@Noha thank you for so eloquently putting into words what I have been feeling. This is such a spot on take, and I would just like to add one thing. Voters didn't cost Democrats the election, DEMOCRATS Cost DEMOCRATS the election. You don't blame voters for your inability to move them to action, you look at yourself and ask what went wrong. In this case, we all know what went wrong.
Exactly! I don’t know why this is so hard for folks to understand. The voters told you what the issues were and they ignored them. Either they mean it when they say we have a big tent and everyone’s voice matters or the big tent is just a smokescreen because only some folks matter.
You are all so happy in teaching us a lesson? Great.
This is only the third election in my lifetime where protest votes punished the Democrats and every time, the people who were too good to vote for Democrats spent the next four years complaining that Democrats let it happen.
So since you were going to teach us a lesson, why are you lecturing us now?
Go talk to Republicans. Get them to save Gaza.
Because if the invasion of Iraq, the Muslim ban and Trump's new plan to turn Palestine into a resort hasn't convinced you that Republicans are not on your side, I don't know what will.
Everyone saying “but if you’d voted for Kamala you would have had a chance to convince her” as if she was gonna listen to anything after being elected when she wouldn’t even listen when the election was on the line.
Bridget, I recommend you read about the actual lack of feasibility of the two-state solution given how much of the occupied west bank Israel has forcibly land-grabbed and displaced Palestinians from in order to build illegal settlements. Back in the early 2000’s, it was already so bad that even George W. Bush called the land that Palestinians would supposedly constitute their state as “swiss cheese” and it’s only gotten significantly worse since.
Well, Stanley, you guys organized protests and campaigns to suppress the vote and all in all, put in a great deal of time and effort to elect the man who thinks Bibi should raze Gaza to the ground.
So if you want to talk incompetent, look in the mirror.
In Michigan, you did this. A lot of us warned you that the guy who instituted the Muslim ban and was having regular conversations with Bibi was not your friend, but you knew better.
No, we didn’t. We just watched in disappointment as Biden lied to the country about his mental capacity, the Dems steamroll everyone and block a primary, Biden runs a genocide, then Harris go on stage and promise to do the same shit. Let an elected official fund the massacre of your family and come back to me
Spot on everything you stated. Their entire argument is BS. Even if they were right about Dems or Biden and they aren't right. Why voting to make thing worse would be an option? It's spiteful and it backfired badly.
The mainstream dems made a calculus that the Jewish vote and contributions were more important. They assumed that they could simply run on a platform of He will be worse". They lost for a number of reasons but if you harbor a pro Israel/anti Arab bias its more convenient to blame the loss on that than a failure to get people to the polls without a message. BTW these are the same people that blame Nader for Gores loss rather than acknowledging the fact that Gore was a poor canidate.
More than anything else, President-elect Donald Trump appears to have won the 2024 presidential election because of a uniform swing against the Democratic Party. According to our analysis of final vote totals in almost every county, about 53 percent of the variation in the change in Democratic support from 2020 to 2024 can be explained by the country’s overall rightward swing. This is easily seen in a map like the one above, which shows the change in vote share margin from the 2020 to 2024 presidential elections. The longer the arrow is to the left, the greater the shift toward Democrats in that county; the longer to the right , the greater the shift toward Republicans. The simplest story is this: Democrats lost support by about the same amount, pretty much everywhere.
But a much richer story is hiding under the surface. In comparing this year’s results to those of cycles past, we found three big stories that help explain how Democrats lost this year. Two of these are older stories — the continued erosion of the party’s support among working-class and nonwhite voters. One is newer: the party’s post-2020 struggles in cities and traditional Democratic strongholds. All three are flashing red lights for Democrats about their future electoral performance.
You are right the Dems didn't have a game plan. However the entire world, watched the campaign and would have voted for the rotting carcass of a squirrel before voting in a dictator. Especially one who told everyone out front you don't have to vote for me ever again…because he is staying in place. So yes I blame the stupidity of the Maga voters and I blame those too fucking lazy to get their ass to the polls to vote. It is this type of excuse making nonsense that infected the states that now puts every Ukrainian in more danger. Has endangered the people of Taiwan to be grabbed by China. Has put people in no man’s land at Guantanamo including children. Has put at risk every person not in the top 1% of the world. How dare anyone say well you know the Dems didn't give us anything decisive.
But now the U.S. has a President who doesn't see Palestinians as human beings and wants to turn the Gaza strip into a luxury resort. At least with Harris, there would have been an opening for dialogue and discussion. This man is evil. He wants to eradicate the Black and Latino/a community, the disabled, Muslims -- basically anyone who is not a WASP and aN oligarch. It sucks down here now, and it will only get worse for not only the U.S. but the Gazans, Palestine and the world.
Don't forget the 90 million Americans who chose not to vote at all. I blame them more than those who protest voted.
