Obama urged Biden to beef up campaign amid worries about Trump strength in polls: report

flyingsheep@lemmyhub.com to News@lemmy.world – 442 points –
Obama urged Biden to beef up campaign amid worries about Trump strength in polls: report
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Unfortunately the alternative is a literal wannabe-dictator. By not voting, you’re basically helping Trump.

>By not voting, you’re basically helping Trump.

only a vote for trump helps trump

As a non American, seeing people claim that not voting doesn't help republicans is fucking hilarious. You'd think that after Trump winning in 2016 and stacking the supreme court, directly being the cause of abortion being outlawed in red states in the fucking 21st century (along with a host of other horrifying things), would make people actually fucking vote. But no here we are. Honestly I really hope you all get the government you want, but the longer I read politics posts on Lemmy the more I'm aghast at people who'd rather let it all burn down than aim for incremental positive change.

Apologies for any bad English, just putting my thoughts out there.

I wonder why republicans spend so much time trying to get people not to vote. Purging rolls, being against mail in voting, closing polling stations, etc. Seems dumb given that people not voting doesn’t help them.

Oh well. You probably know more about elections than them. Glad we have an expert in the house.

if you have something to say, say it. what I said was true.

I think my meaning was quite clear. You are a fool if you think suppressing the vote doesn’t help republicans. They’ve bet everything knowing that people not voting is good for them.

So congrats, you are helping elect our new fascist overlords by not voting for the unpalatable, but not fascist, dude that is on offer. It sucks, but grow the fuck up. Trump winning is going to be a disaster for literally everyone, including Palestinians.

I'm going to probably be voting for cornel west, but I could still be won back by Jill Stein.

neither of those votes help Trump

Cool.

Great way to throw away a vote against fascism voting for candidates with literally zero chance of winning.

Look up why the Nazis came to power sometime. Part of it was that people refused to rally around a single countervailing force. Biden is the countervailing force that has a chance of winning. Trump is literally opening quoting Nazis at this point and people aren’t fucking alarmed. smh

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Biden is most definitely fascist

Sure.

He's helping Israel do genocide. Like???

As a sincere question, what do you think Trump is going to do that is better than what Biden is going to do when it comes to the genocide in Gaza?

Because regardless of who you vote for or who you want to win, it will either be Biden or Trump, unless one of them dies or becomes invalidated. So, how will Trump be better for the Palestinians than Biden will be?

They won't bother answering. It's fucking pathetic

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Unfortunately, center right wing democrats have been screaming this at the top of their lungs for so long, young people no longer care.

They will not vote blue no matter who, and you yelling whatever malarkey you’re on about is kind of pathetic.

Biden needs to fundamentally change a few things if he wants to get the support of young people. Supporting genocide is not going to win him the election. Not only does Biden support the genocide, he used his authority to give them more weapons and money without having to ask Congress. This isn’t going to fly with young people. And Biden needs young voters to win this election.

I get it that you’ve been voting blue no matter who your whole life and you think younger voters need to do the same thing.

But your way of thinking is a relic.

Man these libs suuuuure hate when you question their doctrine huh?

Here's a question for the one or two thinkers in this thread. I don't want replies, because replies will carry with them egos and snark for the peanut gallery. These questions are for you, (and no-comprendo's). Questions i had rolling around in my liberal brain before i transitioned to full troll or whatever liberals call leftists these days, questions that take time and reflection to answer.

  • If the Democrats only campaign to stop Republicans, but DON'T STOP the Republicans (only campaign to stop them), then when do we dem voters get to vote to help ourselves? Is there a timeline?

  • It has been 12 years of presidents, 12 long years of waiting, tightening our belts, "fighting for democracy". Why does it seem like the voters are the only ones interested in preserving it?

  • The DGA and the HRC campaign both have paper trails showing they've attempted to elevate extremism in the Republican party. Considering this is still a tactic in use, here's the million dollar question:

  • If the Democratic party could, would they keep running against a candidate like Trump every single election in the future?

Edit: thank you, those of you who are thinking. We need more people out there like you doing that

It has been 12 years of presidents, 12 long years of waiting, tightening our belts, "fighting for democracy". Why does it seem like the voters are the only ones interested in preserving it?

So you were happy with first term Obama but not second term Obama?

Am I reading this right?

Lol you're right. I was on a roll and added a whole term, oops! Let's pretend i meant to include bidens second term, which makes me right and not wrong

You were happy with second term Obama?

Indeed, I even voted for Obama second term. Was i as happy with him as the first time? Nah, but i was still a registered dem back then

Was it Clinton or Biden that caused you to turn your back to them?

