‘Useful Idiot for Russia’: DNC Decides to Go Off on Jill Stein - eviltoast

“Jill Stein is a useful idiot for Russia. After parroting Kremlin talking points and being propped up by bad actors in 2016 she’s at it again,” DNC spokesman Matt Corridoni said in a statement to The Bulwark. “Jill Stein won’t become president, but her spoiler candidacy—that both the GOP and Putin have previously shown interest in—can help decide who wins. A vote for Stein is a vote for Trump.”

        • jordanlund@lemmy.worldOPM
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          3 months ago

          The problem is that “support genocide” is being used overly broadly.

          The stated policy of the Biden/Harris administration is that Israel has a right to defend itself.

          Surprise! They do. Every sovereign nation has that right.

          As a result of that stated policy, Biden and Harris both support providing weapons and funding for the continual defense of Israel.

          https://www.npr.org/2024/08/23/g-s1-19232/kamala-harris-israel-gaza-dnc

          So follow me here:

          1. Israel has a right to defend itself.
          2. The US will support that defense.

          Where it breaks down is Bibi and Likud taking that defensive support and directing it into the Genocide.

          That’s on THEM. The United States is making a good faith effort to provide support for the defense of Israel. Israel is intentionally misapplying that support.

          Trump’s stated policy is that Israel needs to kill everyone quicker.

          https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-israel-pr-hugh-hewitt-21faee332d95fec99652c112fbdcd35d

          “They’re losing the PR war. They’re losing it big. But they’ve got to finish what they started, and they’ve got to finish it fast, and we have to get on with life.”

          Only one of these two policies is pro-genocide, Trumps.

          Biden/Harris is pro-defense which is illegitimately being used for genocide, not at all the same as being pro-genocide.

          • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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            3 months ago

            That’s on THEM. The United States is making a good faith effort to provide support for the defense of Israel. Israel is intentionally misapplying that support.

            This is not a good argument. They’re not infants, they have agency and the ability to perceive the impacts of their actions.

            Biden/Harris is pro-defense which is illegitimately being used for genocide, not at all the same as being pro-genocide.

            Eh, it certainly means they’re not proactively anti-genocide.

            But more importantly it’s not going to move someone uncomfortable with the Democratic material support for the genocide a single iota closer to accepting that there is still a better candidate both for Palestine and for all the aspects where they’re actually good, not just not as a bad.

          • Krono@lemmy.today
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            3 months ago

            So is your argument that the Biden/Harris administration is blind, or stupid?

            If I give my kid an AR-15 and they shoot up a school, I may or may not be culpable.

            But if I hand them another AR after the first shooting, they kill again, and then I give them another, and another, and keep handing them weapons for months, and theres a pile of 15,000 dead children, then I am definitely culpable.

            It doesn’t matter how many times I tell the kid “this AR is for defense only”.

            • jordanlund@lemmy.worldOPM
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              3 months ago

              Oh, not at all, they know very well what they’re doing.

              The unwavering support of Israel is due to two factors:

              1. The undue and oversized influence the Pro-Israel lobby has on American politics:

              https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus?ind=Q05

              1. The Evangelical opinion that we need to support Israel so Jeebus can come back:

              https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/truth-many-evangelical-christians-support-israel-rcna121481

              As with all good politics, it has nothing to do with “right” or “wrong”, it’s all about “money” and “power”. That’s it.

              • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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                3 months ago

                Oh, not at all, they know very well what they’re doing.

                Then they know it’s a genocide, they know what the weapons are used for, and they’re sending the weapons anyway.

                That’s. Supporting. Genocide.

                • jordanlund@lemmy.worldOPM
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                  3 months ago

                  It isn’t though.

                  Look at our humanitarian support that often gets hijacked by corrupt governments.

                  People are starving.
                  We send support.
                  Support gets hijacked.
                  People keep starving.

                  “WhY Do yOu sUpPoRt sTaRvAtIoN??!?!?!”

                  We aren’t going to stop sending support just because bad actors are misusing it.

                  • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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                    3 months ago

                    We aren’t going to stop sending support just because bad actors are misusing it.

                    The bad actors in this case are the people we keep selling weapons to. No hijacking is taking place like in your example about food aid. We sell them weapons, they get immediately used for genocide.

                    Pretending that Netanyahu totally meant to use the weapons for defense but accidentally goofed into using them for genocide is flimsy apologia indeed.

            • jordanlund@lemmy.worldOPM
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              3 months ago
              1. It’s not going to be finished by January.

              2. Israel doesn’t need our help to shoot little kids in the chest and head. Bullets are cheap.

              • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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                3 months ago

                Israel doesn’t need our help to shoot little kids in the chest and head. Bullets are cheap.

                Then they can do it without our help. We don’t need to be complicit.

              • anticolonialist@lemmy.world
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                3 months ago

                It will be a little more difficult if their supply of bullets was cut off, and their bunker buster bombs were cut off.

