As the title states I am confused on this matter. The way I see it, the USA has a two party system and in the next few weeks they’re either going to have Trump or Harris as president, come inauguration day. With this in mind doesn’t it make sense to vote for the person least likely to escalate the situation even more.

Giving your vote to an independent or worse not voting at all, just gives more of a chance for Trump to win the election and then who knows what crazy stuff he will allow, or encourage, Israel to get away with.

I really don’t get the logic. As sure nobody wants to vote for a party allowing these heinous crimes to be committed, but given you’re getting one of them shouldn’t you be voting for the one that will be the least horrible of the two.

Please don’t come at me with pro-Israeli rhetoric as this isn’t the post for that, I’m asking about why people would make such choices and I’m not up for debate on the Middle East, on this post, you can DM me for that.

Edit: Bedtime here now so will respond to incoming comments in the morning, love starting the day with an inbox full 😊.

  • MoonMelon@lemmy.ml
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    11 minutes ago

    It’s the Trolley Problem. Many people finding themselves in that problem would say, “Of course I flip the switch, one person is less than five people”.

    But if you take a step back it’s reasonable to ask, “WHY did I suddenly find myself in this Trolley Problem? Trolleys don’t spring into existence fully formed like Athena springing from Zeus’ forehead. They are designed and built, piece by piece. The switch was setup by the agency of someone. People were kidnapped and tied down by force. I was placed here on purpose.”

    So given that realization it’s also reasonable when told you must choose to say, “Why? You designed this system. You tied the people down. You could have done it differently and instead deliberately did THIS. I had nothing to do with it and I refuse the premise that I must participate in your fucked up game. No matter what happens the blood is on your hands and I refuse to share in your guilt.”

    That’s the essential argument. There’s the realpolitik decision to do “less harm”, but you can also reject the fucked up premise.

  • rekabis@lemmy.ca
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    26 minutes ago

    I am both anti-Israel and anti-Hamas. Both have gone full evil.

    I am pro unarmed civilian.

    And yes, invasive settlers are frequently “armed” with machines of destruction like dozers. If only they could be satisfied with what they have already stolen…

  • mlg@lemmy.world
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    2 hours ago

    They already lived through 4 years of Trump and have decided it is worth doing it again instead of letting the party most currently responsible for said genocide to win.

    Point being that Harris has outright refused to meet any sort of demands on Israel. There was no reduction in arms nor any restrictions placed on Israel, and Harris fully intends to continue that policy.

    If she loses, it means that she failed to meet her constituents demands, which means they’d have to actually meet them in the next election to win.

    Also because I have a hard time seeing how anyone who lost entire family trees would listen to “uM AkShuLly TrUmP woUld bE 9999x WorSe, wE jUst NeEd tO ProTest aFTER tHe ELeCTion” as if we didn’t just full send billions of dollars in munitions and weapons to Israel.

  • juliebean@lemm.ee
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    2 hours ago

    it’s like people forget that trump was already president before. the Israel/Palestine conflict is not new. i’m pretty sure every US president since Israel was founded has supported Israel in every form the conflict has taken. there’s more gas on the fire now, but it’s not like trump wasn’t stoking the flames when he was president last time, and it’s weird to think he wouldn’t actually contine the bipartisan US policy of providing material aid to Israel, regardless of what fucked up shit they do.

    both candidates will support genocide, so at that point you can either not vote, and just let the chips fall where they may, vote for a third party candidate who won’t support genocide (because they won’t get elected), or choose between the two genocidal options based on other factors, and try and minimize the damage in other arenas.

  • Aceticon@lemmy.world
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    2 hours ago

    Three points:

    • Biden and Harris are right now with their actions physically supporting the Genocide. Trump talks about supporting the Genocide even more. Well, guess what: Trump lies shamelessly (as the Democrat propaganda here doesn’t stop reminding us of in everything but, “strangely”, not this subject) and isn’t even competent when it comes to actual execution. So on one side we have an absolute certainty that the candidate supports the Genocide and on the other one we have a probability that its so based on the statements of a known liar. I would say the claims that Trump is worse on this are doing a lot of relying on Trump’s word (on this subject alone) in order to elevate his evilness of this above that of people who are actually, right now, shamelessly and unwaveringly supporting the Genocide with actual actions.
    • If the Leadership of Democrat Party manages to whilst refusing to walk back on their active support of a Genocide, win the election with a “otherwise it’s Trump” strategy, they will move even further to the Right because that confirms to them that they can do whatever they want and still keep in power. Now, keep in mind that the Democract Party leadership already supports Fascism (ethno-Fascism, even, which is the same kind as the Nazis practiced), so far only abroad (whilst Trump does support Fascism at home) so there isn’t much more to the Right of that before Fascism at home. You see, for a Leftie voting Democrat now will probably be the least bad option in the short term, but it’s very likely to be the worst option in the long term because it consolidates and even accelerates the move of the Democrat Party to the Right.
    • Some people simply put their moral principles above “yeah but” excuses and won’t vote for people supporting the mass murder of children.

