Tell the DoJ they’re wrong then:

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.

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.

You’ll get no argument from me there. She tried to thread the needle and wound up pissing off both sides she was trying to court, albeit for very different reasons. Given the dynamic, I’m not sure there’s a message she could have put out that would have satisfied everyone, but I firmly believe she said as much as she could possibly say, and as delicately as she could possibly say it, to telegraph that she’d take a different approach once she was sworn in. It wasn’t convincing to a huge swath of voters who’ve made clear they prefer Trump, but coming from someone whose job requires a lot of delicate public diplomacy even when I’m talking about something I disagree with to people I don’t support, I saw the subtext very clearly. I’m sure she sees it the same way, but until we read her memoirs many years from now, I guess we’ll never know.

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. That cannot be said about literally anyone else.

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?

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.

Where the fuck do y’all keep getting this stuff?

By that logic any presidential candidat

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

You state things unequivocally that you cannot possibly know and have no evidence to support, so it would be futile to try to evidence you out of that opinion. If you know everything about what’s happening in secret, then your powers are truly impressive.

I read this as almost exactly the same thing:

“And as president, I will do everything in my power to end the war in Gaza, to bring home the hostages, end the suffering in Gaza, ensure Israel is secure, and ensure the Palestinian people can realise their right to dignity, freedom, security and self-determination,”

Something as simple as that obviously didn’t work. I’m skeptical that your version would have moved the needle, and I’m sure she’s under strict orders not to call it a “genocide”, which is still and order from her boss, even if it’s wrong.