Diligence Jones

Remember that weird ass Politico poll last week asking folks what they thought about just throwing Black folks' votes under a bus?

A piece of anecdata:

Political consultant: [sharing tea after our zoom ended] So I was in a meeting last week and I need help processing it.
Me: I'm here.

Her: DNC consultants are telling candidates to avoid talking about Black voters having their representation snatched away.
Me: Shut the fuck up.

Her: Yep. The Dems only want folks to talk about the price of gas and affordability.
Me: Those fuckers. They don't want to win ever again, do they?

Her: Nope. I pressed the consultant. Maybe that's a bad strategy, maybe that's not the way to go. And you know what he said?
Me: What?

Her: He said, Look at me. Look at my billables. I'm doing fine.
Me: ASSHOLES.

That's the party, y'all.
That's the Blue Wave that's supposed to save us.

That poll doesnt look so weird now. It looks like a fucking test balloon.

May 20 at 11:04pmWeb
Show threadDiligence Jones5d ago

I wonder how the Dems are connecting any of these dots:

Dot: Brown un-documentation
Dot: Trans un-documentation
Dot: Black disenfranchisement
Dot: Democracy (ie Dems) wins

Or Is the Dot something else?🤔

When one party quashes the possibility and practices of multiracial representative democracy, and the *other* party doesn't fight it, YOU NO LONGER HAVE A REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY.

Like, do white people think that once there is zero Black and brown participation and representation in American government that they're still living in a democracy?!?

Because that's what the DNC an 'dem are hoping you won't notice--as long as Dems win, right?!? Right?

Show threadDiligence Jones5d ago

This piece is a good one and it explains why the tea I shared is absolutely no surprise to practically any Black person raised in America. America, at its core, is an apartheid country. Its form of apartheid was ethnic cleansing and slavery, then Jim Crow, and now the New Jim Crow v3 (with AI✨️).

That is the true face of American national identity. The indigenous population was supposed to be killed off; Black folks were to be enslaved in perpetuity; and absolutely no one else was supposed to get in this mug.

Why anyone expects Democrats -- as a whole -- to NOT be steeped in colonizing bullshit behind closed doors is beyond me.

Y'all need to read some Howard Zinn. Gotdamn.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/19/republican-party-erase-black-representation-november-election

The Republican project isn’t to win in November. It’s to make November cease to matter

New electoral maps are erasing Black representations. The effort takes its cues from American history

The Guardian
Show threadDiligence Jones5d ago

I pick on the discourse of 'vote Blue no matter who' to do ONE thing:

Separate political theater from political reality.

*Elections are theater.* We are all engaging in something that will absolutely *not matter.* I would rather we choose to engage in this theater consciously. I know with absolute certainty that all the incredible 'progress' made by blue candidates will evaporate in November.

Why?
Because FORCE (hard power) will be used to make it so.
And the Dems have zero access to (or stomach for) an equalizing force of its own to ensure fair elections.

The political reality is not theater.

The political reality is that we have a bunch of fash in charge who have *told y'all* they intend to fuck the elections in the ass so they never leave office and the 'opposing' party that *should* be fighting it is NOT, instead, leaving it to ordinary people like unarmed civil rights attorneys, community activists, 8k Black sorority sisters, and ordinary volunteers sharing spreadsheets on federal shenanigans.

Show threadMay Likes Toronto5d ago

@DeliaChristina We saw this in Canada. The Liberal party (essentially our Democrats) under Trudeau won a landslide promising electoral reform. "This is the last election under first-past-the-post."

Surprise. Nothing happened.

Repeat with Carney, only he's a neoliberal banker to the extreme.

*Sigh*

Show threadincubus loudmouth 🏴5d ago
@DeliaChristina everytime, as a white guy living in small town utah, i check if its racism, its racism. every time i talk to my trans niece about my sister, its still MAGA. they truly will poison everything at the barbecue, just to make you sick.
Show threadTravis F W5d ago
@DeliaChristina a party reinventing politics itself would clean up
Show threadPaul_IPv65d ago

@DeliaChristina

the DNC couldn't connect the dots if they had to draw this on an etchasketch...

a number of years ago, i stopped voting for anyone willing to call themselves GOP.

i'm getting to the point where if they *don't* call themselves democratic socialists and progressive, i have trouble taking a democratic candidate seriously.

Show threadQuasit5d ago

@paul_ipv6 @DeliaChristina

I passed that point a long time ago. Now that the scales have fallen from my eyes, I see with incredible clarity that the Democrats and Republicans are both fascists, both servants of the cause of human extinction.

Every single goddamn one of them. Very specifically including Bernie, AOC, Ro Khanna, and the squad. They are ALL fascists. The so-called "progressives" just play "good cop" for TV to sucker the peasants.

We have to get rid of every politician from both parties, just as we have to get rid of every oligarch, CEO, and mainstream media scumbag. If we don't, they'll grow back like a tumor that wasn't properly excised!

