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https://bsky.app/profile/erininthemorning.com/post/3mynwzsux7k2u
Josh Turek of Iowa, Democrat, comes out with one of the worst anti-trans ads yet.
Not only is it an anti-sports ad, it proposes a ban on federal funding for gender affirming care. That would hit all medicaid and medicare patients, and any ACA federally-subsidized plans as well.
Horrific.
God fucking damnit. looks like I'm leaving an empty spot on my ballot.
Don't do that. The Republicans are worse. You are not getting a better result from withholding your vote, therefore it is a bad choice to withhold your vote. Get over the idea that your vote is an endorsement of every idea a politician has. Unless you have gone balls to the wall on election reform for the past few years all I'm hearing is "I'm a lazy and will continue to do nothing to stop my country from falling apart despite my self important bitching online".
There is no worse than this for transgender people. If the Democrat is promising to do exactly what their Republican opponent wants to do, seriously reconsider your insane position of "vote blue no matter who," because you're asking people to vote for someone promising to strip their rights and remove their access to healthcare. That's insane. It's the level of self-own that Republicans regularly do.
Ok... So let's play this out. What do you suppose happens if the Republicans get in and prevent a dem majority? You're just going to pretend that is an ok situation and not demonstrably worse? Also, just want to add that your assertion that there is no worse than this is either deliberately exaggerated or unfortunately niave.
There is no worse than this for trans individuals. If you start restricting access to care, people are going to die. It doesn't matter if a Republican or a Democrat does it, if trans people are going to directly die as a result of policy why the fuck would they vote for that person? Fix your own shitty party that is willing to kill trans people for votes before demanding people vote for someone willing to kill them.
And what do you suppose happens when the Democrats see that when they adopt transphobic positions, people who support trans rights will still vote for them, and maybe they pick up a handful of transphobes? In that case, there is literally no downside in that situation (strategically speaking) to adopting transphobic positions all across the country. If on the other hand, people draw a red line on trans rights and stand by it, if every transphobic Dem eats shit, then there's a clear strategic benefit to respecting that red line.
You are only considering the immediate effects, but the precedents that we set are far more important. If not getting a majority this time is the cost of stopping the party from shifting right on this, then the benefits outweigh the costs.
"Some of you may die, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make"
Lol, imagine saying that about me while defending the guy who wants to strip healthcare from trans people. Pot, meet kettle.
The Democrats are the ones sacrificing people, and they have the power not to, but they think they can advance their careers and make a little bit more profit by sacrificing us. By contrast, I'm standing by everyone and demanding that no one be sacrificed and left behind, and using what little voice or influence I have to that end.
You seem to have everything completely backwards. You need to be convincing me that I need to be more willing to sacrifice people, specifically, trans people, if you want me to support someone like Turek. Good luck with that one!
Or perhaps I misunderstood your comment? Were you using quote marks for emphasis, perhaps, while voicing your own position?
We must hang together, or we will each hang separately. An offense against one is an offense against all. Solidarity must not be broken, "For what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one? But the union makes us strong!"
I'll be honest, I don't know who you are or anything about you besides your username. So not sure what that was about.
Two more years of a Republican-controlled Congress doesn't sound like "setting precedent" to me though, it sounds like sacrificing vulnerable groups in the hope that this'll finally be the one to jump start your idea of a leftist revolution.
A freshman Senator with virtually no political capital isn't going to determine party policy for the Democrats, but Project 2025 has made it abundantly clear what the Republican party policy is. They explicitly do want us to hang together.
"Some of you may die, but that is a sacrifice I'm willing to make."
You ignored every point I made btw.
It's not about his personal political influence, it's about the precedent it would set.
Ah, yes, setting precedent for the Democrats, the party famous for learning from their defeats.
Turek winning would show that there's no strategic downside to his politics in Iowa, or if I'm being really generous, in races to replace incumbent Republicans. The US isn't a political or cultural monolith, campaign strategies vary from state to state, even in presidential elections. For example, Talarico's Christian faith is a boon for his campaign in Texas, but if he wins, it doesn't mean that every candidate across the nation is going to embrace Christianity.
