The voters that thought we didnt address their concerns in any substantive way and the voters that could have cared less about their concerns and still use the fact that dump won to bash them. Pretty shitty is the answer.

They have agency.

They are (presumably) grown adults.

Given the choice between THIS and the one person that could have stopped all of this from ever happening, they made the decision that led to this.

They fucked up yet again and their idiotic short-sightedness has resulted in the world being much worse off.

I don't want to hear ANY excuses for them. There are none that can justify what they have allowed to happen.

Just like I'm not excusing the people who thought their concerns about the Gaza war were trivial and didn't address it. And if you want to talk about short sidedness then I wonder if the people that didn't let the Palestinians speak at the DNC regret that. What do you think?

... they're even fucking dumber than i thought.

I don't even think they would dare make the argument that innocent lives were worth sacrificing over a political convention so I don't know why you are trying to make it for them.

You are right though, they weren't thinking about innocent lives being lost in a war, not at all.

Or maybe you should rethink that.
They and me were making the argument that innocent lives being lost in a current war were worth standing up for and the DNC didn't want to platform them at all.

allowed Trump to take power, became complicit and part of the true roadblock to progress, did not meet the moment.

In an all-or-nothing pseudo morally pure world, nothing is fine. Fuck everyone else.

That's exactly how they felt THEY were being treated.

Like they were being told: fuck your friends and families dying and starving in Gaza, fuck your care for innocent people slaughtered, fuck your principled stand on international law, the dignity of all humans and their RIGHT TO LIFE. Right or wrong, that's the message they absorbed.

To get to this awareness, one needs to be able to stand in their shoes. I have not seen that happening with the FAFO crowd. I don't think I ever will.

"The war in Gaza is not a binary issue, but too often the conversation about it is. I wanted to acknowledge the complexity, nuance, and history of the region, but it seemed very few people had the appetite for that or the willingness to hold two tragic narratives in their mind at the same time, to grieve for human suffering both Israeli and Palestinian.

"The people at my rallies had every right to do what they were doing. I understood them, I understood why they were angry. ... The threat to withhold their vote got to me. It felt reckless. Either Trump or I would be elected. The issue was not binary, but the outcome of this election certainly was."

Binary all-or-nothing. But the nothing they got is what all Americans and the world got. Only thinking of yourself, breathtaking overconfidence only you are right, emotion over thinking. And believing the ridiculous cartoon villains that Democrats are made into.

The Jill Stein people were certainly just anti-Democrats but there were a lot of people that just felt let down. Ive been a Democrat since I was about 15 and voted for Democrats in every election I was able to, but even I felt let down. Here was what couldn't even be called a war, it was a slaughter that went on and on and on and the American Government supported it militarily, politically, and monetarily. Of course Biden made some moves to try to alleviate it but none of them really made a dent in the amount our Government supported it. I think Biden was a great president and I think Harris would have made a great one also but we are allowed to have criticisms of them and their campaign. On Gaza I think they did a bad job. People don't owe us their votes. Its up to us to win them and obviously people were upset enough about what was going on in Gaza, death on a large scale that was very one sided and what they felt was at best a tepid response from the Democratic party, that they were less motivated to vote for us. Some of those still voted for us, some didn't. I think that those that didn't were wrong, but I'm certainly not going to attack them for their actions that were based on something like that. Thousands of people dying for no reason. 2025 shows that US polling moved more in line with their thoughts, 2026 polling even more. The polling shows that this hurt us. Its not some made up thing. I could think that those attacking those who didn't vote were doing it because of binary reasons. That they werent anti war at all they were just more pro something else. That would be stupid. Maybe think more about how we failed them rather than how they failed us. Bashing them wont get their vote and if there is anyone I want to vote for us that didn't its the people who are against wars and senseless killing. Maybe thats just me though.
Eko.

I’m pissed at them too, but Jesus fucking Christ, people…

The ICE protest was a nice "faith based" crowd.

The genocide Joe crowd was busy protesting the Iran strikes with their ugly, angry signs.

They've infilitrated the local Democratic Party too. (We keep warning our party chair, but she doesn't listen..sigh)
They're also involved with No Kings and partner with Indivisible. The thing is NO ONE seems to remember them as the "Genocide Joe" crowd. But I sure do!

They crashed the DNC in 2024.

They had their own presidential candidate. But they also supported Jill Stein and Cornell West. Anyone but Kamala.

I read their stuff all the time and they obviously hate Trump and what he's doing. But they're the true blood, true believers that think you need to be with them 100% on all issues, and that Biden and Harris were hopelessly compromised corporate neoliberals that deserved their fate.

It's extremely frustrating to read them.

Is this your job or something?

Seriously, Mysterian, WTF is wrong with you? Gotta keep the hate going so people don't focus and unite on the real issues.

And fuck you for voting for him.

Obviously not directed at anyone on DU.

presidential candidates can distance themselves from genocide with simple moral clarity. That’s the lesson here.