Stupid advice. Post primary season, vote for the democrat, no matter who, because as hideous as some of them are, they’re better than the republican alternative, and we’re voting to take back the majority.
The VBNMW crowd got us to where we are. Despite liberals wildest fantasies the DNC is a right wing party that continues to shift further to the right with every VBNMW vote. You’ve taught them they can do whatever they want, pass the most opppressive laws, and you will keep coming back
Common opinion, but incorrect. The longterm near-complete lack of voter turnout in primary elections, especially Democratic primaries, especially outside presidential election years, and especially by all but the elderly, is by far the greatest predictor of the rightward political shift of the DNC, because it essentially abdicated agenda-setting power over which candidates end up on the ballot to DNC elites.
General election voter turnout has almost zero effect on the policies adopted by future candidates. Not voting in a general election, especially if you did not vote in the primary, is quite likely the worst possible way to communicate your preference as a voter.
If you didn’t participate in the primary, attempting to “take a stand” in the general by not voting is utterly ambiguous. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. There are any number of reasons you might have stayed home. The primary election was your chance to say why.
But let’s say you did participate in the primary, and can safely assume your reasons were recorded. It remains that, by not voting, you join the elgible-non-voter category of the population (majority of the electorate in most US elections) for an election cycle. Since those who don’t vote in one election are more likely to not vote in the next, future candidates have less incentive to consider the non-voter’s political concerns.
All to say, the general election is not the place to communicate your values, especially if you do so by not voting, and especially if you didn’t participate in the primary election. It works against you, against those you care about, against our planet, and may god have mercy on your soul QED
If you believe democrats are a right wing party you’re delusional… Could they be more left? yes, but they’re hardly right wing…if they were, republicans wouldn’t vilify them quite as much…
Objectively they are a right wing party, you are a right wing country, nothing overtly left wing is allowed to exist. You might have a handful of policies that are vaguely reminiscent of left wing policies, but the reality is you have a right wing party and an extremely right wing party.
NYC’s mayor Mamdani is probably the single biggest step forward… If he can make it work, and demonstrate that it works, it’s going to be easier to advocate across the country. That being said, NYC has a HUGE tax revenue base that most places don’t have. it’s easy to have all the public programs when you have the tax base to pay for it… Shithole Arkansas is not going to be able to pull that off… There aren’t enough millionaires to tax to pay the bill.
That seems wrong. They’re the only other major party, Republicans have to go after Democrats regardless of how close they are on whatever specific issues. Otherwise who else would they run against?
But also, if you think Republicans are acting reasonably in the first place…
They are centrist in the US…but the way our system is built makes it a 2-party system by default… Until we get either ranked-choice-voting nationwide or a complete remake into a parlimentary system, it’s not going to change.
Come on, you know the democrats are constantly trying republican lite plateforms. Then say ‘see I’m not as crazy as them!’
It’s like you didn’t read the article at all, the point is yes, MAGAts are awful, but they are temporary. If we allow the dnc to abandon people then there is nobody for those people.
What an absolutely condescending response. A majority of Democrats that have conceded to Republican positions is no better or worse for me than Republicans. Overall, and long term, it is a much more damaging position for the Democrats to cede civil rights positions.
No, that would be your party spending the last forty years working their asses off to ensure that the conditions in which fascism can arise would blanket the whole country.
The Republicans couldn’t have done in two decades as much damage to the country as Clinton did in two terms.
See that’s the problem. “Your party” vs. “Our party”
We have a two party system, by design. It’s a stupid design, but it’s the design. So as long as we are broken into “Progressives”, “Democrats” and “Republicans”, progressives and democrats are going to continue to lose and the far right will continue to move to the white because they can, there is nothing stopping them. They don’t have to cowtow to the reasoned left, they can just ignore it because they know the left will continue to fight each other and end up being fucking useless in the process.
We need to figure out how to bring Progressives and Democrats together…and calling Democrats “just as bad” isn’t going to do that at all…
Like it or not, Democrats have the fundraising, and fundraising wins elections, so maybe figure out a way to get them onboard rather than demonizing them. You need them more than they need you.
And that’s the only correct thing in your reply. Since we have that system by design, what in the world makes you think the people who designed it would ever allow you to use it to vote away their wealth and power?