Thank you. I feel like people are comparing Trump to Kamala and still playing the "both sides suck, don't fault people for not wanting to vote for Kamala". They aren't even remotely comparable. It's like choosing between a sentient pile of dog shit vs voting an actual competent person into office. You may not have liked the other viable candidate, but the alternative that we got instead is a literal fascist. This was not the time for protest votes, and trying to justify it is just doubling down on an objectively horrible decision.
Except hard to abide the protest votes for Stein. We already knew her opportunism and insincerity, her fundamentally bad motives pretending to be pure—for years we knew.
Thank you, Noha, for your authenticity. Something I regret most about humans (and fall prey to myself) is that we are so apt to want to blame something, anything, anyone for our problems. And when "the system" is the problem, we are prone to blaming parts of the system instead, parts that might be easier to target or that appear to offer the fix we believe is needed. Changing systems requires collective effort, holistic thinking, and a lot of compromise. All we gain by demonizing those who essentially share the same end-goal is to further weaken our chances of making anything better. I'm sure I don't need to tell you to keep being exactly who you are. Ignore the noise. Lift your voice. It is your heart.
Hi Ric -- Legitimate question. I'll quote the American Bar Association in response: “No American can be proud of a govt that carries out change in this way. Neither can these actions be rationalized by discussion of past grievances or appeals to efficiency. Everything can be more efficient, but adherence to the rule of law is paramount.”
good point - and the status quo has produced a DoD that is unable to pass the last 8 audits. that has produced an education system that has us almost last in the world, a national debt of $36T, were all the laws followed that produced that result? the old way of thinking is shattered, why is the old way of doing so attractive when it is such a failure?
Ric, this is a conversation that may not be well-suited to this platform. I do appreciate opportunities for civil discourse and do not mean to shortchange the exchange. It's just that, in my experience, it's hard to appreciate nuance and tone online. Also, evidenced by my slow response, follow-up here is unreliable for me and also seems to run counter to the purpose of Noha's original post.
That said, I will offer these thoughts in response to your question: When discussing status quo and the old ways, drawing on terms like "shattered" and "failure," I'm not sure what you mean. By many standards, American democracy has served us more or less admirably for all the years the country has existed. The need for compromise remains present, and there has always been room to make it more equitable. But it has held up comparatively well from a global perspective.
When I refer to parts of the system that are impeding a more effective government, I am thinking of a two-party system that breeds division. John Adams said, "a division of the republic into two great parties ... is to be dreaded as the great political evil.” Yet it's pretty much all we've ever known. I think the Electoral College needs reforming. I think gerrymandering is corrupt, as is campaign financing. These are the aspects of the existing system that I'd like to see changed and that I think we could work on, collectively.
I believe the people currently in office are not, as they claim, making the government more efficient. A President looking for evidence of waste and fraud in agency spending would not be working with a collection of coders chosen by an unelected billionaire whose conflicts of interest are glaringly obvious, and would not be trying to balance the budget with staffing cuts. I keep hearing about huge discoveries of fraud and waste, but I've seen no data to back up any of these claims.
Until recently, I was not party-allegiant. I am not, however, in support of elected officials who show contempt for the rule of law and, for that matter, for whole segments of our citizenry. What I see happening right now does not feel new, and I don’t see it helping most Americans. Instead, to me it feels like a purposeful attempt to return the government to an even older version of itself when the “ruling class” held the reins, had no concern for the average citizen, and shaped the system to benefit only themselves.
Very well said and written. Might I gently suggest however that it’s naive to think that “not voting” or “protest voting” wasn’t in fact a vote for Trump. That I believe is the frustration many feel because while Biden’s policy in Gaza was atrocious and I protested against it - Trumps is next level worse (and I’m just talking Gaza here not even all the other violations). No one wants to live in a Democracy where the choice is “lesser of two evils” but when you do isn’t the best option to do whatever you can to insure that the greater evil doesn’t come to pass? It’s a sincere question-
1. DJT told you what he would do while he was campaigning . He told you . The groups needed to balance that against Biden’s actions/inactions, and that of Harris.
2. What DJT said was WORSE than Biden , Harris.
3. Where were all of you on the UKR/Ru situation???! Because that is a GENOCIDE going on for 3 yrs. When I asked protestors this ? I was met with “what other genocide”? Seriously , how did u decide who to care about more?
4. The situation in Gaza did not begin on Oct 7 23. It’s been occurring MY ENTIRE LIFE. As an American - I don’t want any involvement , I don’t even want to be involved in DIPLOMATIC efforts , or financial aid. That’s how f ing sick I am of both parties being completely unable to come to an agreement and expecting the rest of the world to manage their crisis.