There are no good Republican politicians; two more years of a Republican majority means two more years of unchecked efforts to erase trans people from existence. There are good Democratic politicians; Turek is not one of them. But if I can choose my enemies, I'd rather spend the next two years fighting against him and those like him in a Democrat-controlled Congress than fighting against whatever fresh hell the Republicans have planned for all of us.
Great point. And the only way they can really know for sure if it'll work in other states is to test the waters there. And when they test the waters, you will completely capitulate for the exact same reason you want to capitulate here, and that's when it'll go from weak evidence that it works in other states, to strong evidence. So long as they never encounter any resistance, they'll keep pushing, keep seeing it work, and it'll keep spreading. It has to be nipped in the bud, above all else. If we wait, we won't be able to stop it at all.
That's how we got here in the first place. Because, they know they can fuck the left as hard and as frequently as they like, they know that they don't have to give you anything at all, because you won't ever stand up to them.
Obviously, words are useless in convincing people like you, because you fundamentally just don't have a spine. You'll happily sell out marginalized people because the Dems can just point to a boogeyman and you do whatever they tell you. The only real solution is to build solidarity between all marginalized people, which requires completely and unequivocally rejecting attempts to divide us with shitlib candidates like Turek. But you'll never do that, because you are fundamentally a coward.
Oh, neat, we're doing personal attacks now. And here I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.
Spend less time huffing theory with the rest of your echo chamber and realize that we live in the real world where our actions have real consequences for real people. You want to teach the Democrats a lesson by letting the Republicans stay in power, all so you can maintain your holier-than-thou attitude. It didn't save a single life in 2024, it's not going to save a single life in 2026. The Trevor Project saw huge spikes in people reaching out to their crisis hotlines immediately after the 2024 election and 2025 inauguration. That's what happens when Republicans win. That's what you're saying you're okay with.
We're a week out from the election. Either the Republicans are going to win, or the Democrats are. The US electoral system is broken, so those are the options. No matter what the result is, I'm going to be doing everything I can to protect and support my community, and I hope you do the same.
Still not acknowledging any of my arguments. You have no answer, whatsoever, to the fact that you're creating a political reality where the Democrats will have every incentive to sell out trans people. Blah blah, "holier than thou attitude," has nothing whatsoever to do with my actual arguments, you just pull that out because you have nothing else.
All you can do is go back to your thought-terminating cliches and tribalistic loyalty, loyal to the fucking politicians who fuck us over rather than to marginalized people.
Claiming that you're "doing everything you can to protect and support your community" well supporting a transphobe and allowing the Democrats to sell us out is completely laughable.
There's an enemy battleline, and they say, "give us everyone with brown hair and we'll go easy on you" and your commander says, "hmm, you know what, maybe we should hand over everyone with brown hair," then you fucking remove that commander. You don't say, "well, we need everyone we can get," while handing over your own allies, who are actually valuable, just to appease that shithead, who isn't.
Hang together or hang separately. End of story. No negotiation, nothing to discuss. You want to betray marginalized people, go right ahead. I'll be cheering when Turek eats shit.
Sorry, guess you missed the comment where I replied to the bolded quote you were so proud of. I can go through sentence-by-sentence if that makes it easier for you.
Good for you for sticking to your beliefs though, I'm glad you'll be able to stand there smug and self-satisfied while the Republicans hang us together.
Sorry, guess you missed the comment where I refuted that and explained how it will spread if it's never resisted.
And I hope you'll be satisfied while the ruling class hangs us separately. At least if we stand together, we'd have a fighting chance. Your "strategy" of selling out makes defeat 100% inevitable.
Yeah, that comment consisted of "guess we'll see ¯\_(ツ)_/¯" and calling me a coward, so not sure how much acknowledgement that needed.
The Republican party wants trans people dead or so far back in the closet that we might as well be. Explain to me how that's better for trans people, and how your "strategy" of hoping for defeat doesn't make defeat 100% inevitable.
