this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2023
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politics

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[–] [email protected] 94 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Moderate here means "don't worry, rich white girls will still have the choice"

[–] [email protected] 28 points 9 months ago (7 children)

While I agree that many of them are thinking that way, the concept totally baffles me. If you're a racist, why would you not support abortion for minorities? It's the strangest thing to me. So the real problem here is people don't understand how statistics work.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 9 months ago (2 children)

The abortion issue in particular doesn't center around racists, it centers around evangelicals. Zealots believe that an abortion is Against God and really, truly, honestly believe they are saving your immortal soul and that of your baby by forcing you to carry to term. People like that can't be reasoned with because they honestly believe they are acting in the best interests of folks that require saving. "This is for your own good" kind of attitude.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

It's also centred around misogynists and people jealous of other people having happy carefree sex

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

For two reasons:

  1. It lets them pretend that they are morally superior/not racist and the left is racist. "The left wants to kill unborn black babies and we're trying to save them."

  2. They tend to not hate racial minorities - as long as they "stay in their place." In the case of black people, they want black people to have no say in government and just do whatever their white ~~masters~~ employers tell them to do for whatever pay their white employers decide to give them. More black babies means more workers in their minds.

The same is true of other people. Women are okay if they "stay barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen." LGBTQ people are okay if "they stay hidden in the closet and never mention who they really are." Other religions are fine as long as they pretend that they are Christian.

Basically, they want things to go back to the "good old days" when white, straight, Christian men ran things and everyone else bowed to them.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

It's not about getting rid of them, its about lowering their standard of life to below that of yourself so you can continue to feel superior in your race.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

If you’re a racist, why would you not support abortion for minorities?

Because they need fodder for the prison slave labor pipeline.

(I also agree with @skulblaka that it's more about evangelicals than racists.)

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

There are plenty of racists that are happy to let abortion be a thing. I've heard (and lost count of how many times) repeatedly about planned parenthood being started by a racist, etc. etc. The republicans aren't a complete monomind, they just get along really well at the 'we hate others' party that their leaders throw.

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[–] [email protected] 85 points 9 months ago (15 children)

Trump could run as being 'The Penguin' and it wouldn't matter in the slightest. His voters treat him like a fucking mad libs where they just get to fill in the blanks.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

See White Jesus

The funniest is the leader of the twin flames cult was like, "Hey notice how all the depictions of Jesus are of a white guy and not a middle eastern man. That's because they are of me, I am white Jesus."

Retconning racism to claim you are God. Religion is so great and moral.

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[–] [email protected] 85 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (34 children)

Don't underestimate him.

He beat an elderly, uninspiring, career politician against all odds once and he'll do it again. People have short memories, and won't remember the worst of his tenure

[–] abraxas 84 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Already seen it. I don't love Biden, but he's done "okayish" at most things. Every time the economy comes up, people start missing Trump despite the fact he was the one that destroyed it

[–] [email protected] 58 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Even worse are the people saying they won't vote for Biden in 2024 because they don't agree with him 100% on certain issues when Trump would be even worse on those issues.

I understand not liking a politician completely. Hillary wasn't my first pick in 2016 and Biden wasn't my first pick in 2020. However, when it became clear that they were the nominee, I backed them over Trump. I'm sure some of these people will back Biden if/when he's the nominee, but a lot of them are declaring that they will sit out the elections if Biden is the nominee because they want things done differently. Meanwhile, if Trump is elected - say, because some left wing voters stay home - these issues will be treated a whole lot worse!

[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago (1 children)

You can count in those who are angry about Palestine here. They are now anti-Biden but can't seem to understand that Biden at his worst is still better than Trump at his best.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

This drives me crazy. Having an essentially neutral stance on anything in the Middle East should be the preferred stance of any US President at this point. It is a no-win quagmire.

There are a few geopolitical aphorisms that Western empires have discovered the hard way and that the US should remember (but probably won't because, you know, US exceptionalism):

Never invade Russia. Never invade Afghanistan. Never fight a land war in Asia. Add to that, never invest any political capital in the Middle East. There is just no winning these conflicts and it is delusional to try. The only way to win conflicts like that is the way Stalin and Mao did it, and that is not our way. These places are the very definition of quagmire for western powers.

Now, imagine if Trump managed to win the next election because young Democratic voters are mad about Biden's stance on Israel/Palestine and decide to stay home on election day. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago (9 children)

Why is it always progressives who have to hold their nose and "vote blue no matter who"? Centrist Democrats have been driving the car for decades. If you don't let me pick even one stop in 30 years then eventually I'm going to jump out of the car and you'll have to extort gas money from someone else when I do. What you keep asking us to do isn't compromise, it's to stay in an abusive relationship where you get to make all the rules and we deal with it in silence. That only works for so long.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 9 months ago

It's because there aren't enough progressives. I vote as progressive as I can in primaries. For some races it has paid off, and for others, well maybe next time.

[–] abraxas 15 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Why is it always progressives who have to hold their nose and “vote blue no matter who”? Centrist Democrats have been driving the car for decades

Because we're a minority and the options are the party that now gives us significant representation for our demographic (103 members of the House, and 1 (sadface) senator) or the party that thinks anyone left of "moderate-right" should be thrown out of a helecopter over the ocean.

The US is designed to change slowly, and even fixing that is designed to take time.