That’s my individual stance - still , I voted for the candidate that I felt would do a far better job diplomatically that one who I KNEW for a certainty only had himself to care about, and Russia. I also knew for a fact he’d be a LOT worse for the UKR genocide. I weighed BOTH candidates and BOTH situations, and I didn’t abstain or vote for DJT. I’m not Palestinian AND I’m not UKRian. Fancy that - and yet , I voted in a manner where I considered others very far from where I live, and in the case of GAZA/ISRAEL groups I’m pretty angry with/at.
5. Don’t you all remember his first term? The Muslim ban? Thousands of non-Muslim Americans showed up to protest, fund lawsuits , etc. do you think they were Republicans ????????? Talk about stabbing the party in the back.
6. I don’t need to ask if you’re happy now, I know you’re not.
You hit it right on the head. Let me offer you another POV. There are many amongst us who did not ignore what was happening. We did protest, loudly, the slaughtering of Gazans. We did protest, defiantly, against the use of our tax money to support Netanyahu and his Zionist thuggery. But we also could not get past the idea that something evil was headed our way; that any protest vote could put into play, a genie that might likely never be returned to the bottle. Having grown up in a different time, one closer to the actual Holocaust, we could see what was coming. But it also created cognitive dissonance that shouted, “If you don’t vote for Kamala, you are voting for the Zionists to do to the Palestinians, exactly what was done to the Jews during WWII. If you don’t vote for Kamala, then you are moving the US closer to an authoritarian/fascist government.
My thinking and discussions went something like this: if we can win this election, Harris and her administration will work on stopping the genocide in Gaza. She is more likely than Trump to support a ceasefire, to hold Jerusalem accountable, and will be much stronger with her pushback against Netanyahu and his Zionist counterparts. Having studied the atrocities in the West Bank over the years, the dehumanizing of Palestinians and Muslims by bulldozing settlements, poisoning wells, or cutting off access to water and food, I believed that we could further move the needle toward a more peaceful and honest resolution under the Dems. Naive? Maybe. I’d like to think that I was trying more for ‘hopeful’.
I certainly understand and sympathize with your anger with those pointing the finger at you. Pushing toward the middle for Dems was a huge lapse in judgement and misunderstanding of what the nation and the world really needed. 🙏🏽
I really appreciate this take, Danny, and I know many who felt the same way, which is why I added the caveat that no part of me is angry with anyone who did vote for Kamala. I have plenty of friends who made the same calculus you just described. The only people I’m angry with are the ones who are now doubling down on those who withheld their votes from Kamala and the Democrats. There was no easy answer here.
Great article. The only reason Trump can talk about moving the Palestinians out is because Biden allowed the utter destruction of Gaza. The protest vote was the right way to go.
No, the protest vote was most definitely not the right way to go. We kept up Roe for 50 years and progressive protesters screwed up, among most good things we had.
Obviously you don’t read. I voted for Harris. Plenty of Arab Americans lost family members to the bombs Biden sent. You don’t expect them to vote for the administration that wiped out their family. I went to graduate school for Middle East studies. Both Republicans and Democrats support Israel 100%. This has gone on for 75 years and is not going to change. If you want to be upset with people blame the ones that voted for Trump.
Fuck off to any protest voters and fuck off to any apologists.
You achieved absolutely nothing expect ensuring that more people in the THIS COUNTRY will suffer.
As I sit here and watch friends and co workers lose their future career prospects, lose contacts for research and clean energy, and read wording in EO’s side stepping the Endangered Species Act, and Marine Mammal Protection Act for emergency oil exploration, (laws that have been in place since the 70’s)
I could give 0 fucks about what is happening in a small part of the world or a misguided over idealistic protest vote.
If the fascists in the US government actually succeed in stripping protections away from our oceans and other natural habitats, the whole fucking planet dies,
And some of that is going to be on yall.
We could have protested/ advocated much easier and have had a much better chance at changing things for Gaza under Harris, and she might have actually Listened.
I hope those single issue ideals you held onto feel warm and fucking fuzzy when air is unbreathable and the oceans are lakes of rot.
Both the Dems and the Republicans are owned by the corporations. The whole system doesn’t work. People just keep voting for whoever promises change and neither side ever delivers. The Dems had years to put Roe into law. They never did.
The first two years of Barack Obama's term -- when he was dealing with the housing crash and the Great Recession? The first two years of Joe Biden's term -- when he was dealing with Covid?
It's easy to spout that nonsense off until you see which party controlled Congress as well as the White House.
Women got the right to an abortion in 1973. Any time after that it could have been codified into law. Republicans have been trying to overturn it since it passed. Democrats had 50 years to protect that right.
So you think it could have been codified during Nixon/Ford, eight years of Reagan, four years of Bush 41, eight years of Clinton when both the House and Senate went Republican after the first two years, eight years of Bush 43 or four years of Trump?
Not to mention the pro life Democrats like Manchin that killed any thought of it in the Senate over those decades.
My goodness, you really don't pay attention to practical politics, do you?
If progressives want change, start winning elections in red states and counties.
Instead of guarding your political purity like some medieval virgin.
