Gretchen Whitmer responds to calls by some Democrats to vote ā€˜uncommittedā€™ in Michiganā€™s primary on Tuesday

Gretchen Whitmer, the Michigan governor, pushed back on calls to not vote for Joe Biden over his handling of the Israel-Gaza conflict, saying on Sunday that could help Trump get re-elected.

ā€œItā€™s important not to lose sight of the fact that any vote thatā€™s not cast for Joe Biden supports a second Trump term,ā€ she said on Sunday during an interview on CNNā€™s State of the Union. ā€œA second Trump term would be devastating. Not just on fundamental rights, not just on our democracy here at home, but also when it comes to foreign policy. This was a man who promoted a Muslim ban.ā€

Whitmer, who is a co-chair of Bidenā€™s 2024 campaign, also said she wasnā€™t sure what to expect when it came to the protest vote.

Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat who is the only Palestinian-American serving in Congress, urged Democrats last week to vote ā€œuncommittedā€ in Michiganā€™s 27 February primary.

  • kava@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    i donā€™t know what trump would have done. neither do you. the guyā€™s a bit of a wild card. for example look at russia heā€™s totally down to just drop the ukraine war. meanwhile biden supports prolonging it however long is necessary

    iā€™m not defending trump iā€™m just saying if i were a muslim and especially if i were a Palestinian i would never vote for biden. itā€™s unforgivable. i support the muslims in michigan. if the democrats want votes, they need to push policies that the people actually want

    they canā€™t just expect people to keep voting for them because of the eternal right-wing boogeyman. because itā€™s getting so bad people are actually starting to wonder if maybe the far-right proto fascist is better and thatā€™s a piss poor state of affairs for a democracy to be in

    • Syndic@feddit.de
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      9 months ago

      i donā€™t know what trump would have done. neither do you. the guyā€™s a bit of a wild card. for example look at russia heā€™s totally down to just drop the ukraine war. meanwhile biden supports prolonging it however long is necessary

      What are you talking about? Trump obviously wouldnā€™t support Ukraine. Itā€™s really no secret that heā€™s in Russiaā€™s pocket. His attitude towards Muslims also is something heā€™s very open about. Not to mention his love for strong-men wanna be dictators like Netanyahu is well known. To think that he would be better for Palestinians is ridiculous. So no, Iā€™m absolutely certain that Trump would have handled this situation much worse and will handle it worse if he gets into office while itā€™s still raging.

      they canā€™t just expect people to keep voting for them because of the eternal right-wing boogeyman. because itā€™s getting so bad people are actually starting to wonder if maybe the far-right proto fascist is better and thatā€™s a piss poor state of affairs for a democracy to be in

      Then these people are fucking stupid and donā€™t realise how much they have to loose living under fascism. Especially if their Muslims living in the US! The Israel Palestinian conflict is one thing, to loose democracy at home is something much worse.

      • kava@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        What are you talking about? Trump obviously wouldnā€™t support Ukraine

        thatā€™s what iā€™m saying. he would drop usā€™s support of the war, likely ending the war sooner. so heā€™s not necessarily a war monger. i donā€™t know for a fact he would support israelā€™s war in gaza. maybe he would, maybe he wouldnā€™t i donā€™t know.

        to loose democracy at home is something much worse.

        we have already lost democracy if we have no choice but to vote for someone. either way you donā€™t really have a choice. see what i mean? trump and biden are different pathways to the same end game. death of democracy

        • Syndic@feddit.de
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          9 months ago

          thatā€™s what iā€™m saying. he would drop usā€™s support of the war, likely ending the war sooner. so heā€™s not necessarily a war monger.

          Well yes, in a conflict where he gets orders from Putin to not help, he of course doesnā€™t go to war. But his general attitude to war really isnā€™t a secret. That dude nearly started a war with Iran in his first term for example.

          we have already lost democracy if we have no choice but to vote for someone. either way you donā€™t really have a choice. see what i mean? trump and biden are different pathways to the same end game. death of democracy

          No! One candidate has already tried to overthrow an election he lost, the other didnā€™t and has been very outspoken for his support of democracy. If thatā€™s really your take away from that then I really have no idea what you did in the last decade. You certainly didnā€™t payed attention to whatā€™s going on.

