Hey, I’ll probably delete my account soon because I shilled so hard for this campaign and it feels so gross. I knew day one enthusiasm was going to sink the dems and pushed back against the apathy as hard as I could. I was pretty devastated when kamala took the stage at the DNC and gave her support for, “a strong military” and talked about her gun or what ever. After that was just going through the motions and convincing myself I wasn’t crazy for not wanting trump to win this badly.
The way I see it now, and will remember as we go in the future the DNC offers nothing. That’s not fair, they do a lot of good for state and local governments but at a federal level, they will never be able to effect real change. Maybe it’s because the way the fed is setup or for what ever other reason. It’s not that the leadership has failed, it’s that they can’t win. I’ve hopped to lots of different possible solutions for Americans over the years and I guess there is one way out. Until we see liberals migrate away from the cities and take root in the land we will never have a government that represents them. That’s where the war will be fought. Until then, even if Trump doesn’t crown himself king asshole it’s the RNC’s game the DNC just resets the board.
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Get organized. Join a Leftist org, find solidarity with fellow comrades, and protect each other. The Dems will not save you, it is up to the Workers to protect themselves. The Party for Socialism and Liberation and Freedom Road Socialist Organization both organize year round, every year, because the battle for progress is a constant struggle, not a single election. See if there is a chapter near you, or start one! Or, see if there’s an org you like more near you and join it, the point is that organizing is the best thing any leftist can do.
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Read theory. A good primer is Blackshirts and Reds. It will help contextualize what fascism is, what causes it, and how to stop it. I can offer a good introductory reading list regarding Marxism if you’d like, but this is a good starting point.
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Aggressively combat white supremacy, misogyny, queerphobia, and other attacks on marginalized communities. Cede no ground.
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Be more industrious, and self-sufficient. Take up gardening, home repair, tinkering. It is through practice that you elevate your problem-solving capabilities. Not only will you improve your skill at one subject, but your general problem-solving muscles get strengthened as well. Theory guides practice, which sharpens theory to be reapplied to better practice.
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Learn self-defense. Get armed, if practical. Be ready to protect yourself and others. The Democrats will not save us, we must save each other.
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They refuse to actually campaign and address people’s concerns. They gaslight, minimize, denigrate, guilt trip, and verbally abuse people and then are surprised Pikachu when no one is happy or motivated to vote for them.
“You owe it to your country to vote.” “You are a bad person/stupid/russian shill etc if you vote for anyone but Kamala.”
These things just stroke your ego and are otherwise thought terminating. They do not get votes. Like holy fuck, if you just listen to people’s concerns and talk with them, it tends to work.
But with Citizens united, campaigns focus around a capitalist spending strategy like it’s Election Christmas. Bernie Sanders, Stacey Abrams, and AOC all had what I’d call “authentic” campaigns, where they requested help with canvassing and phone calls before they requested donations. Like donations were fine, but most emails and texts were asking for workers, volunteers, and physical help. Those requests were completely absent from Kamala’s campaign.
The status quo just doesn’t want the common person to have political literacy. If they teach us how to canvas, then we’ll do it for someone who isn’t status quo. If they show us how to run for office, then we will just run ourselves like AOC did. They are in direct conflict with themselves because they are trying to suppress anything except status quo Dems.
This right here is why the Republicans won. All I see below me is finger pointing and blame tossing. Republicans have got their shit on lockdown. You guys can’t even figure out who to blame.
It’s easy to look like they “got their shit on lockdown” when they’re straight-up copying the fascist playbook.
The blame game isn’t helpful, though. Divide and conquer is from that same fascist playbook. Blaming anyone except the Republican establishment serves only to diminish their primary role in this situation, and further divide us from each other. We have to stop attacking fellow victims and put that blame squarely where it belongs.
They know exactly who is to blame. But that would involve some degree of self-reflection so, on with the show… i guess.
*woops misread the implication
Absolutely, we need to place blame where it belongs. Democrats fucked up bad, it is basically 2016 all over again
Everyone is terrible here. In the past I could forgive Republicans because “they didn’t get who he was.” They know and don’t care. Billionaires fighting each other over who gets hegemony is boring. This is their world and we just happen to live here.
It’s worse.
Like all political “analysis”, this one is just another bit of meaningless preaching.
Seems more like a boastful “I was right” from those that ensured they were right.
Maybe you should call on the candidate to have less bad positions than try to call on voters to support them despite their bad positions. For some reason ‘she’s electable if you vote for her’ seems to keep being a losing strategy.
Remember Primaries? Of course that would require the DNC not to turn out the lights when they hear something they don’t like.
“But you had one with Biden and he appointed Harris so you chose that!!!”
