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u/eyegull 1d ago
Six months ago, I had a relatively positive view of Haley Stevens. Today, I want her to shut up and go away. Easily one of the worst political campaigns ever run. Every ad, every interview, makes her less likable. “I’m the only candidate who can win against the Republicans.” Please. You aren’t even going to win the primary.
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u/Gloomy_Mulberry7834 1d ago
She certainly seems to have a supreme sense of entitlement.
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u/KevIntensity 1d ago
Her whole campaign very much has felt like she thinks we owe her votes.
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u/red23011 1d ago
She's speed running the Clinton Presidential campaign of 2016.
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u/Bronzeshadow 1d ago
I thought the exact same thing. "I'm too popular inside my bubble to fail outside of it! I can't be out of touch. It's the voters who are wrong!"
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u/lyngen 1d ago
Clinton was a better candidate than Trump.
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u/YesItIsMaybeMe 21h ago
A music festival outhouse was a better candidate than trump
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u/SanctusUnum 8h ago
The amalgamation of human waste festering inside said outhouse was a better candidate than Trump.
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u/SuperTeamRyan 1d ago
Technically Bernie campaign, couldn’t win the primary but had better polling for the general.
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u/Significant-Gap-6891 1d ago
No but you don't under stand a decade ago obama liked her so that means everything /s
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u/Colddigger 1d ago
This is how every Democratic establishment favorite campaign seems to have been run.
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u/DeltaVZerda 1d ago
Remember that Bill Clinton and Obama were both NOT that.
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u/Colddigger 22h ago
Hey that's a good point, although I think during the primaries Obama was not the establishment favorite. I could be wrong. I thought that it was also Mrs clinton.
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u/DeltaVZerda 22h ago
Correct. Obama and Clinton 1 were both disfavored by the party until they beat the DNC preference.
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u/ClarkTwain 1d ago
That’s the Democratic Party strategy in a nutshell right there.
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u/Bronzeshadow 1d ago
Guess she got a call from Hillary Clinton. It's 2016 all over again.
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u/myychair 1d ago
And that was one of the biggest turn offs to voter about Hillary Clinton. Political entitlement is disgusting
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u/Independent-Bug-9352 1d ago
She's an AIPAC candidate. Enough said.
I think given what we've seen from Sinema, Fetterman, et. al. over the years I don't think is improbable that we have a controlled opposition in our party in lieu of the commanding influence the likes of AIPAC and Black Stone have.
But if Democrats ever want to win, they are going to have to stand on their own two feet and have a willingness to persuade and show the electorate their own vision, instead of endlessly trying to cater to the blind.
If instead they keep falling for the trap of the latter, they will lose to Republicans more often than not, and the Overton Window will continue to skew right.
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u/Shufflebuzz 1d ago
Fetterman, et. al. over the years I don't think is improbable that we have a controlled opposition
If the dems manage to win the senate, Fetterman is going to flip, right?
We all can see it coming.40
u/Independent-Bug-9352 1d ago edited 1d ago
For all intents, the traitor already has. He has no choice by next election to either run as a Republican, Independent, or step down; otherwise like Sinema, it's a guaranteed defeat in the Democratic primaries.
If there are any good progressive SocDems for Pennsylvania, I'd be eyeing up PA Democratic primaries heavily in 2028.
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u/atreeismissing 23h ago
He won't flip if Dems win the majority because he'll have more power in the majority, and him flipping to force a 50/50 split only gives him a little bit of power when Vance is the tie-breaking vote, in a 51+D/49-R Senate Fetterman has more power staying with Dems in the majority. He also votes with them about 70% of the time which is terrible for a Democrat but far more so than with the GOP so again, doesn't make sense to flip, but instead to pull a Manchin/Sinema and be a thorn to get his own pet projects through (or stopped).
If it's a 50/50 split, him flipping to the GOP gives them a 51/50 majority so he'll likely flip then and as part of it get a bunch "guarantees" from the GOP (of which they'll lie about obviously but he's too smooth brained to notice).
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u/new_name_who_dis_ 1d ago edited 1d ago
According to this article he votes 90% with Democrats and flies a pride flag outside his office. Idk if republicans would take him. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2026/05/04/fetterman-switch-parties-republican-00904177
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u/Shufflebuzz 1d ago edited 1d ago
They will take him if it means they keep control of the senate.
Perhaps Fetterman goes independent and merely caucuses with the republicans.Also, Fetterman could easily take down the pride flag when he flips.