I have voted for the Democrats since I was 18, yes even this past election. I am in my 60’s and I’m tired of voting for the lesser of two evils. I don’t believe that capitalism works and I think the system needs to be changed. Both of these parties are defending the system that is destroying the working class and the planet. Yes the Democrats are better than the Republicans in domestic issues but only slightly. They are forever being pulled right. Trump is a symptom of our empire collapsing. I don’t think either party is going to fix this. Unless we can get money out of our elections they will continue to go to the highest bidder. Our money is going half way around the world funding genocide and coups of governments we don’t like. Money that could be spent here on health care, education, homelessness, and poverty. Both parties keep the military industrial complex going. Neither party is going to fix this.
I actually voted for Harris, but she would not change anything for the Palestinians. Nor do I understand supporting people who allow a genocide because your own life is better. If you want to save the planet the world has to work together. Corporations buy our politicians and then get the laws passed that benefits them. Just look at people like Sinema that ran as a progressive and was quickly bought by big pharma. Almost all of our congressional members are millionaires. The system is corrupt.
Ask a surviving Palestinian that now that Trump has given his blessing and and the largest bombs in history to isreal. Who will build hotels on top of the bodies of the dead. And, will allow the hundreds of thousands of the people in the Ukraine to be put into the yoke of oppression. And all the children kidnapped by Russia for God knows what. You keep repeating your utter nonsense if it helps dissuade your guilt and lets you all sleep at night. You can all huddle around each other giving each other pats on the backs for a job well done as people around the world die. Mind blown at the utter arrogance.
I take comfort in the fact that Trump and his Nazis friends and supporters are not more powerful than Allah. We will survive Trump 2.0 biidhinillah despite our fears, anxieties, and worries.
Thank you for saying out loud what most of us are feeling right now.
excuse me? when have i ever advocated for the destruction of jews? in fact, im texting my jewish gf as i post this. please explain why you would make that kind of comment about someone you do not know at all? i don't even know what you are advocating for?
Impugning anyone's voting decision is unseemly. It's also counterproductive. Those of us who oppose Trump do not need to agree on everything. Let's not divide ourselves by finger-pointing.
This is an amazing piece, Noha. You lay it out all so clearly. Your white hot anger about this is completely justified, from where I sit. I was one of those who voted for Kamala, primarily as a means of harm reduction, but I would never ever 'blame' those who didn't for where we're at now. I wish every Democratic elected official and member of the Dem National Committee would read this piece to understand what must change if they wish to win votes in the future. What has happened and is continuing to happen in Gaza in a travesty, and Biden could have done so much more to stop it. Instead he enabled it, and Harris didn't do enough to distance herself from that policy.
This is the first piece I’ve read that has captured it all so perfectly. These people screaming at protest voters are speaking from incredible places of privilege. It’s shameful, really.
Completely with you on this as well Noha. The political system in the US a needs to change if we are to see a lasting change. But is it a wishful thinking? My American friend who voted democrat said, it was awful. Choosing between one horrible thing and another. One is open about killing you, the other is killing you politely. We have to have better choices than these two horrible ones. I’m mad as hell that this is the situation.
I don’t think he is changing it the way I’d like to see it change! It would be nice if the American election wasn’t dependent on donors who could then blackmail the party n the way they wanted it to run. That’s what I mean. Trump I fear is bad news all around.
one person's worse is another's best. i appreciate your thoughtful dialogue. i believe the change wanted is a "tear it all down and let's keep the good shit"
So you thought voting for someone 10X worse or helping someone 10X worse win was the answer? That is crazy. If Trump has his way, there will be no Gaza.
@Noha thank you for so eloquently putting into words what I have been feeling. This is such a spot on take, and I would just like to add one thing. Voters didn't cost Democrats the election, DEMOCRATS Cost DEMOCRATS the election. You don't blame voters for your inability to move them to action, you look at yourself and ask what went wrong. In this case, we all know what went wrong.
Exactly! I don’t know why this is so hard for folks to understand. The voters told you what the issues were and they ignored them. Either they mean it when they say we have a big tent and everyone’s voice matters or the big tent is just a smokescreen because only some folks matter.
YESSSS! This this this. Thank you, friend.
Question: is there a way to hit like on this post 100 times?
🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
Then don't talk to Democrats anymore.
You are all so happy in teaching us a lesson? Great.
This is only the third election in my lifetime where protest votes punished the Democrats and every time, the people who were too good to vote for Democrats spent the next four years complaining that Democrats let it happen.
So since you were going to teach us a lesson, why are you lecturing us now?
Go talk to Republicans. Get them to save Gaza.
Because if the invasion of Iraq, the Muslim ban and Trump's new plan to turn Palestine into a resort hasn't convinced you that Republicans are not on your side, I don't know what will.
We won’t need to talk to dems. Thanks to the incompetent leadership we’re all on an express train to facism.