Lol, no it didn't. I explained it very clearly, there's no need to wait and see, because anyone with sense can see what will happen.
If trans people and "allies" vote for you no matter what you do, and transphobes will only vote for you if you fuck over trans people, then there is a clear incentive to fuck over trans people. It is, clearly and objectively, the correct strategic decision. Even if the number of transphobes is tiny compared to the number of people who support trans rights!
I'm not hoping for defeat. I'm hoping that we can expel this shithead traitor who wants to surrender to the right, so that we can actually fight and win.
That commander who wants to hand over everyone with brown hair to the enemy? If he happens to catch a stray bullet, we'll all be better off for it. Because he is a liability and actively detrimental to the war effort. This is no different. If he loses, the only thing we lose is a traitor, all we lose is a knife at our back.
You are overestimating the value of this shitbag, and also underestimating the value of the trans people and allies who he is alienating, who would be far more valuable in fighting the right, as well as underestimating the value of solidarity. This is literally how the ruling class controls us and breaks our power, by letting them be the ones who define what you stand for, and they'll make damn sure that solidarity is never part of that, because it's the only thing that would actually be effective!
And anyone with sense can see what will happen with Republicans still in control. The plans are published, their actions make it clear.
I'll reiterate, just because a campaign succeeds in Iowa does not mean that same campaign would work nationwide. Trump won Iowa by 13% of the vote, the seat Turek is running for is currently held by a Republican. The Democrats would likely see their margins decrease, or even suffer losses to Republicans or third-party candidates, in typical stronghold states that have strong protections for trans rights. Do you honestly believe that an anti-trans candidate would succeed in places like Colorado, New York, Minnesota, where these rights - that should be basic human rights across the board - have been protected by the state legislatures or even added to state constitutions?
I also don't want this shithead traitor anywhere near any position of power. But your solution to "expel" him is to let the Republican win. I don't even have to research Turek's opponent to know that, by virtue of being a Republican, they are opposed to trans rights. And that not only will they vote in lockstep with a potential Republican majority on trans rights, but also in every vote concerning rights for anyone who isn't a rich, cishet, WASPy man.
You keep using this military analogy, so I'll roll with it. You present it as if we're choosing a commander for our army, and the other side is choosing one for theirs. Only one person is winning this election, there's only one seat; only one person is the commander, there's only one army. It seems like your idea of solidarity is putting the person who says "I want to kill all of you" in charge of the army and hoping that that unites the soldiers against their commander, while the other generals cheer the commander on.
The Republican party, and conservatives at large, are an active threat to trans people, and all people. It's hard to worry about what one political party might do in the future when giving the other party power now means that I might not even be around long enough to worry about it.
No, they would likely lose votes. Because enough people are following my strategy. They would lose votes, because of people refusing to vote for them if they sell out trans people.
You're supposed to be arguing against my strategy, not for it. If everyone followed your strategy, the Democrats wouldn't lose any votes in those states because they'd still be "the lesser evil." Which is exactly why lesser evilism is bullshit.
No. There are two armies, no matter who wins here, this election is merely one battlefield. And if winning here means a shitty strategy gets adopted by the entire army, in other battlefields, then defeat is preferable. You again, are trying to limit the scope of analysis to only the immediate outcome and only in this one race, refusing to look at how this will affect the war in general. There are countless other battlefields, and not all of them are even elections. I don't see how it's possible to not get this, there have to be consequences for treason, or everything breaks down. A single senate seat is a small price to pay, for the bigger picture.
The fact that the enemy is so powerful and dangerous is exactly why it's so important to face them with the correct strategy. I'm just as afraid for the future as you are. But I'm not going to let that control me or determine my actions.
Unity and solidarity are the correct strategic direction. It's possible that we take that approach and fail, but that just means we never would have succeeded anyway. Abandoning the whole strategy for some momentary, fleeting gain is shortsighted and self-defeating.
I'll admit, my very first comment was inflammatory and I meant it to be. There's too many comments on here that come across as telling me that I need to be willing to die for someone else's beliefs, and I reacted accordingly. It definitely didn't help though that you decided to call me a coward for not wanting to die for your beliefs.
