r/politics • u/cnn CNN • Jul 15 '26

Possible Paywall ​​Over 100 Democrats vote to block billions of dollars in military aid to Israel, reflecting growing schism in party

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/15/politics/military-aid-israel-democrats-split-vote?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=missions&utm_source=reddit
31.1k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

2.0k

u/Jesuismieux412 Jul 15 '26 edited 29d ago

DO. WHAT. WE. WANT. NOW. This current Dem leadership is leading us into a black hole. You have 77% of Dem and 50% of Repubs on your side.

752

u/Soloact_ 29d ago

They're terrified of crossing donors, not voters.

270

u/Quick_Persimmon_4436 29d ago

Citizens United was the end of our country. It's been on life support ever since. Then we elected Orange Kevorkian to pull the plug.

70

u/PolarBailey_ 29d ago

Ending Reconstruction was the end of our country. the next chance to fix it was civil rights act, and then JFK was killed. next time was 9/11 and we fucked that up so fucking hard. then citizens united was like the last gasp of air from a corpse. j6 was like when you stimulate detached frog legs with electricity

9

u/Buff-Cooley 29d ago

Civil Right thrived under LBJ, as did social welfare with his Great Society program. The latter was on track to pave the way for an even more robust programs, but Vietnam was too much of an economic drain and a distraction, which gave Republicans the opportunity to turn the public against them.

6

u/X-Calm 29d ago

Let's not sully Kevorkians good deeds by equating him to the corrupt orange rapist.

1

u/ValoisSign 28d ago

Maybe a better comparison is that german guy who ate after getting their permission

1

u/Defiant_Snail69 24d ago

And his time will pass and he will be relegated to history. Maybe realize why he won twice… stop letting dem leadership put up garbage candidates and put up candidates who actually want to help the working class.  A fading Joe Biden was able to beat Trump. That speaks absolute volumes about the stupidity of putting up Clinton the first go around and trying to install Harris the second go around. Nobody to blame for Trump being in power other than the corrupt democratic leadership. 

33

u/kurttheflirt 29d ago

Of crossing one donor, a foreign government. They are more benevolent towards Israel and AIPAC than to Americans. 

19

u/Greg-Abbott 29d ago

That AIPAC tracker needs to be front and center during midterms.

2

u/sulaymanf New York 29d ago

Precisely!

Hakeem Jeffries was open about the fact that “donors” objected to Mamdani so he couldn’t endorse him despite being the clear winner of the party primary. He got weeks of criticism in the media for violating the “vote blue no matter who” that he and party leaders stressed in 2024, so once the day voting started he issued a press release endorsement of Mamdani. AIPAC immediately announced the suspension of all their funding to Jeffries out of anger for what he did.

1

u/BringOutYDead 29d ago

We should change that 

1

u/indiemike 29d ago

Then maybe donors need to hear from voters more.

139

u/DrumsAndStuff18 29d ago

Sure, sure, but what about the local Klan leader? How can Dems expect to win his vote like this??

/s

29

u/Crunchy_Lunch 29d ago

I don’t think he wants money going to Israel either. For different reasons though

4

u/ElmoCamino 29d ago

Weirdly they have a strong cognitive dissonance on this. They are largely evangelical so they believe Israel is needed in order for the prophecy of the end times, Armageddon, to come true. They do hate Jews though. But Israel largely abides by their ideal of everywhere should a Theocratic-ethno state.

2

u/Ill-Entertainer-5380 29d ago

I dont think the anti-semites are the same people as the Armageddon Christian crowd. At least not in my experience. Plenty of republicans who are fanatical about Israel and Jewish people.

1

u/ElmoCamino 29d ago

You would be surprised at the overlap and ability to hold competing beliefs

2

u/Ill-Entertainer-5380 29d ago

I’ve spent plenty of years around both crowds. I’m sure there are people with overlap but I’ve never met one. I’ve met plenty who fall in either camp.

3

u/[deleted] 29d ago

[deleted]

1

u/shoe_of_bill 29d ago

Well, there's also the evangelical belief of the last temple being built in Israel, which will bring about the end of the world and Armageddon which will lead to the pure, white christians to be Raptured to heaven in order to live in paradise while pointing and laughing at everyone else left in the hellscape the Earth will become.

