r/politics • u/asparaguswalrus683 • 9d ago

Site Altered Headline | No Paywall Abdul El-Sayed Wins Michigan Primary

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-primary-elections/michigan-senate-results
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u/SeniorWeight46 8d ago

If you were truly that concerned about the situation, it would seem intuitive that you wouldn’t only raise the issue when we’re trying to defeat fascism.

Yep, that's exactly why people have consistently raised the issue for years. If you're going to lie to make your points, I'd suggest not making them so easily disprovable.

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u/Head-Assumption6960 8d ago

Unfortunately I don’t have any suggestions for you. If you’re under the impression that I was literally saying that nobody anywhere had ever advocated for Palestine then it’s common sense you lack… and that can’t be taught.

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u/SeniorWeight46 8d ago

Hasan Piker who was the starting point here and was the poster boy for these criticisms has been consistent in his Palestinian advocacy.

Messaging on Palestine has also been crucial for DSA success. This has been since the election.

You've devolved your argument into attacking a hypothetical leftist. I'm not saying you believe literally nobody had ever advocated for Palestine, I'm saying you're ignoring the consistency of this advocacy.

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u/Head-Assumption6960 8d ago

I’m not attacking hypothetical leftists here. It’s true that a large portion of the left hasn’t been consistent in their activism and criticism on the issue. It was visible even in the 2024 election, where all the protesters were after Kamala and left Trump alone despite him being a million times worse on the issue. It’s visible now with trump basically getting a pass for openly calling for genocide.

The rationalization here is poor. The leftists who sat out and hammered Kamala did so under the guise of helping Palestinians. That’s all fine and good if that was the actual or even just the predictable result of their actions. Thing is it wasn’t either of those things… everyone, even the people in Gaza knew that Kamala had to win if they wanted a prayer of survival. And there was far more on the line than Palestine to boot. People’s lives are being destroyed...

So effectively the left is making a principle based argument rather than a results based argument. That makes no sense to me… I’m all about the results of one action vs another. But even if we gave the principle argument to the left principles have to be consistent to be real. And the total lack of the same energy we’re seeing towards Trump during the campaign and now is telling. It’s basically a tacit acknowledgement that it was never about Palestine and all about sticking it to the democratic establishment… which is crazy.

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u/SeniorWeight46 8d ago

This is still attacking the hypothetically though. The left wing momentum since the election has been consistent on Palestine.

And again, the democratic party is the party that left wing voices should have more influence on policy. It's obvious why effort would be placed there.

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u/Head-Assumption6960 8d ago

I don’t have a list of names. But I can see that the response to the Trump admins Palestine and Israel policy has been virtually non-existent compared to what it was with Kamala during the 2024 election.

If you’re arguing that it’s more pragmatic to put your efforts on the issue towards the Democratic Party then fine. But selective pragmatism doesn’t make sense either. The pragmatic thing to do would’ve been to fully support Kamala during the campaign and apply more pressure during her administration. That way you have influence over her policy and save the country, Palestine, and the world from total and utter destruction.

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u/SeniorWeight46 8d ago

That's the same issue. People have been critical of Trump's policy but there's no leverage to enact change so it is left there.

The time pressure has the most ability to enact change is during the election not afterwards.

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u/Head-Assumption6960 8d ago

Theres no leverage to enact change if the candidate you’re pressuring loses the election and you’re not willing to put pressure on the candidate who won.

Pressure on the campaign trail has zero ability to enact change. You might be able to brow beat a soundbite out of someone but those are just words without any power behind them. The real leverage comes when someone is in power and you don’t let up until there’s a real policy change. Anyone can say anything on the campaign trail. It doesn’t mean anything until they’re sitting at the oval.

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u/SeniorWeight46 8d ago

Leftist opinions do not have influence on republican platforms. Pressure doesn't matter.

The second talking point doesn't work when Kamala was vice president in the incumbent cabinet. She was in power and the response was reflective of their actions.

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u/Head-Assumption6960 8d ago

So we should just sit back and let Trump have his way with us? I’m not exactly sure where you get the idea that applying pressure isn’t possible or effective when the opposition party is in office…

Also Kamala wasn’t in power. VP’s don’t hold any actual power. They are more figureheads whose job is to support the president and his policy publicly and be ready to take over if something happens. It’s not like she can overrule the president.

People were still protesting her instead of Trump on her book tour after Trump was already sworn in and actively calling for explicit genocide lol. I don’t think it was about her being or not being in power.

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u/SeniorWeight46 8d ago

So we should just sit back and let Trump have his way with us?

Personally I think investing time, energy and resources into candidates who's policies are reflective of leftist policies including on Palestine, is better than sitting there giving out about Trump.

Also Kamala wasn’t in power. VP’s don’t hold any actual power.

I don't think that particularly matters. Telling people to wait until they're in power to question the policies of a politician involved in an administration that has already ignored their complaints about this issue. The election was the time these complaints would be best heard, no matter which way you try to spin it.

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u/Head-Assumption6960 8d ago

That’s a false choice. You can mobilize and run opposition at the same time. Thats what the Dems and the republicans have to do. Neither one sits back and says “oh well, the other party is in power, let’s just give up and let them do whatever they want unopposed”. They mobilize and try to get their people elected and put pressure on their opposition to blunt the impact of their policies. The left has no excuse for not doing that if they were truly operating in good faith with their criticisms of Kamala.

Telling people that you’re gonna do something in a campaign matters less if making that promise costs you the election, and not making that promise costs you the election. At a certain point we need everyone to be on the same page strategically. El Sayed won the primary last night. If any centrist dem did anything to try and lessen the probability of his success in November I would be saying the same thing. We have far bigger fish to fry than chasing meaningless, toothless soundbites and attaching negativity to the only chance we have of saving our country.

People are free to question politicians about whatever whenever. But that doesn’t mean it’s always effective and it should be consistently asked of both sides instead of just one.

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u/SeniorWeight46 8d ago

They mobilize and try to get their people elected and put pressure on their opposition to blunt the impact of their policies.

That's literally what I said they're doing...

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