It’s not too soon to be thinking about this, criticizing candidates, and writing candidates off. In fact, better to start thinking about it now
Replies
I respectfully disagree; it is possible to put the proverbial cart before the horse. Right now, at least through January 2027, what is needed is for everyone who opposes the ongoing fascist autogolpe to band together and resist. We have a war to win before we can look to the future.
aug 22, 2025, 3:30 am • 2 0 • view
tell that to the liberals actively punching left, not the leftists espousing opinions online
aug 22, 2025, 9:52 am • 2 0 • view
None of the accounts I follow (thus the feed I see on bsky) are punching left right now. during the 2024 election? very different story. right now everyone I follow is laser focused on the ongoing occupation US cities by the US military and the impending expansion of those efforts
aug 22, 2025, 2:36 pm • 1 0 • view
Why do we have to "band together" with a guy who's willing to throw some of us under the bus? Shouldn't he have to do the work to band together with us by accepting, defending and advocating for everyone? It's not a one way street.
aug 27, 2025, 9:10 am • 0 0 • view
Newsom doesn’t oppose their actual goals when it comes to me!!! Newsom wouldn’t care if my rights are taken away and my life ruined.
aug 27, 2025, 11:01 am • 0 0 • view
"Band together and resist" Bro, either stop using empty platitudes or start defining what exactly you're saying.
aug 27, 2025, 9:10 am • 0 0 • view
Would this war be against people like Charlie Kirk? Because if so, I’ve got some real bad news about Gavin Newsom
aug 22, 2025, 3:53 am • 8 0 • view
no, it would be against the federal government and various state governments. we are approaching a situation where states will either allow the federal gov to violate their sovereignty... or they won't. and if they won't then a lot of people are going to die.
aug 22, 2025, 4:21 am • 0 0 • view
So you support Newsom because you believe in states’ rights? How delightfully fucking apt
aug 22, 2025, 11:53 am • 2 0 • view
I don't support Newsom, I support Newsom's efforts to fight back against Trump. Hope that helps bsky.app/profile/free...
aug 22, 2025, 2:52 pm • 1 0 • view
Marks, suckers and collaborators never help. Hey, remember the Epstein files? Your fellow Newsom fans don’t. They’re too busy wishing for a liberal Trump they can call their own
aug 22, 2025, 2:56 pm • 1 0 • view
You can wise up and face reality. Alternatively, you can keep acting like it's opposite day and pretending trans existence is inimical to resistance. In that case, you can burn with us
aug 22, 2025, 4:25 am • 20 1 • view
bsky.app/profile/kern...
aug 22, 2025, 5:13 am • 0 0 • view
Yeah, immediate concerns like protecting trans people.
aug 22, 2025, 12:25 pm • 7 0 • view
no immediate concerns like soldiers on the streets of US cities and concentration camps being setup across the country
aug 22, 2025, 2:55 pm • 1 0 • view
Why does it matter if concentration camps are being set up and soldiers are on the streets if you don’t care about the people they harm? That really speaks to the problem a lot of libs have, they hate the aesthetics of fascists but they don’t mind their goals
aug 22, 2025, 5:00 pm • 12 0 • view
because if there are soldiers placing political opponents, minorities and any other 'problematic people' in concentration camps it becomes literally impossible to participate in the democratic process and advocate for changes that protect marginalized communities such as LGBQ+ people.
aug 22, 2025, 5:13 pm • 1 0 • view
Ah so it’s pure craven self preservation then. You are happy to sacrifice other groups but first you want them to help make sure that you are safe from harm. If saving your ideal world means sacrificing trans folk and the unhoused then I’d rather we all fall
aug 22, 2025, 5:17 pm • 9 0 • view
If you don't see the point in fighting against regression I don't know what to tell you
aug 22, 2025, 5:30 pm • 0 0 • view
You're not fighting it, your capitulating to it.
aug 22, 2025, 10:52 pm • 3 0 • view
If winning means sacrificing the people the fascists want to harm then what’s the point of trying to defeat the fascists? That just sounds like wanting polite fascism that can be easily ignored
aug 22, 2025, 5:34 pm • 5 0 • view
Evergreen post. It's never too early to tell candidates they're the worst and that we hate them.
aug 22, 2025, 3:40 am • 6 1 • view
But Dark Woke!
aug 22, 2025, 3:26 am • 0 0 • view
PFT is 100% correct. No notes. Legend.
aug 23, 2025, 6:41 pm • 0 0 • view
I'm very down to put part of the blame on Paul F Tompkins personally for helping us slide further into fascism with this "good as the enemy of perfect!" Bullshit. Absolutely no better than the Democratic party as a whole.
