Okay -
Here's the thing -
Seven and a half million. A little bit more. 7,598,425, actually.
That was the difference between how many votes Biden received in 2020 versus how many Harris received in 2024.
(Trump picked up a little over two million votes - 2,170,878 - between the two elections. Still not enough to have beaten Biden in 2020.)
Seven and a half million more people chose Biden in 2020, but did not chose Harris in 2024. Seven and a half million people who saw the existential danger to democracy Donald Trump represented in 2020, but who no longer saw it in 2024.
Some had their right to vote illegally stripped from them.
But more probably could not bring themselves to vote for a woman.
Some probably couldn't bring themselves to vote for a person of color.
Some probably could not bring themselves to vote for a woman of color.
There's no accounting for assholes.
But there are others who got distracted by propaganda, and the misguided belief that somehow the VICE president is in charge of foreign and domestic policy - that the VICE president decides when we cut ties with oppressive regimes, that the VICE president is in charge of the border security, that the VICE president in is charge of the economy, of taxation, of trade policy.
The Vice president only has three jobs: break tie votes in the Senate, be up-to-date on decisions the current president has made, and to not die before that current president dies. Besides that the VICE president isn't in charge of jack shit, and anyone deciding to not vote for someone they agree with on so many issues because that person hasn't done anything about the issues the VICE president has no control over shows how woefully inadequate our high school civics classes are.
Because while foriegn and domestic policy, the economy, taxation, and trade are obviously vitally important, handling them wasn't her job. And she couldn't openly criticize and run against the current president's choices without alienating all the people in her own party who still support him.
Look - Harris was not my first choice to be president, but my first choice wasn't running this time. Nor was my second.
You know the Venn Diagram? It's is a great tool to decide who you actually have positions in common with before you kick a candidate to the curb, and I'm guessing many of the people who decided to not vote for Harris have a big overlap with her on quite a few basic issues.
Like having three independent branches of government, or not building concentration camps, or not having a national abortion ban, or not just being a Nazi.
Or not having a president who talks of being a dictator...
Unfortunately 7,598,425 people took for granted those and so many other issues, and refused to vote for someone who didn't do things that weren't in her power or job description.
I don't blame the Trump voters for his victory. They are in a cult, and it is very difficult to see out of a hole that deep. And I don't blame the Democrats. They could have run a better campaign, but they couldn't run against their own incumbant - even if they didn't agree with all of his policies. That should have been kinda obvious.
No - I blame the 7,598,425 people who voted for Biden, but not Harris. They should have known better. They should have understood that this election wasn't just a choice between the lesser of two evils, it was about what form of government we will have in the future.
It was about whether or not their children will be able to read what they want. Openly be who they are. Have control over their own bodies. Stay in this country. Organize. Protest. Breathe.
It was about whether or not, in the future, they will be able to vote.
It was about, you know - Dictatorship.
But 7,598,425 set all that aside.
Damn
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