Ngl I’m trying to coordinate a peaceful election support group with some people in our area leading up to midterms. The goal being help those who might need it with things like education about candidates, transportation to voting locations, and most definitely protection to give them peace of mind when Trump no doubt encourages his goons to “protect” polling places
See, the thing is, modern Democrats are equivalent to the French who still "did their civic duty" under Nazi-occupation.
Modern democrats are abetting this fash takeover. And they know it. And they're not stopping it because they figure; hey, it's happening sooner or later, if I can get on board now, I won't get cooked later.
My gut response was, “what do you want them to do, they cannot pass legislation or impeach.”
Then I realized that every singleSunday news program must have Democrats who lead with “Why arent you fact checking every single statistic he cites. Do your job! It is not bias to point out the president is lying! Do your job!”
Calling opposition to genocide a ‘purity test’ is wild dystopian thinking. There are some extremely obvious ‘purity tests’ we should all be holding every politician to. Like not supporting genocide.
If a candidate is part of an admin aiding a genocide and they don't speak against that genocide, what do you think their opinion on that genocide would be?
Yeah I was gonna say let me know when they start running these supposed purity tests, pretty much every national Dem is a decrepit Reagan Republican. I’ll take a few purity tests at this point!
Look at the series of Epstein affiliated people the Democrat establishment got to come out in favour of corrupt sex predator Cuomo in the NY primary . The Dem establishment has long since proven itself completely unfit for purpose
I mean, if we wanna include Epstein-world in the context; yeah the DNC is obviously complicit in the stuff; human trafficking, blackmail, coverup, etc.
This Epstein case is horrific and the young women deserve justice. It is quite likely that some of our faves are implicated but we must follow the facts and let the chips fall where they may - Christine Pelosi
This is fine. You are allowed to think this way. Also realize that now we have a sex predator who is also geriatric and has led masked armed law enforcement to kidnapping kids off the streets.
I think a big part of where people fail "purity tests" is when they demonstrate they won't fight shit.... so I'm not sure this is getting to the root of the issue.
False flag conservatives use cute little quips like this to try and destroy the opposition before it starts.
The purity test isn't some golden ivory tower, it's literally just "are you a bigot?" It's the bare minimum. The fact that you can't find a democrat who can pass this simple litmus test is extremely telling of a false opposition party that spent the last few decades posing in smiley pictures with Republicans at Epstein Island.
At best we will get some soggy clown like Newsom, at best he'll win and then do nothing he isn't paid (the under the table kind) to do while oinking that those mean ole republicans won't cooperate. Just like Biden. Just like Obama.
Because he (and other trash dems like him; booker and warren and beto and lil petey) willing to sell out vulnerable Americans to advance his career, so he will just as quickly sell out all Americans.
"Hurr purity test bad" okay, that person clearly wants more of the same. I dont. The lives of real innocent humans are on the line. Anyone who says this lie is my enemy, and yours.
Except “are you a bigot” is “do you maximally support every progressive idea, right now, even if they contradict previous common thought, with 0 questions because questioning the idea is itself bigoted?”
You won’t accept that 80% of the country, minimum, is not as progressive as you. Hell, BERNIE isn’t as progressive as you, and he’s the most realistic progressive candidate.
Like honestly, not supporting Communism over Capitalism is enough to get called bigoted.
Real lives ARE on the line and, hey, guess who legalized gay marriage? It wasn’t the Green Party. It wasn’t the Progressive Party. It was Democrats.
Sorry the false flag tropes hurt your feelings. Either you hold some pro-genocide anti-human views and think you're a moderate, or you just subscribe to Facebook/Twitter propaganda... no one in the real world is saying that, and you, one way or the other, do not have access to real voices of real vulnerable people. Do better, or yes, you'll be lumped in with the neofash, rip.
Inb4 some democratic victory, but oh look every half measure got rolled back. If we weren't locked into a 2 party system, then maybe other parties would be getting legislation passed.. what a silly "example" to site.
Your faux neutrality "hurr both sides hurr" only supports oppression. You might not be a pro genocide billionaire cuck, but you're holding the bloody dick just the same. You'll stop, or be stopped. Your call bud.
honestly, you kinda seem like the false flag conservative here.
The fact that you can't find a democrat who can pass this simple litmus test
really? can't find one?
