Tom Morello Clarifies He Votes, But Not For “Corporate Democrats”

[u/ebradio]

https://stereogum.com/2513749/tom-morello-clarifies-he-does-vote-just-not-for-corporate-democrats/news

[u/nyuhokie]

He specifically says that he can do that in California because it doesnt matter. And goes on to say, "But in any and every contested race, as my mom Mary Morello always said, we have to fight the fascist every which way we can, recognizing that even if there's but an inch of difference between two candidates, there are a lot of vulnerable people who could be greatly harmed in that inch."

[u/sabedo → u/nyuhokie]

like my old man used to say, "you go to war with the army you have". virtue signaling and sitting out is unforgiveable. If it's ANY Republican vs Schumer, I'll pick "Guardian" Schumer despite my loathing of his politics every time. If its a choice between AOC or Schumer then it's AOC

You can't cut off your nose to spite your face

[u/darkk41 → u/sabedo]

You are right but the thread is loaded with confidently incompetent people proudly enabling the worst outcomes so they can lord their moral superiority over each other on reddit while the country burns, so...

Personally I put the most progressive option in every seat I can, because that moves the needle left. But no, let's just keep letting the right win every seat and claiming it will drum up support for the left again, it's worked SO well for the last few decades

[u/Successful_Sign_6991 → u/darkk41]

You are right but the thread is loaded with confidently incompetent people proudly enabling the worst outcomes so they can lord their moral superiority over each other on reddit while the country burns, so...

much like prior to the 2024 election

those "people" are likely bots to fool others into not voting at all

[u/darkk41 → u/Successful_Sign_6991]

some, at least.

[u/Successful_Sign_6991 → u/darkk41]

well yeah, its done in the first place to get the first fools to sip the koolaide and regurgitate the message.

but the propaganda network runs deep and works overtime.

[u/Banes_Addiction → u/Successful_Sign_6991]

The left has been riddled with these people since long before anyone came up with the idea of "bots".

[u/Multiversaken → u/Banes_Addiction]

Bots aren't an 'idea', they're a reality. Bots make up to 15% of comments and up to 25% of posts, but up to 60% of admin removals are of content and vote manipulation. That's directly from Reddit's own transparency reports. It's very real.

[u/ants_are_everywhere → u/darkk41]

That's not an accident. The messaging is intentionally designed to increase the likelihood that Republicans will win, which is why we see it every. single. election. the last decade.

You'd think Tom Morello would be smarter than to fall for it, but it is what it is.

[u/Turbulent-Law-5028 → u/ants_are_everywhere]

100%. This is the most obvious tactic and people still fall for it. 

Just look at it from the other side, if you have no shot of flipping a MAGA voter, what is the absolute best possible thing you could get them to do? Either not vote or vote for a third party with no chance of winning.  

[u/WhatTheHali24 → u/sabedo]

Its people like Schumer that have lead to multiple Trump presidencies. He has literally said "my job is to keep the left pro-Israel." He cares more about another country than actual Americans.

[u/9fingerjeff → u/sabedo]

That’s a big reason we got where we are. One side is much better at just voting along the party line and the other wants to nit pick every candidate argue amongst themselves about if so and so is good enough rather than are they better than the opposition. Sometimes you need to plug your nose and vote for the lesser of two evils, sitting out or voting for someone that doesn’t stand a chance to win lets the bad guys win.

[u/sabedo → u/9fingerjeff]

Republicans fall in line, Dems have to fall in love. My college professor told me that way back in 2008 and I never forgot it. Dems want some make a wish Obama candidate.

Byron Donalds should have no chance with how racist Florida is. But because he's Trump's black guy in Florida and has been 100% loyal to Trump, and Trump endorsed him, the GOP holds its nose in spite of the racism and he's got a very good shot

[u/HollaWho → u/sabedo]

What was it like having Donald Rumsfeld for a dad lol

[u/SpezDemandsUsernames → u/HollaWho]

It was pure torture enhanced interrogation

[u/Alexexy → u/nyuhokie]

Thats my take as well. I live in MD. I remember getting flak for voting third party in 2016.

As long as DJT and the current crop of pro fascist Republicans are running, I'm voting for the Democrats every time.

[u/sketchahedron → u/Alexexy]

A lot of people in Pennsylvania and Michigan confidently voted for third party candidates in 2016.