We need to figure out how to bring Progressives and Democrats together
Under the banner of a revolutionary socialist party that isn’t interested in asking at the ballot box for permission to stop fascism.
Like it or not, Democrats have the fundraising, and fundraising wins elections
And if you can’t see how that implies that the Democrats are just as much a part of the problem as Republicans, then I’m not sure there’s any hope for you.
It’s over for the US. The important election was 2016 and we didnt even know it. I think it’s just best if America settles into its new role as third world Nazi country.
The important election was 1980, maybe 2000. Every election is important, for that matter.
And no, it is not better if we accept this. “Oh, well, Nazi Germany is invading countries and killing Jews, LGBTQ+, Poles, many many other groups. Welp, I guess just let them keep doing that.”
Except a) we still have the biggest nuclear arsenal on the planet, b) there really is no settling with fascists, they will keep genociding and invading and stirring shit up until enough people finally get sick of them and put it to a stop
I mean, you’re not wrong…I thought we had a chance when 2020 came and Biden turned it around for a bit… but then people gave up… Yeah, he was old…but you know what? He was old and sane, unlike the psychotic fossil we have now…
Hey I got to keep my job through covid. I didn’t die (though came close in 2020) The Chips act pumped a lot of money into the industry (until the fascists killed it)
He did ok as president. The mistake he made was thinking he could run for a second term. That’s the one thing I have difficulty forgiving him for… He should have handed over the reins at the end of his term and let Harris run a full primary…
Congrats on falling for fascist propaganda. The man had a stutter. Everyone makes occasional gaffes (q.v. Obama and the… 53 states? whatever, many many examples of every fucking politician saying SOMETHING stupid at some point)
From everything I’ve read about him he was a kind, caring, giving individual who cared deeply for this country. I’ve seen nothing to suggest otherwise.
Every president drops bombs… That’s gone on since the beginning of time… But some are more judicious about HOW they’re dropped (and where) and some just let shit fly…
A lot of them certainly are, shitting on the ones that recognize that and are trying to make it better just makes you a shitty person. Even if folks disagree on the method we should be able to support each other against all the bigotry and hate rather than self divide. The further the US festers the more likely the cancerous shit continues to spread. I for one care about any and all marginalized and vulnerable folks in whatever country they happen to be stuck in.
Sure am tired of people whose countries might be better off for now, but who certainly have their own fucking problems with rising fascism taking such glee in shitting all over the US just because we’re struggling a lot more.
I’m sure you’ll have something stupid to reply with that you think is witty. I won’t see it.
The people who really need advice aren’t voters, it’s the professional political consultant morons who are allowing their own candidates to throw away voters like this. Besides being morally abominable, it’s just bad politics.
Pick the least bad…that’s the only way we get better. Vindman is my rep and he’s absolutely useless, but he’s better than ANY of the republican alternatives in much the same way “Zero” is a bigger number than a negative.
And I’m voting for taking the majority, which right now is all that counts - the longer MAGA holds the majority, the harder it will be to ever recover.
I vote for the least bad every election. We don’t get better, we just get worse slower. I don’t have a better alternative though, it’s all pretty hopeless.
But what do you do before the general election? That is the only place to make any real change. If you’re hoping for better options in the general election, what are you doing to help make that happen?
I gave up in 2024…when 7 million people who voted for Biden failed to show the fuck up to vote against Trump, I took that as my cue that it’s fucking hopeless. I bought a gas-guzzling monster and stopped giving a shit about my cholesterol and blood-pressure… Fuck the world if this is how it works.
The propaganda about “both sides” and “it doesn’t matter” is relentless, yes, but I’m afraid that doesn’t mean you didn’t fall for it. It also worked on 7 million people. That’s why the propaganda is relentless.
What I think doesn’t really matter. Big picture, you’re asking trans people and their allies to be active participants in their own dehumanization, and that’s just not going to happen at the numbers you need to reliably win elections so we’ll just be back into a fascism crisis in one or two elections again at best with these kind of candidates.