“I didn’t hear anyone calling for other candidates.”
That was a response I got from a guy when I brought up the botched primary all thanks to Biden’s hubris.
Like, no shit Sherlock, we couldn’t call for anyone else, there was no time!
Biden left his run so late they just appointed someone else and “that’ll do!”
And then called us naive idealists for wanting… Checks notes democracy when the democracy is at stake.
Block, block, upvote, scroll, upvote, block, upvote, upvote, block
It’s pretty stupid of Dems to think that white conservative racists are going to vote for a black-indian woman? WHAT were they thinking?!!!
They were thinking exactly what they were paid to think.
Liberals all over Lemmy are having a genuine, threatening existential crisis right now and it’s so fucking hilarious. Like, I am laughing at them from the depths of my soul right now.
Imagine being a liberal, thinking this entire time that you have the correct worldview, you are a “good person” and on the “right side”.
And then reality comes crashing down on you. That must be genuinely traumatizing for people as weak as liberals.
Looks like the leftists were correct the entire time. Shocker.
Wow, you know empathy is free, right?
Nah, for some people empathy has the insurmountable cost of destroying the world view which puts them on top.
No leftist would be bragging about a Trump win. A leftist would be worried about the people who are in danger now. You’re not a leftist if this is your belief.
Their comment history is fucking insane. They appear to support accelerationism, so they got what they wanted.
So many times I saw people on Lemmy saying they weren’t going to vote because of [insert Reason X]
Everytime I told them they should, I was brushed off with some stupid Argument.
Well, I congratulate everyone who did that. You now live in a country headed by someone openly flirting with fascism. I really hope [Reason X] was worth it. And I really hope [Reason X] won’t get worse under Trump (it will). You failed to prevent a fascist from raising to power just so you could virtue-signal.
The democrats shifted right, and yet the fault is still on those that didn’t vote?
yes. yes, it is. Those that didn’t vote failed to stop fascism from rising.
Even if you think that Democrats are too conservative, the alternative you chose and got is Trump.
Also the phrase goes “stop fascism at all costs” not “stop fascism at all costs except when the alternative has shifted a bit to the right (but in no way as far as the fascists we would be trying to stop) and now is too conservative for you”
Those that didn’t vote failed to stop fascism from rising.
The Democratic party, who failed to rally non-voters and instead chose to try and court Republican voters to their cause, failed to stop fascism from rising.
Stop blaming voters for politicians running on unpopular policies. I’ve checked repeatedly today, Harris lost Michigan by under 100,000 votes, but there were over 100,000 protest votes during the primary.
Before the election, 35% of Pennsylvania voters and 37% of Arizona voters polled said they would be more likely to vote for Harris if they would agree to cease weapons shipments to Israel without contingencies. The DNC sent Bill Clinton to lecture the residents of Michigan about why Israel is justified in killing their loved ones instead of, idk, taking a stance that could win you much needed votes in a swing state. They brought Republican after Republican to speak at the DNC, but allotted no time for Palestinian Democrats to speak.
They gave their own constituents the middle finger, like always, while demanding their unwavering support. All while being more concerned about trying to win over Republicans instead of rallying their own non-voters to the polls.
Gee, that sure worked out great for them, is that the voter’s fault too? It’s astounding how the same people who were insulting and condescending to conflicted Dem voters the last couple weeks are now screeching and crying that it’s the fault of the people they insulted and bullied that they lost.
Y’all don’t have mirrors you can look in? Maybe start there, and understand why you can’t dismiss the concerns of entire swaths of your constituency and still feel entitled to their support, regardless of the dire threat that the Democrats didn’t take seriously enough.
“Vote for my shitty policies or the other guy will have shittier policies” is not a platform.
The point of a democratic republic is that elected officials enact the policies those who elect them want. If you don’t offer to enact those policies you don’t get elected.
Yes, non-voters were stupid to not vote for the lesser evil, but the Harris campaign violated the very basis of democracy and thought they could simply use Trump to bully people into voting for them.
Imagine a system where a fascist Boogeyman is held up every election and people reliably vote against them without regard for who they vote for. The other party could put up whatever shitty candidate they wanted whether they espouse the views of the population or not.
Not only is that not at all a fucking democracy, it was the documented strategy of the Democratic party! Except it doesn’t fucking work, which they should have learned in 2016.
4·45 minutes agoThe other party could put up whatever shitty candidate they wanted whether they espouse the views of the population or not.
Like genocide! Or 99% of the other candidates facist policies. Or …
If you don’t vote, you are part of the problem.
Yes, its random lemmy posters that made Harris have a shit campaign that didn’t get out the vote. Vote for another centrist in the primary in 4 years whose main appeal is “I’m not Vance” and lets see how 2028 goes.