[u/DaemonG → u/sketchahedron]

the point is that Maryland isn't Michigan. if Maryland breaks for the Republicans, it's a sign that the election is so deeply doomed as to be unwinnable for anybody fighting against fascism.

[u/Rit91 → u/sketchahedron]

Swing states versus Maryland, a state that hasn't gone to republicans since Bush senior in 1988. If people in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, etc. don't know that their state is a swing state where their vote matters significantly more they're stupid. At least as long as they vote R or D because a 3rd party candidate winning Pennsylvania or other swing states is basically impossible.

[u/C__S__S → u/nyuhokie]

While I agree with what he’s saying, with the stakes so high he needs to be careful what he says. It can be misconstrued and lead to further inaction.

[u/Mister_UAP → u/C__S__S]

It's gonna happen no matter what he says. They would just find someone else's words to manipulate to push their agenda. The problem isn't Tom Morrello not being super careful about every word that comes out of his mouth. The problem is news organizations constantly trying to sow divisiveness for the sake of ad revenue. 

[u/bozon92 → u/Mister_UAP]

But him saying it will legitimately make it concretely worse

[u/teddyone → u/C__S__S]

This post right here is the misconstruing

[u/Joejoe988 → u/nyuhokie]

But if he didn’t vote Kamala, there was significantly more than an inch.

[u/earthling82 → u/Joejoe988]

Very true but i think he's saying that since he's a Californian, there was no chance of Trump winning the state and therefore he could choose to abstain from voting for that office or vote for a socialist while still voting for Democrats in downballot races that may be closer

[u/EchoRex → u/earthling82]

And that's how Trump won not just the electoral college but the popular vote as well in 2024.

People staying home and not voting to send a message to the people trying to fight fascism that they aren't doing it right.

[u/AnimusNoctis → u/earthling82]

I've always felt this view is a equivalent to "I don't need to get vaccinated because everyone around me is." Not doing your part and letting everyone else carry you works fine until too many people start thinking the same way. 

[u/nothatsmyarm → u/AnimusNoctis]

It did help Trump win the popular vote. Which doesn’t matter, mostly, but it does hurt our world standing just a little more.

[u/ZhouLe → u/nothatsmyarm]

It helped fuel the braindead conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen, because one of their talking points is that Biden's 81 million votes were pumped. It dropped 6 million for Harris despite third party votes being nearly identical.

[u/MatureUsername69 → u/Joejoe988]

Its not really hard to figure out why a dude from California who founded Rage Against the Machine wouldnt be too jazzed voting for a super overzealous California prosecutor, and I say that as a Kamala voter. She put a lot of people away for a lot of little shit, thats like the antithesis to his thinking. Even if the electoral college makes it so, not everyone feels a vote for an alternate candidate is a free vote for the winner.

[u/joshTheGoods → u/nyuhokie]

Great, but this media savvy vet of the lime light just let himself be quoted by media across the landscape encouraging people not to vote for "corporate dems." The framing is incredibly stupid and harmful to liberal causes, especially for a public figure. Fuck your purity tests, Tom ... seriously. This isn't the time for crying that Gavin Newsom isn't your perfect version of a progressive.

[u/Aggressive-Neck-3921 → u/joshTheGoods]

the corporate rot is what gave the fascists space to be out and about, attack the writer/editor for the headline. Not Tom for his correct perspective, neoliberalism as an ideology is building a road for the fascist takeover we are seeing. And Newsom is one of the ghouls that doesn't believe in anything and would happily smear anyone to the left of him the same way the GOP does if that get's him closer to power like the other third way ghouls do. These corporate dems do not have any social prescriptions they are just there for the economics and make sure guys like schumer stay in power and prevent another FDR from happening.

[u/Lawdoc1 → u/nyuhokie]

That last part needs to be his lead. He needs to set aside his own self-righteousness, understand the position of influence he holds, and then act accordingly.

He does know, or should know, that media snippets are short. That means the important part has to be first and loudest.

[u/TheEldestNugget → u/Lawdoc1]

He said the important part first already.

[u/sketchampm]

Tom Morello is consistent. Nothing about this is surprising. Nothing.

[u/tommytheturtleishere → u/sketchampm]

Totally. If people dont understand what hes saying, thats part of the problem. Democrats are better than Republicans in many ways, specifically that they arent open fascists like the GOP has become.