I'm not arguing against your strategy entirely. I'm arguing against your strategy when the result of following it is a Republican victory. You still haven't been able to explain how the Republicans staying in power will somehow be better for trans people than the last two years have been. You also admit that Democrats would lose votes by pursuing anti-trans policies, so I'm not sure how that fits with your belief that they would start pushing those policies nationwide. If two random lemmy users can come to that conclusion, surely at least on political strategist can as well.
You're right that lesser evilism is bullshit. Unfortunately, the electoral process in the US is also bullshit. Too many people are stuck choosing between the party that wants to kill them now, and the party that might choose to sacrifice them later. But it's a lot easier to fight for your future when you aren't fighting for your life in the present.
A single Senate seat is far more significant than you're making it out to be, especially when we're talking about flipping the seat. Whoever wins this particular seat will be fairly insignificant as an individual for the next 6 years at least, but majority control means control of rules and procedures, legislative dockets, and committee appointments. And the wider that majority, the less power traitors like Fetterman or (potentially) Turek have.
It's simple. If everyone follows your strategy, then it will spread. If enough people follow my strategy, then it will not spread. If it's true that it wouldn't spread, that's purely because of people who reject your way of thinking. So people need to continue rejecting your way of thinking, or the policy will spread.
Lesser evilism is not an inevitable consequence of the electoral process that we have. It is a specific ideology, a specific strategy for approaching that process. And it's one that doesn't hold up to scrutiny.
If one faction within a party votes for the party unconditionally, on the basis of it being the lesser evil, and another faction votes conditionally on getting certain policies that they want, then there's a clear incentive for the party to appeal to the second faction. The lesser evilist approach means giving up any bargaining power you might have had within the party. That's why collectively setting red lines is the better approach.
Turek isn't going to stop you from fighting for your life in the present, he is literally running on taking away our rights. And if we accept that, if we don't demand better, that's how we wind up in a situation where trans rights aren't even on the ballot (in the bad way).
The Democrats may well take the Senate regardless, they'll almost certainly take the house, and the Republicans will hold the presidency for at least the next two years. During that time, both a Republican and Democrat trifecta are impossible. Both sides will be able to prevent the other from doing things but won't be able to do much themselves, and that remains true regardless of who controls the senate or by what margin.
Could it make a difference beyond that? Sure. But if we're talking about future elections, that means looking beyond the immediate term, and looking at the precedents that get set. And even if enough the Democrats are concerned that people will follow my strategy, and do not try to run more transphobic candidates in other races (which I highly doubt, if Turek wins), there's still the fact that the narrative has gotten muddled. In fact, it's already gotten muddled to a degree from Turek getting this far.
What do I mean by that? Right now, there's a great ad being run called, "Republicans in your bathroom" which paints Republicans as creepy perverted pedophiles for caring so much about trans people and wanting genital inspections of children. But how will they be able to run ads like that, if they're also running transphobic candidates themselves? Are voters meant to believe that transphobes are freaky perverts, or that transphobes have reasonable concerns that the party should accommodate? It's mixed messaging.
And the more they retreat, the more they validate Republican narratives. The same thing happened on immigration. In 2016, the line was that building the wall was racist (which it is). But by 2024, the Democrats were running as border hawks, the narrative was, "We're the ones who are actually going to build the wall, Trump's all talk." This makes it look like the Democrats are admitting that the Republicans were right all along, and that calling it "racist" was frivolous, and just done for political gain.
If the Democrats have transphobic candidates running in tight races, they will be inclined to dial back the rhetoric, which will validate the right's transphobic narratives. It will look like the right was correct, just as they look "correct" on immigration. And people will say, "woke 2 was crazy" and it will have an effect on public opinion, just as there are far few people calling for open borders than there were 10 years ago, there will be fewer people voicing full-throated support for trans rights. And that's the real kiss of death.
We have to hold our ground and say, no, we're right, we were right all along, and the Republican obsession with trans people is purely a Republican thing and purely because they're freaky weirdos and there was never any legitimate concern.