                  • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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                    3 months ago

                    They don’t need our support which is why they’re completely ignoring our demands.

                    Then why not withdraw our support? They can “dEfEnD tHeMsElVeS” without our help.

                  • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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                    3 months ago

                    They don’t produce the weapons they buy from us. Eventually they could stand up domestic production, but it would absolutely impact the current war. Israelis themselves have said that. You’re just making up excuses the actual people involved don’t make.

          • blazera@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            This shit is so disjointed. Its not a genocide, its only a genocide because the countrys leaders want it to be, Biden is only arming a genocide because those leaders want to use the weapons for genocide. You’re stuck, man, you cant get past any of the uncomfortable truths. You cant make an argument that its not a genocide. You cant make an argument that our government is not arming and funding that genocide. You cant make an argument that youre not supporting a candidate that is likely to continue to arm and fund that genocide.

        • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          3 months ago

          Yeah they have gotten that bad. I’m glad that you’ve finally decided to accept that. That’s the first step.

    • solsangraal@lemmy.zip
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      3 months ago

      LOL ok, you’re cool with throwing your vote away

      that doesn’t mean anyone else is obliged to waste time “rationalizing” NOT throwing their vote away to you

      do what you want. just know that your third party vote did NOTHING for palestine. and NOTHING for anyone else either.

      • blazera@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        I wish it meant we did nothing for palestine. Instead of it meaning bombs and funding continues to pour into the arms of the country thats killing them.

          • blazera@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            Nah im voting for a candidate that has not voted to arm and fund an ongoing genocide.

            • jordanlund@lemmy.worldOPM
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              3 months ago

              And helping Trump who wants to accelerate that same genocide while starting another one here at home.

              • blazera@lemmy.world
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                3 months ago

                Genocide is an absolute non starter. If one party supports it and one supports it harder, you need to burn down the whole political field and start over.

            • solsangraal@lemmy.zip
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              3 months ago

              LOL aka throwing your fucking vote away

              i’m not telling anyone how to vote. i’m just saying that a vote for third party is a vote that goes straight in the fucking trash

                • YeetPics@mander.xyz
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                  3 months ago

                  Did you know you’re allowed to shut the fuck up?

                  You don’t have to make your vote seem like it’s any more important than any other.

                  You don’t have to make your choice on who to vote for you entire personality.

                  It’s a sign of your narcissistic personality disorder.

                  It’s cute and funny to watch you squirm from where I’m sitting.

                  Keep up the good work, little narcissist!

      • anticolonialist@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Telling someone they are throwing away their vote because they won’t support your team is right wing authoritarian voter suppression.

        • jordanlund@lemmy.worldOPM
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          3 months ago

          “Teams” don’t enter into it.

          One candidate poses an existential threat to our country and way of life.

          One other candidate can defeat them.

          Taking a vote away from the 2nd candidate has the same net effect as voting for the first one.

          You either help beat Trump or you help elect him. A 3rd party will not win, so voting 3rd party doesn’t help beat Trump.

          • anticolonialist@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            Both pose a threat to the country, but right now one dragged themselves out of the sewer like they do every four years to talk progressive and proactive, then proceed to legislate like their Republican counterparts after the election.

            My goal is to defeat both threats to the country and our quality of life, not slowly extend everyone’s pain.

              • anticolonialist@lemmy.world
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                3 months ago

                Liberals refusing to challenge the system that allowed a demagogue like Trump to be elected will be the demise of the country. Saying war is bad but I’m gonna vote for you regardless is not challenging the system, that’s rewarding them for bad behavior. Electing the people complicit in propping up that system only prolongs the suffering of people.

                They will cling to fascism to protect the few table crumbs that get tossed at them.

        • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          3 months ago

          Nice straw man. You’re throwing your vote away because you are voting for a candidate that has zero chance of winning, while one of the two actual options is a literal fascist who will give Netanyahu carte blanche in Palestine and the other realizes she has to walk a narrow tightrope before November if she wants to get elected and have any influence over Israel whatsoever.

          But I know you know this already.

          If the Green Party was a serious political party, then why do they never care about down ballot elections? Why don’t they ever care about local elections? Why do they disappear, only to crawl out from their hole every four years to sow division among American voters?

          • anticolonialist@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            Netanyahu has Carte Blanche right now. The US has completed over 500 weapons deliveries to Israel. And Harris has already said she’s continuing the shit we have going on right now.

            There are plenty of greens holding local offices right now, but you would know that if you looked instead of relying on someone to feed you propaganda that’s designed for their purposes.

            Why is it every 4 years Democrats rise from the sewers and talk progressive and populous then go right back to legislating like their Republican counterparts after the election?

            Telling someone their vote is wasted or meaningless is right-wing authoritarian voter suppression.

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Why do you love Trump so much you’re trying so hard to get him into power?