freshcow

Obviously to target those that are politically inconvenient to you. Or perhaps as a favor / quid pro quo for one of your rich buddies. Or maybe as revenge for pissing him off. You could pretty much guarantee these scenarios if Trump had this ability. And honestly he doesn't even need to care about any of it, he just needs some conservative think tank to give him a hit list.

If it were the same ratio it would be 70%. 35% is if the death count doubled with zero additional women or children killed.

Harris got a huge spike in popularity initially because she was NOT Biden. She then spent the remainder of her campaign explaining how she would be Biden exactly but less old, as well as trying to reach to the right. Her polling steadily trailed off as people realized it would be more of the same. If she had the courage to differentiate herself publicly in any way, (ESPECIALLY with respect to Gaza) we might be having a different conversation.

I think that's a great way to look at it. I'm hoping we can get some better leadership in the democratic party willing to listen to people and offer fresh ideas instead of taking the "if you don't vote for me then you're hitler" approach.
Leaning to the right didn't work for Harris. We need someone to energize the base by offering meaningful change.

Good analysis. You also should understand that Americans are HEAVILY propagandized, since most of our major media outlets are also captured by the same corporate interests that bribe our politicians. Critiques of capitalism are de facto not allowed, because that would be bad for business. (Not to mention the previous decades of cold war era "red scare" nonsense the older generations grew up with) As a result, many democrats don't know how to receive criticism from the left, and can't even conceive that there might be a different path besides "status quo" and "conservative hellscape".

Exactly the message I expect them to take away from this, if 2016 and 2020 are any indication. Zero introspection.

100% correct, dude's a huge narcissist

Pretty big assumption that "leftist" concessions would only appeal to self-identified leftists. Leftist policies happen to be massively popular. Ask any senior citizen if they want to give up their social security and medicare. Also, you'll notice that Harris had her biggest boost initially in polling when everyone was excited for the nominee to be NOT Biden. She has since continued to talk about how she's going to be Biden exactly, but less old, and her numbers have been steadily declining. It's clear that Biden's policies, (and not just his age) are important factors. People are eager for change - which almost always comes from challenging the status quo from the left.

Or: unironically blaming it on a democrat-controlled weather machine

Get his ass!

I think everyone who is being intellectually honest knows full well that Trump would be worse. The problem seems to be that the Democratic party has decided it can take the votes of the left wing of its party for granted. If the left is not willing to actually follow through and withhold their votes, then the Democrats know that they never have to appease them. It's really a lose-lose situation until the Harris campaign shows some moral courage or takes seriously the possibility of losing votes over this issue.

I'd prefer not to write an entire essay and nitpick points, but here's a decent article I found: https://www.axios.com/2023/11/04/us-israel-aid-military-funding-chart Key points I'm seeing:

• 80%+ of their weapons over the last 70 years come from the US
• we are funding about 15% of their total military budget
• 50 billion in annual trade between US and israel

More importantly, the US is the world hegemon, and is committed to protecting Israel. Do you think Iran would be so restrained against Israel if US retaliation wasn't guaranteed? The US moved an aircraft carrier into the region following Oct. 7th, do you find that irrelevant too? And to reiterate, the US provides diplomatic cover to Israel by vetoing (a power that Israel does not possess) any attempt by the international community to hold it accountable.