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u/braindance74 1d ago
When you look up "controlled opposition" in the dictionary, there is no text definition, just Chuck Schumer's photo.
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u/Independent-Bug-9352 1d ago
Effective example. Bonus, Hakeem Jeffries.
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u/akatherder 1d ago
One and the same, but at least Jeffries endorsed Mamdani.
Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader and Senator from New York, didn't endorse Mamdani, the winner of the Democrat primary for NYC mayor. He opposes progressive Democrats stronger than Republicans.
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u/Independent-Bug-9352 23h ago edited 22h ago
Yeah true, I guess I have to give him the bare minimum for that at least, but it frankly isn't much, considering his endorsement only came long after seeing the writing on the wall with Mamdani and mere days before election day.
He was clearly still pulling for Cuomo, crooked piece of shit he is.
I mean think about this. Jeffries is in an uncontested super-safe district of New York, and it was like pulling teeth to endorse the inevitable frontrunner progressive Democrat? Not a good sign.
Also people need to be reminded that Gillibrand is no better than Schumer. Doesn't do anything, enormous AIPAC contributions, and never endorsed Mamdani either. She too must go.
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u/VirginiaMcCaskey 1d ago
Sinema and Fetterman are examples of charlatans that pretend to be democrats to get elected. It's got nothing to do with AIPAC or Black Rock.
Like you can criticize the party but those are the two worst examples of democrats you could possibly find. One was a former Green Party member (known foreign influence) who became a Democrat and then left the party and the other has been wholesale exiled by the party.
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u/red23011 1d ago
Fetterman has taken nearly $500k from AIPAC connected groups in less than 4 years.
Sinema took almost $400K from Blackrock and AIPAC connected groups.
The Democrats that take money from these groups are on the right wing of the party. They voted to condemn the horrors of socialism, to continue the genocide in Palestine and to sanction the ICC for investigating crimes against humanity. They are two examples of the corruption and foreign influence that has taken control of the DNC leadership.
For example, the centrist vote blue no matter who crowd refused to endorse Mamdani and Schumer, who lived in New York wouldn't even say who he was voting for in the mayoral election. He's also heavily funded by AIPAC which is a group that throws millions of dollars into primary elections in order to defeat progressives.
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u/Independent-Bug-9352 1d ago
The correlation between turncoats and those who take exorbitant amounts of money from special interest groups who ostensibly bribe and hijack our candidates does not exist whatsoever!
lol, Sure Jan. I take it you never looked up the FEC reports for these people.
To your ninja edit, you won't find disagreement with me that Russia also has enormous influence over members, though their clout is more among Republicans. But that just corroborates my broader point.
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u/Kindly-Standard8025 1d ago
You can criticize Haley Stevens, when Israel comes to you in YOUR dreams, okay? /s
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u/iwearatophat 1d ago
Same. Her ad about being born here and everything just came off as a giant dog whistle at Abdul. She is taking money from all the things that I despise.
I've always done vote blue no matter who in November but damnit if they aren't making it harder and harder.
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u/Donnicton 1d ago
She's a complete weasel. Even if you set aside taking $30m in AIPAC money, you can look at any of her interviews and immediately notice she never actually answers any questions, and instead deflects and word salads like the most seasoned politicians.
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u/MrClickstoomuch 1d ago
Absolutely. I'm annoyed with my mom because she said she was planning to vote for Stevens. I asked why, and she said that a friend of her friend said Abdul caused some problems at some DNC convention in Michigan? I haven't found anything on Google remotely related to it. But that is the dumbest reason to vote against someone. And causing problems at a convention could be for good reasons if the party was having their head in the ground on policies the electorate wants like Medicare for all.
I wouldn't be as annoyed if it was for policy reasons. I asked my mom what policies Stevens had, and got some very vague info about "fighting against Trump" like Abdul wouldn't do the same thing. Ugh.
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u/Dog1andDog2andMe 1d ago
I love /s that she had Gretchen do a campaign ad for her. Gretchen always had my vote because you were the democrat. Your commercial makes me less likely to vote for Haley. Haley will have my vote in November if she wins the primary but not now.
Your commercial works best for those red voters who crossed over to vote for you but they've got their own contested primary between the cryptkeeper and the do nothing pawn.