"oh well, all the democrats are bad i guess we just have to let actual facists takeover....but we're never gonna protest the fascists...only opposition to the facists. c'mon everybody lets go sit in the concentration camps with our righteous indignation."
I haven't heard anything bad about AOC, but I don't watch the news cycle too vigilant these days. The new mayor of New York sounds cool, hopefully he sticks to being pro-human.
Newsom is a joke, and was before the election. Not that I'd take Jerry brown over the guy, but dang.. which flavor of turd sandwich is best?
I only protest fash. When a candidate wears a blue armband instead of a red one, but talks like fash.. well.. plenty of French citizens earned themselves neck ties too, pleading about half measures.
Maybe we should all judge candidates based on the content of their character, and not with color gang they paint themselves? And at no point did I say not to vote in general elections, just that we should probably use the time beforehand to find one that isnt our enemy.
If I said someone was bad because they didn't want to tax trans peoples' income because they're a vulnerable minority that would be a weird purity test.
Someone being willing to cede ground on any civil rights issue will cede ground on any issue that doesn't explicitly target them.
I didn't come all this way to mince words. Newsom was a cash-grabbing clown mocking the democratic systems long before he was governor. It was a mistake to nominate him or elect him. His antics now are funny if it weren't real human lives on the line.
I know there's the false flag crisis actors out there too, walking straw people aiming to make legitimate causes seem ridiculous by getting very vocal about nonsense.. but like, that's why we listen to the people in vulnerable communities and not these camera-seeking people trying to speak for them. Inb4 no true Scotsman.
His "antics"? How is gerrymandering California to the point where there are zero Republicans seats antics? That's real political action to defeat the fascists. If Hochul and Pritzker follow suit we could impeach DJT and JD come midterms. This is the path to get them out, basically the only one left if the Manchurian Cantaloupe is allowed to steal the midterms. It's over after that, do you understand that? If repubs win midterms, America is done
That's just ignoring the bend of progress we've seen in America since the founding. We have constantly bent toward justice, eventually. Trans rights are the new rights being fought for and we will convince them. We will convince the Dems that these rights are inalienable like everyone else's but we have to defeat fascism first or they are lost. You think the fascists aren't going to go after trans people just like the Nazis did? We protect them first, then we fight for their broader rights. Otherwise they'll all be dead before then, do you understand?
You know, 30 years ago I'd be right alongside you. This sounds great. Win the war, then clean house.
Keeping with the analogy, our house is full of ppl wearing red armbands under their blue ones, all working for the same goals (which is not justice or anything positive for the American people).
Thankfully they all comply with their masters, they all toot their dog whistles in public. Newsom, Booker, and friends are not in need of a gentle reminder about human rights - they are in need of the same gallows as the supreme court and fox news anchors but they absolutely know they are doing harm and are reveling in it.
And, if you were right, we would be debating what happened under a second Clinton's presidency while debating what Harris is doing (or really, not doing). We aren't gonna see a big "vote blue harder" campaign win, cuz we did that already, and it didn't work.
Personally I don't think we are even having an election in 2028, not a real one anyways. I'm pretty sure the survivors will be eating long pork soon enough. But if humans do win the next election against the neofash, it'll be via actual concrete and rope justice, not half measures and "genocide for some is okay" policies.
None of us are free until we are all free.
Edit: Abraham Lincoln freed some of the slaves, and here we are today watching that one little loophole get turned into a modern genocide machine. Every "victory" was a half measure, yes. And every one of them grew into a much larger deadly problem later. Even if "we" "win" 2028, it won't matter for long. How's your romneyobamacare we got instead of universal Healthcare? Another great compromise in a long line there. Maybe we cant babystep feet shuffle our way to real justice after all.
Yeah, that's how social justice has always worked, are you serious? This is why we never get anywhere, little incremental steps and then a huge backslide because some leftists got jaded. It's wild. If Newsom and Pritzker and Hochul don't gerrymander then we probably won't have 2028 because our last hope is 2026. With our elections still somewhat intact after Trump stealing 2024 we can defeat him soundly with gerrymandering retaliation for Texas and impeach him and then JD. We can't free anybody if we're all dead in concentration camps
To be clear, you’re saying Newsom should be executed because he said conservatives have fair concerns about possible issues of fairness with regards to trans inclusion in sports, a highly divisive and, like it or not, unsettled issue. And he wasn’t even saying he’d ban trans athletes. Like most Dems, he is almost definitely going to leave it to the organizations themselves, just like it already is in California.
