this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2025
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Ye Power Trippin' Bastards
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I don't do bluesky, but I absolutely agree dems are right of center. The difference though is like saying "Drive east for 2 hours" and "drive east for 5 hours, catch a plane for a 4 hour flight, then drive another 2 hours".
Both terrible. One option is drastically worse though. There is a massive difference in policy (for the record, inclusive of the safety of trans folks) between the two, and it absolutely matters in FPTP elections. Unfortunately genocide isn't a major differentiator... Which is why we need to get away from FPTP, which is how we've gotten Mamdani on the ticket, NYC mayoral race is ranked choice. This is completely atypical unfortunately.
You don't have this problem in Australia, thankfully.
Also, there is zero equivalence in the images as shared. So I will continue to call out "blue maga" for what it is. Nonsense.
I'm not a member of those oppressed groups in the US that are aggrieved so I simply cannot put it eloquently. I really do implore you to go and read their stories. If not on Bluesky, there are other spaces. From where I'm standing though, it's pretty clear they aren't doing anywhere near enough to fight back against the complete destruction of institutions and the violation of the rights of millions of people and citizens.
My friend I mentioned is one of them.
She just moved this past winter, after more than 10 years of where she was. It was a purple city, she mostly felt that people accepted her or just ignored her if they didn't. When Trump became president in 2016, she felt uncomfortable as the ones who didn't accept her became more outspoken.
Those same people have become far worse, by February she told me she felt afraid at night. Terrified of walking alone, terrified of living alone, as the people who once ignored her started making absolutely awful comments. She became afraid that she would be beaten or worse.
She has since moved to a blue state in a blue city.
We agree, they aren't doing enough. The part I don't think you're understanding is that "not enough" is better than "beaten and maybe dead". With FPTP, we get two choices - shitty or horrifying. Suggesting that someone shouldn't vote for shitty because they could be better, and letting the outright horrifying come into power, that is completely unacceptable.
So you fight for better before the general elections. You work to see RCV (or other options, RCV just has the most behind it right now) provide better opportunity, or to get someone better in a primary.
Once its election time, though, you pick from the options you have. Protest voting in a risky town/district/county/state is may just make that horrifying person you do not want in get the win - its literally risking lives. We're seeing that right now with how the Trump admin, and the emboldened bigots, behave.
So, please understand that people who say "vote blue no matter who" are not saying "We can't do better!", but instead "We don't want people killed or put into concentration camps".
Just so you know, I chatted with my friend last night, and her direct response was - again - "They suck but they aren't trying to kill me, you know?". Personally, I'd rather her have a story to tell than to be disappeared or killed. She agrees, which is why she has worked with campaigns before and will continue to.
You can't make things better if you're dead.
I don't think most of the people talking about Blue MAGA think that they are currently in total control of the party the way that Trumpians are. I'd say it's closer to something like the Tea Party during the Obama years. It's the start of things, the pushing in the wrong direction, the cult of personality coalescing around people like Newsom, the abandonment of the fight for LGBTQ+ and especially trans rights. Heck, even things like doing absolutely nothing when they had the numbers to enshrine federal protections for Trans rights.
I think where the communication issue between you and I is coming from is you think I'm doing the "both sides are exactly the same" schtick. But what I'm talking about is other aspects. Yes, some policy stuff which is concerningly fascistic in nature, the march ever towards the right. But moreso the populism, the blind faith, and the lack of conviction for any meaningful message other than "we're not them".
I guess some of that has always been the case though. It's always been wild to me how party politics work in the US. The diehard nature of partisanship. Over here, no one outside of party members themselves has so much faith in any one party. Even the fact you have to declare voting intentions when you register is absolutely insane to me, it feels like such a massive violation of the secret ballot. But I guess that's what happens when you can vote third-party and still pick "the lesser of two evils" at the same time.
The problem is, the nonsensical "blue maga" is creating a false equivalence, railing against people saying "Vote Blue No Matter Who" does, in fact, push the "both sides" narrative. I get that you aren't intending it that way, but that is absolutely what people will read out of it, its what people do read out of it. There are magas picking up on it and reading it as "So clearly its fine for us, they do it too!"
So forget the politics itself for a second and look at the difference between what I posted and what you posted (even include what Diva posted). There is a drastic difference between the cult around Trump - people literally wrapping their cars, homes, even themselves in "TRUMP!" - and "Here are some stickers and shirts with no name on them" or even "Here's a random banner with Newsom's name on it, but explicitly making a reference to upset Trump".
These are nowhere near the same thing. Even this:
I would say is wrong. I don't think you're seeing a cult of personality around him, more accurate would be people rallying behind Newsom because he is doing more than others to directly work against Trump and the fascist administration. He sure as hell isn't anyone I'd want running the country either, but when it comes down to it...
"We're not them" is unfortunately still too important. Not losing to fascists is far too important.
I think what you're seeing as a cult of personality around Newsom is a view skewed by media presentation (inclusive of here on Lemmy). My friend, for example, still uses instagram and all the other corpo nonsense out there - an entirely separate discussion - and will regularly share his posts and memes. I can tell you exactly what she'd say about him too, "He's a complete twat waffle". So why does she share it, why does she say "Vote Blue"?
Its directly related to this. She has such little faith in the Democrats, and so do I, about so many things. What we are sure of though is that any Republican win goes toward a speed run in the wrong direction.
A complete lack of proportional representation, FPTP rather than score/rcv/whatever, this is the core problem. Without this being resolved, strategic voting is key.
Undermining it with something that broadcasts as "Look they are the same!!" is just disincentivizing progressive voters, creating apathy, and effectively pushing for a Republican win. Lets be clear here - there is zero opportunity for a new party to spring up for the next general election or even midterms and have any degree of success. Even getting on a ballot as a third party can be a nightmare, even worse to get recognized as one, state-dependent.
It would be great if that were an option here.
It isn't (yet). And if republicans stay in power, it likely won't be ever - just look at how Trump was pushing for redistricting to gerrymander their way to additional control.
So when I see "bluemaga", yeah, it pisses me off. In no way, shape, or form is "Vote Blue No Matter Who" remotely close to the cult that is maga, and there are reasons why people say to vote blue. For people I care about, its about survival. Still hardship that they do not deserve and should never have experienced in the first place, but they will survive to fight for better.
To me, that is far too important.