Everyone saying “but if you’d voted for Kamala you would have had a chance to convince her” as if she was gonna listen to anything after being elected when she wouldn’t even listen when the election was on the line.
Lie to yourself. Lie to yourself as much as you like.
Which member of the Trump administration believes in a two state solution?
You could have won Michigan for Harris. Netenyahu wouldn't be visiting the White House if you had.
You did win it for Trump and he played you as the chumps you are.
Maybe you should form a support group with the Venezuelans and Cubans -- "How to stop voting for the people who don't want us here."
Bridget, I recommend you read about the actual lack of feasibility of the two-state solution given how much of the occupied west bank Israel has forcibly land-grabbed and displaced Palestinians from in order to build illegal settlements. Back in the early 2000’s, it was already so bad that even George W. Bush called the land that Palestinians would supposedly constitute their state as “swiss cheese” and it’s only gotten significantly worse since.
So you don't want a two state solution either?
I can see why you wanted Trump to win.
Good luck with that.
Well, Stanley, you guys organized protests and campaigns to suppress the vote and all in all, put in a great deal of time and effort to elect the man who thinks Bibi should raze Gaza to the ground.
So if you want to talk incompetent, look in the mirror.
In Michigan, you did this. A lot of us warned you that the guy who instituted the Muslim ban and was having regular conversations with Bibi was not your friend, but you knew better.
You. Did. This.
Pretty damn incompetent if you think about it.
No, we didn’t. We just watched in disappointment as Biden lied to the country about his mental capacity, the Dems steamroll everyone and block a primary, Biden runs a genocide, then Harris go on stage and promise to do the same shit. Let an elected official fund the massacre of your family and come back to me
Biden lied about his mental capacity.
Oh, right.
So you wanted the guy who screamed "they're eating the cats and the dogs" instead of the president who kept working for a ceasefire.
I guess you got what you wanted since you're repeating every Republican talking point you can find.
I doubt the Palestinians feel the same.
I know my Muslim coworkers think you were fools.
Spot on everything you stated. Their entire argument is BS. Even if they were right about Dems or Biden and they aren't right. Why voting to make thing worse would be an option? It's spiteful and it backfired badly.
The mainstream dems made a calculus that the Jewish vote and contributions were more important. They assumed that they could simply run on a platform of He will be worse". They lost for a number of reasons but if you harbor a pro Israel/anti Arab bias its more convenient to blame the loss on that than a failure to get people to the polls without a message. BTW these are the same people that blame Nader for Gores loss rather than acknowledging the fact that Gore was a poor canidate.
More than anything else, President-elect Donald Trump appears to have won the 2024 presidential election because of a uniform swing against the Democratic Party. According to our analysis of final vote totals in almost every county, about 53 percent of the variation in the change in Democratic support from 2020 to 2024 can be explained by the country’s overall rightward swing. This is easily seen in a map like the one above, which shows the change in vote share margin from the 2020 to 2024 presidential elections. The longer the arrow is to the left, the greater the shift toward Democrats in that county; the longer to the right , the greater the shift toward Republicans. The simplest story is this: Democrats lost support by about the same amount, pretty much everywhere.
But a much richer story is hiding under the surface. In comparing this year’s results to those of cycles past, we found three big stories that help explain how Democrats lost this year. Two of these are older stories — the continued erosion of the party’s support among working-class and nonwhite voters. One is newer: the party’s post-2020 struggles in cities and traditional Democratic strongholds. All three are flashing red lights for Democrats about their future electoral performance.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2024-election-swings/
You are right the Dems didn't have a game plan. However the entire world, watched the campaign and would have voted for the rotting carcass of a squirrel before voting in a dictator. Especially one who told everyone out front you don't have to vote for me ever again…because he is staying in place. So yes I blame the stupidity of the Maga voters and I blame those too fucking lazy to get their ass to the polls to vote. It is this type of excuse making nonsense that infected the states that now puts every Ukrainian in more danger. Has endangered the people of Taiwan to be grabbed by China. Has put people in no man’s land at Guantanamo including children. Has put at risk every person not in the top 1% of the world. How dare anyone say well you know the Dems didn't give us anything decisive.
But now the U.S. has a President who doesn't see Palestinians as human beings and wants to turn the Gaza strip into a luxury resort. At least with Harris, there would have been an opening for dialogue and discussion. This man is evil. He wants to eradicate the Black and Latino/a community, the disabled, Muslims -- basically anyone who is not a WASP and aN oligarch. It sucks down here now, and it will only get worse for not only the U.S. but the Gazans, Palestine and the world.
Don't forget the 90 million Americans who chose not to vote at all. I blame them more than those who protest voted.
Thank you. I feel like people are comparing Trump to Kamala and still playing the "both sides suck, don't fault people for not wanting to vote for Kamala". They aren't even remotely comparable. It's like choosing between a sentient pile of dog shit vs voting an actual competent person into office. You may not have liked the other viable candidate, but the alternative that we got instead is a literal fascist. This was not the time for protest votes, and trying to justify it is just doubling down on an objectively horrible decision.