The only way things get better is if the least bad party gets better, both so they actually try to make things better and so that they do a better job keeping fascists out of office, so I hope for every comment people make telling voters what they need to do and think they’re writing five to their lawmakers telling them to stop being such a hard product to sell.
It doesn’t matter. I’ve given up trying to help the world. Pulled back all political donations, Bought a big gas-guzzling muscle-car and stopped caring about living into my 70’s. The world is in their hands now… This is the world they failed to vote for.
Which one of these people are the same as their republican opposition if you’re Trans? Be specific.
Republicans will legitimately support making their medical treatment illegal at the federal level. If they win again, will probably support imprisoning or executing trans people, they are subhuman to the republican party.
While their Democrat counterpart might stop them from playing highschool sports.
Oh, if the Dems are only going to trample on some of my rights, I guess that’s okay.
Have you not seen what’s happened in the UK in the last few years? That’s the playbook. Their center-left party realized that every time they take away another right from the trans community, they get more support from conservatives and only lose support with trans people that they want to exclude anyway. Transphobic Democrats will steer the party into doing the same thing here if they can.
That said, this article should’ve come out months ago. The best way to kick transphobes out of the party is to primary them, not let them lose in the general.
Their center-left party realized that every time they take away another right from the trans community, they get more support from conservatives and only lose support with trans people that they want to exclude anyway. Transphobic Democrats will steer the party into doing the same thing here if they can.
So your argument here is that these Democrats are attempting to steer the party into a transphobic agenda, so maybe a few party members attempting exert a small amount of pressure on the direction of party.
And your solution is for democrats to abstain from voting and… What… Allow Republicans complete control? I’m sure that will work well for you.
Or maybe these politicians aren’t transphobic at all and are simply attempting to walk a tightrope in an imperfect system so that they can take power away from a much worse party.
This is the point of the article: none of these options are good for trans people. If the choice is “the people who campaign on wanting to erode my legal protections” (like many Republicans) or “the people who campaign on wanting to erode my legal protections” (like the entire list in the article), then, from the perspective of preserving trans rights, there is not a choice. Electing transphobes empowers transphobes and normalizes transphobia, regardless of which letter they have next to their name.
If you’re a single-issue voter who only cares about trans rights and you’ve seen this exact bullshit play out already across the pond, there’s no vote that will make your life better.
As for this line:
maybe these politicians aren’t transphobic at all and are simply attempting to walk a tightrope in an imperfect system
So I’m not supposed to trust what a candidate tells me or how they’ve previously voted, and I should just assume they mean something more secretly benevolent? That’s literally exactly why my in-laws voted for Trump: they didn’t believe anything that was reported about Project 2025 because, and I quote, “he used to be a Democrat.”
Oh, if the Dems are only going to trample on some of my rights, I guess that’s okay.
So would you rather have some of your rights trampled or all of them? That’s the choice in the general, because as you say:
That said, this article should’ve come out months ago. The best way to kick transphobes out of the party is to primary them, not let them lose in the general.
Precisely. But when you ARE facing the general election, for fucks’ sake at least vote for the one that will fuck you over much less.
“Oh, you’re going to stab me with a knife? Well, fuck it, if you’re gonna stab me, just… just keep going then, I might as well get stabbed a dozen times.”
Yes, it sucks, and “sucks” doesn’t even begin to cover it.
That sounds a lot like “fuck everybody else if I’m not getting mine”.
Do you think many legislators and activists who fought to abolish segregation were pro LGTBQ? No fucking chance. Yet they were unequivocally better than the alternative. Fifty years later, here we are, debating if we should let literal nazis take congressional seats because the opposition hasn’t taken a pro trans stance. What a joke.
Stupid advice. Post primary season, vote for the democrat, no matter who, because as hideous as some of them are, they’re better than the republican alternative, and we’re voting to take back the majority.
Think of the big picture.
The VBNMW crowd got us to where we are. Despite liberals wildest fantasies the DNC is a right wing party that continues to shift further to the right with every VBNMW vote. You’ve taught them they can do whatever they want, pass the most opppressive laws, and you will keep coming back
Common opinion, but incorrect. The longterm near-complete lack of voter turnout in primary elections, especially Democratic primaries, especially outside presidential election years, and especially by all but the elderly, is by far the greatest predictor of the rightward political shift of the DNC, because it essentially abdicated agenda-setting power over which candidates end up on the ballot to DNC elites.