Show threadBrian Gordon5d ago

@Quasit @paul_ipv6 @DeliaChristina

These people are not fascists. You may not believe it, but there are some good people in politics. Believing this just makes you prey for some pretending to be The One to overthrow it all and establish a utopia.

"Very specifically including Bernie, AOC, Ro Khanna, and the squad. They are ALL fascists."

Show threadQuasit5d ago

@elasticsoul @paul_ipv6 @DeliaChristina

"These people are not fascists. You may not believe it, but there are some good people in politics."

So what's your basis for that statement?

Mine is based on experience, observation, and long study.

Show threadBrian Gordon4d ago

@Quasit @paul_ipv6 @DeliaChristina

We can both see AOC’s and Sanders’ behaviour, and they are not fighting for the status quo, they are fighting for significant change. The corporate Dems block progress, but it’s not fair to label people who appear to fighting the good fight as traitors.

Show threadDiligence Jones4d ago

@elasticsoul @Quasit @paul_ipv6

I think AOC and Bernie (and Prayapal and the others) are approaching a point at which they will need to publicly acknowledge the truth of what is happening and step outside the theater they are currently participating in.

Until they do that, they get a rapidly hardening side eye from me, as do all the folks who stick their fingers in their ears and insist all we have to do is vote for Dems.

Show threadBrian Gordon3d ago

@DeliaChristina @Quasit @paul_ipv6

I agree with you that AOC and others at some point have to say that working within the system has failed…but that’s a huge thing to say because what’s the next step? I would say advocating for a national strike, and if that fails, revolution.

For me, actions after the November elections are key. If the Dems win control and don’t impeach and prosecute, then that’s it. Or if the Republicans ‘win.’

Show threadQuasit3d ago

@elasticsoul @DeliaChristina @paul_ipv6

Even if they somehow get rid of Trump (and I'm 100% sure that they •won't•), it was the Democrats themselves who played the key role in BRINGING Trump and fascism to America. Anything they say is certainly nothing more than gaslighting of the working class AT BEST.

The Democrats are the enemy, even more so than the Republicans. As long as they exist, the oligarchs, fascism, and capitalism will still have their boot on our necks.

Show threadBrian Gordon2d ago

@Quasit @DeliaChristina @paul_ipv6

I agree that corrupt elites (in this case the Democrats) enable the rise of the far right. It's happened in many other places.

What I object to is tarring well-meaning people with the same brush as the likes of Pelosi and Schumer.

Show threadQuasit2d ago

@elasticsoul @DeliaChristina @paul_ipv6

That's the difference. You think they're well-meaning. I think they're corrupt liars who are just sheepdogging progressives into the DNC corral–and making plenty of money in the process.

We'll see which one of us is right.

Show threadDiligence Jones2d ago

@elasticsoul @Quasit @paul_ipv6

God, 'national strike.' Gah.
If I hear that one more time, I'll puke.

To have a national strike here in the US you need a strong spine held together with class *and* racial solidarity. Not one. Both. The US is weak on both those lines.

You also need to be willing to suffer and inflict suffering (of the capital kind.) Americans cannot endure even the slightest inconvenience.

And then you need to have alternative infrastructure in place to help the strike last. Again, America ugh.

I am curious, though, to see if there's going to be a Black-out: a national call for a Black boycott (or strike). That would be interesting.

Show threadBrian Gordon2d ago

@DeliaChristina @Quasit @paul_ipv6

I didn't say it would happen, but that trying to make one happen would seem the next logical step for AOC and others if the Democrats fail to prosecute after the midterms.

"God, 'national strike.' Gah.
If I hear that one more time, I'll puke."

Show threadQuasit4d ago

@elasticsoul @paul_ipv6 @DeliaChristina

"...it’s not fair to label people who appear to fighting the good fight as traitors."

The key word is "appear". Doesn't it strike you as odd that they always "appear" to be fighting the good fight, and always LOSE?

Not they they ever work that hard to make a convincing appearance; just good enough to fool some voters. Each time the DNC cheated Bernie (and more importantly, Bernie's •voters•—who were the majority of primary voters), Bernie turned right around and did his best into sheepdogging us to vote for his good friend Hillary or his good pal Joe–both of whom were warmongers and genocide-supporters. Gave his whole mailing list to the DNC, too. That's why I still get email from those corrupt bastards.

AOC? She became Nancy Pelosi's poodle. Refused to withhold her support for Nancy to get even a vote on the public option! Much less national health care. Her voters BEGGED her to do something, ANYTHING to get them the health care that they desperately needed in the age of COVID. But she had more important things to do, like swanning around with the Hollywood and New York elite in high-fashion dresses. No time for us peasants!

Ro Khanna is another shill for the DNC. You can look up his fawning emails to Hillary for yourself; they're in Wikileaks.

These are all sheepdogs for anyone with their eyes open. They never accomplish anything for the people they pretend to care about; if there's a time when they could actually make something happen, they suddenly lose their spines.