          • kava@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            in a conflict where he gets orders from Putin to not help, he of course doesnā€™t go to war

            itā€™s not because he gets orders from putin. itā€™s because he sees the writing on the wall that the war is over and heā€™s trying to get on the right side of history. the war will inevitably end with russia seizing territory. once that happens he can say ā€œi told you soā€ and seem like heā€™s a peacemaker.

            and he can say ā€œwhy are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars on ukraine when they are going to lose anyway?ā€ or ā€œwhy are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars while americans are struggling to make ends meetā€? or ā€œwhy are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars supporting a war that is actively raising inflation across the globe, hurting americans?ā€

            he doesnā€™t actually give a shit one way or the other - trump has no ideals or principles. but heā€™s betting that the public opinion against the war will sour soon. and if you look at the polls, thatā€™s what is happening. americans are slowly losing their appetite for the ukraine war (republicans at a faster rate, but weā€™re seeing democrats too get war fatigue)

            his anti-war stance is one of political opportunism. other politicians would do the same if they werenā€™t beholden to lockheed martin and friends. trump doesnā€™t give a shit about anyone and is willing to throw anyone under the bus and that works to his advantage

            That dude nearly started a war with Iran in his first term for example.

            the assassination of Soleimani was honestly criminal and stupid and basically ruined any chances for rapprochement with Iran and to top it off Trump killed the Iran nuclear deal. so yeah, i understand and agree with you here

            but compare and contrast that situation with whatā€™s going on right now. weā€™re 100x closer to war with Iran than we were under Trump. weā€™ve intercepted hundreds of missiles and missiles from iranian backed regimes. americans have already died from these attacks. we had to send two aircraft carriers to the middle east - something we didnā€™t even do during the invasion of Iraq

            No! One candidate has already tried to overthrow an election he lost, the other didnā€™t and has been very outspoken for his support of democracy. If thatā€™s really your take away from that then I really have no idea what you did in the last decade. You certainly didnā€™t payed attention to whatā€™s going on.

            iā€™m not denying that he tried to overthrow the election.

            but what is the difference to me if I canā€™t vote versus I can only vote for one guy? thereā€™s no functional difference. either way, i have no voice. in that case, maybe itā€™s better it be trump because itā€™s more honest. weā€™re becoming an oligarchic dictatorship regardless of who we elect

            • Syndic@feddit.de
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              9 months ago

              Not sure if youā€™re just so damn cynical or are knowingly are pushing Russian propaganda.

              But damn dude, Trump and quite a few top Republicans is balls deep into Russiaā€™s pockets. Thatā€™s the reason that they suddenly are actively taking Russiaā€™s point of view. Something that 20 years ago never would have been possible.

              And sorry, but if you think that the US becoming a full fledged theocratic oligarchic dictatorship than what it is right now then you really didnā€™t think through what that would mean to you and those you love. Their plans regarding abortion and pregnancy prevention alone should be more than enough to point you in the right direction.

              • kava@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                Iā€™ll admit I am pretty cynical but I have arrived at my positions with reason and lots of reading and analysis. Itā€™s not out of the blue and itā€™s not partisan. I donā€™t really care about neither Trump Biden or Russia. I was born in South America in the 90s and grew up in the US as an illegal immigrant and became legal under Trump (citizen now under Biden). I have a different experience of this country compared to you. I also have exposure to different language media that isnā€™t as heavily manipulated on certain topics and exposure to different geopolitical viewpoints.

                I think that Putin is a naturally ally for Trump because they are similar strongman leaders. But I do not think that Trump and Co. are beholden to Russia like you claim. Remember that Trump was willing to send weapons to Ukraine that Obama was not - out of fears of potentially angering Russia.

                It was Paul Manafort for example who was involved in Ukraine collecting and spending millions of dollars of taxpayer money in order to influence Ukrainian democracy away from Russia and towards the US. A Trump ally.

                Thereā€™s a lot more to this discussion I can share with you if youā€™re curious.

                As for your last part - I support abortion and think itā€™s absurd that we are going backwards in time and repealing something we figured out in 1974.