Not saying it’s your “fault” but not voting means you’re ok with the republicans being in power. That’s all I’m saying.
Harris lost by significant margins. Lemmy lefties had no impact on this outcome.
Not just here. This was on all social media
Social media lefties had no significant impact on this outcome. Twitter is not real life
I doubt that. Consider what we saw with all of the COVID disinformation on social media. I think the idea that social media has no impact on election results is very wrong.
It has an impact on right wingers, not normies or center/left people
Extremely wrong
Really think it was the the leader not offering enough.
I genuinely think it can be both. Voters were too short-sighted to see their self-interest and Dem leaders didn’t convince them
That is your Opinion, and you’re entitled to that.
But all of those that decided not to vote could have stopped the rise of fascism and chose not to.
I don’t blame that on the opposition. I blame that on those accepting its rise and refusing to stop it.
You don’t blame the fascism on the literal fascists?
Interesting
You can blame the fascism on the literal fascists. They’re backed by the neo-monarchists who have tons of money to spend (and spent it!) converting discontents into more fascists.
Do you want to blame the discontents without a reasonable option who saw their news agencies and social media pointing towards the new Mussolini? There’s millions of them, and they can barely reason to tie their own shoes. The GOP has been banking on them since the 1970s, though the propaganda projects started when great depression living conditions weren’t sweet enough for the proletariat, and FDR created the New Deal to stop communist revolution.
It’s why in the states communism is a word of disparagement when the alternative is monarchism, and capitalism always drifts towards autocracy, then monarchism, and then collapse.
Blame who you want, but ultimately it is a machine running on natural forces. Even in the end of this campaign (when – in retrospect – it was already too late) the media was trying to inform some people (who?) that the comparisons between the Trump campaign and policies, and Hitler’s campaign and policies were very similar, enough to call both one-party autocracy propped up by fascist enemy-within rhetoric.
Nothing to do now but watch everyone get what they bought and paid for.
Flags really checking out here.
Oh sod fucking off.
Trump has openly stated his support, unconditional, for Israel. And yet I am here opposing him, advocating for the candidate that had a more nuanced and reasonable take. Chastising those that let him get elected and let him and Nettanyahu have their way. And now you’re trying to turn this on me?
sod fucking off.
In part, yes, but it’s a more complicated issue though. It’s a death by thousand cuts.
There’s also the whole doubling-down on the Israel-Palestine conflict, Twitter propping up the far-right everywhere it can, etc.
I find this whole Israel-Palestine vote-boycott so stupid and irritating.
Did anyone ever think beyond virtue-signaling? What were they hoping, that Trump forgets he wants to stand behind Nettanyahu no matter what?
In order to “boycott” a “fascist President”, they let their own country elect another one. Great, now there are two of them.
Seriously, they want to “stop fascism at all costs”, but when they actually have the chance to stop a fascist from taking office, they refuse.
I have lost all hope for humanity, have a nice day.
The harris campaign decided to be pro-war and buddy up with incredibly unpopular warmonger dick cheney.
She put no significant distance between her foreign policy and trump’s. If you really think lemmy lefties are the reason harris lost then you probably haven’t been outside in a long time
“Are the Russian bots in the room with us right now, or only outside so you don’t come in contact with reality?”
Looked at the dem votes for the last few elections and it looked consistent except for biden. Who somehow got way more than normal.
2008 69 mil 2012 65 mil 2016 65 mil 2020 81 mil 2024 66 mil
Also the only white male in those years…
I had the same thought…
The Biden campaign offered something, notably student loan forgiveness, but both Clinton and Harris’s campaigns relied on the dumbfuck Pied Piper strategy that they would offer nothing to the voters other than being not-Trump.
That’s a dumb fucking strategy because there are fewer people that will vote Democrat as the lesser evil than will vote Republican just because Republican. They have to court people with policies they actually want.
And the absolute crazy thing is they tried this in 2016 and it failed, yet somehow had the balls to try again when it mattered more.
And the absolute crazy thing is they tried this in 2016 and it failed, yet somehow had the balls to try again when it mattered more.
They could blame 2016 on Hillary, not on the “I’m not him” strategy. Go figure that a 20+ year campaign to paint a woman as the literal devil would in fact cause problems for her at the ballot box, right? Who would have guessed except for anyone with a functional frontal cortex?
Tbf, you would have to hate yourself a lot to look at trump and say “eh… i dont agree with him and he’s likely to completely fuck the country and endanger millions of innocent lives… but look! The democrats are only saying that they arent trump. I better not do a damn thing and hope for the best!”
I guess democrats are just are idiotic and short visioned as republicans. Perhaps they are in fact the same.