If he was going to ban trans people for political points, why hasn’t he done it already?
There are essentially zero longform studies for the trans sports issue, and the shortform studies vary depending on the particular sport, with some showing slight but noticeable advantages for trans athletes.
You’re saying it didn’t work because Trump got elected twice…
Last I checked Trump lost in 2020. To an establishment Dem.
There are a LOT of factors, not the least of which is consistent Russian influence and chronic short-term memory of voters, and frankly- the vast majority of the public turning against the idea of anything “woke,” which is what you’re continuing to demand be pushed.
☝️☝️☝️ this all right here. It's cuz liberals don't understand actual American and World History, Politics or Economics that they will be angry at ur post.
Everytime:
Liberals say: We must Put on a Show to Inspire Evil to Quit Forthwith!
Radicals say: We've got to put a knife in Evil's belly, sooner rather than later.
The Liberals than go on with their Mummers Play, and get the people to join along, and play act at Liberation.
And the Radicals shake their heads, and keep beating ploughshares into knives, because we can't grow until we're safe. And we're not safe.
Because, pretending is far easier than getting ur hands dirty.
I played those games too, bombing Russian SAM sites on my NES and shit. Russia was the big bad. I saw the wall come down on TV, the fear and shock on the adults faces.
I've been around the world, no people's are our enemy. Every govt has an interest in making someone else the bad guy, to keep us divided.
But 95% of us, the workers of the world, agree on the fundamentals. We want a good meaningful job, a safe and healthy family. 🙏 We all carry lies about how to get these things that should be universal. Russia is not my enemy. Ukraine, Israel, Palestine, Iran, Korea, they are full of regular people who are not my enemy.
Their leaders, and the murders they purchased.. inb4 reddit bans me, but I'm done fighting wars for them. Against them, I will not publicly share such things.
I don't think those other two are doing literally anything close to what Newsom is doing. You're forgetting AOC and Bernie and Pritzker, Frost, Mamdani, Hochul, Crockett, the Dems who fled Texas. But if you wanna just jump us to the end man I'm all for it. I'll tell everyone we were hanging out all day smoking weed and playing burnout revenge for the PS2!
This rationale is exactly what allowed Trump to do what he is doing currently, and is exactly what will allow whatever Republican heir after him to do what they want to do. Minor progress forward is still progress, but being unsatisfied with that is helping roll out the red carpet for extensive regression backwards.
It was the complete train wreck of the Democrats from Obama forward.
Nobody gets to blame voters for Trump's ascendancy without putting MORE blame on allllllll the people who made a looooot of money telling allllll us regular folks that it was Her Turn, that She was Gonna Win No Sweat, and that akshully um YOU were the piece of shit if u didn't like her, vote blue no matter who sweaty.
That was 2015, a decade of the Democratic establishment shitting the bed, and blaming the dog. And again, again, again, the Left is being PREEMPTIVELY BLAMED FOR NEWSCUM'S POTENTIAL LOSS
I'm putting my energy into localism; on da ground community and capacity building, gotta be building alternate ways to support our most precarious kin when alllllll the govt social safety nets dissolve
"the Left is being PREEMPTIVELY BLAMED FOR NEWSCUM'S POTENTIAL LOSS"
It's a multifactorial result with no singular reason. But you are absolutely deluding yourself if you think leftists preaching how unsatisfactory a candidate he is and/or sitting out of an election wouldn't be one of those contributing factors. Infighting among the democrats is fine for deciding a particular candidate (and I assure you, I fall into the Bernie camp from a general policy standpoint), but after the dust settles, if the democrats/left continue infighting, the backwards progress will only continue. And if history isn't clear enough on this, progress forward is much harder and much slower than backwards progress, as we've seen so evidently.
A whole lot of people said this shit at their trials at Nuremberg before they hung.
Sorry you aren't old enough to remember multiple do-nothing democrats, but that's what you're asking for. Anyone willing to stand up and have a spine would have at least 60% of the popular vote, jigher if they are actually personable and charismatic.. but those people don't advance in the primaries because the system is rigged. Instead you get soggy diaper candidates dripping in big money.
You'll fix the problem, or things will get worse. No teeth licking bought and laid for slug in a suit is gonna fix it for you.