    In summary:

    • Trump’s Genocide support is a probability based on his word, willingness and ability to fulfill it (i.e. his competence at doing it), whilst Harris’ is an actual proven fact with actions happening right now.
    • A vote for the Democrats whilst their policies are so far to the Right that they’re supporting modern Nazis with the very weapons they use to mass murder civilians of the “wrong” ethnicity, if it leads to a Harris victory will consolidate this de facto Far-Right status of the party and maintain momentum in going Rightwards. Voting like that is, IMHO, a Strategically stupid choice even if the case can be made (and that’s the entirety of what the Democrat propaganda here does) that Tactically it’s the least bad choice.
    • Some people can’t just swallow their moral principles, especially for making a choice which isn’t even a “choose a good thing” but actually a “choose a lesser evil”, and “Thou shall not mass murder thousands of babies” is pretty strong as moral principles go.
  • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    4 hours ago

    Giving your vote to an independent or worse not voting at all, just gives more of a chance for Trump to win the election

    If you don’t live in one of the 7 states that matter in an election then you can vote your morality, safe in the knowledge that the EC will ignore your input, anyway

    Inb4 some dipshit mentions down ballots when we’re talking about the fucking presidential election

  • NutWrench@lemmy.ml
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    5 hours ago

    The U.S. also has a huge defense industry that has made people ridiculously rich at the expense of U.S. taxpayers. Those billionaires are heavily invested in the defense industry, so it’s not in their interests that wars end at all.

    This is that “military-industrial complex” that former President Eisenhower warned us about so many years ago. His concern was that the U.S. would become bogged down in an endless series of “forever wars” that do nothing but transfer wealth to the already-wealthy.

    Keeping that military industrial complex well-fed is the reason why so many politicians have such a boner for war. Not only to keep their wealthy sponsors happy, but to keep tax money and jobs flowing to their states, which just happen to manufacture war materiel.

  • reddit_sux@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    Single issue voters just seem to be the excuse of Democrat party for if they lose.

    Just like election fraud is of the Republican party.

  • CaptainBasculin@lemmy.ml
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    6 hours ago

    Both candidates will support Israel, so for pro palestine voters it’s a “Would you like to vote for the Shitty Party, or Less Shitty Party” situation, where not voting from these parties is shunned upon because it will help Shitty Party win.

  • nooneescapesthelaw@mander.xyz
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    10 hours ago

    What has the current administration actually stopped Israel from doing? Every line in the sand has been crossed and there have been no consequences, trump won’t be worse for Palestine than Kamala

  • HomerianSymphony@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    doesn’t it make sense to vote for the person least likely to escalate the situation even more.

    And what if they seem equally likely to escalate the situation?

    Trump says he’ll let Israel finish the job. Kamala says she disapproves of what’s happening in Gaza, but will always support Israel and will always provide them with weapons.

    Same fuckin’ thing.

    • Mike1576218@lemmy.ml
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      6 hours ago

      Then maybe there is other stuff you care about?

      You’re getting one of them. There is no third option.

      If you don’ care about the other topics at all, then don’t vote.

          • macabrett[they/them]@lemmy.ml
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            3 hours ago

            It’s so real that its on my ballot. There’s even a fourth and fifth option. And a write in option with an infinite number of possibilities.

            • Mike1576218@lemmy.ml
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              2 hours ago

              Hypothetical then.

              You can vote for whoever you want. But you will get one of the two.

              Voting for someone else is basically the same as not voting. Sure you make a point, but the result will be the same.

              Like I said, if there is nothing else you care about, vote for Pedro or whatever.

              • GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca
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                53 minutes ago

                I don’t think it even makes a point, but it will salve their conscience, allowing them to firmly believe they stood against genocide while actually doing nothing more than this token gesture that at best has no impact on anything.

      • Kbobabob@lemmy.world
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        5 hours ago

        I never understood the intense laser focus some people put on one policy. There’s so many to care about if you’re American. People are dying from homelessness, starvation, guns, and mental health every single day but the only thing you care about is overseas? That’s not even mentioning things like a woman’s right to dictate what happens to their own body.

        • krolden@lemmy.ml
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          4 hours ago

          Those homeless could have homes if the billions of dollars stopped going to propping up genocidal regimes and the military industrial complex