Except hard to abide the protest votes for Stein. We already knew her opportunism and insincerity, her fundamentally bad motives pretending to be pure—for years we knew.
Blame Republicans also for purging voters preventing their votes and generally making it difficult to vote not to mention years of gerrymandering.
Thank you, Noha, for your authenticity. Something I regret most about humans (and fall prey to myself) is that we are so apt to want to blame something, anything, anyone for our problems. And when "the system" is the problem, we are prone to blaming parts of the system instead, parts that might be easier to target or that appear to offer the fix we believe is needed. Changing systems requires collective effort, holistic thinking, and a lot of compromise. All we gain by demonizing those who essentially share the same end-goal is to further weaken our chances of making anything better. I'm sure I don't need to tell you to keep being exactly who you are. Ignore the noise. Lift your voice. It is your heart.
So well put re this aspect of human nature. Thanks for reading and contending with it.
if you are mad at the system, then why are you mad at trump for tearing down the system?
Hi Ric -- Legitimate question. I'll quote the American Bar Association in response: “No American can be proud of a govt that carries out change in this way. Neither can these actions be rationalized by discussion of past grievances or appeals to efficiency. Everything can be more efficient, but adherence to the rule of law is paramount.”
good point - and the status quo has produced a DoD that is unable to pass the last 8 audits. that has produced an education system that has us almost last in the world, a national debt of $36T, were all the laws followed that produced that result? the old way of thinking is shattered, why is the old way of doing so attractive when it is such a failure?
Ric, this is a conversation that may not be well-suited to this platform. I do appreciate opportunities for civil discourse and do not mean to shortchange the exchange. It's just that, in my experience, it's hard to appreciate nuance and tone online. Also, evidenced by my slow response, follow-up here is unreliable for me and also seems to run counter to the purpose of Noha's original post.
That said, I will offer these thoughts in response to your question: When discussing status quo and the old ways, drawing on terms like "shattered" and "failure," I'm not sure what you mean. By many standards, American democracy has served us more or less admirably for all the years the country has existed. The need for compromise remains present, and there has always been room to make it more equitable. But it has held up comparatively well from a global perspective.
When I refer to parts of the system that are impeding a more effective government, I am thinking of a two-party system that breeds division. John Adams said, "a division of the republic into two great parties ... is to be dreaded as the great political evil.” Yet it's pretty much all we've ever known. I think the Electoral College needs reforming. I think gerrymandering is corrupt, as is campaign financing. These are the aspects of the existing system that I'd like to see changed and that I think we could work on, collectively.
I believe the people currently in office are not, as they claim, making the government more efficient. A President looking for evidence of waste and fraud in agency spending would not be working with a collection of coders chosen by an unelected billionaire whose conflicts of interest are glaringly obvious, and would not be trying to balance the budget with staffing cuts. I keep hearing about huge discoveries of fraud and waste, but I've seen no data to back up any of these claims.
Until recently, I was not party-allegiant. I am not, however, in support of elected officials who show contempt for the rule of law and, for that matter, for whole segments of our citizenry. What I see happening right now does not feel new, and I don’t see it helping most Americans. Instead, to me it feels like a purposeful attempt to return the government to an even older version of itself when the “ruling class” held the reins, had no concern for the average citizen, and shaped the system to benefit only themselves.
Very well said and written. Might I gently suggest however that it’s naive to think that “not voting” or “protest voting” wasn’t in fact a vote for Trump. That I believe is the frustration many feel because while Biden’s policy in Gaza was atrocious and I protested against it - Trumps is next level worse (and I’m just talking Gaza here not even all the other violations). No one wants to live in a Democracy where the choice is “lesser of two evils” but when you do isn’t the best option to do whatever you can to insure that the greater evil doesn’t come to pass? It’s a sincere question-
https://news.sky.com/video/donald-trump-posts-whats-next-for-gaza-ai-video-on-his-truth-social-platform-13317247
This is so disgusting!!! I hope so too
I can’t believe I woke up to this - I am beyond horrified - I hope there is an incredible backlash against this :
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2024-election-swings/
1. DJT told you what he would do while he was campaigning . He told you . The groups needed to balance that against Biden’s actions/inactions, and that of Harris.
2. What DJT said was WORSE than Biden , Harris.
3. Where were all of you on the UKR/Ru situation???! Because that is a GENOCIDE going on for 3 yrs. When I asked protestors this ? I was met with “what other genocide”? Seriously , how did u decide who to care about more?
4. The situation in Gaza did not begin on Oct 7 23. It’s been occurring MY ENTIRE LIFE. As an American - I don’t want any involvement , I don’t even want to be involved in DIPLOMATIC efforts , or financial aid. That’s how f ing sick I am of both parties being completely unable to come to an agreement and expecting the rest of the world to manage their crisis.