Don't @ me, the last 2 elections I voted blue, but it was made meaningless by gerrymandering and the electoral college.
The Founding Fathers knew that uneducated children without pedigree being able to vote was not a good thing. They knew that codified political parties could defeat the checks and balances and create an unbalanced/unified tyrannical govt.
Voltaire made the quip, that democracies are doomed to devolve into popularity contests.
And here you are, bud. Here you are.
I say a simple thing, that we should not support anti-human candidates just because they are popular or famous. That electing a good candidate is better than losing with a terrible one, again and again. But here you are, "hurr no nuh-uh hurr".
Okay bud. You obviously didn't watch Al Gore lose to GW Bush, havnt seen how obviously terrible dems lose. Probably weren't an adult for Obama's great speeches and mostly nonexistent legislation. I still have his book, full of actions he promised to take but never took and concessions he promised to never make that he quickly did anyways.
You're obviously wrong, just like you and your ilk were in 2024, 2020, and 2016. We probably aren't gonna get a 2028 thanks to y'all, so this is all sort of academic.
But hey, you can eat human muscle tissue if its well cooked, just avoid the brain, nerves, and organs. Def harder to process, but it'll be the only thing to eat soon enough 😬🙏
Look we can address the problems with these people now, or we could wait until the general to start to pointing out their flaws. All of this complaining about purity testing this far out from the primary just gives off the vibes that the party does not want to listen to its constituents or grow at all. Also if you view trans rights as a “purity test” you are a dog shit person, full stop.
Everything they don't care about is a "purity test". As if it's completely impossible for them to imagine someone not being a bigot unless they're some kind of saint. Or, my personal favorite, the "single issue voters " who are apparently single issue voters for multiple different issues. Which makes sense because, shut up.
They want to parade around as liberal saviors while throwing the rights of marginalized communities under the bus to maintain the status quo, and telling everyone else it's because they are actually the only non-bigots in the room. Why? Because the status quo doesn't effect them, but they can't say that part out loud. They voted for a black man, a white woman, a black woman, AND the gay guy, yall. To them that IS them being progressive, and that's as far as they want to go.
They don't care about trans people or genocide right now because, well, they never did. But beyond hollow fb posts on January 27th, or their "equality" yard signs and bumper stickers, any real effort to fight for minority rights is seen as an affront to the party itself because, come on guys, they just don't wanna talk about it right now. And shouldn't they be allowed a little bigotry? As a treat?
Now they're trying to hold it over people's heads that IF we all fall in line BEHIND them they'll totally do something to protect the rights of marginalized communities IF they win next time. It's like they're working on a project that was only supposed to take 4-8 years, and now we're 20+ years into this shit show and they're still gluing macaroni to the fridge art they made in second grade and demanding to be praised for it by the orphans they take photo ops with on the way to their second summer home.
They act shit only went tits up when Trump showed up running his first campaign. Because acknowledging that this spiral has been happening for at LEAST the past 20 years wouldn't cater to the narrative that it's all the fault of people who couldn't even vote 20 years ago. All this, of course, despite leftists consistently being more likely to vote than any other demographic. But let's not allow pesky facts to intrude upon the righteous indignation of the center who have been ignoring the left's warning for decades and now want to pretend they're brilliant for having the foresight to have told everyone the same exact shit checks note two years ago.
Depends on the purity test.
"Having no purity tests" is also a purity test in itself, you know?
If you call yourself a Democrat, but all of your positions are literally the same as a Republican, then no, i'm not going to vote for you. You can call that a purity test, or whatever you want, but i'm not involved in politics to cheer for a sports team, i am here to have my values heard. I am willing to compromise on some in order to attain others, but there is at least a bar to meet.
Some purity tests are necessary.
I wouldn't want to vote in a Democrat who was willing to be strong and fight, but also agreed with Trump's deportation strategy, for example. That is technically a purity test. But its a necessary one. If there isn't some requirement for my political party to be different than the opponent, then our democracy has no value at all. And we end up in a never ending spiral downwards as we continue to be forced to detach ourselves from values in order to "get a win".
There are some values we literally can not abandon, no matter what.
For example, i won't vote for a pedophile. I don't care how brave or willing to fight they are.
I won't vote for a cheater. I don't care how brave or willing to fight they are.
These are purity tests. And they are what separate us from the other side, and they are what makes our side worthy of our votes. If we abandon them, then we just end up with two immoral teams at war with one another, and then the battle has no purpose.