You want to believe in them. Fine. But don't expect everyone else to share your blindness. Most of us can't afford to. The oligarchs are squeezing us to death, and those of us with children see that their future is being stolen. As is our hope for human survival.

Show threadMJ Muse2d ago
@paul_ipv6 @DeliaChristina I'm with you but if there isn't a populist on a slot I'll vote Dem to fight the Nazis. I was angry when Bernie who I voted for, lost the primary and Hillary became candidate some purists went green or didn't vote and didn't vote to have a liberal SCOTUS. I didn't vote for Hillary as much as I voted for the court. I knew RBG would die within four years
Show thread[ˈJuɦo̞ ˈMæn̪t̪yˈs̠ɑ̝lo̞]5d ago

@DeliaChristina

I'm not trying to be sarcastic here, but it's well acknowledged that USA isn't a representative democracy, and never has been. It's just that it's getting even less representative..

"The United States is also a one-party state, but with typical American extravagance, they have two of them" is a running gag for a reason.

Show threadDiligence Jones3d ago

HA!

Vindicated, bishes.

Show threadDon Ray5d ago

@DeliaChristina

I would like to know the names of the people who are advocating for that kind strategy. Those people should have to face public scrutiny.

Show threadEh?!?5d ago

@donray @DeliaChristina

No, no, no...you see, midterm elections are coming, now it's the time to scream that Dems and GOP are all the same, no nuances, no good Dems, like there are no primaries where you can try to select decent candidates. That's how you give Trump another two years of comfortable arbitrary exercise of power.

Show threadMirishuli5d ago

@DeliaChristina Sorry, I’m not buying this. Name the people actually talking, then there might be some credibility.

But not talk about Whip Clyburn losing his seat? No one is suggesting that. No one.

Show threadDiligence Jones5d ago

@MiriShuli

Ok.

Show threadJames Endicott5d ago
@MiriShuli @DeliaChristina

Seriously. This is about as believable as the Alt National Parks account and Mueller She Wrote. It's just faux left grifter crap.

Don't get me wrong. I'm sure Democrats are going to focus on affordability and will fail to address the repeal of the VRA with the force it demands. But the idea that an unnamed consultant is bragging to a nobody about billable hours? They didn't get their position by being that sloppy.
Show threadLevka5d ago

@DeliaChristina

Democrats? Feh. Good cop, bad cop, both cops.

Show threadJay5d ago

@DeliaChristina “We’re in a stupid and unaffordable war at a time you’re struggling with grocery bills BECAUSE Republicans’ sole priority is appeasing Trump, and the more they can ratfuck elections and steal your representation, the less accountable they are to you. They won’t stop with Tennessee, and they won’t stop giving your hard earned money to Trump, so vote the fuckers out.”

????
It’s fucking easy to get both messages in there because the two together tell the story.

Show threadincubus loudmouth 🏴5d ago

@WhiteCatTamer @DeliaChristina

when i was 22, i believed that many corporate dems would say & do anything to become rich & famous. then, when it became clear that you could become rich & famous AND say morally principled things that most people want to hear + not even going into much detail about it + lowkey talk shit about people you hate... & WIN... i started believing they are sadists who genuinely do not care about a vast majority of people.... even if that means they get a smaller check.

Show threadHey Gus5d ago

@DeliaChristina

> dems only want to talk about not racism

systemic racism in america still isn't a partisan issue.

Show threadQuasit5d ago

@DeliaChristina

They dumped Labor and started serving the oligarchs instead. Wouldn't be at all surprised if they dumped blacks in favor of Nazis.

I don't know how to get it through some people's heads: The Democrats ARE fascists!

Show threadWelkin5d ago
@Quasit @DeliaChristina Wow. What are Republicans then? And if not Democrats and Republicans then who?
Show threaddisorderlyf5d ago

@DeliaChristina Fuck sake, YOU CAN TALK ABOUT BOTH.

How fucking hard is it to say "While your gas prices are skyrocketing, instead of actually doing something about it, Republicans are eroding black voter rights"?

Show threadDiligence Jones5d ago

@disorderlyf

Apparently, they don't believe we can do the hard things.

Show threaddisorderlyf5d ago
@DeliaChristina If this is supposed to be hard for us, the Dems must think we're dumber than the Republicans think their base is. (the ones that weren't just always nazis)
Show threadDave Alvarado5d ago
@disorderlyf I mean...@DeliaChristina 's whole point is that the DNC is talking about what it wants to talk about.
Show threadLukefromDC5d ago
@DeliaChristina Sounds like Blue MAGA hat wearers to me
Show threadLukefromDC5d ago
@DeliaChristina The ONLY thing I expect or have ever seen from any election in the US is the choice of which opponents to have to fight in the next round. The fighting is a certainty, so if there is actually a contested election it can make sense to attempt to pick the weakest enemy, so as to maximize the odds of success in the battles that come after.
Show threadThe Great Llama 5d ago
@DeliaChristina
I wonder what the "party of the big tent" is going to do with all those tent poles they aren't using anymore?