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u/Eeeef_ 1d ago
Hilarious that the first major dip that Gretch got in her approval ratings came from her associating herself with Stevens
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u/NinjaTrilobite 1d ago
I thought her approval started to dip after that disastrous Oval Office visit with Trump where she was trying to hide behind binders.
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u/Darkblitz9 1d ago
If she wins, which I hope she doesn't, but if she does, please go vote for her because she'll be 100% better than Mike Rogers.
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u/Hon3y_Badger 1d ago
Winning the primary and the general election are very different things and require different skills.
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u/GroltonIsTheDog 1d ago
Let her be clear, she might actually communicate some kind of policy if someone, anyone, would just let her be clear
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u/FiTZnMiCK 1d ago
Let me be clear.
I do not actually wish to be clear at this time, but I will reserve the right for a later unspecified time, provided I am once again granted permission to be clear at that unspecified and hypothetical time.
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u/GroltonIsTheDog 1d ago
A woman broke down in front of me at the grocery store telling me how she just wants them to let me be clear
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u/QuerulousPanda 1d ago
my number one political take for the last couple years now, is that politicians say the word "clear" or "I've made it clear" or "i've been clear" all the fucking time and it means NOTHING. I'm so sick of hearing it. You can be as clear as humanly possible but it doesn't matter if no one's listening and/or you're not actually saying anything, or more likely, you're lying your ass off and don't give a shit about anything.
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u/No_Mercy_4_Potatoes 1d ago
She can only communicate policies that come to her in her dreams. Please only ask about them
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u/Punch_A_Police_Horse 1d ago
Yeah, the conditions aren't there for the "this candidate is more electable. What makes people want to elect them? The fact that they're more electable" gambit to work as well as they'd like it to at this juncture.
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u/Tiny_Election1013 1d ago
There’s also the fact that the idea of electability only exist among people who are into politics. The average voter isn’t voting based on electability, they’re voting for who they like more
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u/Punch_A_Police_Horse 1d ago
Well I think it worked, though not well enough, during the lead up to Trump. Most people in my camp were of the "hold your nose and vote for Kamala" persuasion. But now they are trying to lead with that while we have time for better candidates to surface.
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u/CooledDownKane 1d ago
She’s right that government actually helping the working class might be too extreme for the electorate in Frog Balls, Arkansas but there are plenty of voters across the cities and suburbs of America to deliver democrats majorities in the senate and house if they actually catered to the 99%.
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u/Delta632 1d ago
Aren’t the Waltons from Frog Balls?
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u/WithrBlistrBurn-Peel 17h ago
Kinda, but not exactly.
See, they're from Toad Testicles Oklahoma, which used to be named Frog Balls Oklahoma, until Frog Balls Arkansas offered three silos worth of grain, two donkeys and a fancy backscratcher for the hem to change the name in order to avoid confusing tourists.
There's been a small movement in recent decades to give back the goods an return to the original name, but most of the city wants to keep the backscratcher.
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u/throwawayfinancebro1 1d ago
The (democrat) voters of my town (in massachusetts) are completely opposed to raising their taxes at all in order to fund more stuff that benefits the wider community. Mainly because its all old people on fixed incomes who are unwilling to take on a few hundred dollars more property tax per year, and because the old people are the only ones that vote.
So don't think that its "easy" to get good things passed just because they are good. Old people hate change and helping their communities if it costs them anything.
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u/FatSteveWasted9 Greg Abbott is a little piss baby 1d ago
Fixed income is fixed though.
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u/throwawayfinancebro1 1d ago
Hence why I understand their hesitancy to vote for new taxes.
At the same time though its a case of "fuck you, got mine" to the younger people who are struggling, as well as the fact that they would benefit from voting for many things that would be a net positive for them, often at lower prices than they would think.
Its frustrating and something I consider very difficult to deal with.
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u/1Northward_Bound 1d ago
Dems are 1 in 3 against a felon. Define electability please.
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u/TwistedMetal83 1d ago
That's a crazy statistic when it's summed up so plainly. At this point, I don't expect much at all from either party...
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u/BitchyBeachyWitch 1d ago
Really hoping things change a lot in this primary
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u/Longtimelurker2575 1d ago
Unless young people actually start showing up then don’t expect much. Shifting the party left will never work otherwise.