The Harris campaign put out an 80 page policy guidebook explaining what they were offering. Stop denying responsibility from the voters. A bunch of people wanted this and a bunch of others figured this was better than rallying around the one viable alternative, be it a form a protest or laziness. Voters are ultimately responsible for who we collectively elect.
Vanishingly few voters read white papers. If that stuff isn’t messaged then it doesn’t matter. And a convention of “joy” wasn’t it.
The average US citizen is not going to sit down and parse through 80 pages of policy. Why the fuck didn’t she promote it in interviews? Every speech and interview I have seen she just skirts around questions and gives vague answers, very frequently repeating herself almost verbatim. It really didn’t inspire confidence. And I say this as someone who voted for her.
If she had a playbook, she ignored it and didn’t talk about it. Despite people begging for policies.
Trump has one, played dumb and wants to do it. Despite it being evil.
I wonder who won?
votes for Biden were “anything oh god anything but this.”
Yeah but it didn’t carry. Guess everyone forgot Trump.
So I guess we do this again in four years? Assuming elections are still a thing.
I think I’m just done. as many Democrats as Ive voted for and the best they can do is “Not as actively evil?” tired of it. Starting to think if we’re going to hell on a bucket maybe I should be the one holding the handle.
The dems are not our party. I don’t they ever will be in the foreseeable future. The issue is not making the dems win but stopping the GOP.
If elections still exist, and the Democratic Party still hasn’t been deposed, yes. We’ll likely have a mass of people voting to get rid of Trump’s chaos for anyone else, and the Dems will receive a boost. Then, when they run the same milquetoast candidate 4 years later with nothing to offer but “better than the alternative,” they’ll fail again.
It’s basically the same back and forth pendulum as before, but accelerated. Now incumbents can’t even expect to receive all 8 years before the pendulum shifts.
Yup. Democratic leadership would rather trump win than run a left-facing campaign and candidate. What’s the definition of insanity?
Democratic leadership is those of us who do the thankless work of playing politics to help others.
Find something different. You won’t. Sure Progressive Party Whatever - they’ll run into the exact same thing. You’re re-inventing the wheel because you don’t know that.
That’s…
I’m not sure we’re all talking about the same thing. The Democratic Party has been playing to the “center” longer than any of us have been alive, while shunning, excommunicating, and often literally arresting anyone to the left. And all that accomplishes and has ever accomplished is the Overton window shifting further and further right. Kamala was running on bragging about hiring “the good” republicans while sidestepping the massive issues anyone even slightly progressive wanted to talk about (and what almost surely turned off a huge portion of voters), which is the ongoing genocide in Gaza. She finally said the day before the election that she would do “everything in her power to end the war,” which is still not nearly enough when discussing a fuckin genocide.
So many of the people I know are leftists. None of them voted for her because of it. Sure, the democrats and liberals I know did—my parents, for example. But they have voted democrat the entire time I’ve been alive. They are solid, reliable Dem voters. They’re not the people she needed to appeal to either—but keeping them was certainly more important than any mythical “centrist/swing” voter.
Everyone that was arrested for sitting in school buildings protesting the genocide, everyone who is sickened by what we’re seeing. Who couldn’t stomach voting for someone who didn’t feel the need to say it was a genocide that sickens them. THOSE are the people the dems gain when, like in 2020, things are so bad they hold their noses and increase turnout, and they’re the votes they lose when they hold office and maintain the genocidal status quo.
Democratic Party : Republican Party :: Washington Generals : Harlem Globetrotters
100%
Here in deep-red Missouri the $15 minimum wage passed in a landslide, but for some reason, all Democrats wanted to talk about was tax cuts that no one thinks they’ll actually pass anyway.
Democratic consultants. The problem.
Democratic leadership has to call corporate donors before they can make any decisions
The Democratic Party is basically dead now. Time to sit back and watch the MAGAs eat themselves. Clock ticking.
Well that’s one way to look at this positively.
How do you see this going down? Internal power struggles and tantrum hissy fits?
Yeah no. I hate the democrats, I’m a registered libertarian. The popular vote said they’re fine with project 2025.
I don’t really care what issues anyone had. It was exesetential. We failed. That’s not a party issue, it’s an American issue. I don’t care about turnout, if you didn’t turn out you don’t care. Thats not on the party that’s on you. I don’t care about policy, it’s all about to get worse, we’ve seen it. Parties cease to matter when there’s dead bodies in the halls of government. We all saw the worst fucking coup attempt in history… And it worked. There is no party to blame for that. 2016 came down to poor leadership, this is just… deserved.
We’ll see what’s left to re-build with.
Democrats just aren’t going to be the progressive party. How many times are you going to fail to learn this lesson?