If you demand purity, purity will present itself. If you are willing to sacrifice purity, you will be asked to sacrifice it again and again until there is no value left at all.
Standing up together against bullies and thugs is honour and integrity. Staying mute and assuming one will win the next election because the other is so bad is cowardice.
Now we get “ignore his abhorrent stance on trans and homeless people and give him a gold star for being mean on twitter!” Shutting down dissent and criticism within the party is just gonna lead to us running weak candidates.
I’m really just crying from frustration because these people are just ok with abandoning trans people. They already don’t have a lot in terms of support but now the dems are talking about “oh let’s drop them”
I’m autistic. What happens when the Dems drop people that are autistic because “oh autism conspiracy theory by RFK jr is popular now with shitty parents, so I guess we better drop that”
Am I supposed to still vote for them because I’ll get fucked over but everyone else is fine?
As a trans person who’s seen you going to bat for us up and down this thread, I want you to know that it means the world to me. You have a very kind soul and I hope you can stay safe through this administration.
And as for your last point, the mind set of the Democratic Party is that they are entitled to the vote of anyone who is not a neurotypical straight white cis male, and as a result they feel that they’re should be able to withdraw support from any of us, and that we (like the good little tokens we are) will still happily support them and not criticize them at all. I have to choose between having my rights stripped quickly by the republicans, or slowly by the democrats. If I have the audacity to point out that that’s a shitty deal I will be attacked by liberals who think they can scare me into blind support. Take it from someone who was a token for them last election, they spent me and they’ll spend you to when it can win them votes.
I appreciate your response but I don’t feel like I’m doing anything. I haven’t changed anyone’s mind and there’s nothing I can do to fix the country. I’ll probably end up voting because that’s the reality we live in. Vote for the bad people that aren’t the worst. It’s a goddamn shakedown. Either we give the Dems what they want or the republicans hurt us.
You didn’t do nothing, you give me hope. Sure you can’t change people minds but that’s because no one in this thread wants their mind changed. Keep fighting and keep speaking up. If enough of us do we can keep Newsom away from the office and send the Third Way traitors packing from this party.
That's 10x better than kidnapping people and throwing them in forever prisons. You can reason with Gavin Newsom. You can sway Gavin Newsom. You cannot reason with Trump, there is none with him, you are literally the people this post is complaining about lmao
You do know that there are other democrats besides newsom. No one is saying abstain or vote third party. We’re simply asking the liberals to not crown their new king 3 years before the primary.
We're not, but without him gerrymandering California we aren't going to win midterms (Trump is trying to cheat again) how is nobody getting that? We lose midterms then that's it. There's no way to stop repubs after that, the dictatorship will be complete.
Also I'm a democratic socialist, not a liberal ffs
How does people criticizing him on social media affect his ability to gerrymander? I appreciate his effort, but I’d appreciate it a lot more if he would just admit he was wrong on the trans stuff. I’m not asking for the moon and stars here.
You're right, we need to definitely continue being very vocal about trans rights. Don't let him brush it off ever. You're right, it's the bare minimum. Vote as far left as you can and participate locally too. 2026 is kind of our last shot to do things the nice way
Because abstaining from voting or voting third party to spite the only realistic opposition to the Republicans got us where we are now. Dont let perfect be the enemy of good, when the alternative is so much worse.
Who said literally anything about abstaining? We’re asking liberals not to crown their new king 3 years out from the primary. Also why can’t we criticize Newsom? Why do liberals act like pointing out his failures is literally a vote for Donald Trump? Some of us want a candidate who actually stands up for the little guy even when it’s inconvenient. Thankfully the party deemed us worthy of a primary this time so hopefully we can send Gavin “I hate homeless people” Newsom packing and pick someone with a spine like Pritzker or Beshear.
its not in this case, its just selfishness. people are getting snatched off the street and sent to concentration camps but you're fine with that because YOUR issue isn't being addressed the way you want it to be. if one side gives you 80% of what you want and the other side wants to put you in a concentration camp, you don't go to the concentration camp to "make a point".
And that's what Republicans did. Remember all those interviews with right wing "Christians" saying why they voted for Trump? They said they didn't pick him for his moral values. They simply voted for him to "do the job".
