• MourningDove@lemmy.zip
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    13 minutes ago

    The fact of the matter is in an election where [ANYONE] vs FASCIST is the choices…

    YOU FUCKING VOTE FOR ANYONE.

    I honestly don’t believe this is still a conversation!! My god you people are not just determined to repeat the mistakes of the past- you’re running headlong right towards it!

    So fucking embarrassing.

    • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
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      6 hours ago

      Imagine not voting for the black lady because she has to prove herself worthy while a criminal senile pedophile can go on insane demented rants for a year and win by default.

      There’s a lot of cope happening in America, and everyone is pointing fingers, but the fact is 2/3 of the electorate either voted for fascism or didn’t bother to vote against it.

      But go ahead and blame everyone and everything other than the fact that American culture is fundamentally rotten and most people either want fascism or at least don’t care about whether it happens.

      • Soup@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        Well that’s a gross over-simplification. It certainly wasn’t her and the DNC’s long history of clearly ignoring the needs of the people who want to vote for them while regularly reaching for “moderate” votes. It definitely wasn’t her disconnection from Walz while hanging out with Liz Cheney for a significant amount of time.

        People don’t see her as any form of significant opposition to the far-right but they do see opposing the DNC as something worth doing and I’ve come around to supporting them there. It is not their fault that the Republicans won, anyoderately sane and intelligent people would have laughed him into oblivion but the US threw tens of millions of people at Trump.

  • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
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    3 hours ago

    IMO she lost because her entire platform was:

    • i’m a woman
    • i’m non-white
    • support trans rights

    none of that tackles the cost-of-living crisis, none of that gives people an economic future.

    • MourningDove@lemmy.zip
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      17 minutes ago

      Vs. a fascist dictator? It should have been a no-brainer, but instead it proved that a lack of brains is exactly what causes someone to choose not to vote or to protest via 3rd party nobodies.

    • rafoix@lemmy.zip
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      54 minutes ago

      The right was the side that wouldn’t stop talking about trans issues as if they were a pressing matter. More manufactured outrage from the side that has been manufacturing outrage from every non-issue for decades.

  • Son_of_Macha@lemmy.cafe
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    15 hours ago

    Flopped? It was incredibly close and if Elon did what he claimed she probably won overall. It’s only MAGAts that think it was a landslide.

    • booly@sh.itjust.works
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      13 hours ago

      When a team loses a basketball game by 1 point, literally every missed shot or turnover (or blown defensive coverage leading to an easy basket for the other side or foul leading to made free throws) could be pointed to as the “cause” of that loss.

      So yeah, if she were an actual better politician she probably would’ve won with the cards she was dealt. But there were also dozens of other causes that would’ve made her (or an alternative candidate) win, all else being equal.

      And it’s hard to see how a better politician would’ve ended up in that position to begin with. The circumstances of how Harris ended up as VP probably wouldn’t have happened if not for the specific way that her 2020 campaign flamed out.

  • Hannibal@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    I am not trying to be political or upset anybody of either side. I blame Joe Biden for this, before you judge or get upset or disagree with me–just wait. I believe this is particularly the reason she lost. She was left only from July to November to figure out her platform, determine a potential running mate, and come up with ideas.

    Usually they start campaigning around the midterms leaving nearly 2 years. She only had 4-5 months to prepare. She had limited amount of time to prepare her political campaign, to figure out her agenda how to get her message out there to everybody. Wait for time for people to hear it. They were not sure of her policies, they thought she was just an extension of Joe Biden because she didn’t have time.

    This is just one factor. She did a very excellent job for the few months she had left. She could have done a better job if Joe Biden had not ran a second term.

    Then it upset people that Democrats didn’t hold an open primary. She would have still won most likely, but for the younger generation and others. It was a turn off, they said it was a form of tyranny. (Of course it wasn’t. Even Republican party in 2020 cancelled primaries in some states)

    Then you had states cleaning up the ‘voting rolls’ people didn’t realize they were unregistered, and ran out of time to register again. In a lot of states, I don’t believe you can register on the day you vote. I might be wrong though.

    • favoredponcho@lemmy.zip
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      3 hours ago

      It is Joe Biden’s fault for not allowing a real dem primary. Kamala did terrible in the 2020 primary though, so she likely would have not gotten to the general election in 2024 without Biden’s meddling.