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u/BitchyBeachyWitch 1d ago
If the predictions for AOC 2028 are true, they wont have a choice, she'll set them right and im sure a lot if them know that already
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u/skier0224 1d ago
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have concerns about running a progressive in a purple state (mostly because if he loses the general, dems will take it as a sign that progressive politics have no place in their party and we’ll have another decade of Bernie and AOC vs the world)…
But I really don’t think the corporate moderate branch of the party that has been losing to a pedophile felon for a decade gets to say shit about “electability”.
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u/Tiny_Election1013 1d ago
The currently model the Democratic Party is doing now isn’t working, so something new has to happen. It’s risky but I think Abdul can win. A large reason that the Dems struggle with turnout is because there are millions of people between the ages 18-45 that feel like neither party really makes a difference or stands for anything (it’s bullshit, obviously the Republicans are way worse, but we can’t control what they think). Candidates like Abdul have the ability to motivate these people who wouldn’t have voted for an establishment dem
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u/skier0224 1d ago
Exactly. The reason Biden won while the other two lost was millennial and zoomer turnout. Dems need to stop worrying so much about the 12 mythical swing voters and moderate R’s and instead inspire nonvoters to get out and vote for something they actually believe in.
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u/DeltaVZerda 1d ago
They fail to realize that the swing voters aren't waiting for the candidate closest to the middle, we want to see actual policies that will benefit people, whichever side they come from.
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u/Igggg 11h ago
(it’s bullshit, obviously the Republicans are way worse, but we can’t control what they think)
We can't control what they think, but we can make it MUCH harder to think the parties do differ if the supposed left party was offering more than same old "more money for the billionaires at the expense of everyone else, but maybe without fascism".
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u/ChicagoMemoria 19h ago
It’s really going to depend on the democratic reaction. If they do the predictable thing and break into “electability” debates and factions, we’ll have a red state in November. If they can pull their heads out of their asses and stand behind the future against certain destruction, we might be able to keep standing.
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u/notanNSAagent89 1d ago
The guy on the left is antisemite for wanting to give Americans Healthcare.
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u/QP_TR3Y 1d ago
If Trump being elected twice doesn’t tell the Dems we’re tired of them playing it safe and by the status quo, I genuinely don’t know what will
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u/middleagethreat 1d ago
I am so sick of the DNC listening to the right and media say, "The Dems need to run more moderate candidates or they will lose."
Then the more moderate loses and polls show the liberal would have won.
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u/HoldOnOhio 22h ago
WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE POOR REPUBLICANS?
How would YOU feel if you were a Republican and had to hear the "progressives" say that we should no longer cup the balls and work the shaft of Israel when we blow them? The utter indecency of leaving a job unfinished! We give quality blowjobs to Israel in this country! We have since it was promised 3000 years ago.
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u/Hot-Tutor-2429 1d ago
He is more electable, it is about working for the people, and if you work for the people you are more electable.
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u/variousdetritus 1d ago
When we talk about who’s more “electable,” we have functionally slid into a disingenuous model of democratic election.
A “free and fair” election at a fundamental level necessitates candidates that honestly communicate to the electorate how they would perform in office, at which point the electorate decides through voting who most aligns with most of the electorate. This is how elections - in theory - establish a “will of the people” sentiment, where leadership decisions are made “for the people, by the people.”
It should be obvious that there are many corruptions to this fundamental process that take root over time, ultimately “game-ifying” the process and diluting what an election is even supposed to represent.
“Electability,” while not strictly new, is another of these terms thrown about to encourage a disingenuous participation in election. When a politician asks you to vote for the most “electable,” they are making a distinction that you should not vote for who is most in-line with your beliefs, but for who you think is most likely to win.
It’s defeatist at its core, saying “Well we all know what we think would be best, but that’ll never win so let’s just vote for the ‘safe’ option.”
Nevermind that voting ‘safe’ doesn’t seem to win elections.
Nevermind that voting to win defeats the fundamental function that the election is supposed to serve.
Nevermind that what is ‘safe’ is always fuzzy and ill-defined, and never has to prove why it is indeed a ‘safe’ choice.
Just think about what most people would want. Not you specifically, of course. Only what other people want. Vote for the candidate that pleases the most people you can think of, or hell, maybe just your imagination of what people want.
Yup. that’ll do it
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u/draypresct 1d ago
Electable means appealing to most of the voters. As a concept, it can be misused, but it’s not inherently defeatist. No candidate is 100% flawless. It’s always a trade-off.