That’s my individual stance - still , I voted for the candidate that I felt would do a far better job diplomatically that one who I KNEW for a certainty only had himself to care about, and Russia. I also knew for a fact he’d be a LOT worse for the UKR genocide. I weighed BOTH candidates and BOTH situations, and I didn’t abstain or vote for DJT. I’m not Palestinian AND I’m not UKRian. Fancy that - and yet , I voted in a manner where I considered others very far from where I live, and in the case of GAZA/ISRAEL groups I’m pretty angry with/at.
5. Don’t you all remember his first term? The Muslim ban? Thousands of non-Muslim Americans showed up to protest, fund lawsuits , etc. do you think they were Republicans ????????? Talk about stabbing the party in the back.
6. I don’t need to ask if you’re happy now, I know you’re not.
I’m 61 yo fwiw
You hit it right on the head. Let me offer you another POV. There are many amongst us who did not ignore what was happening. We did protest, loudly, the slaughtering of Gazans. We did protest, defiantly, against the use of our tax money to support Netanyahu and his Zionist thuggery. But we also could not get past the idea that something evil was headed our way; that any protest vote could put into play, a genie that might likely never be returned to the bottle. Having grown up in a different time, one closer to the actual Holocaust, we could see what was coming. But it also created cognitive dissonance that shouted, “If you don’t vote for Kamala, you are voting for the Zionists to do to the Palestinians, exactly what was done to the Jews during WWII. If you don’t vote for Kamala, then you are moving the US closer to an authoritarian/fascist government.
My thinking and discussions went something like this: if we can win this election, Harris and her administration will work on stopping the genocide in Gaza. She is more likely than Trump to support a ceasefire, to hold Jerusalem accountable, and will be much stronger with her pushback against Netanyahu and his Zionist counterparts. Having studied the atrocities in the West Bank over the years, the dehumanizing of Palestinians and Muslims by bulldozing settlements, poisoning wells, or cutting off access to water and food, I believed that we could further move the needle toward a more peaceful and honest resolution under the Dems. Naive? Maybe. I’d like to think that I was trying more for ‘hopeful’.
I certainly understand and sympathize with your anger with those pointing the finger at you. Pushing toward the middle for Dems was a huge lapse in judgement and misunderstanding of what the nation and the world really needed. 🙏🏽
I really appreciate this take, Danny, and I know many who felt the same way, which is why I added the caveat that no part of me is angry with anyone who did vote for Kamala. I have plenty of friends who made the same calculus you just described. The only people I’m angry with are the ones who are now doubling down on those who withheld their votes from Kamala and the Democrats. There was no easy answer here.
Great article. The only reason Trump can talk about moving the Palestinians out is because Biden allowed the utter destruction of Gaza. The protest vote was the right way to go.
No, the protest vote was most definitely not the right way to go. We kept up Roe for 50 years and progressive protesters screwed up, among most good things we had.
Obviously you don’t read. I voted for Harris. Plenty of Arab Americans lost family members to the bombs Biden sent. You don’t expect them to vote for the administration that wiped out their family. I went to graduate school for Middle East studies. Both Republicans and Democrats support Israel 100%. This has gone on for 75 years and is not going to change. If you want to be upset with people blame the ones that voted for Trump.
Thank you! Exactly this.
You are delusional.
Fuck off to any protest voters and fuck off to any apologists.
You achieved absolutely nothing expect ensuring that more people in the THIS COUNTRY will suffer.
As I sit here and watch friends and co workers lose their future career prospects, lose contacts for research and clean energy, and read wording in EO’s side stepping the Endangered Species Act, and Marine Mammal Protection Act for emergency oil exploration, (laws that have been in place since the 70’s)
I could give 0 fucks about what is happening in a small part of the world or a misguided over idealistic protest vote.
If the fascists in the US government actually succeed in stripping protections away from our oceans and other natural habitats, the whole fucking planet dies,
And some of that is going to be on yall.
We could have protested/ advocated much easier and have had a much better chance at changing things for Gaza under Harris, and she might have actually Listened.
I hope those single issue ideals you held onto feel warm and fucking fuzzy when air is unbreathable and the oceans are lakes of rot.
Both the Dems and the Republicans are owned by the corporations. The whole system doesn’t work. People just keep voting for whoever promises change and neither side ever delivers. The Dems had years to put Roe into law. They never did.
What years would those have been?
The first two years of Barack Obama's term -- when he was dealing with the housing crash and the Great Recession? The first two years of Joe Biden's term -- when he was dealing with Covid?
It's easy to spout that nonsense off until you see which party controlled Congress as well as the White House.
Women got the right to an abortion in 1973. Any time after that it could have been codified into law. Republicans have been trying to overturn it since it passed. Democrats had 50 years to protect that right.