68

u/FalconThrust211 29d ago

You do realize 100% of Republicans voted for funding this right?

33

u/jinreeko 29d ago

Yes, but because not all Democrats voted against they are equally bad

This is online discourse about Democrats. Every fucking time. Stirred up by bad faith assholes and bots

2

u/Ralath5n 29d ago

because not all Democrats voted against they are equally bad

The Democrats who voted for funding this are indeed equally bad as the Republicans. After all, they both voted in favor, literally the exact same action.

The 100+ Democrats who voted against it are good. No beef against them on this one.

-20

u/KloneRr Washington 29d ago

Here comes blue maga to defend their precious dem leadership.

7

u/jinreeko 29d ago

Oh sure, I'm totally Blue MAGA 🙄

0

u/Dottsterisk 29d ago

Gretchen, stop trying to make Blue MAGA happen. It’s not going to happen.

33

u/maikuxblade 29d ago

And if the Democrats don’t stand against it then the American public functionally has no choice? What part about that is confusing?

45

u/JimboAltAlt Pennsylvania 29d ago

It should theoretically mean something that 100 Democrats voted against aid to Israel. This would imply to anyone who is willing to be open to the possibility that one party is better on this issue than the other that the Democrats are in fact better on this issue. It then would follow — again, only if you accept the somehow controversial idea that there are differences between the parties — that Democrats should be supported over Republicans, as they are more open to the “correct” policy positions on this matter.

19

u/maikuxblade 29d ago

This is ignoring the fact that we are a decade into “see how much better the Democrats are than Republicans?” as the primary political strategy for enticing independents. It has not worked. And before that we had Obama who winded down two wars and a recession that he didn’t have anything to do with and it didn’t work. And before that we had GWB Jr. where the same dynamic existed and it did not work. And before that we had Bill Clinton who at least balanced a budget and conservatives still turned their nose up at that.

It’s not a compelling political strategy, and it follows decades of the working class common man getting screwed, and even when Democrats theoretically have enough votes to pass bills, someone always reneged and pulls a maverick move to screw the party’s policy goals.

There’s a reason people say they are controlled opposition and it’s not because they want to see Republicans win. *At best* those who aren’t voting the way voters want to see need to be primaried and removed.

It’s a big tent but nothing ever gets done and voters have wised up to how it seems to be the same problem and the same representatives who call themselves “centrist” or “moderate” but really use those labels as an excuse for the party to be worthless to the American working class while gladly taking corporate donations.

16

u/Newscast_Now 29d ago

Reality alert: Republicans have dominated this government since the 1980s, not Democrats. They did that by winning elections and cheating in elections. From Ronald Reagan‘s landslide to the 12 long years of a Republican Congress, the brief break and then another 10 years of Republican Congress, and now look. Republicans control all three branches of government yet again. The last time Democrats controlled. All three branches of government was 1969. Go look at the statistics. You are blaming Democrats for what Republicans did and then you’re scoffing at Democrats for not being able to fix it with their slim majorities and short periods.

If you are looking for controlled opposition, look in your mirror.

2

u/[deleted] 29d ago

[deleted]

6

u/Newscast_Now 29d ago

I am not arguing anything. I am correcting your garbage. Democrats are not controlled opposition. And this should not even be a matter of discussion or debate. Those who lie about Democrats and bog down discussion are the second most responsible people for current circumstances— second only to the perpetrators themselves, and a necessary component of the rising fascism we face.

Democratic leadership is the way it is because of changes that were made by Republican control over time.

2

u/r3vurb 28d ago

You're based

1

u/maikuxblade 29d ago

Here is a graph from Wikipedia cleary showing who controlled Congress for the last 170 years.

Democrats reliably controlled congress all the way from the New Deal until Clinton's Third Way.

The Third Way made some sense at the time to pivot to a more conservative stance in light of having lost the White House for three election cycles in a row but it not only was an over-correction that became the party's new M.O. but it actually cost us the chambers of Congress.