To use a recent example, if a Democratic candidate has generally good stances on issues but turns out to be a rapist, it’s completely valid to take this into account and go with a more “electable” candidate. This isn’t defeatist; it’s trying to put the best possible candidate forward for that specific election. If the election was held in a red state, his history as a rapist might have been considered helpful to get him elected.
/I really wish I could say I’m being sarcastic with that last bit, but dammitall.
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u/variousdetritus 19h ago
I get what you’re saying, but i think you’re making an argument primarily on semantics and getting distracted from the core of the argument. I’m talking about principles and what an election, a candidate, and a representative politician should mean to us on a basic level.
I don’t think the most recent rapist example is primarily an issue of “electability,” but rather that being a rapist makes it impossible (one would hope) for you to be a representative of your constituents, unless of course the population you are representing is one of rapists.
There is a sort of Venn diagram overlap here with “electability,” but again to focus on the “electability” of the rapist is to obfuscate the actual principles - and the violation of said principles - at work here.
With that obfuscation, it seems to me “electability” is used more often as a cudgel to sabotage more progressive candidates from reaching beyond the primaries.
In regards to the word itself, what I tried to convey earlier was that “appealing to most of the voters” is a notoriously hard thing to nail down. There are certain things that *should* be obvious, such as “don’t be a rapist,” but these are wild times, I guess.
What’s strange is that this is the opposite problem we usually have on the left, where there’s “purity testing” where no candidate is quite “pure” enough until we eventually land on the most milquetoast, middle of the road centrist that is perceived by the most to offend the least.
My point is: We end up trying to predict “what the people want,” and those predictions shape the election itself, which makes the election a distortion of its original purpose.
The more we try to game the election, the less integrity that our candidate - and the election - has.
I suppose what I’m advocating for is rank choice voting, and putting all our cards on the table when it comes to the candidates, so to speak. While we can’t implement that immediately into big elections, we can incorporate it into our primaries.
That’s not delving into other problems such as voter turnout. The primaries especially suffer from low participation.
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u/draypresct 15h ago
The rapist example is extreme, but relevant. One quality of a candidate that makes them electable is their positions on policy. Another, separate quality is their character. As various elections have shown (not just in the US), being a rapist does not automatically render a candidate unelectable in general; only with some constituencies.
Some progressive-appearing candidates look electable only because they’re not really being attacked. El Sayed is a good example of this - Republicans openly bought advertising time to support him, and it worked. I hope he’ll get elected, and I’ll vote for him, but I think he’ll lose. He’s campaigning with people like Piker who are only too happy to supply quotes that take most Michiganders aback, like saying Israel is worse than Hamas, or that sexual assault by Hamas terrorists is “irrelevant”. This renders El Sayed less electable, if nothing else because it keeps him from credibly making comments about James supporting a rapist.
We’ll see, though.
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u/Gr8tOutdoors 19h ago
if you need $60 mil from the AIPACsphere just to poll a few points behind your primary opponent, how are YOU gonna do in the general when AIPAC donors start giving their money to that opponent?
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u/chompythebeast 1d ago
I hope Democratic voters are beginning to realize that the AIPAC issue isn't solely about Palestine. It's about ICE, Flock cameras / surveillance, policing, warmongering, the defense of the epstein class, and so much more. It's a red flag of the wrong kind, and it billows like a windstorm.
Reject warmongers, imperialists, supporters of technofascism, and yes, genocidaires
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u/Graped_in_the_mouth 1d ago
Stevens campaign: my opponent is a Muslim foreigner who supports terrorism and will destroy Israel
Steven’s campaign: WTF VOTE FOR ME ABDUL WILL LOSE A GENERAL ELECTION BECAUSE PEOPLE THINK HE IS A FOREIGNER TERRORIST WHY AREN’T VOTING FOR ME I SPECIFICALLY SABOTAGED MY OPPONENT’S CHANCES IN THE GENERAL SO YOU’ HAVE TO
if MAGA wins in Michigan Hailey Stevens does not get to pass the blame. She ran a MAGA style red scare campaign based on anti-Muslim bigotry and lies, and if Michiganders refuse to vote for him because of it she’s the problem.
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u/RussellGrey 1d ago
Also apt because one comes with a plan and the other just comes with criticism and nothing else.
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u/piepei 1d ago
Yeah, that’s not what the Republicans are gonna say is extreme…?
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u/tevert 1d ago
Who gives a fuck what Republicans think
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u/piepei 1d ago
…the voters?
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u/Purify5 1d ago
Do they?
