• Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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    8 months ago

    There won’t be a Gaza to level by the time the next term starts. “Uninstructed” and similar campaigns are trying to get Biden to influence his policies now, not make a statement about which man will be better in the next genocide.

    • Astrealix@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      There’s been a Gaza for decades, it’s not going to stop just because the genocidal Bibi tries to, even if it is being turned into rubble. The primary uncommited campaign is good, and I support it, but people saying that they’re gonna vote for Trump over Biden / that they’ll abstain entirely are just not going to help either present or future atrocities — wiping your hand clean doesn’t save lives.

      • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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        8 months ago

        Saying they won’t vote for Biden is the only leverage they have to exercise to prompt policy changes. “Uncommitted” scoring big in Michigan was effectively the first time Biden even started to pay attention to anti-genocide voters. Again, the goal is to make Biden change his stance so that he wins the election. Threatening his election is the leverage, not the end goal.

        • Astrealix@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Yes, but it only works so much as that leverage exists. When the alternative is Trump, that leverage isn’t gonna be realistically useable come November — and there are definitely folks who don’t just say they won’t vote for Biden over this issue (which is imo good, since that’s the whole point of a democracy). I just worry that this strategy actually does extend to the general election and make even more people suffer even more… IMO, focus should be on bottom up — specifically the legislative branch, where there’s quite a few especially in the House where a primary campaign could do well and force the issue at hand.

          • hglman@lemmy.ml
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            8 months ago

            Trump is an enormous amount of leverage. Biden basically has to adapt if he cares about stopping Trump.

            • Astrealix@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              The ones that will suffer most under Trump are the ones threatening to get him elected. The Dems know this. If anything, that’s leverage Biden has and is using, unfortunately.

                • Astrealix@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  Against people that want to see the people of Palestine not be constantly bombed into oblivion. Trump’s US will be significantly worse for women and minorities, so most people in those groups will end up better off under Biden because at the very least the Democratic Party aren’t literally white supremacist fascists. Those that don’t vote for Biden will largely be doing so as a protest vote or through apathy, which is significant (especially when you can see the size of the uncommitted vote, which is quite significant, and I hope grows), but also self-defeating — so it makes sense for the Democrats to pander to the type of person that would vote for Nikki Haley (which unfortunately somehow has a demographic much bigger than the left) instead, since they wouldn’t necessarily be endangered as harshly by Trump and so need incentives to vote for Biden.

          • Astrealix@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            At the end of the day though we just have to see whether current strategy works out come election day, I feel. Or if/when, God willing, a peace is attained.

          • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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            8 months ago

            That voters are a single unit that will in the end have to choose between Trump and Biden is a false assumption, because people aren’t objective robots and the representatives you see online or leading campaigns are just the tip of the iceberg. Many Muslim voters aren’t going to stay home because they don’t think there’s a difference between Trump and Biden, they’ll stay home because they’re mad as hell and maybe voting wasn’t that essential to them in the first place. The people speaking out, and the political junkies online, are probably all going to end up voting for Biden (at least in states where voting for president matters), but they’re in tune with and representing sentiment for voters within their communities that aren’t reachable by a cold argument about relative value.

            The Democratic party can’t berate voters into supporting them, they need to actually do things that make them believe in them. There are too many out there for whom politics is a vibes thing and who will never have a direct conversation with a political advocate to tell them about strategic voting for lesser evils. Biden could lose because of Gaza, but that’s not because some politically active people organized a opposition campaign. The voters he’s losing are being lost because he’s adamantly rejecting the position of the majority of his party while genocide and starving children are playing on the nightly news. That doesn’t go away if all these advocates just pretend it’s not happening. They’re putting a spotlight on the danger, not causing it.

    • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Trying to make this an election issue is moronic. Neither side is with Gaza, making his a moot point. Not to mention this is an election for the American presidency, not for president of Earth and Gaza. Deal with this outside of the election, through Congress and the Senate, but to make this an election issue only helps Trump and will hurt Gaza in the long run

      • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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        8 months ago

        Ah, the genocide-apologia account pops in with the clarion call of “protest some other time in some other place in a way that doesn’t impact the target of your protest”. And we’ve all seen your posts. We know sure as shit you don’t give a fuck about “helping Gaza in the long run”.

        This isn’t an election issue, this is a “right now” issue with a warning for danger in the election if he continues. Biden not changing his tack is what helps Trump. He’s the active party in all this. The campaign didn’t “make it an election issue”, they’re just trying to make him recognize it.

        • Daft_ish@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          You’re mistaken in thinking this issue somehow gets solved before the election. An issue that has persisted for the entire length of isreals existence.

          In this gambit to “stop Biden from supporting genocide” they have over played their hand and guaranteed Trumps win. The opposition will make certain this issue is at the forefront until election day despite any action from Biden.

          You can argue all you want because I pray that I am wrong.