It’s literally 2016 but worse somehow.

One source close to the Harris campaign tells Rolling Stone they reached out to several staffers in and around the campaign to voice concerns about the candidate embracing Dick and Liz Cheney.

“People don’t want to be in a coalition with the devil,” says the source, speaking about Dick Cheney. They say a Harris staffer responded that it was not the staff’s role to challenge the campaign’s decisions.

A Democratic strategist says they warned key Harris surrogates and top-level officials at the Democratic National Committee that campaigning with Liz Cheney — and making the campaign’s closing argument about how many Republicans were supporting Harris — was highly unlikely to motivate any new swing voters, and risked dissuading already-despondent, infrequent Democratic voters who had supported Biden in 2020. The strategist says they also attempted to have big donors and battleground state party chairs convey the same argument to the Harris campaign.

Another Democratic operative close to Harrisworld says they sent memos and data to Harris campaign staffers underscoring how, among other things, Republican voters, believe it or not, vote Republican — and that the data over the past year screamed that Democrats instead needed to reassure and energize the liberal base and Dem-leaning working class in battleground states. “We were told, basically, to get lost, no thank you,” says the operative.

  • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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    1 month ago

    It certainly played a part, but no; half the nation isn’t racist/sexist. A little over half the country voted. Of that, some portion of the people wanted Trump for non-sexist/racist reasons. They still might not be good reasons, just not that always. It’s way less than half of the nation who voted for Trump, and significantly fewer who did it for racist/sexist reasons.

    We have to deal with that issue in the US, and many others, but boiling it down to just that is wrong. It also pushes a narrative that we must not run people of color or women in the future, which I believe to be wrong.

    We need to inspire people. That’s where this campaign failed. It was almost entirely based on fear. This works much better for Republicans than Democrats. The Democrats thought they could win playing the Republican’s game. They should have played their own.

    • mjsaber@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 month ago

      We need to inspire people.

      This. Exactly this. Non-conservatives haven’t had anyone to vote for for years, only people to vote against. Biden was anyone other than Trump. They thought that would work for Kamala, but here we are.

      Related, when I tried to volunteer for the dems, all they wanted to do was have me make phone calls. I think in got an invite to knock doors like 2 days before the election. I tried to contact people several times to see how I could help energize the base or make sure people were registered and ready to vote. They kept asking me to make calls and send money. Now people like me are going to be directly hurt by these policies, the only question is how much.

    • UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml
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      1 month ago

      They should have played their own.

      I really don’t think “it’s her turn” 2.0 would have been a good idea.

    • pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online
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      1 month ago

      Of that, some portion of the people wanted Trump for non-sexist/racist reasons.

      They knew Trump’s sexist and racist policies and still voted for him. That means they support those racist and sexist policies.

      I won’t excuse people for voting for a tyrant who explicitly told everyone he’d be a tyrant.

      • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml
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        1 month ago

        Funnily enough the very same argument also can be used for Harris and genocide, immgirant oppression, warmongering and everything else here.

        • pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online
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          1 month ago

          No, it can’t. This isn’t an issue of policy disagreement. This is an issue on ideology. Harris isn’t a fascist tyrant who promised to destroy our democracy.

          • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml
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            1 month ago

            So your argument, while probably not very constructive as generalisation, fits perfectly for you, as you support those genocidal policies by voting for her. And so i won’t excuse you for voting for a genocider who explicitly told everyone she would continue.

            • pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online
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              1 month ago

              You do realize that there wasn’t a legitimate option that didn’t include continuing support for Israel, right?

              At least she supports a cease fire and supports an investigation into Israel so they have legal justification to override Congress’s aid to Israel (yes, they’re legally required to provide aid to Israel).

              There’s a huge gulf between, “this politician doesn’t do enough to support a cause I care about,” and, “this politician explicitly stated multiple times that he’s going to turn our country into a dictatorship and be exponentially worse for the cause I care about as well as stripping away rights from every marginalized group in the country.”

              But, anyways, I would have been complicit if Harris had won and did nothing to end the conflict, but at least with here there was a chance for Palestinians to still exist.

      • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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        1 month ago

        No it doesn’t. I voted for Harris despite wanting her to say she’d do more for Palestinians. Voting isn’t an endorsement, and people need to stop pretending it is. There’s perfectly valid reasons (that I don’t agree with) that aren’t racist/sexist that led to people voting for Trump.

        I’m not asking you to excuse anyone. They did what they did. It doesn’t deserve an excuse. I’m asking for people to recognize real issues that can be worked on, instead of just throwing our hands up and saying it wasn’t because of real mistakes. Blaming sexism and racism is a cop-out. It doesn’t fix anything and only blames the failure as a failure of others, not yourself.