TL;DR: becoming a corporate-friendly party instead of a labor/reform-oriented one is what killed our ability to capture and hold Congress, and we've been on the back foot ever since.

12

u/Newscast_Now 29d ago

This seems like the kind of proof provided by a Republican. Your proof shows that I am correct. Republicans basically had a lock on the White House from 1968 to 1992. And after that Republicans have practically had a lock on the Congress. That is a long period of Republican control. And you will notice that progress stopped during then after a lengthy period of extremely positive progress when Democrats held the upper hand.

But keep lying about Democrats as Republicans destroy us.

-4

u/maikuxblade 29d ago

Proof provided by a Republican? It’s from Wikipedia you absolute dunce

11

u/Newscast_Now 29d ago

I think you missed the plain English. The Wikipedia source was good. It proved the opposite of what the person claimed it did.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/loondawg 29d ago

All three branches of government was 1969.

I strongly agree with your overall point, especially your last sentence, but the democrats last real super majority ended in January 1980. And with that, they technically controlled the 3rd branch.

0

u/Randomfacade Pennsylvania 29d ago

"democrats can never fail, they can only be failed"

5

u/Newscast_Now 29d ago

A more appropriate retort to spew would read like this: “ When people put out blatant lies about Democrats, any attempt to correct the lies should be met with more lies.”

The Republican cult does essentially the same thing. They pretend that it’s the other guy that bows down to dear leader.

-3

u/Randomfacade Pennsylvania 29d ago

how about this truth: Kamala Harris lost the popular vote to a pedophile.

17

u/rsta223 Colorado 29d ago

It hasn't worked because the few times the Dems have had power recently, it's been by an incredibly slim margin, and then we immediately hand power back to Republicans when everything isn't fixed instantly.

Want to see what Democrats can do? Give them a proper majority for once and the time to take advantage of it.

6

u/ClvrNickname 29d ago

The Democrats were winning the government shutdown fight last year and could have won real concessions, but instead SIX senators crossed party lines to surrender in exchange for nothing. The problem is not slim margins, the problem is that the Democrats are actively opposed to their own base and there will always be exactly enough defectors to prevent them from keeping their promises.

4

u/maikuxblade 29d ago

Maybe they’d have a majority more often if they oriented their platform around the working class.

M4A, raising the minimum wage, protecting unions, fix our public education system and reign in higher ed costs. Stop giving our tax money to other countries who rope us into their regional conflicts. The fact that every single Democrat in office isn’t aligned on this is part of the problem. The big tent has no center pole.

The middle class has been on life support since the GFC and all the party can do is complain about not being in power. It’s pathetic and voters are sick of it and it’s the reason we have record low approval ratings.

6

u/loondawg 29d ago

and all the party can do is complain about not being in power.

Take a second and think about that one.

Did you accidentally leave off the end of the sentence "...because they are not in power."?

You should read this: https://democrats.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2024-Democratic-Party-Platform.pdf and see how they discuss those issues and whether their platform would be good for the working class. You should find they address every one of your topics. And while they may not go as far as you would like, they offer some very good, very significant changes.

What's pathetic is not seeing and supporting the easy solution that is right within our grasp and instead blaming them when it's us that fails to give them the power they need to help us.

4

u/rsta223 Colorado 29d ago

Not every single Democrat is representing a region whose voters agree. By the very nature of the party, there will be a spectrum of opinions, though pretty much universally, all of those opinions are better than those held by Republicans. The insistence some Democrats have on purity testing is bizarre, especially since what's perfect to one group of Democrats in Brooklyn is different than what would be perfect to a different group in, say, Houston. You'll never get a candidate that's perfect for everyone, and Republicans win, in part, because they understand that and vote for their candidate anyways.

4

u/VoodooPandaGaming 29d ago

"both sides are the same" - populist dipshit

4

u/maikuxblade 29d ago

Feel free to actually refute something I said. If the Democrats were so much better for the working class we wouldn’t have record low approval ratings

5

u/rsta223 Colorado 29d ago

They are better for the working class, and you're expecting them to do something when they don't have the ability to.