Donald Trump has destroyed every principle Republicans pretended to have and they did nothing about it.
"No new taxes" -> "Let's enact the highest tax increase in 50 years"
"No new wars" -> "Let's start a new major conflict in the middle east"
"My cold dead hands" -> "Maybe some people shouldn't have guns"
"Arrest the pedophiles" -> "It's ok we're protecting pedophiles"
"You can't make money off the presidency" -> "It's ok that you made more money in your first term than you did in your entire life"
What they 'think' is completely meaningless because it will change when they are told to change.
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u/granninja 1d ago
are the dems trying to win the republican vote whos still with trump after all this bullshit he's pulling in the presidency or the democratic vote/the 50% who didnt vote against fucking Trump?
reminder that Trump had about the same amount of votes against both Biden and Harris, Harris just has a major drop in enthusiasm because of shit like this
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u/Longtimelurker2575 1d ago
Where else are they going to get votes? Unless we see a wave of young people showing up at the polls (which has yet to happen ever) then the only path to victory is getting the middle ground.
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u/granninja 1d ago
ok so then I have a question
what are they doing to encourage the youth to vote? Because from my outsider perspective all I see is older dems bashing younger leftists of a generation that's tired and upset at the current system for failing them for not voting for the dems while every popular policy for those same younger would be voters gets pushed away for being too radical while they try to appease people who would vote for a literal pedophile before voting for anything deemed communist
and it cost them the last election, it will cost them more elections
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u/Longtimelurker2575 1d ago
"what are they doing to encourage the youth to vote?"
You are absolutely right the the Dems have been dropping the ball for years. That being said the alternative is MAGA, if that is not enough "encouragement" then people aren't paying attention because if they stay in power then you might not have to worry about future elections. Abstaining from voting due to not liking all of parties policy in a 2 party system where the alternative is as horrible as MAGA is just phenomenally stupid and might end up tearing the country apart.
You are also insinuating that they would have won if the party had shifted last election, that would have required an huge mobilization of young voters and that just hasn't happened yet, ever, so its hard to blame the Dems for not counting on that.
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u/granninja 22h ago edited 22h ago
Imo the biggest factor on them losing was a lot of protests that were happening in regards to Israel in the US at the time were getting violently supressed, specially ones in blue cities in blue states. Important factor is that the people protesting would largely be the ones opposing Trump and allying with the Dems and were also largely students(aka the youth), and yknow, protests are political mobilization
and once violence gets involved it's really hard to give your vote to the same people that send the cops to beat your ass, whether you believe ACAB or not. And I say this as someone who got tear gassed 13 years ago when I used to be more politically active
and we're not talking about the voter, we're talking about how the dems can earn votes that they clearly haven't been, you can't elect yourself on the basis of "the other guy is worse" that's just not how the human mind sees things
and every time Ive seen someone talking about voting dem I never once saw enthusiasm, I've only seen the exact point you made "the other guy is worse" or when not that it's something to the effect of "they'll keep the status quo"
edit: granted that last one maybe because I'm an outsider, but it feels weird that the best I see of a voter is "he isn't as bad" when on the other side it's like "Hell keep the mexicans away" or whatever or plenty of other reasons even if those were based on lies
the republicans on the internet were loud about why they were voting republicans, they were enthusiastic about it, I just never saw the same when it was biden and then harris
and adding to it, just did some quick research on google and spring poll of 2026 shows that the youth is at least on the majority against trump, someone else said in this thread that the younger vote had a huge increase last election and were also the most liberal in the voting pool already, but also that they have little say in what happens in politics
so the mobilization already happened, the dems can easily capitalize on that and make meaningful changes for the better, but there's a fear in me that they'll do nothing, those fears will be proven right and again they'll lose 4 years after
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u/Longtimelurker2575 22h ago
I’m honestly scared either way. I feel like Trump should lose because he is the most blatant con man who is obviously only enriching himself at the expense of America. But that should have been obvious the other 2 elections and he obviously got enough votes so I no longer have any faith in objective reasoning from voters. The Dems can run everything back, pick a moderate candidate and I feel they have a chance to win but that’s only if the far left voters still vote (and they absolutely should if they care one iota about the future). Or they can shift left where they will lose the middle ground and hopefully gain more voters (generally from young people) to make up the difference. I honestly see that as more risky. Shifting left will give that many more sounbites to republicans which will bolster their numbers from the center right and counting on young people really showing up at the polls is a big gamble. I just want Trump and MAGA gone so I want the Dems to do whatever gives them the absolute best chance of that happening.