I got into politics more deeply than ever, going door to door for bernie back in '16. The verdict by the judge in 17 saying the DNC is a private entity caused me to no longer believe in the Dem's primary process. The way HRC's campaign wanted to control both her and trump coverage in the media, the podesta emails, and that whole related scandal really put a beat down on my whole belief system.

So i kept reading and thinking and adjusting my political worldview and here i am, arguing it on a small forum on the web (or cynically working tirelessly to helpTrump win, depending on your pov)

Bernie didn’t have a chance to win, that’s why Trump desperately wanted to run against him.

He would have been great, but had no chance pulling in enough votes.

Bernie didn’t have a chance to win

The veracity of this comment aside, of course he didn't have a chance, the DNC hand-selected Hillary.

Why did you bring it up instead of what i brought up, the verdict in '17 saying the primaries were rigged?

Hillary won the primaries in 2016.

Biden win them in 2020 even though Trump desperately wanted to run against Bernie.

I think you’re seeing conspiracies where there aren’t any.

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when he carried on bush's war crimes, i was done with him. i thought executive orders would be undone, not expanded.

i couldn't even make it to obama's second term.

close gitmo
universal healthcare
student debt forgiveness

all lies.

Oh yeah, but you can't overestimate how much prop we get shoved down our throats. Kinda like McDs you don't realize how shit it is for your system until you stop eating it daily

i don't judge you for it, not really. i have friends who voted for hillary, and friends who voted for biden, and, hell, i voted for shapiro for AG ***AND*** governor even though i thought his AG term made him out to be a liar and a cop.

i'm not voting for him for president, though. fuck that.

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I voted for Biden to stop fascism and now he's a genocide collaborator! Would Trump be worse? Maybe - it's unclear, because at least Democrats would oppose Trump. Trump saw the largest protest movement in American history, Trump inspires Democrats to actually ask for more, Trump will further isolate America (and Israel) geopolitically, it's hard to predict.

I'm not voting for him, I'm actually voting Democrat down ticket, but if he wins it's not the end of the world. It's an opportunity.

In the meantime? Withholding my vote is literally the only way I can exert pressure on Biden. I have a moral obligation to oppose genocide. I won't vote for it. If he's smart he'll reverse course on Israel to save his campaign and this will all be moot. Why is Biden helping Trump win?

You don't need to exert pressure on Biden. You need to help push the entire system back to the left. When Democrats in general are in government, it allows more room for further left candidates. Just like how electing Republicans made room for the Tea Party and the MAGA crazies. If the window had been more toward the left, they'd have been outside the Republican party.

I'm voting Democrat down ticket. I'm just not voting for genocide Joe.

That's the only way I can exert any pressure on him, and I don't have to wait a year for that pressure to manifest. If enough Democrats had the courage to stand up to Biden he'd be forced to change his policies. Instead, you are all choosing to be complicit in genocide.

Not voting is a valid choice, one that says you're okay with either candidate winning. And that is being complicit with genocide. If you're not okay with that, vote.

If you don't want to wait a year, you can call, write, protest, and donate to groups to do those things on your behalf. But to throw away your vote is incredibly short-sighted.

I'm voting for Democrats down ticket, hardly throwing it away. I'm just not voting for any pro-genocide candidates.

And if Biden is smart, he'll see how much support he's losing and change his policy towards Israel.

Biden is an empty suit. If the party tells him to change, he'll change.

Alternatively, Trump wins and everything gets even shittier, and we lose even the possibility for things to get better.

I like how you found yourself being down voted the moment you acknowledged what a piss poor excuse for "Democracy" this is.

Yup. But in the choice of who to vote for president, there's the establishment candidate, or the "dictator for a day" candidate. Or there's not voting, which is saying "yes, either of those are okay". One of those things has the chance of making progress, and it should be obvious.

What fucking progress my guy? Look around.

Insulin prices are lower now, a bunch of student loans are being forgiven. I know it's not the single payer collectivism we'd all like but to say it's not progress at all is a bit hyperbolic.

If we've progressed over the last 20 years then what are you panicking about? You can't tell me we've made progress while also telling me our Democracy is less secure than it was 20 years ago.

You can't tell me we've made progress while also telling me our Democracy is less secure than it was 20 years ago.

Sure I can. We've made progress in some areas but we have a long way to go. Crying because you didn't get everything you wanted is a republican move, you have to agitate and work for what you want if you actually want it. Shitposting isn't going to do much. You act like 20 years is a long time, that's just a couple election cycles lol. How long do you think the right-wing has been angling for their end goals?