General election voter turnout has almost zero effect on the policies adopted by future candidates. Not voting in a general election, especially if you did not vote in the primary, is quite likely the worst possible way to communicate your preference as a voter.
If you didn’t participate in the primary, attempting to “take a stand” in the general by not voting is utterly ambiguous. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. There are any number of reasons you might have stayed home. The primary election was your chance to say why.
But let’s say you did participate in the primary, and can safely assume your reasons were recorded. It remains that, by not voting, you join the elgible-non-voter category of the population (majority of the electorate in most US elections) for an election cycle. Since those who don’t vote in one election are more likely to not vote in the next, future candidates have less incentive to consider the non-voter’s political concerns.
All to say, the general election is not the place to communicate your values, especially if you do so by not voting, and especially if you didn’t participate in the primary election. It works against you, against those you care about, against our planet, and may god have mercy on your soul QED
If you believe democrats are a right wing party you’re delusional… Could they be more left? yes, but they’re hardly right wing…if they were, republicans wouldn’t vilify them quite as much…
Objectively they are a right wing party, you are a right wing country, nothing overtly left wing is allowed to exist. You might have a handful of policies that are vaguely reminiscent of left wing policies, but the reality is you have a right wing party and an extremely right wing party.
NYC’s mayor Mamdani is probably the single biggest step forward… If he can make it work, and demonstrate that it works, it’s going to be easier to advocate across the country. That being said, NYC has a HUGE tax revenue base that most places don’t have. it’s easy to have all the public programs when you have the tax base to pay for it… Shithole Arkansas is not going to be able to pull that off… There aren’t enough millionaires to tax to pay the bill.
That seems wrong. They’re the only other major party, Republicans have to go after Democrats regardless of how close they are on whatever specific issues. Otherwise who else would they run against?
But also, if you think Republicans are acting reasonably in the first place…
in European politics they would be considered right wing. in USA I guess they should count more as centrist
They are centrist in the US…but the way our system is built makes it a 2-party system by default… Until we get either ranked-choice-voting nationwide or a complete remake into a parlimentary system, it’s not going to change.
Come on, you know the democrats are constantly trying republican lite plateforms. Then say ‘see I’m not as crazy as them!’
It’s like you didn’t read the article at all, the point is yes, MAGAts are awful, but they are temporary. If we allow the dnc to abandon people then there is nobody for those people.
That’s just it…they aren’t temporary…as long as they have air they’re breathing…
This is the big picture. If we allow them to capitulate on human rights, there is no coming back from that.
The correct response to knowing Chamberlain is going to appease Hitler is probably not appointing a literal Nazi as prime minister.
If you’re in the Sudetenland, it probably feels about the same either way.
Well keep pissing away your vote and see how that changes things…
What an absolutely condescending response. A majority of Democrats that have conceded to Republican positions is no better or worse for me than Republicans. Overall, and long term, it is a much more damaging position for the Democrats to cede civil rights positions.
Isn’t calling democrats "the other Nazi party* and the like the same kind of condescending bullshit?
Again, you’re doing the republicans job for them.
Grow the fuck up.
No, that would be your party spending the last forty years working their asses off to ensure that the conditions in which fascism can arise would blanket the whole country.
The Republicans couldn’t have done in two decades as much damage to the country as Clinton did in two terms.
See that’s the problem. “Your party” vs. “Our party”
We have a two party system, by design. It’s a stupid design, but it’s the design. So as long as we are broken into “Progressives”, “Democrats” and “Republicans”, progressives and democrats are going to continue to lose and the far right will continue to move to the white because they can, there is nothing stopping them. They don’t have to cowtow to the reasoned left, they can just ignore it because they know the left will continue to fight each other and end up being fucking useless in the process.
We need to figure out how to bring Progressives and Democrats together…and calling Democrats “just as bad” isn’t going to do that at all…
Like it or not, Democrats have the fundraising, and fundraising wins elections, so maybe figure out a way to get them onboard rather than demonizing them. You need them more than they need you.
