In the face of ‘eradication’, one trans activist is preparing to fight – and she’s sick of silence and neglect from her supposed allies. Raquel Willis tells Io Dodds why Republican bathroom bans are everybody’s problem
In the face of ‘eradication’, one trans activist is preparing to fight – and she’s sick of silence and neglect from her supposed allies. Raquel Willis tells Io Dodds why Republican bathroom bans are everybody’s problem
I’m saying they’re willing to throw them under the bus as soon as it gets difficult. Being silent while a few members do so explicitly isn’t being an ally.
Infighting works to the GOPs advantage. If the DNC starts attacking the few members they have in office they will switch to the GOP. Giving the people who want to eradicate the trans community more power.
What difference does it make if they lose so hard anyway that they are politically impotent?
The difference is: to win you need as many people voting against the GOP as possible.
Since there won’t be a major election for another two years, now seems like a perfect time to criticize the hell out of Democrats.
Those criticisms don’t disappear at election time. They get used as ammo by bad faith actors to convince voters to not vote/vote 3rd party/vote GOP.
Giving the GOP more power
So we’re not allowed to criticize Democrats ever? How is that supposed to result in a functional political system?
No one said ever. The more criticism there is for democrats the lower their chances of winning will be. That’s a matter of fact. Do with it what you want.
Winning at the cost of our most fundamental values and freedoms is no true victory. As long as the Democrats continue to betray their progressive base for corporate donors they deserve all the criticism they receive. If your reason for voting is to keep the greater evil out of power then criticizing the lesser evil isn’t going to change your mind. Only low-information voters might change their minds in response to hearing criticism of the Democrats, but no amount of finger-wagging is going to shield the Democrats from the consequences of their own actions.
So if nobody is saying that, when do we get to criticize Democrats? Be specific.
I see we’ve learned nothing from the election. “I’m less shit than my opponent” is not a winning play.
Instead why don’t we ask why over a third of the electorate doesn’t bother voting? For either side.
What does this have to do with inflation aka the reason democrats lost?
Saying you need more votes than just the trans community and their allies to beat the GOP is not saying “I’m less shit than my opponent”.
I did, they said they don’t care about politics.
Move the goalposts if it makes you feel you’re forming a better argument; the by-line from your and prior comments was about infighting and criticism of the party, and that they don’t represent the people the party claims to cares about. Inflation wasn’t part of this discussion, but it honestly reinforces my point. “Tariffs bad” yes tariffs are bad, what is the party going to do about the real economic harm that voters feel from rising cost of living? Gaslight them some more? Point to line going up on the S&P as ‘progress’ and then wonder why working poor stay home every cycle? Maybe that’s why they’re disinterested in politics?
I haven’t moved the goalpost. The prior comments were talking about infighting and criticism of the party and your comment brought up the recent election specifically.
Democrats lost the recent election because of inflation experienced during Bidens term.
Infighting and criticism creates apathy that lowers voter turnout. It is a key component of FUD, an effective strategy that is used in online communities like this one.
Both are true.
Inflation is the prime reason cited by voters, not the electorate who registered to vote, and not the population as a whole.
Look at how Trump managed to drive turnout amongst non/low propensity voters, even at the cost of the more traditional Republican voters. Populism wielded by an autocratic demagogue is a cancer, but you don’t beat cancer with yet another neoliberal bandage atop the gaping wound caused by unchecked capitalism.
And it’s genuinely infuriating to see ostensible allies on the left bludgeon any criticism of the party as FUD - if I’m not permitted to post-mortem the DNC after a pathetic showing where they burned a billion dollars, with a B, and still lost all three (four even) branches of government, when will you accept any feedback? Are you seriously going to spend the next 2, 4, 6, etc years reinforcing a bubble devoid of criticism?