What you keep asking us to do isn’t compromise, it’s to stay in an abusive relationship where you get to make all the rules and we deal with it in silence

No. What we're asking you to do is pick the loveless relationship where your party buys you supermarket flowers once a year over Jeffery Dahmer. The Dems don't abuse us. We just don't have the votes and constitutents to do something worthwhile. You do realize that if a moderate compromises too progressive, they get replaced with a Republican, right?

So why don't we fight in-party for more representation and educate voters that we're not the boogey man, instead of threatening to murder the whole country to get our way like the bloody Repubs do?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Try building an actual third party. Not by putting someone up for President every 4 years. That's a waste of time, money, and effort. Get people into school boards, city councils, and county comptroller. Then aim for state congress and other positions at the state level. Now push for changing the voting system to something that doesn't have a glaring problem like First Past the Post does.

A huge chunk of the changes progressives want are better done at the state and local level, anyway. Until then, we'll keep getting what we get at the federal level.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago (2 children)

There is a reason the #GOP is making #RCV illegal where they can.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Because of the electoral college. That forces a two-party system. Which is why we're in this terrible situation.

It also does nothing to stop a progressive from running as a democrat.

Stunt candidates like Jill Stein are grifters who do not give a single solitary fuck about the state of the world, and anyone considering a candidate like that is also extremely unlikely to run themselves.

I have friends who voted for Nader. They thought they were making a statement too. Then we got into Iraq II and they were very upset by it. We also got John "fuck voting righs" Roberts and Samuel "bitches be hoes" Alito out of the deal. Don't be stupid.

Watching a bunch of tiktok gronks give their brilliant hot takes on how they don't have to vote for Biden is like watching a drunken fratboy who's holding everyone's phones dancing on a cliff rim because someone told them not to. Stupid fuck. It doesn't work like that.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (33 children)

Funny how Biden turned out to be a lot less centrist than we were expecting. The pendulum is swinging left, and if we don't keep pushing in the right direction the progress will stop. Just because we're not getting everything we want right now doesn't mean we're not in the process of getting there. So stop bitching about how you don't have the perfect candidate right now. Vote in the primaries for the most progressive candidates you can find, and then in the general election vote for the best candidate, even if it's not your preferred choice.

Adulthood is about dealing with the world as it is, not the world we insist we should have. We have to be the adults in the room when no one else is willing.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago (6 children)

We have to be the adults in the room when no one else is willing.

And in case anybody is wondering about the Republicans not being held to the same standard, that's a consequence of the fact that the changes progressives want require passing new legislation, whereas the changes Republicans want can be achieved through obstruction and sabotage.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (6 children)

Let me fix that for you:

Due to the corruption of the Electoral College and even though he lost the popular vote, Trump beat an elderly, uninspiring, career politician.

ETA: Enough with the "well golly gee dontcha know that is how it works in the US" as if that justifies it. Let's accept it for what it was: a way for slave owners to have greater influence than their state's population otherwise allowed.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Biden isn't Clinton. If you hadn't got the news yet, Biden already beat Trump once. No one that voted for Biden in 2020 is voting for Trump in 2024. Biden has to worry about his voters staying home and Trump is the candidate most likely to drive people to vote against him by far.

I would worry about Haley or Christie beating Biden before Trump. The only x factor is that Biden or Trump or both of them could croak in the next year.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

My concern is for much more apathy this time around. Between the economy, his age, and his one sided handling of the complex Palestine Israel tragedy, I'm really dreading the outcome already.

I'll vote for Biden again, especially against Trump, but he will never be exciting for me. If Trump continues to lay low during Republican events and doesn't get convicted of some felonies, I could definitely see a scenario where Biden doesn't get the votes and we all stand around mouth agape asking how it happened again.

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 9 months ago (2 children)

All of his bragging about destroying RvW is going to make great political ads.

Democrats have been beating the polls at the ballot box by 9+ points since Roe v. Wade was overturned.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Is this going to be his "Beto is going to take your guns away" millstone? I certainly hope so.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Reminder that Trump once said: "I like taking the guns early, like in this crazy man’s case that just took place in Florida … to go to court would have taken a long time. Take the guns first, go through due process second."

For all his talk about being pro-Second Amendment, Trump would be willing to limit people's Second Amendment rights (and other rights) if it helped him in any way.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

I actually didn't know about that one.

And yet my Libertarian, "remove all gun restrictions," "crazy people deserve guns even if it puts his 4yo in danger" BiL supports Trump. Fucking bonkers how much reality they ignore.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Only if the Democrats are willing to run attack ads

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I’d prefer that he run as an abortion.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Good ol' 308th trimester abortion

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Far right always campaign to the left/try to use leftists arguments

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Not sure why Trump would get the credit on that one. He's not smart enough to find the right SCOTUS judge, nor to understand the ramifications (not sure any in the GOP really thought it through).

Mitch "Imma take a quick 30 second reality break" McConnell is the one that really made this happen with his "I think the next administration should elect the judge" garbage back in 2015 or 2016.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago

Evangelical groups see packing the court and harming abortion rights as his main achievement and he has boasted about his success with it in the past.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

You're right, but shhh. If he wants the credit for a deeply-unpopular thing, let him have it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

I want to see more crowds booing like in Carolina. I wonder if they could get another Brandon type moment out of it for the campaign trail

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