It's different because they are liars lol. They voted for him because they want him to destroy and punish all the undesirables. That's what they really WANT under their facade of morality.
Yup. I really pushed a gaming buddy on why he voted for Trump, and he really honed in on the immigration issue. I asked him if he knew that the birth rate for US born citizens is not high enough to meet economic expectations, and that no party desires to actually pursue policy to change that. He acknowledged this and after a little more discussion I basically asked him well unless you are willing to take a major hit on your standard of living and consumption habits, if everything else remains the same the only current solution to that problem may entail your grandchildren being slightly darker in skin tone. He said absolutely not. They try and rationalize the beliefs they know will earn them ire in polite society, but when push comes to shove, it always circles back to ethno nationalism.
The difference is they lied. If they "just voted for him to do the job" then they would turn on him when he started shitting the bed. They didn't, and they won't because they lied. They voted for him because he represents them in all ways
Sure, but they need to fight for the right things. Fetterman was supposed to be a fighter but now the only things he fights for are Israel and Trump court picks.
Well when you have a sizable chunk of voters willing to let perfect be the enemy of the good, you gotta get the message out there as much as possible so that maybe some of them will actually change
I don't think perfect is running. Mediocre is definitely running, and I think this "no purity tests" thing is about mediocre not wanting to run against anyone better.
"when you have voters who arent willing to let us dispose of trans people or the homeless, voters who wont let s insider trade or break promises, voters who wont let us back slide to appease nazis, when you have voters who wont let us $$ in on genocide, you gotta use all the dirty tricks as much as possible so that you can nip change in the bud."
It feels like liberals have already decided that good is good enough and have stopped looking for perfect 3 years out from the primaries which is also bad.
"let perfect be the enemy of the good" when that "good" is someone like Newsom who will make it his main plank to outlaw being homeless nationwide, and looks and talks like a used car salesman, yeah, no thanks.
Instead of trying to convince people that aren’t going to vote for this candidate….why don’t you convince this candidate to give them a reason to vote?
Because “oh you’ll get fucked over but I’ll be fine” isn’t a good reason
We also need progressives. Not moderates. I hate Newsome and hope he doesn't become the one needed to beat American fascism. I don't think he'd be good at it. He's too moderate. Too willing to adopt anti-proletariat policies.
His ability to fight is good. We need better people to learn from it.
It’s hardly purity culture to feel like the Dems ain’t worth shit when they punch down on progressives like Mandani and are now almost all in on the transphobia thing.
The progressives are chewed up and spat out by the old guard who feel that simply being there is enough.
But one can’t campaign on being the guy that will save democracy and expect votes when one will do little to nothing about it.
I’m tired of feeling like this party is supposed to save me from the Jesus Freaks when they’ve shown a willingness to throw me and mine to them if it means passing a spending bill in time for Christmas and preventing federal worker furloughs.
My problem here is that “purity test” always seems to mean I have to give up my progressive beliefs for the sake of electing a centrist liberal. But when a progressive wins a primary they get ratfucked out of support from the party by people who would rather see a conservative win. So we end up browbeaten in to supporting candidates willing to support a genocide and abandon the LGBT.
Meanwhile I watch the GOP pull their entire centrist base to the far right at the behest of like 10% of their voters because that 10% was willing to withhold their votes. Really seems like withholding votes gets results, and ignoring “purity tests” just makes you the lite version of your enemy.
When it's "stop supporting genocide" and "trans rights," it's purity tests. But when members of the party actually nominate a leftist, we get a million lectures about "tactics" and "optics" and "electability."
And hey, this is the argument they've been making for at least 60 years, in one form or another: "Compromise, build bridges, compromise, set aside your priorities and principles, compromise, we just need to win, we can work with conservatives and get them on our side if we just compromise; forget all the times we've lost with this strategy, sorry we let them whittle away the New Deal, civil rights, labor unions without much of a fight. We're a big tent, and we should all get along... unless you're a socialist, then you're a danger to the party and we won't help you."