                But tell me honestly man - do you believe if Biden were to be elected (which at this point is becoming increasingly unlikely if you are watching the polls) - do you think he will manage to bring abortion back?

                • Syndic@feddit.de
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                  8 months ago

                  Well I donā€™t have your view on GOP/Putin and their relationship to Russia. I think itā€™s very obvious why after hacking both the Democrat and GOP mail servers only the Democrat one were leaked. There has to be quite some juicy stuff the Russian now hold over several major GOP players.

                  But tell me honestly man - do you believe if Biden were to be elected (which at this point is becoming increasingly unlikely if you are watching the polls) - do you think he will manage to bring abortion back?

                  Abortion still is around for a lot of states. So at the very least Iā€™m certain that Biden and hopefully a Democrat majority in the Senat will prevent it being banned in the whole country. I mean the Republicans really arenā€™t silent about their plans and that should be important to any sane person. If they get another Trump turn, it will get a lot worse for the US than it ever could under Biden.

                  • kava@lemmy.world
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                    8 months ago

                    I think itā€™s very obvious why after hacking both the Democrat and GOP mail servers only the Democrat one were leaked

                    because Russia wants Trump to win. That doesnā€™t mean Trump is a Russian agent or somehow in Putinā€™s pocket. It just means that Russia believes Trump at the helm of the US puts Russia in a better geopolitical situation. The logic probably being that Trump is chaotic and a more chaotic US is a weaker US - therefore better for Russia.

                    Again, how do you reconcile your views with the fact that Paul Manafort was intimately involved with the Ukrainian revolution that put a pro-western government in power? Or that Trump was more willing to send weapons to Ukraine than the Democratic president before him?

                    As for abortion, I donā€™t think Trump would initiate a country-wide ban either. That would be extremely unpopular and Trump seems to be trying recently to distance himself from these types of extremist bans.

                    on NBCā€™s Meet The Press, Trump was more circumspect on the topic, dinging Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for passing a six-week limit on abortion access. ā€œI think what he did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake,ā€ Trump said of his closest rival. ā€œI would sit down with both sides and Iā€™d negotiate something, and weā€™ll end up with peace on that issue for the first time in 52 years,ā€

                    ā€œI watch some of them without the exceptions, etc., etc.,ā€ he said, referring to conservatives who donā€™t support abortion exceptions in cases including abortion and rape. "I said: 'Other than certain parts of the country, you canā€™t ā€” youā€™re not going to win on this issue. But you will win on this issue when you come up with the right number of weeks. ā€œBecause Democrats donā€™t want to be radical on the issue; most of them, some do,ā€ he continued. "They donā€™t want to be radical on the issue. They donā€™t want to kill a baby in the seventh month or the ninth month or after birth.

                    I donā€™t think there will be any change in the abortion issue on the federal level in the next 4 years regardless of if Biden or Trump is in power.

                    I think obviously Trump set up the current state of affairs by nominating the 3 judges, therefore giving the Supreme Court to the conservatives. So heā€™s more responsible for the nationwide abortion bans than virtually any other person in this country.

                    Please understand I hate Trump. Iā€™ve hated him since 2016 when he said the famous ā€œmurderers, rapists, etcā€ line. I just equally hate Biden because heā€™s a hypocrite and in many issues he is not fundamentally different in a practical sense.

                    Why didnā€™t they push through an abortion bill in congress when the Dems had a majority? Why did Biden continue using Trumpā€™s COVID loopholes to deny people seeking asylum at the border? Why did Biden promise to make Saudi Arabia a pariah state for chopping up a journalist and instead of doing that, he signed billion dollar arms deals? Why did Biden hug Netanyahu right after they started dropping bombs on Palestinian civilians? Why did Biden continue Trumpā€™s policies of sanctions and import tariffs on China? Why did Biden promise to halt the ā€œWall tmā€ expansion and instead expanded it after doing a photo shoot at the border? Why did Biden pretend like Navalny is a hero when he literally organized and marched with neo-nazis in Moscow?

                    I can go on and on and on. At this point Iā€™m totally disillusioned with any establishment Democrat.