Here. Right here is when it all went wrong.
https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/113296098233486301
I'll admit I did not know that the effect on Black turnout would be this bad. I knew it was bad, but I significantly underestimated how bad. I didn't pay attention to it. I didn't know that the backslide in support continued.
Another miscalculation I made: I was pretty sure that the majority of white women would vote for Trump, and that white women's turnout would be high, but I did not anticipate how high. They showed up.
@mekkaokereke from the other side of the sea: If this statement was enough for anybody to give up their vote and basically give support to a criminal, racist dipshit - that's plain stupid. Stupid.
@FrauZeitlos Oh, I actually understand it pretty well. Feeling that 'they all are the same {all bad}' is rather common here. It causes voter apathy, and voter turnout tends to be lower. The other side is usually driven some emotion instead of apathy, so they do vote.
Your fear about what might happen to you, expresses as anger to people who self-sacrificed. So you call them stupid. I don't agree with their act of sitting out, but their act was absolutely not "stupid," ableism aside.
It was an intentional, conscious act. Nihilistic? Yes. Suicidal? For some, quite literally, yes. But from their position, it was rational.
This isn't "Jill Stein voting" or privileged folk who won't be impacted. This was self-immolation while hugging their enemy.
And their decision wasn't based on "this statement" alone. It was based on *80 years* of waiting for the Dems to make better decisions and fulfill promises, that never happened.
They'd already given up on Biden. They were giving Harris a second chance. This statement and other actions destroyed their confidence that this time would be any different.
It's easy for us to see their act as unwise. Harder to see ignoring their needs or attempting to go after swing voters as unwise.