this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2025
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[–] apftwb@lemmy.world 126 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

Do I like seeing him fuck with Trump? Yes.

Is he a dirty neo liberal? Yes.

Would I support him in a primary for President in 2028? Probably not. I sure hope someone better shows up.

Would I support him if he won the Democratic primary? Yes. Assuming we get elections. Assuming the DNC hasn't fully fractured and a third party candidate cannot reasonably win.

Would he fix our country? No. See item 2.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk. Its not hard, people.

[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 21 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

Good take. Maybe the Kamala protest abstainers will have a fresh enough dose of Trumpism to remember that halfway-kind-of-decent-sometimes is better than literally-the-worst-possible-decision-at-all-times. I hope we still have elections. I hope we are not stuck with Newsom as the only choice. But if we are, he IS the only choice, and even though he's not nearly a progressive, he is far closer to it than whatever the GOP rolls out with in 3 years (whether it is Trump again, Trump Jr., Vance, or a new piece of shit far right authoritarian). We need to make sure he wins, and that means getting your asses to the booth. All of us. Even you.

[–] electric_nan@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 month ago (14 children)

Goddam. You guys sure love hoping someone else learns lessons. You ever hope democrats learn a little something?

[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I very clearly said that I hope we are not stuck with him. Hoping that Dems get their shit together and act right or at least get out of the waybof those who do is a constant state for me.

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[–] PhilipTheBucket@piefed.social 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I also have noticed that literally 0 of the "we can't vote for Democrats, stop voting for them, that is the way to progress" strategists have anything to say about candidates to support before the primary, protest organizations to join in the meantime, anything generally productive that is outside of the general election they're so gung-ho about giving their input to.

Right now would be the time to be looking around for good midterm or primary candidates who aren't corporate whores, talking up third parties or reforms that would make third parties viable, all that kind of stuff. Nope. Just "let the Republicans win" in the general election, and then, crickets. And now occasionally popping up to shit on Gavin Newsom when he's tangling with Trump, like a romantic partner who is grabbing on your arm and screaming "stop it!" while you're in the middle of a fistfight. Just fuckin' helping, the lot of them, from morning till night.

[–] 13igTyme@piefed.social -1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Many of the fake "leftist" that refuse to vote, have also never voted and don't know how elections work. Dig around on Lemmy enough and you'll find whole arguments with several hundred people that have no clue what a primary is. I know because I've been involved with trying to educate them. I've learned to just ignore idiots. Similar to other sites, I just had higher expectations for Lemmy.

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[–] piefood@feddit.online 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

"halfway-kind-of-decent-sometimes"

You mean the same person that refused to say "Genocide is bad, and we shouldn't support it"? The same person who proudly stood behind Biden when was bombing innocent people? The same person who put people in prison for marijuana, then laughed about it when talking about smoking herself? The same person who campaigned with the Cheneys?

I think your definition of "halfway-kind-of-decent-sometimes" might be different than mine. All we're looking for is someone who isn't a monster, and she couldn't even pull that off.

This is why the Democrats keep losing, and have such a low approval rating: They keep normalizing monsters, and can't figure out why the voters don't like that.

[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (17 children)

I mean someone who will not literally destroy our democracy to remain in power. The bare minimum.

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[–] Triasha@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Hard disagree. The voters very clearly do like monsters.

[–] piefood@feddit.online 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Some do, sure. But the two major parties have only put monsters on the ballot for the past few decades, so we don't really know how many would pick a non-monster given the chance.

[–] Triasha@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Parties didn't put those politicians on the ballot, voters did. The Democratic party got rid of smoke filled rooms and contested conventions in the 1970's and the Republican party followed suit in the 1980's.

If you are disatisfied with the pols on offer, you have only to look to your neighbors.

[–] frostedtrailblazer@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The voters are often just as behind at times as the politicians they put into office. The lion’s share of the voters are neo-liberal Boomers and Gen Xers, of which the Gen Xers are more conservative than the boomers as of 2024.

