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.

  • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
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    3 days ago

    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!”

    • VoteNixon2016@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      3 days ago

      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.

      • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
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        3 days ago

        “Some of you may die, but that is a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”

        You ignored every point I made btw.

        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.

        It’s not about his personal political influence, it’s about the precedent it would set.

        • VoteNixon2016@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          3 days ago

          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.

          • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
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            3 days ago

            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.

            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.

            • VoteNixon2016@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              3 days ago

              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.

              • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
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                3 days ago

                Still not acknowledging any of my arguments. You have no answer, whatsoever, to the fact that you’re creating a political reality where the Democrats will have every incentive to sell out trans people. Blah blah, “holier than thou attitude,” has nothing whatsoever to do with my actual arguments, you just pull that out because you have nothing else.

                All you can do is go back to your thought-terminating cliches and tribalistic loyalty, loyal to the fucking politicians who fuck us over rather than to marginalized people.

                Claiming that you’re “doing everything you can to protect and support your community” well supporting a transphobe and allowing the Democrats to sell us out is completely laughable.

                There’s an enemy battleline, and they say, “give us everyone with brown hair and we’ll go easy on you” and your commander says, “hmm, you know what, maybe we should hand over everyone with brown hair,” then you fucking remove that commander. You don’t say, “well, we need everyone we can get,” while handing over your own allies, who are actually valuable, just to appease that shithead, who isn’t.

                Hang together or hang separately. End of story. No negotiation, nothing to discuss. You want to betray marginalized people, go right ahead. I’ll be cheering when Turek eats shit.

                  • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
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                    3 days ago

                    Sorry, guess you missed the comment where I replied to the bolded quote you were so proud of.

                    Sorry, guess you missed the comment where I refuted that and explained how it will spread if it’s never resisted.

                    I’m glad you’ll be able to stand there smug and self-satisfied while the Republicans hang us together.

                    And I hope you’ll be satisfied while the ruling class hangs us separately. At least if we stand together, we’d have a fighting chance. Your “strategy” of selling out makes defeat 100% inevitable.