    • Pacattack57@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      No she is rightfully to blame. Her platform was “Nothing will change” and “Israel has a right to defend itself”. If she would have not said those 2 things she would have won.

      • ristoril_zip@lemmy.zip
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        5 hours ago

        Well I’m pretty sure with a longer campaign he team would’ve figured out “I’ll keep doing what Biden is doing” was a losing message and dropped it. I don’t think there was any chance of them acknowledging the genocide in Gaza by Nov '24, because the general public hadn’t come around on it by then.

        I don’t know if that would’ve changed the outcome.

        Biden should’ve kept his promise to be transitional and let there be an honest to god Democratic primary.

        • rafoix@lemmy.zip
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          50 minutes ago

          She pushed a very popular and likable Tim Walz out of the way to put a fucking Cheney front and center. Cheney are historically evil people.

    • OrteilGenou@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      She refused to appear in unscripted events. People point to Trump’s podcast appearances as the reason he won, but in my opinion it’s closer to the truth to say that Kamala refusing to appear unless everything was closely controlled is what really cost her.

      • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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        5 hours ago

        Some of that may also be that the secret service doesn’t allow for to much non “closely controlled” environments. Not sure exactly how that works, but I assume you have to let them know where you are going to be in advance and they figure out who is going to be there and set perimeter and everything else, which if you are nervous I imagine you fall into a “I should prepare for this interview” having hours/possibly days to do so.

  • criss_cross@lemmy.world
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    20 hours ago

    Article was a great read. This part really resonated with me.

    It may seem petty to use this incident, but it does illustrate Harris’s expectation that the world should conform to her needs. Towels on the far side of the room? Someone else must fetch them. A slot as the Democrat presidential candidate that party leaders conveniently made sure would be uncontested by anyone else, a massively well-funded campaign that raked in over a billion dollars and the support of celebrities like Oprah and Beyoncé, a popular vice presidential candidate, a huge boost in the polls as soon as she stepped into the campaign… and, yet, somehow, her loss is still anyone’s fault but her own. Why are my towels on the other side of the room? Who will fetch them for me?

    It really did feel that way in hindsight. That we all were just supposed to conform to her and not the other way around.

    I remember Hacks on Tap talking about how their contacts were frustrated that Harris wasn’t out doing more national television interviews and that she wasn’t really putting herself out there. This feels like another example of the towel in the bathroom.

    • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      8 hours ago

      So… the Dem strategy was… run an insufferable, stuffy, haughty narcissist to counter a more bombastic, less classy, insufferable narcissist…???

    • YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today
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      9 hours ago

      Not for nothing, but trump wasn’t exactly out there either outside of the incel podcasts. She was a poor candidate and the funding bullshit meant she had to be the candidate. Fuck her, but fuck every protest non voter way more.

      Edit: knowing I pissed off at least three of you you lazy fuckers makes me smile.

      • PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        No FUCK Biden for continuing to run even though he was too damn old to. He should have passed the torch properly and allowed for primaries to happen.

        • khepri@lemmy.world
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          33 minutes ago

          I think people forget that Harris only had a mere 15 weeks between Biden dropping out and election day to establish herself and try to bootstrap and run some kind of campaign that wasn’t just her wearing Joe’s skin. It’s insane that anyone expected her to win under those conditions and Biden could not have fucked us harder with his arrogance. Add to that the headwinds of her being a woman of color, not especially charismatic, and to the right of her base on many issues, and the outcome was written in stone from the start.

        • tree_frog_and_rain@lemmy.world
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          15 hours ago

          He not only robbed us of a primary, he broke his one term promise.

          And in doing so, shoved an uncharismatic center right candidate down our throats, whose only redeeming quality was not Trump.

          Is that what democracy looks like?

          • YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today
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            7 hours ago

            Don’t care how much we get down voted! Fuck yeah this sentiment! Fuck all your protest non voters! I hope you read this and it makes you upset!

            Edit: why am I twice as high as homie saying the same thing‽

  • zbyte64@awful.systems
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    22 hours ago

    What? She was a fantastic candidate! The fact she lost to someone so obviously bad just means she was bad at communicating to dumb voters. This is a widely known and predictable problem with Americans and you can’t blame her for that. So you see, she was the best person to not get the job. /s

    • MourningDove@lemmy.zip
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      11 minutes ago

      Yea! See how much better things are! My god! Imagine the absolute HELL we would be in had she had won!

