"Despite these polls and the passions raised by the war with Hamas, it is easy to exaggerate the power of Gaza as a motivating issue for voters eight months from no-win November. History suggests that foreign policy issues end up as a minor motif in presidential politics unless American soldiers are dying in combat as they were in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2004.”

  • Rapidcreek@lemmy.worldOP
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    8 months ago

    If liberals in big enough numbers cost Biden the presidency, imagine their shock when they discover trump is way way worse than Joe ever was on issues in the Middle East they care about. These people remind me of the handful of “Democrats” I know personally that refused to vote for Hillary because they just knew she’d be no different than trump. 3 SCOTUS radicals, an attempted Coup later and Roe v Wade now overturned, I wonder if they are happy with their decision?

    • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      The Israel issue is a moot point when both candidates support Israel. The only difference is that Trump has been clear about wanting the complete annihilation of Palestine. To make this a federal election issue is idiotic. And for any democrat to stay home and not vote Biden because of this, you may as well put on a red hat and vote Trump, cause that’s what you’ll get.

      This issue is one that needs to be dealt with at other levels and has nothing to do with the federal election. It’s crazy to me that Americans are turning dead Palestinians into an election issue, while American children die constantly in shootings through the u.s, and that for some reason is not an issue at all for these people

      • WarmSoda@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        Completely agree. All this talk of it being an election issue is a huge waste of time and effort. He is still the lesser of two evils on the subject.

        If this was a normal election year it’d be a different story, but it’s not a normal election year. People seem to want to think like debating even matters.

    • EvilBit@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      My only counterpoint is that humans are really, really bad at regret and accountability. “I really made a mistake not voting for Hillary and I should learn from that mistake” is not nearly as likely a thing for someone to tell themselves than “This is all Hillary’s/Trump’s/anyone else’s fault and I did the right thing.”

      • Melkath@fedia.io
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        8 months ago

        I could say the same thing for people who championed Hilary, and still champion Hilary and push her political ideals.

        Did any of them take accountability and say “that was really dumb of me. I should have listened to democrats who warned me. I am responsible for Trump.”

        Nope. You’re still here going “and I’ll fuckin’ do it again.”

        • CoggyMcFee@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          The difference is that I encounter people frequently here who talk like they learned nothing about why you often have to vote for the lesser evil, whereas basically the only time I hear anything about championing Hillary, it’s by people like you positing this hypothetical person that you attack.

      • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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        8 months ago

        All these people are jamming their heads in the sand like voters are rational beings who would never sour on a candidate because of one issue and then reinforce it with other things they’re angry about. As if 2016 just didn’t happen. Don’t worry, this time the discontented will all become perfectly rational beings objectively choosing the lesser-evil-that-can-win.

    • Feathercrown@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Yeah, if Trump wins (God forbid) then Gaza is going to be wiped out entirely. If someone really cared about Palestinian livelihoods then they’d ignore any bad faith both-sides moral arguments and just pick the choice that will help Palestine the most.

    • Melkath@fedia.io
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      8 months ago

      “Hur dur. Vote for bad man. Hur dur. Bad man is better than worse man. Hur dur.”