So you think it could have been codified during Nixon/Ford, eight years of Reagan, four years of Bush 41, eight years of Clinton when both the House and Senate went Republican after the first two years, eight years of Bush 43 or four years of Trump?
Not to mention the pro life Democrats like Manchin that killed any thought of it in the Senate over those decades.
My goodness, you really don't pay attention to practical politics, do you?
If progressives want change, start winning elections in red states and counties.
Instead of guarding your political purity like some medieval virgin.
I have voted for the Democrats since I was 18, yes even this past election. I am in my 60’s and I’m tired of voting for the lesser of two evils. I don’t believe that capitalism works and I think the system needs to be changed. Both of these parties are defending the system that is destroying the working class and the planet. Yes the Democrats are better than the Republicans in domestic issues but only slightly. They are forever being pulled right. Trump is a symptom of our empire collapsing. I don’t think either party is going to fix this. Unless we can get money out of our elections they will continue to go to the highest bidder. Our money is going half way around the world funding genocide and coups of governments we don’t like. Money that could be spent here on health care, education, homelessness, and poverty. Both parties keep the military industrial complex going. Neither party is going to fix this.
I actually voted for Harris, but she would not change anything for the Palestinians. Nor do I understand supporting people who allow a genocide because your own life is better. If you want to save the planet the world has to work together. Corporations buy our politicians and then get the laws passed that benefits them. Just look at people like Sinema that ran as a progressive and was quickly bought by big pharma. Almost all of our congressional members are millionaires. The system is corrupt.
Ask a surviving Palestinian that now that Trump has given his blessing and and the largest bombs in history to isreal. Who will build hotels on top of the bodies of the dead. And, will allow the hundreds of thousands of the people in the Ukraine to be put into the yoke of oppression. And all the children kidnapped by Russia for God knows what. You keep repeating your utter nonsense if it helps dissuade your guilt and lets you all sleep at night. You can all huddle around each other giving each other pats on the backs for a job well done as people around the world die. Mind blown at the utter arrogance.
I take comfort in the fact that Trump and his Nazis friends and supporters are not more powerful than Allah. We will survive Trump 2.0 biidhinillah despite our fears, anxieties, and worries.
Thank you for saying out loud what most of us are feeling right now.
Thanks for this reminder, Jewel. This is how I try to think about the phrase, Allah Akbar. God is greater than Trump, Netanyahu, Musk, etc etc etc.
excuse me? when have i ever advocated for the destruction of jews? in fact, im texting my jewish gf as i post this. please explain why you would make that kind of comment about someone you do not know at all? i don't even know what you are advocating for?
Impugning anyone's voting decision is unseemly. It's also counterproductive. Those of us who oppose Trump do not need to agree on everything. Let's not divide ourselves by finger-pointing.
Thanks David. I couldn't agree more.
No.
We needed the protest voters to have agreed on that BEFORE THE ELECTION.
After the election, let them figure out their own solution.
You might start by asking Jill Stein to stand up.
We could all fight together if we were willing to fight for everyone ❤️ this!!!
Coming from you this is high praise my dear.
Needed to be said, Noha!
Thank you my dear Mary ❤️
This is an amazing piece, Noha. You lay it out all so clearly. Your white hot anger about this is completely justified, from where I sit. I was one of those who voted for Kamala, primarily as a means of harm reduction, but I would never ever 'blame' those who didn't for where we're at now. I wish every Democratic elected official and member of the Dem National Committee would read this piece to understand what must change if they wish to win votes in the future. What has happened and is continuing to happen in Gaza in a travesty, and Biden could have done so much more to stop it. Instead he enabled it, and Harris didn't do enough to distance herself from that policy.
This is the first piece I’ve read that has captured it all so perfectly. These people screaming at protest voters are speaking from incredible places of privilege. It’s shameful, really.
The crime of genocide, like murder, is defined by the act, not by whether or not it is punished.
Completely with you on this as well Noha. The political system in the US a needs to change if we are to see a lasting change. But is it a wishful thinking? My American friend who voted democrat said, it was awful. Choosing between one horrible thing and another. One is open about killing you, the other is killing you politely. We have to have better choices than these two horrible ones. I’m mad as hell that this is the situation.
so trump is changing the thing you complain about
I don’t think he is changing it the way I’d like to see it change! It would be nice if the American election wasn’t dependent on donors who could then blackmail the party n the way they wanted it to run. That’s what I mean. Trump I fear is bad news all around.
70% of voters polled said substantial change - trump is indeed delivering that
Question is: is it positive, or negative change? ;) I guess just when you think that things can’t get worse, they do!
one person's worse is another's best. i appreciate your thoughtful dialogue. i believe the change wanted is a "tear it all down and let's keep the good shit"
So you thought voting for someone 10X worse or helping someone 10X worse win was the answer? That is crazy. If Trump has his way, there will be no Gaza.