I don’t like Biden either, but anyone with half a brain knows there are two choices in the 2020 election. If we had a sane voting system, voting third party might be worth it, but as it stands, no one but you knows your favorite candidate exists and unless you want to become their campaign manager that will still be true in November. Even if you did, and even if you convinced two thirds of the people who would otherwise have voted for Biden to vote for your chosen candidate instead, Trump would still win because half the country voted for him and your guy only got a third. If you vote third party you might as well stay home.

Not voting isn’t going to stop the genocide in Gaza. The US will continue to funnel them arms no matter which candidate wins this November. Trump practically campaigns on how much he hates the Jews and he’s publicly told Israel to “finish up their war”. He’ll also make life a living hell for anyone who isn’t a straight cisgender male back here at home.

A vote for a candidate is not an endorsement of them or their policies, it’s a statement that you like their policies more than the other guy’s, and “sticking it to liberals” and “refusing to support genocide” (that’s not what voting for Biden is doing, by the way – a vote for either candidate is a vote for genocide and a vote for neither is an endorsement of both) is not more important than keeping the furthest right politician America has ever seen out of office.

How incredibly privileged do you have to be to see an entire national election as what will happen in the Middle East and ignore Trump’s campaign promises to wipe transgender Americans off the map, and further, to not realize that the same thing will happen in the Middle East regardless of which candidate wins?

I hate Biden as much as every other leftist here. But I’ll still vote for him because Trump is worse. If there’s a single bone in your body that cares about the lives of your trans friends you will too.

  • ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works
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    8 months ago

    a vote for either candidate is a vote for genocide

    Demanding people vote for genocide as a lesser of two evils is where we are at now.

    • gmtom@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Remember Biden isn’t actually the one doing the genocide. That’s Netanyahu and the other Israeli politicians. Let’s not delete their blame by including Biden who has been putting in /some/ effort to stop it (not enough imo, but undeniably some). And remember that even if he stopped weapons shipments the day of the invasion, it wouldn’t have changed the outcome at all.

      • anticolonialist@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Remember Charles Manson wasnt the one that actually did any killings, therefore he must be innocent. Biden is providing the money and weapons to kill, therefore he is responsible, and has done nothing to stop it.

      • ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works
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        8 months ago

        Israel has always been days or weeks away from running out of ammunition and bombs. If shipments stop the bombings would stop. They’ve reupped and reupped and Biden even bypassed Congress to continue supplying bombs.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        He’s completely enabling it. The UN would have already stepped in if we weren’t blocking anything above saying the words, “Please Stop.”

        The criminal justice system recognizes this. It charges the driver, the lookout, and the trigger puller with Felony Murder.

        • gmtom@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          The fuck you mean the UN would have “stepped in”?

          Like you think the UN is going to send troops to stop Isreal??? Or you think that Israel will decide its going to comply with a resolution for the first time?

          The criminal justice system recognizes this. It charges the driver, the lookout, and the trigger puller with Felony Murder.

          Apples to orsnges. Do gun shop owners get charged with murder for selling guns to people who use them to commit murder? No ofc course not.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            I’m talking specifically about him blocking action by the UN. And yes, Israel is not special. If they ignore a binding resolution to stop then the UN will deploy.

            Oh and yes, states do charge gun shop clerks if they knowingly sell a gun to be used in a crime or knowingly make an illegal sale, such as the Leahy Law the administration is taking great pains to ignore.

        • ieatpillowtags@lemm.ee
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          8 months ago

          The UN can’t “step in” regardless, plus we let the cease fire resolution pass this time so if they could step in we’re not blocking it.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            We let a non-binding resolution pass. The UN is absolutely capable of stepping in, from the Korean War to the Ivory Coast. There’s even movies about it.

        • Gnome Kat@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          8 months ago

          Is Trump gonna genocide harder or something?

          I mean… yes… yes he would definitely support escalation of the killings. He has stated he thinks they aren’t going far enough so trump would 100% just encourage full genocide openly

          Biden is at least turning on this issue, though obviously it’s way too little and too late… but he is at least reachable and is now saying there needs to be a ceasefire.

          Is biden doing enough? Fuck no.

          Should he step down and let other dems run? I think yes… I would feel so much better if we had a candidate who hasn’t been supporting this for as long as biden has.

          But would trump be worse on this issues? Absolutely things can get so much worse…

          • anticolonialist@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Biden isnt turning on anything, the same day his UN reps proposed the fake ceasefire he supplied more money and bombs.

    • AFaithfulNihilist@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      You can vote for The guy who says Tut Tut to the genocidal madman or the guy that says, “finish the job”.

      There are also other issues at play. They are both a vote for genocide but one of them would like to bring that here there and everywhere!

    • EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com
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      8 months ago

      As I see it, the genocide is not up for a vote since neither candidate will stop it. It’s the other issues that are up for vote.

      They’ve decided to do genocide regardless of what the voters want.

      • ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works
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        8 months ago

        They’ve decided to do genocide regardless of what the voters want.

        That may be what they decided, but that is never an argument against fighting genocide. There is still a window of opportunity for that course to change, and the dire nature of this election is a part of it.

      • Masterblaster420@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        you live in a bubble. i don’t think the majority of americans sees it the way you do. i see it the way you do, but you shouldn’t assume that just because your personal social media feed is pro-palestine that it’s unanimous across the US.

      • ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works
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        8 months ago

        Think about it for a moment: people are opposing a genocide. Do you think if Biden called for a ceasefire or ended his support for a genocidal regime it would cost him votes?

        People sure acting like that is the case the way people are opposing genocide as a valid electoral issue.

        So shit, right now?: Bully the everloving fuck out of Biden and anyone supporting the genocide Israel is conducting in Gaza. Fuck them and their genocide. Make it an electoral issue. See what influence can be made between now and voting day, like a properly engaged member of a political system.

        • KinglyWeevil@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          8 months ago

          Whenever I see people bemoaning the system, (which I agree is fucked, overall) I always wonder if they’ve bothered to write/call/harass legislators? Because it’s sometimes surprising how much an angry person can accomplish when they decide to be a problem.

          I set up targeted harassment of state legislators on reddit and twitter and managed to get weed legalized after it died in committee in the preceding five years.

        • Syrc@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Do you think if Biden called for a ceasefire or ended his support for a genocidal regime it would cost him votes?

          I mean, at this point, maybe? I’m confident while probably both very small groups, the pro-genocide Biden voters are more than the anti-genocide Trump voters. Someone who votes Republican in modern elections doesn’t seem like they would be concerned for the wellbeing of black people on the other side of the planet.

        • Pan_Ziemniak
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          8 months ago

          If Biden ceased supporting israel, our remaining allies would be all the more disillusioned with our fickle ass nature and our soft powers would plummet.

          Guarantee you, if we had a president Sanders, 70 senators would be tripping over themselves to pass Israeli aid and overturning any of his executive orders while calling him an antisemite.

    • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      It really is something when you can put yourself into that position and trying to whip votes on this platform of all places instead of calling for a violent revolution.