And that’s the only correct thing in your reply. Since we have that system by design, what in the world makes you think the people who designed it would ever allow you to use it to vote away their wealth and power?
Under the banner of a revolutionary socialist party that isn’t interested in asking at the ballot box for permission to stop fascism.
And if you can’t see how that implies that the Democrats are just as much a part of the problem as Republicans, then I’m not sure there’s any hope for you.
Now you’re just making shit up, if you don’t want to read, don’t just make up random bullshit that you think I said.
It’s over for the US. The important election was 2016 and we didnt even know it. I think it’s just best if America settles into its new role as third world Nazi country.
The important election was 1980, maybe 2000. Every election is important, for that matter.
And no, it is not better if we accept this. “Oh, well, Nazi Germany is invading countries and killing Jews, LGBTQ+, Poles, many many other groups. Welp, I guess just let them keep doing that.”
The smart ones will get out. Bye.
Except a) we still have the biggest nuclear arsenal on the planet, b) there really is no settling with fascists, they will keep genociding and invading and stirring shit up until enough people finally get sick of them and put it to a stop
US ain’t nuking anyone (maybe itself). The world is gonna let the US rot from the inside out and everyone will easily transition to another ally.
No thing on earth is irreplaceable. US is just getting replaced.
I think they should just go full on crazy to thin that lead poisoned herd they have. Maybe a civil war is the answer. With like, 80% casualties.
I mean, you’re not wrong…I thought we had a chance when 2020 came and Biden turned it around for a bit… but then people gave up… Yeah, he was old…but you know what? He was old and sane, unlike the psychotic fossil we have now…
Well yeah. If that’s what you think Biden did then it’s not surprising that you also think he was sane.
Hey I got to keep my job through covid. I didn’t die (though came close in 2020) The Chips act pumped a lot of money into the industry (until the fascists killed it)
He did ok as president. The mistake he made was thinking he could run for a second term. That’s the one thing I have difficulty forgiving him for… He should have handed over the reins at the end of his term and let Harris run a full primary…
If you’re labor aristocracy and view the stock market as the economy, sure.
For everyone who lives in the real world he was just as bad as Trump, cable news just didn’t put it in your face and spoil the grift.
Fun trivia question: at what point in Biden’s Presidency were those “kids in cages” at the border released?
I dunno how sane Biden was…
Congrats on falling for fascist propaganda. The man had a stutter. Everyone makes occasional gaffes (q.v. Obama and the… 53 states? whatever, many many examples of every fucking politician saying SOMETHING stupid at some point)
You think Biden was all there? Wow. No wonder.
From everything I’ve read about him he was a kind, caring, giving individual who cared deeply for this country. I’ve seen nothing to suggest otherwise.
Rich people sure do have a way of making themselves look good. How many bombs did he drop?
goalposts ← → you
What are you?
Every president drops bombs… That’s gone on since the beginning of time… But some are more judicious about HOW they’re dropped (and where) and some just let shit fly…
Americans are disgusting.
A lot of them certainly are, shitting on the ones that recognize that and are trying to make it better just makes you a shitty person. Even if folks disagree on the method we should be able to support each other against all the bigotry and hate rather than self divide. The further the US festers the more likely the cancerous shit continues to spread. I for one care about any and all marginalized and vulnerable folks in whatever country they happen to be stuck in.
Sure am tired of people whose countries might be better off for now, but who certainly have their own fucking problems with rising fascism taking such glee in shitting all over the US just because we’re struggling a lot more.
I’m sure you’ll have something stupid to reply with that you think is witty. I won’t see it.
This is not news… Not even to Americans.
Except they aren’t if you’re trans.
The people who really need advice aren’t voters, it’s the professional political consultant morons who are allowing their own candidates to throw away voters like this. Besides being morally abominable, it’s just bad politics.
You think the MAGA candidate is better?
Pick the least bad…that’s the only way we get better. Vindman is my rep and he’s absolutely useless, but he’s better than ANY of the republican alternatives in much the same way “Zero” is a bigger number than a negative.
And I’m voting for taking the majority, which right now is all that counts - the longer MAGA holds the majority, the harder it will be to ever recover.
I vote for the least bad every election. We don’t get better, we just get worse slower. I don’t have a better alternative though, it’s all pretty hopeless.
