Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib defeated her Republican opponent in Michigan's 12th congressional district election on Tuesday, securing a fourth term as the only Palestinian-American woman in the US Congress.
The Associated Press called the race with just 18 percent of the votes counted.
Tlaib secured 77 percent of the vote, defeating the Republican Party's James Hooper who received just 19 percent of the vote.
Her victory comes amid the backdrop of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians so far and has been diplomatically and militarily supported by the Biden-Harris administration for more than a year.
Tlaib has been a vocal critic of the war, calling for the US to withhold weapons from Israel. Her opposition to the war on Gaza and support for pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses have drawn harsh criticism from both Republicans and Democrats.
This makes me glad. I obviously wasn't hoping for much from this election to begin with, but I've been finding a lot of silver-linings since the news started coming in. Shout out to Nebraska ~~and Florida~~ for their cannabis legalization ballot measures.
Florida's cannabis legalization ballot measure failed...
And thanks in part to Michigan voters, we have a president who will fuck over Gaza even more. Great success.
The only hope Gaza ever had was the Axis of Resistance, no matter who won they were facing annihilation and forced displacement. North Gaza is the blueprint for the rest of the Strip. Only if Israel is defeated can Palestine be free.
And so the voter blaming begins.
Anybody who failed to vote Harris shares the blame, it's fairly obvious lol
For them to accept this they would have to value their principled fantasies less than the fascist reality they have enabled.
Watch an episode of DS9 maybe? Sisko is the literal embodiment of a person who is willing to make the tough choice that he personally finds unethical, but knows will be better for the world as a whole.
Like supporting genocide for a hegemonic empire? Again, that's Weyoun, even his rhetorics about "tough choice for greater good" is neraly the same as yours, Weyoun.
Enjoy your fascist dictator then
Why not blame Democrats for not meeting voters where they are?
I mean, I do? Trump massively outperformed Harris in swing states, so clearly Harris's campaign wasn't able to meet swing state voters where they are. Literally, these were the only people who matter in the US election under the current rules (sadly). Of course Harris swung right, and of course it didn't work well enough, but not doing it would have been worse...
I hate politics as much as the next person, but god damn. Recognize the game is what it is, play it as necessary, and then move the needle where you can. Sheesh.
Maybe the ossue was Democrats trying to appeal to Republican voters, who would rather vote for Republicans and get everything they want instead of only some of what they want.
In many elections, that would make sense. But in this election, there was a sizeable group of Nikki Haley Republicans up for grabs, who clearly didn't want to vote Trump if they could get an alternative. Is there a group of leftists who may have turned out in larger numbers if Harris had swung left? Yeah, maybe. But is that group anywhere near as large as the Haley Republicans, and are they present in swing states? No and no.
Clearly that failed, and will continue to fail. There is no sich thing as a never Trump Republican because he gives conservatives everything they want. Democrats will continue to lose until they vreak away from Regan style neoliberalism. They need to start offering actual solutions that benefit workers like universal healthcare, returns to pension plans, and housing reforms.
But how will they get that superPAC money then?
Short of putting boots on the ground or dropping a nuke there is no way to "fuck over Gaza even more."
The one thing I've learned from experience w/ Donald Trump is that he finds a way to make things worse.
That's a very broad statement that I can't argue with because I have no intention to defend Donald Trump. Wiith that in mind I imagine anything he does to Gaza is just in line with what Biden or Harris would have also done but probably dumber. They had over a year to make us believe otherwise.
So then the logic here is "vote for a candidate who is at least as bad for Gaza, but will also fuck up the rest of the world". Or "don't vote for the candidate who will be obviously less damaging for the rest of the world, even though my action won't help Gaza at all".
Even if you assume Harris would have been just as bad for Gaza... I mean it's patently clear that the only choice is to vote for the lesser of two evils and then raise hell that you need better policies from them.
Voting for a lesser evil is still being complicit in some degree of evil.
The collapse of America would be less damaging for the rest of the world than its continued existence.
The only potential silver lining is the end of the American Empire. They already pushed BRICS into dedollarisation, and another 4 years of Trump will hopefully cause the EU to finally go their own way too.
Then again, this was already going to happen anyway and I would've rather seen someone sane manage this decline instead of Trump.
Trump will accelerate so many collapsing elements of the empire. NATO is fucked lol