem isn't that Trump is deporting people. Biden's busy doing that very fucking thing, after all. No, the problem is that now the wrong people might be deported! This is so much worse than when regular brown illegals get imprisoned and deported en masse.

You can take the right to abortion as another example. Trump's plan is to let the states figure it out for themselves. Well, it turns out that's the Democrat plan too. The Democrats and the PMC aren't really concerned about abortion because their class position basically guarantees they'll be able to get it. They live in states where its protected, or they have the money to take care of the problem some other way if the need arises. It's an abstract problem for them. Their only real fear is if that suddenly isn't the case, that they would face the real problems of regular people. That's the terror and threat of Trump to them, not that he'll commit genocide like Biden is, but that their ass might be the one in the fire this time, which of course makes Trump "worse."