But what do you do before the general election? That is the only place to make any real change. If you’re hoping for better options in the general election, what are you doing to help make that happen?
I gave up in 2024…when 7 million people who voted for Biden failed to show the fuck up to vote against Trump, I took that as my cue that it’s fucking hopeless. I bought a gas-guzzling monster and stopped giving a shit about my cholesterol and blood-pressure… Fuck the world if this is how it works.
A vote for Biden was a vote for the status quo that created Trump. The same status quo thats not protecting Trump
The propaganda about “both sides” and “it doesn’t matter” is relentless, yes, but I’m afraid that doesn’t mean you didn’t fall for it. It also worked on 7 million people. That’s why the propaganda is relentless.
What I think doesn’t really matter. Big picture, you’re asking trans people and their allies to be active participants in their own dehumanization, and that’s just not going to happen at the numbers you need to reliably win elections so we’ll just be back into a fascism crisis in one or two elections again at best with these kind of candidates.
The only way things get better is if the least bad party gets better, both so they actually try to make things better and so that they do a better job keeping fascists out of office, so I hope for every comment people make telling voters what they need to do and think they’re writing five to their lawmakers telling them to stop being such a hard product to sell.
It doesn’t matter. I’ve given up trying to help the world. Pulled back all political donations, Bought a big gas-guzzling muscle-car and stopped caring about living into my 70’s. The world is in their hands now… This is the world they failed to vote for.
Which one of these people are the same as their republican opposition if you’re Trans? Be specific.
Republicans will legitimately support making their medical treatment illegal at the federal level. If they win again, will probably support imprisoning or executing trans people, they are subhuman to the republican party.
While their Democrat counterpart might stop them from playing highschool sports.
Oh, if the Dems are only going to trample on some of my rights, I guess that’s okay.
Have you not seen what’s happened in the UK in the last few years? That’s the playbook. Their center-left party realized that every time they take away another right from the trans community, they get more support from conservatives and only lose support with trans people that they want to exclude anyway. Transphobic Democrats will steer the party into doing the same thing here if they can.
That said, this article should’ve come out months ago. The best way to kick transphobes out of the party is to primary them, not let them lose in the general.
So your argument here is that these Democrats are attempting to steer the party into a transphobic agenda, so maybe a few party members attempting exert a small amount of pressure on the direction of party.
And your solution is for democrats to abstain from voting and… What… Allow Republicans complete control? I’m sure that will work well for you.
Or maybe these politicians aren’t transphobic at all and are simply attempting to walk a tightrope in an imperfect system so that they can take power away from a much worse party.
This is the point of the article: none of these options are good for trans people. If the choice is “the people who campaign on wanting to erode my legal protections” (like many Republicans) or “the people who campaign on wanting to erode my legal protections” (like the entire list in the article), then, from the perspective of preserving trans rights, there is not a choice. Electing transphobes empowers transphobes and normalizes transphobia, regardless of which letter they have next to their name.
If you’re a single-issue voter who only cares about trans rights and you’ve seen this exact bullshit play out already across the pond, there’s no vote that will make your life better.
As for this line:
So I’m not supposed to trust what a candidate tells me or how they’ve previously voted, and I should just assume they mean something more secretly benevolent? That’s literally exactly why my in-laws voted for Trump: they didn’t believe anything that was reported about Project 2025 because, and I quote, “he used to be a Democrat.”
So would you rather have some of your rights trampled or all of them? That’s the choice in the general, because as you say:
Precisely. But when you ARE facing the general election, for fucks’ sake at least vote for the one that will fuck you over much less.
“Oh, you’re going to stab me with a knife? Well, fuck it, if you’re gonna stab me, just… just keep going then, I might as well get stabbed a dozen times.”
Yes, it sucks, and “sucks” doesn’t even begin to cover it.
That sounds a lot like “fuck everybody else if I’m not getting mine”.
Do you think many legislators and activists who fought to abolish segregation were pro LGTBQ? No fucking chance. Yet they were unequivocally better than the alternative. Fifty years later, here we are, debating if we should let literal nazis take congressional seats because the opposition hasn’t taken a pro trans stance. What a joke.