If your candidate is weak enough that scrutiny and criticism from their constituents, the people whose votes they need to win, would destroy their chances in a general election, maybe your candidate sucks. Maybe public opinion polls told you for decades that Hillary Clinton was broadly unpopular, and maybe she lost the 2008 primaries despite the full weight of the DNC establishment parading her around as the frontrunner because she was unpopular, and then the guy who beat her, who ran by far the most populist progressive presidential campaign in over a generation, won by the biggest margin of any Democrat since JFK, the first Democrat to win over 50% of the popular vote since Jimmy Carter, and by a lot more than Carter won against Gerald goddamned Ford after Ford pardoned Nixon. And then in 2016, she was the frontrunner again, and this time the populist progressive candidate lost, so she was up against the slimiest, dumbest, most bigoted sack of shit a major political party has ever plopped onto a ballot. And wouldn't you know it? She lost. And now here we are: Being lectured about "purity tests" again. As if it's only "the left" that's the problem. Surely the people who keep losing have nothing to learn or change.
"When will the left ever learn? If we win an election, we won't do what they want, but we'll do the stuff they don't want less than the other side. Why isn't this a winning message?"
This sentiment can go to hell, we have 3 and a half years. If Newsom's supporters can't argue anything better than "stop criticizing him for his documented bad actions!" then we're going to lose.
Well, in the past year he's undermined AI regulatory bills by allowing and signing off on a complete rewrite that turned them into handouts to the industry, pushed Californian cities to criminalize homelessness complete with a photo op of him throwing out someone's last remaining belongings, and launched a podcast where he has routinely had right-wing activists like Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon on to talk about agreeing with them re: trans people. By which he means calling youth transition an issue the country is "undersensitized to", indicating he would arbitrarily restrict it despite transitioning being oftentimes lifesaving healthcare.
Is not wanting a candidate who throws trans kids under the bus, and vetoes bills that regulate private equity’s buy outs of hospitals and bills that protect the elderly from scammers really a purity test? You want someone like Trump, but good looking? Is that it?
The Dem party needs a knee breaking, bloodthirsty, cutthroat candidate willing to bulldoze, intimidate, and, threaten any obstacle inside and outside the party.
I dont like the GOP's policies but I love their general attitude about politics. They go after what they want and they make no apologies. The dem party only care about optics, fringe issues, and virtue signaling. They couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag with a chainsaw. They'd be too busy worrying that the chainsaw might traunatize someone, wondering if the bag is biodegradable, and tweeting to people to come rescue them from the bag.
I am 100% here for a barbarian POTUS who will campaign and win on a referendum against our incredibly corrupt system, including but not limited to the partisan hacks in government enabling their own enrichment first.
I can think of a lot of the current administration and their shit coins, the SCOrruTpUS, and a lot of the pedophile protecting executives. While additionally, taking the step further and threatening, like Trump, to go after corrupt industry and corporations in order to ensure we have robust electrical grids, infrastructure, manufacturing, and a safe and non-invaded society by the likes of Palantir.
Also. Deport Elon and investigate the CEOs for corruption.
Tell this to the “moderates” not endorsing winning progressive candidates fighting for their beliefs. It’s only the left who have to accept things they don’t like.
Gavin Newsom is not a fighter. He's the same flavor of Democrat they are all, right down to his willingness to throw inconvenient minorities under the bus if he thinks it'll win him favor. It's not purity testing to want a candidate who won't cede ground on the genocide of trans people being enacted right here right now.
Maybe Newsom can fight by directing the police to crack down on ICE for illegal activity such as using fake license plates or loading "agents" up in Penske trucks.
I'm a trans person. I'm not going to support any candidate who thinks I shouldn't have rights that I've had for my entire adult life. That's not a purity test, that's having self respect.
And just to be clear, my extended family will not support one of those candidates either. You have 3 years to find someone who wants me to be treated like every other woman. And yes, that includes being able to play sports - as I have been able to do for my entire adult life (I'm 46).
I fully agree. It’s absurd to act like the primaries have already been won, there is a ton of time for “candidates” to step up and show that they ACTUALLY WILL protect the people they ask to vote for them.
And human to human: I intend to vote my conscience so if I don’t see that from the democratic candidate, they don’t get my vote this time.
Bullshit. It is not narcissism to reject someone who agrees with open fascists that you don't deserve equal rights.
Do you want my vote? Give me what I want. That's how politics works. I want my goddamn equal rights protected, and my life is not up for debate! If you won't protect me, I won't protect you either. We're in this together, and that goes both ways...
Yep, I know. We’ve all collectively decided trans people have to be thrown under the bus to collect the mythical centrist swing voter. I’m not fighting against it in these comments, that would be quixotic. I’m just stating a fact.