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Harris adviser says VP ran ‘flawless’ campaign

      “I would posit she ran a pretty flawless campaign, and she did all the steps that [were] required to be successful,” she added. “And I think – obviously, we did not win, but I do think we hit all the marks.”

      Nix, Harris’ campaign manager, also attributed Trump’s decision not to participate in any debate following the ABC News presidential debate on Sept. 10 as detrimental to the Harris campaign’s strategy of presenting the choice between Trump and Harris clearly to voters several times.

      “I think that was hard for us to then get the attention that we would have liked to,” Nix said.

      Well, there you have it. Perfect campaign. No notes. Just wish Trump had been willing to debate, because we all know the problem Harris had was getting her face out there.

          • saimen@feddit.org
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            16 hours ago

            So this is why you supported Trump (by not voting against him)? Wouldn’t it still be so much better than what you have now?

            • the_crotch@sh.itjust.works
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              13 hours ago

              Votes aren’t wishes. The electoral college is a thing. Many states are locked down for one side or the other and it really doesn’t matter who any individual votes for. In fact, being from Connecticut, I’ve voted for a third party for decades because I feel like it’s the only way for my vote for president to potentially have an impact. Unless you know this person lives in a swing state you’re being really ignorant by throwing out those kinds of accusations.

              • dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works
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                1 hour ago

                Because that’s the sane thing to do.

                If you think Trump is worse than Harris but didn’t vote for Harris then you deserve the stupid bed you helped make us all sleep in. 🤷

  • xenomor@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    I was never a big fan, but I was passionate about supporting her from the moment Biden stammered through that debate until this moment in her DNC speech: https://youtube.com/shorts/-UQliWnKnqY

    This was the moment when she did the heel turn away from all the clever, momentum building moves that assembled a surprisingly left-friendly coalition. Everything after this was punching left and she lost as a result.

    • khepri@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      I still think Biden’s refusal to let go of the reins until way way too late is what doomed her primarily. As VP, she had to hold and defend Biden’s exact policies and positions, even the unpopular ones, while he was running. By the time he finally quit, she was basically stuck inside the rotting corpse of his campaign, having painted herself into a corner on every issue.

  • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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    1 day ago

    Number of times a candidate has run against or in place of the incumbent and failed miserably before Harris: 3

    …And succeeded: 0

    Number of times a candidate has run against or in place of the incumbent and failed miserably after Harris: 4

    It was a terribly weak position, but she foolishly believed in the American people to pick the best of two bad options.

    She was misguided.

  • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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    1 day ago

    Look. I am not going to pretend that Kamala The Cop was some amazing candidate.

    But she never stood a chance with, what, a three month campaign where much of the voting populace never even realized she was running? And a LOT of the reporting and commentary around this reeks of “she just isn’t charismatic” or “she is unlikeable” and all the dogwhistles involved.

    If anything, it speaks poorly of her leadership potential that she was willing to be saddled with that mess of a non-campaign.

    • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      This is a perpetually idiotic take.

      All the statistical evidence that we have, is that once Kamala was the candidate, her polling rose meteorically. Until she started to define herself as a candidate, when all we had were her words as former candidate to base her policy positions on, she was heading towards blue-wave-of-epic proportions territory. She named Walz as running mate and people thought they had someone to vote for herself

      Then, during the convention, the definition began as a continuance of a corporate, Biden-esque, more-of-the-same, Democrat. They silenced Palestinian voices and shunned the progressive vote, while embracing Republicans and hawkish dem’s.

      And her polling rapidly stagnated, then began to slide. As she slid further and further right, so did her polling.

      Harris’ loss was not an inevitability, and to present it as such is to both misunderstand the political moment then, as it happened, and to misrepresent the ongoing political moment.

      If Harris’ had ran on her 2020 campaign platform with Walz as vice, she wins. Hands down. The political pressure desperately seeking an outlet on issues like M4A, and so many other leftwing polciies isn’t new. Bernie got it started in 2016 and it never stopped growing. All she needed to do was step left and ride the wave. But she chose to make losing decisions. Her loss was not an inevitability and to present it as such is a form of lying.

      • tree_frog_and_rain@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        Taking campaign advice from her brother in law, the CLO of Uber, who is a big part of the gig economy which destroys workers rights, was also a huge red flag.

        I still voted for her, but it was like choosing a shit sandwich over Hitler. I didn’t exactly want either one.