We’re not going to look much different for ant least another decade unless suddenly a ton of Millennials and Zoomers show up to vote in record breaking numbers.

Changing our voting systems locally and on the state level is the best chance we have at making a difference within the next 10 years, imo. It opens up access for third parties to grow and it lets progressive have a better chance of squeaking out wins against the neo-liberal incumbents.

[–] Triasha@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Ranked choice voting is a good idea, but time will not save us. Millenians are shifting right, just a decade behind other generations.

[–] frostedtrailblazer@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I think you’re right to be wary on waiting for time alone to save us. I think implementing ranked choice style of voting matters to prevent slipping further. Furthermore, pivoting to make blue states actually more progressive is what we need to do.

I believe blue states have held back on doing more because the belief was that we needed to pass the reforms federally for funding purposes, but I believe now we need to do the opposite. We need to remove the debt limit for blue states, implement progressive reforms, and only then will other states want to follow our lead.

Each blue state should focus on implementing Universal Basic Income, Universal Basic Services, Universal Healthcare, free public colleges, and expanding public housing options. For instance, I think many private apartments could be bought by the government for at cost and turned into publicly owned apartments that are not rented out for a profit.

[–] piefood@feddit.online 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

lol, you mean the same DNC that said "...the DNC charter’s promise of ‘impartiality and evenhandedness’ as a mere political promise—political rhetoric that is not enforceable in federal courts." ?

The same party that openly rigged the past two elections for the candidates that they wanted?

[–] Triasha@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Rigged how? Do you think they flipped votes? Who got more primary delegates? Sanders? Biden? Or Clinton?

[–] piefood@feddit.online 1 points 1 month ago

What do you think that quote means? Do you think the DNC would be saying that they don't have to play fair, if they were playing fair? Go read the court case. They were told by a judge that they were right, and that they didn't have to play fair.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I desperately wish it was this straightforward to the majority of people who shape our future in this country.

I am firmly convinced that most of our population doesn't have internal language, no internal tools for abstracting ideas into mental words for comparison and evaluation, and just spout rhetoric by instinct. Literally, this is why everyone seems so stupid... they've changed the way their minds work by scrolling all day, every day, and not socializing and not changing habits.

Nuance is something that you can only arrive at if you have this mental narrative tool that lets you see multiple angles of an issue.

This means that our future of politics is going to be entirely grifters riding on this fact and creating over-the-top caricatures and WWE theater style politics. And people will eat it up because everyone just wants something to be all-in for or all-against so they can fight with the opposing fans. We're so fucking cooked.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Yeah it can’t be that people are frustrated about living in a country where they’re in a permanent minority and will never be happy with their government.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Thank you for the non-sequitur response. I will return in kind with "Banana kneecap caterpillar establishment."

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world -1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Libs and dismissing any criticism from progressives. Can’t name a more iconic duo.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I am dismissing your complete lack of effort in engaging with a point, if it makes you feel better to think of someone who called that shit out as a "lib" then have it, meanwhile I will continue to rally people behind the point that a third of our population is too stupid with to continue to engage with using the same liberal political methods of inclusion and mediocrity and financial status-quo. I don't know where that leaves you, but please do it over there on the other side of the curb.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You said people are stupid and lack a sense of nuance.

I pointed out that people are frustrated and don’t give a fuck about nuance anymore, and that’s why we’re fucked.

Sorry I didn’t spell that out for you.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Yes, you do have to make an effort to connect topics when communicating.

And sure, there is a problem with apathy, but that's not THE problem. The last three presidential elections have seen the highest voter turnout in American history, it's not a problem with people not caring as much as being too easily swayed to care about the wrong things, and this comes from a lack of education, lack of language skills, lack of cognitive ability broadly. When you say "People are too frustrated to care about nuance" yes, this IS stupidity. Stupidity isn't some magic potion, it's caused by things. In this case, it's been designed by corporate interests using fascism to further this goal of a dumb, easily manipulated population.

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[–] QuincyPeck@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

This is the way.