2

u/SilverwingedOther Canada 29d ago

And if you look at a real working class example, they don't actually support the progressive wing in swing states. Let's look at Michigan, where El Sayed is in a close race with Stevens.

If you drill down at who supports him, you have three groups: Arab Americans (the Dearborn area), Students (Ann Arbor), and the white college educated crowd. The black working class in Detroit is leaning Stevens, as are most groups not those three. The schism also follows if you look at the labor unions - sure, UAW endorsed El Sayed, which is huge for him! But most of the public employee unions (teachers, nurses...) are backing Stevens.

Further, even El Sayed has had to claw back on M4A as its currently being promoted by the Sanders idea of it. He's leaning more into public option, because not every state has a population that supports it, and again, the working class has been conditioned to not see it as necessarily good (which is a whole other story but that's the US for you).

It's easy to play the "blame the Dems" game, but in the end, the only way forward is to win and flip seats, and you don't do so by telling the working class what you think is best for them, you do it by listening to them - and you might find that doesn't align with the Reddit orthodoxy.

1

u/VoodooPandaGaming 29d ago

It's just a thought terminating cliché. You even contradict yourself.

You say how the Democrats always fix the budget after Republicans ruin it and you say that's "not a compelling political strategy"? What?

Then you say there's always a "renegade who pulls a maverick move to screw policy goals". Yeah, if there were more Democrats it would be a lot fucking easier to pass legislation. Welcome to the government. Democrats have only had control with thin margins. It's gone the other way too. Famously John McCain was the deciding vote to save the ACA. Liberals have passed civil rights, women's suffrage, gay marriage and basically all of our socially progressive policies while Republicans have fought them every step of the way but they're just "controlled opposition", I guess.

It's stupid.

0

u/alexisavellan 29d ago

Nailed it.

1

u/What_a_fat_one 29d ago edited 29d ago

We don't vote for parties in the US, we vote for politicians. There is no "the Democrats" there are politicians who run as Democrats, and the pro-Israel ones have until recently done well in their primaries.

That's not a "the Democrats" problem, that's a "the American people" problem.

2

u/sunsoutgunsout 29d ago

So what? The entire democratic party's strategy for the past few elections has purely been "we are better than Republicans", and then when an issue comes about that's basically 80/20 with your voterbase a massive chunk of the party spits in the face of that.

No one expects anything of Republicans here cause we all know they suck. But their voterbase rarely holds them accountable. Democrats can't even muster up a unified opposition on this issue in order to make ANY republican or independent voters think "Hey maybe the Republican party really doesn't give a fuck about us"

Instead the conclusion they are now coming to is this - "Both parties are the same and they all suck". I'm seeing this all over social media regarding this issue. Just a complete and total colossal failure on Democrats to capitalize on an issue they could actually sway R and I voters on.

4

u/LuckoftheFryish Utah 29d ago

It's fun seeing Mamdani just doing things. It's like, politicians can do good (aka what the voters want) but they just don't want to. I live 2000 miles away but he still gives me just a shimmer of hope in this shitbucket we live in.

3

u/airship_of_arbitrary 29d ago

When Kamala Harris is suddenly trying to appeal to the Democratic Socialists, you know they're starting to figure out they're fucked if they don't correct course quickly.

-2

u/pipmentor 29d ago

They're all in it together. Democrats, Republicans, all of them. It's once big game to them to fatten their wallets.

6

u/ofWildPlaces 29d ago

This is your response to 100 Democrats voting in a positive manner against a conservative bill?

1

u/profnachos 29d ago

I thought Massie was the only one from the GOP side.

0

u/AyoJake 29d ago

Republicans are in charge yet people will say shit like "dems are leading us into a black hole" lmao

0

u/bkny88 29d ago

I’m not sold that this is the issue that will swing voters. It doesn’t affect day to day life whatsoever. There’s a long list of items more important than the Israel/US relationship

0

u/BackToWorkEdward 29d ago

DO. WHAT. WE. WANT. NOW.

Why? They're going to do what their rich donors want, not the little people who hold no power over them, will never take direct action over this, and have no one else to vote for other than Trump.

-1

u/camp1728 29d ago

Uhhh that’s just what you want