They can blame the left as long as the Democrats let them. IF the Democrats were to go on the offensive, then maybe Trump voters' rage will be directed to Trump. Don't forget, Trump doesn't have a mandate and his diehard MAGA base is a minority of voters. The rest of his 2024 voters might very well turn on him if he doesn't "fix" everything he promised, and if inflation and the economy worsen. #MAGA #GOP #Trump #TrumpCanFixIt #Inflation #economy

opeu.org.br/2024/09/18/a-profi…

A Profile of Trump Voters: The Demographics of his MAGA Enthusiasts and Their Relationship to Him - OPEU

Most of Trump's voters tend to be white, male, mainly older, highly conservative, and less likely to have a college degree

^{Administrador (OPEU)}

i agree #democrats need a stronger backbone

however i disagree with this phenomenon:

1. #republicans do something awful

2. people blame democrats for not stopping it

let's keep our blame game squarely focused on the #right where it belongs, while we also makeover the democrats in the #midterms with more strong #left #candidates

#primaries2026

No, "people" don't blame Democrats for not stopping it, Democrats like me blame Democrats for not stopping it.

I have personal experience in this. I tried to get a Democrat to show some backbone and even with evidence of GOP corruption, she wouldn't "stoop" to expose it. Her niceness and cluelessness lost her a governorship to a true crook.

I could continue. I've lobbied Dem strategists and political consultants whom I personally know to get the Dems to change the way they "talk to" voters. So far, nothing. The Dem establishment is still entrenched, and while it is, nothing much is going to happen. If you want evidence of that, read this:

newrepublic.com/post/189757/74…

74-Year-Old Democrat Who Ran Against AOC Offers Infuriating Defense

Representative Gerry Connolly beat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a race for a top leadership spot in the party—and then defended the move in the most outrageous way possible.

^{The New Republic}

Does that blame include not voting for dems?

@benroyce

no

not voting has no blame in the minds of some on the #left

because their personal feeling about themselves is more important than mattering in the world

so voting for a #candidate they feel is impure is so terrible, they don't #vote, then the #right wins

that's #toxidealism in a nutshell:

people whose personal sense of their #ideological purity, how they feel about themselves, is more important than messy impure strategy to get effective change in the world

@mloxton @KathyLK

Is there any point where someone's views are so abhorrent you can't vote for them no matter if they are the lessor of many evils and what about voting for the best candidate that the media has decided does not have a chance.

For example, is a candidate/party supporting genocide a line too far to cross.

@the5thColumnist @mloxton @KathyLK

#trump wants #israel to "finish the problem" in #gaza while #biden started withholding arms at one point because of the #genocide

both the #democrats and #republicans suck

but one is better, and one is worse

if you hew to the standard of perfect and don't #vote or vote 3rd party, you help get us worse

i don't like that. but that is reality

you *never* get perfect as a choice

you must choose better, and *iterate*

#toxicidealism is self-destruction

@bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist @mloxton @KathyLK

no, it's just duverger's law

if we got rid of all corruption by magic, we would still only have two parties

it's just math

we need a new voting system (such as ranked choice) then we will finally have stable viable third parties

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duverger…

@bitsnpieces
@the5thColumnist @mloxton

I agree. Eliminate the Electoral College and institute ranked choice voting, and then we might even see a reduction in the influence of "big money" in elections.

Even with ranked choice voting, candidates are STILL going to have to communicate effectively with voters to get them to vote for them.

@KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist @mloxton

Any system that allows for the spoiler effect to distort elections, is a sick parody of democracy at best.

We've seen, for decades now, how much the DNC would rather suppress voters by enthusiastically doubling down on the spoiler effect and scapegoating 3rd parties, instead of advocating for any sort of ranked choice voting.

The spoiler effect is a weapon. This system is too entrenched to let us just vote it away-- the oligarchs know damn well that would fundamentally threaten their stranglehold. How many more generations are we going to waste trying to rearrange those deck chairs?

I mean, by all means, advocate for ranked choice voting. It can be implemented successfully at the local level.

