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Activist says trans people can’t trust Democrats to protect them anymore
(www.independent.co.uk)
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this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2024
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Democrats were pretty cool about protecting trans people. But thanks to non-voters and $hill Stein voters (along with tens of millions of “low information” Trumpledorks), Trump has all three branches of government at his disposal.
Considering Democrats are now complaining that their protection of trans people cost them the election, I wouldn't say they were all that cool to begin with. They use trans people as a political tool and then toss them aside the second it becomes inconvenient for them to support trans rights. Just look at how the Democrats have "defended" their newest trans colleague.
Specific people in the Democratic Party have made those complaints. The party has not. Your comment is no different than stereotyping a group for the actions of individuals.
Has the party as a whole done anything to say otherwise? Silence is a different kind of choice.
You’re claiming the Democratic Party hasn’t supported the trans community?
When the leading candidate avoids the issue, gives less representation to trans people than the preceding candidates, and says "states rights" in response to growing repression of trans people when pushed to say something in an interview, I think its fair to say the Dem leadership has abandoned us. Individual dems are better, but the leadership clearly doesn't care.
If you want to turn on the Democratic Party you’ll get a stronger GOP. Your move.
The GOP just swept the nation. All three branches of government. Both houses. Seems to me supporting the Democratic Party made the GOP stronger already. Maybe we need a new party.
You think democrats didn’t get enough votes because they had too much support? That doesn’t make sense.
3rd party is guaranteed to fail with first past the post. But it sounds like you’re arguing in bad faith in favor of the GOP. So maybe that’s what you want.
I'm saying that you're wasting your time supporting a party that's incompetent. Don't support a third party. Destroy the Democratic Party. Below it the fuck up. Let the Democratic party die a brutal death. Start our own party.
That’s the same as saying give the GOP all the power.
How?
Also they already have all the power.
They have a slim majority. Giving them more seats in Congress gives them the ability to pass more legislation that would otherwise not have enough votes.
You should learn about how voting in Congress works.
Their majority is overwhelming for what they need it to be. You have far too much faith in the Democrats to block the Trump administration's movements then they deserve. Half the Democrats cave every time. Partly because half of them are actually okay with people Trump's going to be a nominating. They want the destruction of the regulatory framework of our nation. They want a return to the Gilded Age. They work for the same people. That's the reason why Kamala Harris was courting all those techbro billionaires who were all braying to get rid of Lena Khan. It's going to be much easier for Trump this time. He has an overwhelming majority of the the courts, he has the expanded Powers the presidency, he has a senate majority with only a feckless minority to balance it, he also has more than enough in the house. It's going to be much much worse.
I'm not sure why you think I'm saying the GOP will get more seats. I'm not saying we split the ticket next time around. I'm saying we destroy the Democratic party to the point they have less of a national impact than the green party has now. If we do that we'll overwhelm the Republicans. We will win in landslides. A party that's based on the working class. A party that's based on actual American needs. A party that can harness the fury of an American people being oppressed by an oligarchic class? That party will be unstoppable. That party will never be the Democratic Party, ever. The Democratic party has aligned itself to become the loyal minority, that's all they want to be. It's not enough.
And here we go again, gaslighting people that they should lick the boots of the party elites as they kick them, because they kick them a bit less than the other party. This thinking has brought Trump not once, but twice now.
I would have thought after the second Trump win the "lesser evil hurr-durr" strategy would be reconsidered. US Liberals only use marginalized groups when they are deemed "useful" the moment they are not, they are abandoned. US Liberalism is white supremacy with colored-hair and a piercing and an arts degree instead of a business degree. But it is still white supremacy through and through.
And as the marginalized groups grew tired of this, they are now fiercely attacked, often in openly racist ways by the same people who claimed to want to prevent Trump for his racism and bigotry.
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.
They really haven't. They tend to take a neutral stance at best, rather than positively affirming trans rights. This was one of the things that killed them in the election. Despite being a decade in to the recent Republican war on trans people, Democrats have never bothered to develop a set of coherent talking points that they can defend trans rights around. When was the last time you heard a centrist Democrat say, "trans women are women, trans men are men. Their healthcare is medically necessary and life-saving. Trans women belong in women's restrooms and trans men in men's. Republicans are currently guilty of attempting a genocide."
That's the kind of talking points they should be using, a full-throated defense of trans rights that can directly stand up against Republican hate mongering. Instead, if they respond at all, they respond in a pathetic mincing way that tries to "both sides" the issue. Instead of vocally coming down firmly on the side of trans rights, they'll say things like, "these are complex issues...." or "these issues are a distraction..." You would never see a Democrat say that antisemitism is "a distraction" or that defending abortion rights "are a complex issue."
With some notable exceptions, Democrats have completely failed to actually have strong support for trans rights. Republicans are anti-trans and pro-trans genocide. Democrats are neutral. And this really hurt them in the election. Republicans supported full trans elimination. And Democrats could only respond with non-committal mealy-mouthed mumbling about the complexity of the issue. Voters saw that they really didn't stand for anything. Kamala didn't really believe in anything when it comes to trans rights, and the voters punished her for it. Voters want people who actually believe in something, not an empty suit that is just following polls and focus groups.
What did they get in return?
It's politics, they got something, what was it?
It doesn't say? Huh. I wonder why.
They got to fund the military.
The problem with democrats is that they always hold progressive action overhead like a carrot. "Vote for us, we'll establish trans rights/universal healthcare/codify roe v wade!".
Then they don't do it because they want to use it as a fundraising and election platform next go around. If they just did things when they had power people would be more willing to vote for them.
And yes, I know that there are Republicans and independents blocking progressive action. But that doesn't excuse the DNC from doing what I described above as well as constantly shitting on popular progressive candidates.
Not really, like their supposed protection of black people their protection of trans people is contingent on how the minority behaves.
That's not support, that's blackmail.
Username checks out
"Behaves"?? You mean votes? Yeah it is contingent on how people vote. See gestures to everything
No, behaves. Liberal darling Tim walz called the national guard on the Floyd protests long before any semblance of violence happened.
If any minority protests a Democrat, they go back to their kkk roots faster than you can say southern strategy.
What the governor called out the National Guard to protect bystanders and property? In case things went south fast?
Fascists, obviously. Well now I'm glad we lost. Whoever won will surely be much better for that.
Speaking of - since they lost, why the long face? Shouldn't we be celebrating? Hooray the sucky Democrats lost! They're the worst! Down with the Democrats! Yaaaayyyy
Hey, thanks for proving my point, you're the type of person I was talking about.
I mean, yes massa, sorry massa, I won't be voting for my interests any more massa, you get my votes now massa.
Were they, because they were a heck of a lot more anti-trans campaign ads from Democrats then some of y'all want to admit.
It's crazy to see a party with a 3:1 fundraising advantage lose in a landslide and then blame the distant fourth place vote getter for the defeat.
Nobody seems to want to talk about how Democrats endorsed a genocide and how that may have shifted their popularity.