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And the Party would tell him to change if the Party knew they'd lose the presidency.

Do you think the Party would rather Trump win than stop supporting Israel? I doubt that.

They know they're not going to lose on this issue, though, because anyone who seriously evaluates the election has come to the same conclusion that I already said: a Trump victory is the worst outcome. Again, you'll have to put pressure on the party through other means, just one of which is electing more leftist downballot candidates.

They may actually lose on this issue. Democrats rely pretty heavily on younger voters and a lot of the really young voters, Zoomers, are making this a do or die issue, even though both of our only two parties with any chance of winning will support the genocide regardless.

They know they’re not going to lose on this issue, though, because anyone who seriously evaluates the election has come to the same conclusion that I already said: a Trump victory is the worst outcome.

Okay, so my vote is irrelevant, got it. I've asked elsewhere and I'll ask it here: why are you crawling up my dick about it? If my presidential vote doesn't matter because "they're not going to lose on this issue" then I can comfortably just leave that spot blank.

Again, you’ll have to put pressure on the party through other means, just one of which is electing more leftist downballot candidates.

Which I'm doing.

Exactly these people talk out of both sides of their mouths. On the one hand we don't matter, on the other we're responsible for HRC losing in 2016. It's so fucking pathetic.

I don’t understand why people think the democrats losing to someone farther right would make them move left. Doesn’t it make more sense they’d move to the right since that’s what more voters wanted?

So you admit Democrats are just fascist light? Sounds like the fight is over then. We lost.

That’s not what I said. Moderate dems need to lose to progressives and not to conservatives to move the party left.

It'll never happen. Too many primary voters are specifically out to fuck over leftist and progressives. Then they turn around and cry foul when we refuse to show up in the general. Fuck them.

Maybe not every democrat is a progressive and that’s why they vote against them? That’s democracy, not everyone agrees with you and sometimes you don’t get your way. Gotta work to change people’s mind and not just say fuck ‘em.

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The solution to our choices being a centrist and a literal fascist isn't to push the Overton window even further right. Such thinking is beyond naive.

What centrist? All I see are two fascists, because genocide sure as fuck isn't centrist.

You don't have to be fascist to be genocidal. The two just tend to overlap.

Bro you understand Biden isn't president of Israel right? This tired ass take that he somehow sets policy there shows how immature and uninformed you are.

I really do wonder how old the person you're commenting to is. It's very easy to be idealistic when you're young and lack experience. Eventually you learn that you're basically the same as the Freedom Caucus of the left if you're acting that way, refusing to compromise and make any positive changes whatsoever.

Old enough to have already gone through this exact song and dance routine before with Obama. "We just need to wait until the primaries to nominate a progressive, then we can finally move this Party to the left!" I saw how that turned out. The Party won't allow it.

Yet even still, I voted for Biden to stop fascism.

And now he's funding a genocide.

Idealism is voting blue no matter who and expecting them to stop taking advantage of you. Why should they? You are a loyal dog and will keep coming home no matter how hard they beat you.

I just want this one thing. My red line. I'll let Biden break strikes and deport refugees and round people into prisons and expand oil drilling, I'll let him do every fucking thing he promised he wouldn't, and all he has to do is oppose genocide. It's entirely within his power to do this.

This is the only leverage I have. I have a moral obligation to use it and so do you. By voting for genocide you are responsible for it.

Israel is the 51st state. This idea that Israel is a strong independent state that doesn't need the empire is a joke, they're wholly dependent on the US. When Reagan told Israel to back off of attacking the PLO in Lebanon, they did. Israel's power comes from its untouchable status.

And it gets that status because it's the only democracy in the middleeast and surrounded by enemies.

"democracy"

Why are you putting in quotes? It's uncontroversially defined as a "flawed democracy" by political science, same as the United States.

it's not a democracy at all. it systematically disenfranchises the Palestinian people in its borders.

Okay, what? That's doesn't make it not a democracy. America is and was a Democracy and only white men land owners could vote for like a century. You don't like its domestic policy so the entire field of political science is wrong, and it's not a democracy? Wow you have such big brain.

a democracy lets the demos rule. systematically excluding the demos from participation disqualifies you as a democracy. qed.

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Then say flawed democracy instead of trying to hold it up like some beacon of hope. It's not. It's a trash country run by trash people just like the United States.

Okay well in the entirety of the middle east it is the only country that governs by even a pretense of consent of the people. Every other state in the region is some form of authoritarian theocracy, not even close to democracy. Only the former has any hope of granting long term human rights.

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