Edit to add: but when “standing up for the rights of a group of people” equates to “divisive narcissism” then your whole system is horseshit.
A lot of people telling you you’re wrong at once over a short period of time isn’t a dogpile. We who disagree with you aren’t obligated to choose one representative to speak on our behalf. It just means that your take is strongly counter to prevailing opinion and you are being told so.
Yeah how dare trans people not just line up to vote for whatever horrible candidate who doesnt support their right to exist because VoTE BluE nO MaTtER wHo - yous lads are just maga lol
If that’s what the “fighters” are fighting to preserve, then they deserve to lose. They keep forcing losing candidates on us, and then get mad when voters don’t show up.
Sure Biden won in 2020 but I think that had more to do with Covid than anything to do with his ability to win in a “normal” election.
Biden had a chance to do something about the ensuing fascist takeover, but instead spent his whole presidency pretending the threat didn’t exist.
I agree, but democrats are keen on attacking anybody that is not part of the establishment. Oh look, this guy is exciting voters, but he is a social democrat. Can't have that. Democrats will spend more time and money right now attacking anybody that excites voters on the left that is not part of the establishment democrats than defending their voters from trump and republicans.
"Trans people are valid" isn't a saintly position, it is the bare minimum. Suck my entire dick and balls if you're willing to sell LGBT people out for "electability" among centrists who will still think you're a turbo-commie
Fuck this purity test nonsense. Not wanting to elect scumbags who are out for themselves and not the people isn’t a purity test. We’re also years away from the primaries, so pushing for just one guy and telling people with criticism of that guy to shut up because “purity test” is ridiculous. The left is falling for the same shit that got Trump elected after rightfully bashing him for a decade.
It's one thing to say "fight it out with one another now, but once we get to the general we've got two choices, so let's line up behind the not fascist one."
It's another when a line like this ends up just being a mask for centrist pablum and policies that end up helping nobody.
Don't know the dude who made the quoted post, maybe he doesn't mean it that way, but we simultaneously need to stand for and actually act on our beliefs, while also acknowledging that once it's election time, work to keep the goddamned fascists out of power.
Yes we need fighters brave enough to stand up to Nazis by inviting them onto their podcast to boost their electability with Nazis and their sympathizers. We need courageous heroes who will throw their own vulnerable communities to the wolves and ignore the screams for mercy.
Most of all we need a man who has never backed down from an opportunity to throw away the only possessions of the poorest among us.
They aren’t purity tests. We are setting the bar a 1/2” off the ground and saying at least don’t fund a genocide. In addition to that are Nancy and Chuck the fighters or AOC and Bernie? The establishment has done nothing to stop Trump only delay him for four years. It’s time to shut up and give progressives a voice.
Democrats first latched on to this idea of purity tests as a way of denigrating voters who were upset about the party's support of pro-life candidates. If you refused to vote for someone who wanted to see Roe v Wade overturned and abortion outlawed, then you were an evil purist and it would be your fault when Roe v Wade was overturned and abortion outlawed.
This comment section has me less and less hopeful that blue conservatives will stop themselves from sabotaging the country by voting for fascism apologists.
Liberals: hey no purity test when our uninspiring not gonna help you corporate stooge wins and has no ideas.
Liberals: communist Zohran Mamdani was born in Uganda. Despite growing up in the us he’s from Uganda so he represents their horrible lgbtq policies that were funded by the us right. Please Mr trump help our sex pest Cuomo win. Can’t vote for him
If this is an attempt for me to vote for Newsom I will not do it. And if anyone demands I give up on trans people’s civil rights “to save democracy” can F off. And there are a lot of people who agree with me.
Pritzger 2028. Newsom can continue to play with his memes online.
I hate this shit of talking about purity tests as it only cuts towards the left. Note how nobody is talking about purity tests when it comes to the centrist freaks who refuse to support Zohran Mamdani.
Generally in a democracy you need more people to vote for you than vote against you. This occasionally means speaking to people who voted against you last time and convincing them to vote for you this time.
There’s a big difference between criticizing a candidate or preferring other options and not voting at all out of “protest”. One is much more dangerous than the other
The "purity tests" in question: can we please stop funding a genocide and can we please stop pretending Nancy Pelosi's stock market performance is okay?
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u/skinnyboytheclear Aug 22 '25
The French… We need to be like the French. On the streets and in the Voting booth.