The last few days have been quite eye opening in how far liberals will go in refusing to acknowledge reality. Instead, there appears to be a rush to learn precisely all the wrong lesson from what happened in Gaza.
Let me recap what I am hearing:
“Some lefties (and some Arabs, Muslims, Palestinians) could not bring themselves to vote for Harris, and so they are responsible for Trump. Haha...FAFO!!”
Let me explain to you why this is unhinged
- First, Trump is bad on Gaza. Not one person who voted for Biden in 2020, and then was unable to vote for Harris in 2024 ever expected anything else. So, I don’t understand why you think that you need to point out to us that Trump is bad on Gaza. And just to be clear, I personally voted for Harris, and urged my friends to do the same… but I also know quite a few who did not, and I know what they are thinking.
- Second, Trump is bad on Gaza, but so far, his words have done far less damage than Biden’s bombs. That may change in the future, but it is true today… and it is also possible that it may remain true in the future. That is the chance which my leftie friends took. Is that irrational? Not really… under these circumstances, it is completely rational to hedge your bets the way lefties did. Do you understand how shameful that line is on a progressive blog? The 2020 version of me would have recoiled at the very thought of this line. Also, to be clear, my counter-argument to my leftie friends was that there was a chance that Harris would have been significantly better than both Biden and Trump on Gaza… but it was difficult to make that argument for her when she wasn't willing to make it herself.
- Third, it looks like the lesson that liberals are learning is that the “soft genocide” of Joe Biden was preferable to the “hard genocide” of Trump, and lefties (and Arabs/Palestinians/Muslims) are stupid for not recognizing that. Let us put aside the inconvenient reality that Biden’s soft genocide included bombs and Trumps hard genocide is just words so far. The lesson liberals should have learnt is that genocide (soft or hard) is wrong, and should be opposed in all forms… soft and hard.
And let me close by describing one painful lesson this particular leftie has learnt.
- In the aftermath of the Iraq war, I cheerfully forgave all those liberal leaders who had voted for the Iraq war resolution, and cheerfully accepted them as leaders. This includes John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden, our nominees in 2004, 2016 and 2020. That was stupid of us, and will not happen again…. at least not for me, and for quite a few of my friends. The lesson we should have learnt is that anyone who could have been so easily fooled as they were in 2002 is not to be trusted with leadership… at least not without a very strong explanation of what they learnt from that mistake. That lesson will apply, going forward.
- So the lesson liberals should be learning is that, going forward, it is impossible to win an election that requires a coalition of liberals and lefties… unless genocide is opposed in all forms.