Just keep in mind, people who are evil enough to facilitate genocide are also evil enough to pull some truly awful shit-- including FEEDING us to the Republicans quite deliberately, and worse-- if electoral changes get successful enough to threaten their purse strings. Oppressors don't just sit around and meekly let you vote away their power.

@violetmadder @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist @mloxton

right but the point is to fashion a voyage out of this mess

and i will not accept that those invested in the unfair system are boundlessly powerful evil we cannot defeat

be careful that your words don't get too cynical, because all cynicism is is rationalization of, and acceptance of, abusive malice

@KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist @mloxton

I didn't say they can't be defeated.

I'm saying that we can't expect to defeat them by changing the system from the inside while politely and diligently sticking to all the busted rules that are designed to stymie us.

Major changes inside the system can only succeed when paired with pressure brought to bear by agitators on the outside.

Allowing moral relativism to drag our standards down to rationalizing how it's "good" to vote for war criminals, is its own Orwellian nightmare. Some "toxic idealism" of surfacing from the dystopian Overton Window long enough to say "WTF ARE WE EVEN DOING THIS IS ALL FUCKED" is necessary to keep us from veering hopelessly into a world so warped nobody even remembers what real goodness, integrity, conscience, or humanity even looks like.

@violetmadder @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist @mloxton

we need to primary the fuck out of centrist milquetoast corporatist dems in 2026

*that* is your "working in the system"

outside agitators? not voting or voting 3rd party?

we lose

"democrats" is not a fixed point, it's an empty vessel we fill and shove the centrists out

people can't think of the dems as fixed and we have no agency

you need to change how you think of the problem because your current construction is self-defeating

@violetmadder @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist @mloxton

We've been, and still trying to do that.

Our best chance was Bernie in '16 and '20, our latest chance was AOC recently.

Each time the dnc hooked and crooked us out of those chances.

As long as the centrists/dnc hold the reins of power, the left will never get a meaningful seat at the table. They prevent anyone from taking that power from them.

Now with the orange idiot in charge of our country, chances are good we'll never be allowed to vote again.

@504DR @violetmadder @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist @mloxton

just vote in the primaries in 2026. that should nullify both of your points, *if* enough us fucking show the fuck up

@violetmadder @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist @mloxton

Bernie won the primaries in both '16/'20.

@504DR @violetmadder @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist @mloxton

i voted for bernie and gave him money, i know

so... we give up?

no, we keep pushing, harder

don't give in to cynicism

cynicism is just rationalizing your abuse and accepting it

@violetmadder @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist @mloxton

I haven't missed an election since 1976, two year or four year.

It hasn't made a difference, even when the Dems won. Clinton and Obama both sold us out, bc they are darlings of the neoliberal DNC.

I've always been proud of my voting record, win or lose. But for the first time, I'm questioning it's efficacy, and thinking of not voting anymore.
Doing the same thing over/over again while expecting different results is insanity.

I have 2 years to mull it over, if I'm still here, and we're still allowed to vote by then.

@504DR
"But for the first time, I'm questioning it's efficacy, and thinking of not voting anymore."

No, please don't do that.
Not voting just ensures we drift steadily towards full fascism.
Always vote, and vote every time, and always pick the one who can win that is most on the left.

Don't pick impossible unicorns, don't get distracted by Russian, Iranian, etc disinformation campaigns, or active measures attacks.

@benroyce @violetmadder @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist

@mloxton @504DR @violetmadder @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist

Imagine if half the people who don't vote simply voted for the most liberal option *on the ballot* for the next 5-6 cycles.

Politics would change dramatically. We'd see a lot more progressives and the far right would be shifting to the center.

@TCatInReality @mloxton @504DR @violetmadder @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist

I wonder how people in blue hats keep talking like elections are going to be how change will happen, as if the red hats haven't demonstrated that they will fubar ALL attempts to remove them from power

As if this 'election' wasn't hacked at every level, in terms of access & gerrymandering & every dirty legal loophole available

#Fascists, once in power, will make elections farce. What's your plan?