aug 23, 2025, 8:33 pm • 0 0 • view
Thank you for devoting most of your 9 posts to me
aug 24, 2025, 5:25 am • 10 0 • view
A candidate who advocates FOR marginalized members of our society and proposes blocking arms sales to Israel but who is also a billionaire is a great example of an “imperfect candidate” rather than a bad one
aug 22, 2025, 3:28 am • 1,191 68 • view
as a pisspig, I am here for this political arc 🙏
aug 23, 2025, 3:50 pm • 0 0 • view
Very glad to hear re the blocking arms sales. Was a resident of Chicago/Illinois and have really been impressed over the years. His accent sounding like my uncles and childhood teachers is a real cherry on top for me—I’d support him hands down
aug 22, 2025, 4:05 pm • 1 0 • view
But how do we avoid another situation like '24 where Harris didn't have a solution for Gaza and people stayed home on election day? What do we do if Newsom is the nominee?
aug 22, 2025, 3:38 am • 1 0 • view
You just ignored the thread that explained how to avoid this problem and said "what if we ignore that solution and deliberately smash straight into the rocks on purpose."
aug 22, 2025, 3:45 am • 16 0 • view
Cool. I'll just pretend everyone will make the right choice during the primaries and then I won't have to consider more complicated situations. Got it.
aug 22, 2025, 4:11 am • 0 0 • view
Or, you could read the posts you replied to without reading.
aug 22, 2025, 4:12 am • 10 0 • view
Find ways to advocate for someone not as flawed as Newsome then, because otherwise it will just like they did with Harris. You aren't going to badger those people into voting. They already stayed home knowing Trump II could be the result. Why gamble again that millions will hold their nose?
aug 22, 2025, 4:57 am • 6 0 • view
Because there are a lot of voters that like Newsom because most voters are low information voters. Because Bernie are Zohran are unelectable in a national election. America is not progressive enough to swing from Trump to a social Democrat.
aug 22, 2025, 11:43 am • 0 0 • view
Wow, sounds like you should be trying to do some outreach and education for a decent candidate instead of pre-emptively whining about people not voting for a transphobic dude who hates unhoused people.
aug 23, 2025, 12:51 pm • 2 0 • view
No, I sound like somebody with several degrees in this field that's worked on campaigns and elections and doesn't live in an isolated Bluesky bubble of progressivism.
aug 23, 2025, 3:54 pm • 1 0 • view
Then you’re part of what got us here. Congrats.
aug 23, 2025, 8:18 pm • 1 0 • view
The data suggests that you're wrong about that. The 2% that didn't show up are what got us here.
aug 23, 2025, 9:10 pm • 0 0 • view
I don’t think you understand how statistics work. When you keep promoting right-wing candidates, left people aren’t going to vote for them.
aug 23, 2025, 10:20 pm • 2 0 • view
Just keep staying home then. Nothing I say is going to get you to crawl out of the bunker you’ve dug in for yourself.
aug 23, 2025, 10:55 pm • 0 0 • view
I'm here to tell you 3 years ahead of time that millions of people will stay home instead of voting for Newsom. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
aug 22, 2025, 2:08 pm • 4 0 • view
I think you're right. I also think that's a huge problem because *gestures wildly at everything happening right now*.
aug 22, 2025, 2:10 pm • 0 0 • view
Going to wait for the citation showing that a Bernie style candidate can't win a national election in the meantime. Bernie picked up more small dollar donations than any other candidate and is consistently one of the most liked politicians, while progressive policies always poll at 60% or higher.
aug 22, 2025, 3:07 pm • 1 0 • view
He lost the last two primaries. I don't see how there's any path to a general victory if you can't even win a primary. I say that as someone who voted for him in 2016 (and Warren in 2020).
aug 22, 2025, 5:12 pm • 0 0 • view
Please look up the shenanigans the DNC used (especially in California).
aug 23, 2025, 12:49 pm • 2 0 • view
Because the primary electorate doesn't represent the general electorate.
aug 22, 2025, 5:17 pm • 1 0 • view
There's not a lot of data points for this either way. Maybe the upcoming NYC mayoral election. I suspect Cuomo will perform proportionally in line with his primary numbers. But I could be wrong.
aug 22, 2025, 6:05 pm • 0 0 • view
How do you foresee your scenario happening if we do what Paul F. Thompson suggests
aug 22, 2025, 4:18 am • 0 0 • view
I foresee it as totally possible because 99% of (D) primary voters don't even use Bluesky and get there news from TV and traditional news sources and they will vote for Newson because they recognize his name. It's weird to pretend that won't happen.
