https://bsky.app/profile/erininthemorning.com/post/3mynwzsux7k2u
Josh Turek of Iowa, Democrat, comes out with one of the worst anti-trans ads yet.
Not only is it an anti-sports ad, it proposes a ban on federal funding for gender affirming care. That would hit all medicaid and medicare patients, and any ACA federally-subsidized plans as well.
Horrific.
Ok… So let’s play this out. What do you suppose happens if the Republicans get in and prevent a dem majority? You’re just going to pretend that is an ok situation and not demonstrably worse? Also, just want to add that your assertion that there is no worse than this is either deliberately exaggerated or unfortunately niave.
And what do you suppose happens when the Democrats see that when they adopt transphobic positions, people who support trans rights will still vote for them, and maybe they pick up a handful of transphobes? In that case, there is literally no downside in that situation (strategically speaking) to adopting transphobic positions all across the country. If on the other hand, people draw a red line on trans rights and stand by it, if every transphobic Dem eats shit, then there’s a clear strategic benefit to respecting that red line.
You are only considering the immediate effects, but the precedents that we set are far more important. If not getting a majority this time is the cost of stopping the party from shifting right on this, then the benefits outweigh the costs.
“Some of you may die, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make”
Lol, imagine saying that about me while defending the guy who wants to strip healthcare from trans people. Pot, meet kettle.
The Democrats are the ones sacrificing people, and they have the power not to, but they think they can advance their careers and make a little bit more profit by sacrificing us. By contrast, I’m standing by everyone and demanding that no one be sacrificed and left behind, and using what little voice or influence I have to that end.
You seem to have everything completely backwards. You need to be convincing me that I need to be more willing to sacrifice people, specifically, trans people, if you want me to support someone like Turek. Good luck with that one!
Or perhaps I misunderstood your comment? Were you using quote marks for emphasis, perhaps, while voicing your own position?
We must hang together, or we will each hang separately. An offense against one is an offense against all. Solidarity must not be broken, “For what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one? But the union makes us strong!”
I’ll be honest, I don’t know who you are or anything about you besides your username. So not sure what that was about.
Two more years of a Republican-controlled Congress doesn’t sound like “setting precedent” to me though, it sounds like sacrificing vulnerable groups in the hope that this’ll finally be the one to jump start your idea of a leftist revolution.
A freshman Senator with virtually no political capital isn’t going to determine party policy for the Democrats, but Project 2025 has made it abundantly clear what the Republican party policy is. They explicitly do want us to hang together.
“Some of you may die, but that is a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”
You ignored every point I made btw.
It’s not about his personal political influence, it’s about the precedent it would set.
Ah, yes, setting precedent for the Democrats, the party famous for learning from their defeats.
Turek winning would show that there’s no strategic downside to his politics in Iowa, or if I’m being really generous, in races to replace incumbent Republicans. The US isn’t a political or cultural monolith, campaign strategies vary from state to state, even in presidential elections. For example, Talarico’s Christian faith is a boon for his campaign in Texas, but if he wins, it doesn’t mean that every candidate across the nation is going to embrace Christianity.
There are no good Republican politicians; two more years of a Republican majority means two more years of unchecked efforts to erase trans people from existence. There are good Democratic politicians; Turek is not one of them. But if I can choose my enemies, I’d rather spend the next two years fighting against him and those like him in a Democrat-controlled Congress than fighting against whatever fresh hell the Republicans have planned for all of us.
Great point. And the only way they can really know for sure if it’ll work in other states is to test the waters there. And when they test the waters, you will completely capitulate for the exact same reason you want to capitulate here, and that’s when it’ll go from weak evidence that it works in other states, to strong evidence. So long as they never encounter any resistance, they’ll keep pushing, keep seeing it work, and it’ll keep spreading. It has to be nipped in the bud, above all else. If we wait, we won’t be able to stop it at all.
That’s how we got here in the first place. Because, they know they can fuck the left as hard and as frequently as they like, they know that they don’t have to give you anything at all, because you won’t ever stand up to them.
Obviously, words are useless in convincing people like you, because you fundamentally just don’t have a spine. You’ll happily sell out marginalized people because the Dems can just point to a boogeyman and you do whatever they tell you. The only real solution is to build solidarity between all marginalized people, which requires completely and unequivocally rejecting attempts to divide us with shitlib candidates like Turek. But you’ll never do that, because you are fundamentally a coward.
Oh, neat, we’re doing personal attacks now. And here I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.
Spend less time huffing theory with the rest of your echo chamber and realize that we live in the real world where our actions have real consequences for real people. You want to teach the Democrats a lesson by letting the Republicans stay in power, all so you can maintain your holier-than-thou attitude. It didn’t save a single life in 2024, it’s not going to save a single life in 2026. The Trevor Project saw huge spikes in people reaching out to their crisis hotlines immediately after the 2024 election and 2025 inauguration. That’s what happens when Republicans win. That’s what you’re saying you’re okay with.
We’re a week out from the election. Either the Republicans are going to win, or the Democrats are. The US electoral system is broken, so those are the options. No matter what the result is, I’m going to be doing everything I can to protect and support my community, and I hope you do the same.
There is no worse than this for trans individuals. If you start restricting access to care, people are going to die. It doesn’t matter if a Republican or a Democrat does it, if trans people are going to directly die as a result of policy why the fuck would they vote for that person? Fix your own shitty party that is willing to kill trans people for votes before demanding people vote for someone willing to kill them.