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It is worth noting that’s only one survey by the Arab American Institute. I’m not saying they’re biased, per se, but if I’m going to make a tectonic shift in my platform I’m going to do it based on multiple corroborating lines of evidence. Most of the times I saw that claim being made on Lemmy, all linked sources inevitably pointed back to that single survey, which makes drawing a firm conclusion more challenging. I’m more inclined to believe she was wedged between diametrically opposed constituencies and Netanyahu knowingly put her and Biden in checkmate because he knew they’d have to pick a side, and then lose to Trump.

In any case, hindsight is 20/20 and we’ll never really get to test their theory. The AAI survey very well may have been correct, and the campaign misstep might go down as one of America’s historic blunders.

Aside from that, I just wanted to say that I remember you and I had a brief conversation in the Political Discussion community a few weeks back and you mentioned how much Trump and MAGA had affected your personal life. I just wanted to say I’m sorry you’re going through this again and wish you the best, for whatever it’s worth. Neither of us wanted another Trump presidency (and I’m not even American), and I hope the next 4 years are good to you.

Thank you. I have already started applying for remote jobs and making household preparations. Here’s hoping I’m just being irrational and everything will be fine.

I saw that data as well. I’m skeptical because the people clamoring for the pivot only ever wanted to talk about the votes she’d gain, but not the ones she’d lose by changing positions. Given the way a significant portion of the country shifted rapidly into defense mode after the pro-Palestine protests, and given how they recoiled en masse at the mere hint of antisemitism on University campuses, and given that Jewish swing state voters were already reeling about sanctions waivers for Iran, that pivot would most certainly have turned “reluctant Trump voters” into enthusiastic Trump voters, and likely pulled a few more undecideds across the fence. So in that case I find the “lobbying money” angle less salient than the voting bloc trade-offs that were probably flashing red lights for the campaign.

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No, the position of a sitting Congressperson is irrelevant to negotiations that are ongoing between the President and another country. The VP is literally the President’s surrogate, acting on his behalf and as a member of the National Security Council. That cannot be said about literally anyone else, at least as it pertains to foreign diplomacy. I’d even go so far as to state that the Secretary of State would have the same troubles articulating a vision distinct from the President under which (s)he’s actively serving.

That might be illegal

Which is what I said.

even if it did effect negotiations

Which is also what I said.

So…I guess…glad we agree?

Edit: In foreign relations, at the will and as the representative of the President, the Vice President may engage in activities ranging into the highest levels of diplomacy and negotiation and may do so anywhere in the world.

I love the world you guys have concocted in your heads where everything’s made up and the points don’t matter, so the VP can go rogue. This is a fascinating view into the civic literacy of the average American.

Horseshit. The VP is chosen by the Presidential candidate to serve on his ticket, and does not run independently and so is not directly elected. They are indirectly elected. They can’t be fired, but they also can’t just go their own way, consequences be damned, because they are an official “representative of the President” of the United States.

The duties of the Vice President, outside of those enumerated in the Constitution, are at the discretion of the current President.

By that logic any presidential candidat

Any Presidential candidate in the current administration. Why do y’all keep skipping over that part?

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The State Department could step in with Biden and order her to stop as a member of the administration and one of the President’s official foreign policy representatives.

I seriously wonder where y’all come up with the notion that the Vice President can simply tell the President of the United States to go fuck himself. Obviously none of you served in the military.

Edit: More knee-jerk insta-downvotes from givesomefucks. I’m constantly reminded not to even try.

In a way that could jeopardize ongoing negotiations? Very well might be. Or at a minimum could actively undermine arguments being made by the State Department so that they lose their leverage.

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I appreciate your response and understand your conundrum. It’s hard to make sense of this because his movement seems so abhorrent sometimes.

Consider for just a moment, though, that the downvotes are proving to you exactly the argument I’m trying to make. I’m squarely on the left and despise Trump, but for years the left has cared more about being “right” and punishing people who disagree in life and online, than about being open to diverse people and opinions.

I really hate to have to echo tired right-wing talking points, but the terminally online left is our single most toxic bloc, and they exert huge amounts of control over what topics and opinions are “allowable” online. You get hammered with downvotes and shouted out of the room any time you even try to consider another perspective, even if you do it politely. I can see how someone looking in from the outside would start to doubt our sincerity in arguing for diversity and tolerance. We’re an awfully intolerant lot, all things considered.

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Totally normal and well adjusted men refer to their dead wife as “former”. Totally.

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