aug 22, 2025, 11:31 am • 0 0 • view
Paul gets it.
aug 22, 2025, 4:03 am • 1 0 • view
Right?!
aug 22, 2025, 3:48 am • 0 0 • view
One candidate is a billionaire that wants to help the homeless and validate trans people. The other wants to ignite the homeless as fuel to burn trans people at the stake. I'd vote for the friendly Khan any day.
aug 22, 2025, 5:02 am • 7 0 • view
THE GREAT KHAN
aug 22, 2025, 3:31 am • 0 0 • view
More like Based F. Tompkins, amirite ladies? (I'm so sorry)
aug 27, 2025, 7:12 am • 0 0 • view
And here he is. bsky.app/profile/govp...
aug 22, 2025, 3:30 am • 63 2 • view
bsky.app/profile/pfto... That is in fact where this post chain started.
aug 22, 2025, 3:32 am • 51 0 • view
...at this point, it's kind of a post ouroboros. 🐍
aug 22, 2025, 5:17 am • 2 0 • view
Aahhhhhh
aug 22, 2025, 4:46 am • 9 0 • view
I’m extremely worried what ever stance JB eventually takes on Israel-Palestine will be unacceptable to to many and we end up with Newsom anyway.
aug 27, 2025, 7:14 am • 0 0 • view
As an Illinoisan, I held my nose while voting for Pritzker the first time, and then he won me over by being an earnest, action-driven governor. It's odd that there's even an argument here; judging someone based on their actual record should be the standard. Their messaging should never come first.
aug 26, 2025, 7:47 pm • 13 0 • view
Pritzker isn't my first choice, but I wouldn't have to hold my nose nearly as hard for him.
aug 22, 2025, 3:35 am • 8 0 • view
Dig a little deeper into Pritzker’s quiet charitable works. Money itself isn’t the evil; it’s what the wealthy do with it. Pritzker has a good track record.
aug 22, 2025, 5:11 am • 2 0 • view
Look let’s not kid ourselves that anyone who has amassed a billion dollars is untainted by that money
aug 25, 2025, 4:45 am • 26 0 • view
Money is the root of evil; i.e. it may not be inherently evil, but it also doesn't carry the potential for anything other than acquisitiveness, greed & dominance. Pritzker may be more benevolent & even empathetic than most billionaires, but his goal's still to maintain the inequitable status quo.
aug 27, 2025, 12:32 am • 0 0 • view
This is the best thing I've read today. I get so dispirited by how easily people are falling for his showmanship and how angrily they dismiss any critique of him, no matter how damning the receipts you show them.
aug 22, 2025, 3:41 am • 16 0 • view
Too many people in the Dem electorate have this allergy to the notion that we can and should strive for better.
aug 22, 2025, 3:41 am • 14 1 • view
I mean they're the same people who when Dems lose they get all doom and gloom instead of getting out and doing something
aug 22, 2025, 5:34 am • 1 0 • view
This is what I'm afraid of in the coming year, and that includes the US House and Senate. Because if they win back the majority and then start "reaching across the aisle" and behaving in other feckless ways, then WTF is even the point. I want to see them putting the hammer down on these people.
aug 22, 2025, 3:45 am • 8 0 • view
A willingness to sacrifice or scapegoat any faction of the coalition is an automatic disqualification, No Newsome, No Butejuge. In the meantime we need candidates everywhere for everything now to be making their cases to their voters. Run for something. Campaign for Congress to Impeach and Remove
aug 22, 2025, 3:00 pm • 1 0 • view
I respectfully disagree. If Democrats don’t take back the House or the Senate (hopefully both) next November, there likely won’t be any point in picking a nominee to run against these fascist pigs. Let’s win this battle in 2026, and then we can focus on the war for 2 years, leading up to 2028.
aug 22, 2025, 4:00 am • 0 0 • view
Literally what you have been saying for decades and the mentality that has allowed the Democrats to slide to the right. Y’all never, ever do the part 2, the *actually* fighting for marginalized people, because you have normalized abandoning them for lesser evilism bullshit.
aug 23, 2025, 12:59 pm • 5 0 • view
Nothing kills more movements than intolerance for imperfect allies.
aug 22, 2025, 3:30 am • 2 0 • view
Anyone who says Gavin Newsom isn't running for anything is either lying or has been in a coma since the 1988 Olympics.
aug 22, 2025, 3:27 am • 5 0 • view