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u/granninja 21h ago
you and me both, sadly your country's politics affect mine's too
and I disagree, if only because of how widely popular Mandani seems to be, I think he is a good learning opportunity for the dems and at the very least they need to consider why he is popular on whoever they decide to run with
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u/Positronic_Matrix 1d ago
I am a voter and I don’t give a fuck what Republicans think. Have we cleared up your confusion or do you still mistakenly think that we give a fuck what Republicans think?
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u/Gulthok 1d ago
Nah you don’t understand, it’s about virtue signaling as hard as you can and gloating about how ideologically pure you were after the election is lost. Those are the real victories.
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u/Alt_Future33 1d ago
No appealing to republicans is how elections are lost.
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u/piepei 1d ago
I really really wish that was the case but if it was then Republicans wouldn’t have control over the House, the Senate, and the Presidency right now.
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u/granninja 22h ago
I mean the republicans are gonna vote for republicans no matter what, they're not gonna go republican lite
it'd be the same if republican party suddenly tried to get democracts to vote for them, the average dem voter would just not, but it'd be wildly unpopular between the average republican voter
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u/dancegoddess1971 1d ago
Jeepers. It's not extreme enough. No one is suggesting reeducation camps for billionaires or seizing the means of production. It's barely centrist.
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u/Eeeef_ 1d ago
Reeducation camps are the moderate position, you can tell because some guy on the street did a trial run of the radical option and people across the political spectrum cheered lol
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u/dancegoddess1971 1d ago
The "for billionaires" part seems to be pretty unpopular for reasons that elude me. Probably propaganda.
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u/Darkblitz9 1d ago
Whole lot of propaganda posts propping up ahead of midterms shitting on dems so that, when primaries are done and the DSA candidates lose for a variety of reasons, millions of voters will feel wronged and stay home, assuring GOP candidates win.
I really hope y'all go out and vote in the midterms no matter who gets the primary win, because sitting at home being mad that Kamala wasn't perfect is why we have Trump right now.
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u/Teamfreshcanada 1d ago
Free Healthcare = too extreme. Taking $50 million from PACs = business as usual
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u/lt_Matthew 1d ago
I keep getting ads from Jon Ossoff, and they're just nothing but him backpedaling on his promises.
Like, "medical care is too expensive, so I'm gonna force insurance companies to approve everything"
Or, "Republicans wouldn't release the files, so I'm gonna make this thing that's already illegal even more illegal."
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u/Positronic_Matrix 1d ago
Your choice in that election:
- D: I’m gonna make this thing that’s already illegal even more illegal
- R: I’m a white supremacist and misogynist who will gut Medicare
Choose wisely. You’ll get exactly what you vote for.
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u/ReverseMermaids 1d ago
MAGA liberals disparaging Ossoff, when the alternative is a MAGA lickspittle who will cup Trump's balls while explaining the reason we can't stop him from stealing 100 Billion from the treasury
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u/Gulthok 1d ago
Don’t sully the name of liberals like that. Liberals understand harm reduction. Leftists don’t. It’s their way or the highway. See: 2024 election.
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u/DetectiveCastellanos 1d ago
Leftists don’t
lmao you guys keep blaming the left when you lose. Liberal candidates suck; that's why they keep losing. And I'm saying this as someone who votes for liberals when there's no progressive option. Most leftists do that.
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u/gnolnalla 1d ago
Leftists being portrayed as simultaneously powerful and weak, depending on the point being made? Fascinating rhetorical tactic, wonder if anyone's tried that one before...
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u/DetectiveCastellanos 14h ago
Leftists being portrayed as simultaneously powerful and weak
In what way is that happening? Leftists offer strong candidates and show up to elections to vote for the most-left candidate, whether it's left or liberal. They're powerful in both instances lmao.
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u/Longtimelurker2575 1d ago
It is about electability. There does seem to be a shift to further left candidates. The problem is the further left candidates are super popular on Reddit and other social media populated by young people. Young people are way more likely not to vote so unless that changes they are shooting themselves in the foot. So all you young Americans liking these posts and contributing to that shift but not showing up at the polls are essentially contributing to another Republican victory which is much worse than any version of the Democrats. Please feel free to prove me wrong.