      • n4ch1sm0@piefed.social
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        1 day ago

        Yup, all the momentum and revitalization of the democratic vote slowed to a crawl as soon the biden-esque political strategy got involved, caving on the Palestinian genocide, and by pretty much kicking Walz to the curb when it comes to PR. We could’ve been riding the “MAGA is just weird” all the way to polls, but neoliberealism had to fuck it all up again.

      • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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        1 day ago

        Her 2020 campaign wasn’t actually that good. She started with the same boost of optimism and then fell apart once she started defining specifics and every other statement was walking things back. She flamed out for a reason.

        I agree with your statement here though. She had all the momentum and tools to win and flubbed it through actual choices, not some inherent insurmountable challenges.

        • rafoix@lemmy.zip
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          41 minutes ago

          The only time she looked strong in 2020 was when she pointed out Biden’s support for old racist policies. After that, she had nothing to say or to differentiate herself from the rest of the DNC corporate pack.

      • ikidd@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Well, she wasn’t going to be able to throw the election if she made herself popular.

      • I_Jedi@lemmy.today
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        1 day ago

        Maybe, but actually moving left wouldn’t assure a victory either. If it became clear that Kamala was moving left, the DNC and the rich people in power would help Trump win through lots of propaganda on the news.

        Kamala only wins via the progressive route if she gets lucky at countering both Republican and Democrat propaganda, like Mamdani.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      But she never stood a chance with, what, a three month campaign

      That was half her strength. Trump’s entire team was geared around shitting on Joe Biden. And then Joe Biden stops being on the ballot, sending oodles of oppo-research and Hunter Biden smears and god even knows what kind of October Surprise they had cooking down the toilet.

      Biden dropping out and throwing up Harris in his place meant she was free to pummel Trump with negative ads while he had to fully reconfigure his campaign to attack someone who’d spent four years as a backbencher. And - early on at least - Harris capitalized on this well. She came in with a moderate Dem - Tim Walz - who defused some of the Zionist image built up around Joe. She spewed negative ads at Trump and Vance, leaning on the “they’re just weird” talking point that got plenty of mileage both on and off-line. She was a prodigious fundraiser, unlocking a ton of cash that Biden had left on the sidelines because he was too senile to call the mega-donors and ask for it.

      And, as a tabula rosa, she (initially) ditched all of Biden’s first term baggage - his failure to secure student loan relief, his endless efforts at compromising with far-right Republicans, his pull-out of Afghanistan and dive into Ukraine, his just being a gross old fart who couldn’t talk good.

      But then Harris had to take on a bunch of Hillarycrat advisers and tack to the right. She ditched Walz for Liz Cheney and Cindy McCain. She sucked up to the Silicon Valley Techbros as they lined up to knife her in the back. She repeatedly defended Joe Biden’s least popular policies. She undid everything that Biden dropping out was intended to accomplish.

      If anything, it speaks poorly of her leadership potential that she was willing to be saddled with that mess of a non-campaign.

      She never really had a choice. But that’s been the hallmark of her entire political career. Harris always just kinda blew where the wind took her. She shouldn’t have been VP to begin with, taking the job only because Biden confusedly promised a black woman VP when he was asked about his plans for a next SCOTUS pick.

      But then she surrounded herself with some of the most abysmal neocon reject advisors $1.5B could buy. And she tanked her chances at becoming the First Woman President by running the Clinton Playbook that had cost her predecessor so two prior electoral defeats.

      • dontsayaword@piefed.social
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        1 day ago

        I think the short timeframe was ultimately a detriment, despite this. How many people Googled “who is Kamala Harris?” and “Did Joe Biden drop out?” on election day?

        • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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          1 day ago

          Yeah. The short time frame and trump not having years of insults ready were her only hope. But it was still a doomed endeavor because biden insisted on running until well past the last minute.

          Turning a weakness into a strength is a good idea… but it doesn’t stop it from being a weakness.

    • Hegar@fedia.io
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      1 day ago

      The campaign came out of the gate punching and dominated the news cycle. Then they took pelosi’s advice and tacked right and immediately began to flounder.

      Im not convinved the technofascists wouldve allowed a democrat win, but i don’t think it’s because kamala only had 3 months. Thats how long election campaigns are in civilised countries.

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    19 hours ago

    Bill Maher did a bit, just before taking a break in his show where he discussed future news that would happen while on break. He said Biden would drop out, and then he looked at the top contenders. He really crushed Harris, saying she would never be president.