@PeachMcD @TCatInReality @mloxton @504DR @violetmadder @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist

the plan is to vote

... and do everything you can to educate people on the left to stop treating voting like picking a date or a cabbage.
Also, regard it as a sacred duty to get those third-party and stay-home voters to do the hard work of picking the least of evils who can actually win.

@PeachMcD @TCatInReality @504DR @violetmadder @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist

@mloxton @PeachMcD @TCatInReality @504DR @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist

Ah yes, the "sacred duty" of browbeating anybody with higher standards than yours, until they're finally willing to suck up to war criminals.

@violetmadder
No

Duty to face reality, and stop throwing expensive self-righteous tantrums that hurt everyone.
Failing to support "genocidal" Harris has just yielded a result of getting a worse outcome.

So yes, I am going to browbeat the people who are on the left and flinch at doing the dirty work of voting for the candidate that is most on our side and CAN win.

@benroyce @PeachMcD @TCatInReality @504DR @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist

@mloxton @PeachMcD @TCatInReality @504DR @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist

Riiiiight, so only the self-righteous tantrums that throw Palestinians under the bus are allowed. Got it.

@violetmadder @mloxton @PeachMcD @TCatInReality @504DR @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist

no

the self-righteous tantrums that threw abortion, gun control, affordable healthcare, environmental regulation, climate change addressing, etc., under the bus, because of one issue some toxic idealists didn't get perfect on, apparently is the only thing that is allowed

you do not speak from morality

you speak from ego masturbation

"Ego Masturbation" though

Preach Brother!

@violetmadder @PeachMcD @TCatInReality @504DR @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist

@mloxton @violetmadder @PeachMcD @TCatInReality @504DR @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist

for some, real world change in the right direction, however messy, is less important than mentally masturbating their sense of magical purity

and through their inaction because of that, everything they care about gets even worse

pure blind sanctimonious self-destruction

all heart

zero mind

@mloxton @PeachMcD @TCatInReality @504DR @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist

Could say the same thing about the "magical purity" of the rituals of the ballot box, vs the mess of outright revolt.

@violetmadder @mloxton @PeachMcD @TCatInReality @504DR @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist

voting is indeed a little more clean than violence

call me crazy

if it comes to violence i'm right there with you

but i'm not giving up on the ballot because some toxic idealists don't get perfect

nevermind after much suffering in revolution, assuming a win, decisions will have to be made... by voting!

then, some fool will lecture us on the impurity of the vote and that we need to start shooting

@grumble209 @violetmadder @mloxton @PeachMcD @TCatInReality @504DR @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist

violence is inevitable if we don't get change at the ballot box

what i resent is people hungry for violence, when they can still vote

the level of injustice and suffering during real world revolution makes what we're dealing with now look like a birthday party

and there is no guarantee good wins. the winner can be worse

just fucking vote goddamnit, stop cosplaying

it's not like a movie

"what i resent is people hungry for violence, when they can still vote"

Right
Now is not the time, and this is not the place for that talk.

@grumble209 @violetmadder @PeachMcD @TCatInReality @504DR @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist

@StephaneHuart
I always doubt it.

But also, they will spend days on bloviating about burning down the state, and won't spare thirty minutes seeing what Black women are saying, and then VOTING accordingly.

If we all voted, and voted like Black women, this would be a really nice place.

@benroyce @grumble209 @violetmadder @PeachMcD @TCatInReality @504DR @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist

@bebadefabo @mloxton @StephaneHuart @grumble209 @violetmadder @PeachMcD @TCatInReality @504DR @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist

🤣 🤣 🤣

it's the exact fucking opposite

jesus fucking christ how do people get so mixed up

@bebadefabo @mloxton @StephaneHuart @grumble209 @violetmadder @PeachMcD @504DR @KathyLK @bitsnpieces @the5thColumnist

People get so mixed up because there's a vast propaganda effort out there to disinform.

Even the geniuses who "do their own research" are heavily influenced by bad faith trolls.