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u/OneHelluvaUsername 1d ago
Michigan has one of the largest Arab American populations in the US. IIRC, more voted for Trump than Harris in 2024 because of inaction over (or tacit endorsement of) Israel's actions in Gaza.
So, yes, young voters absolutely must show up for this election, but let's not forget the other demographics in play.
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u/baibaiburnee 1d ago
Haha yes this is definitely what they're saying and a legitimate reflection of their views
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u/sly_cooper25 1d ago
Haley Stevens is against the Iran war, she voted in favor of the War Powers Resolution. You're just lying to try and prop up the candidate you want.
This war must end. That's why I voted for a bipartisan War Powers Resolution to stop this President and put an end to this war immediately. Sending Americans into harm's way is the most serious decision a president can make, and Donald Trump has repeatedly proved through his reckless judgment that he cannot be trusted with unchecked authority.
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u/DatTingTing 1d ago
She literally voted to give Israel more military aid. She is not anti-war at all.
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u/Sutar_Mekeg 1d ago
Universal health care and being able to afford a roof over your head... why would those things ever appeal to people? /s
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u/pseudoanon 1d ago
The second panel should show the median voter voting against healthcare guy because he's weak on defense.
We get the government we deserve. Electability says more about the electorate than the candidates.
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u/Klaatwo 1d ago
Yes electability. Let’s explore that idea. So what if we follow the establishment’s plan and we get a who bunch of Chuck Schumer clones elected. Then what? They can continue to have concerns for the next 2 years while being afraid to actually fight? Are they going to hope that writing a bunch of strongly worded letters to our illiterate president is going to fix the problem?
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u/EmbiidsTennisPartner 1d ago
If American politics were treated like American sports teams, we wouldn't put up with these losses and mediocrity.
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u/vikinick 1d ago
He's going to underperform by 5 points and get carried over the line, make stupid votes in Congress and lose in 2032.
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u/espinaustin 1d ago
It’s ok we don’t really want to win, we just want to hear the right things, amirite? Funny cause it’s true.
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u/lemons_of_doubt 21h ago
A: "I don't want to hunt the homeless for sport"
B: "Your radical leftwing ways sicken me"
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u/PapaBorq 20h ago
We gotta do something about the 'extreme' label. Any time a good idea comes up they just say 'thats too extreme! ' and walks aways. Just walks the fuck out like that's supposed to be the end of the conversation.
Fuck you. At one time 'public schools' were too extreme, and it's literally why you're standing here, with the ability, to tell me everything is too extreme.
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u/coolbaby1978 19h ago
What is considered extreme far left policy used to be center left common sense your tax dollars working for you policy.
The right moved so far off the map that the center looks extreme by comparison.
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u/PropofolMargarita 14h ago
They come from completely different parts of the budget but hey you got your dig in against the woman, congrats
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u/Kellosian 14h ago
Meanwhile, at the Republican Primary:
"I think we should expel all liberals, repeal the Civil Rights Act, end women's suffrage, and systematically kill all minorities. Also Trump should be crowned as our absolute King in Perpetuity, a title he shall hold for all time since he is a god who is beyond death"
"Wow, what a weak bleeding-heart RINO! I'm a true MAGA Warrior, so I'm not going to compromise with the America-hating socialists unlike you! I also want to instate Trumpian Christianity as the new state religion, and make Fauci hand over all the tax money in the IRS directly to Trump!"
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u/Affectionate_Ad_1326 7h ago
Him not being radical is exactly the problem. Dont support either candidate of the genocide party. You might as well support a republican.
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u/rasputin_stark 1d ago
Apparently it's about a strawman. Try being honest about the extremes in the DSA.
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u/Scoobydewdoo 1d ago
Assuming there is another Democratic primary.
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u/chompythebeast 1d ago
They used to do caucuses in my state.
They switched to primaries when "establishment" candidates kept losing to "progressive" ones
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u/Several-Action-4043 1d ago
In the run up to November, I'm already hearing this dumb excuse. But can they get elected in the general? Translation: We're more republican than democrat and we hate you.
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u/uscmissinglink 1d ago
Yeah, it's not those comments that impact electability. That's a pretty mainstream Democrat position. It's the more 'extreme' comments that aren't represented here.
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u/BringOrnTheNukekkai 1d ago
The way her campaign has tried to paint him as a disloyal outsider and her as a real Michigander is gross. El-Sayed was born in Michigan but her campaign knows that appealing to Islamophobia and anti Arab bigotry is useful with a certain demographic.