But since the Clinton years, much of the leadership has chosen to be funded by corporations rather than say unions and organized labor. And its continued to show where their priorities lie. Not all Democrats, but certainly enough and its become a bigger and bigger problem.

If you ever wonder "man, it doesnt feel like they're fighting as hard as it feels like they should", well thats why. Unions, for example, are diametrically opposed to many of the donors that they accept money from. So while they may act like they care about labor rights as they once used to, that day has passed.

Still better than MAGA which doesnt give a flying fuck about any of these things, but a C+ vs an F isnt exactly inspiring, even if its clearly better.

[u/username_generated → u/tommytheturtleishere]

At the same time, unions and especially union membership haven’t proven themselves to be valuable allies. Biden bailed out the Teamsters’ pension fund and they responded by campaign are the Republican convention. The longshoremen’s union threatened to cause a strike to help Trump if Biden didn’t back down on automation plans that would have cut cost for just about every American. The median union voter is a white dude with a high school diploma that supports tariffs and conservative social policies. There’s only so much you can court them without compromising on social issues or immigration or raising taxes to protect their interests.

The UAW is kinda emblematic of this issue. They are still reliably democratic on an institutional level, but their traditional members are drifting away a bit. Meanwhile 1/3rd of their membership are now grad students and university staff. Sure there are areas where downwardly mobile urbanites with advanced degrees overlap with blue and gray collar union workers, but their interests can frequently come into conflict.

How do you manage reasonable union policy when they need different, sometimes boutique, solutions without just giving them carte blanche and passing the buck to the general public when that inevitably devolves into rent seeking.

[u/steveatari → u/username_generated]

Plenty of teachers, nurses, creatives in unions as well; which skews it from white males these days as the norm.

[u/tommytheturtleishere → u/username_generated]

Very fair point

[u/skintaxera → u/tommytheturtleishere]

What about knowing that all of that is true, but also understanding that the alternative is wildly worse?

No matter what country you live in, even ones with much better, more representative electoral systems, voting has always and will always involve pinching your nose to some degree when you tick the boxes. It's called pragmatism, and the absence of pragmatic thinking and voting gives worse outcomes.

There are really smart ways and really dumb ways to say "they're all the same" and not vote, but the outcome of the thinking is the same.

And obviously, with the govt you have over there, possibly as a result of 'principled non-voting' as well as apathy etc, no theorising is required . You can just look out the window to see the results.

[u/tommytheturtleishere → u/skintaxera]

As I mentioned, the alternative is clearly worse. Im not remotely disputing that

[u/Sonofbluekane → u/skintaxera]

Better, more representative electoral systems tend to have more than two options, ranked choice preferential voting and electoral divisions that make sense. America's whole system is roughly 150 years out of date which is partly what allows the festering corruption to be so entrenched and inescapable. In other words, your tree of liberty is dried out and mostly dead 

[u/Dense-Performance-14 → u/skintaxera]

Yeah it's just plain childish. Suck it up and vote, nothing is getting fixed by letting people like trump get into office because you wanna throw your vote away to prove a point.

[u/AmbitiousoStrawberry → u/Dense-Performance-14]

Trump is in office because Kamala ran on an extremely unpopular and anti-American Israel first platform while parading around Liz Cheney. She silenced various sections of potential voters and pushed a never ending allegiance to Israel. Why do you think the DNC autopsy was never released.

[u/voodoodahl → u/tommytheturtleishere]

And people mock democratic fundraising emails that go out to regular people. 

This whole narrative exists to shame democrats for trying to get elected, which costs loads of money. 

[u/ricochetblue → u/voodoodahl]

Someone on Threads tried to tell me that Democrats could get elected by advertising with newspapers and pamphlets.

If the circumstance arises for you to hand someone a homemade Democratic pamphlet, odds are they’re already voting Democrat.

Besides, it’s not like printed campaign materials don’t cost money. And Democrats have to go with union print shops or it’s a big scandal, so fewer options.

Repubs blanket tv with fearmongering while Dems barely raise enough money to print t shirts and pay staff. We need to be realistic at some point—campaigns take money and it needs to come from somewhere.

[u/Frequent-Maybe1243 → u/tommytheturtleishere]

Right. Well, don't let endless purity tests cause you to LOSE ANOTHER FUCKING ELECTION.

[u/tommytheturtleishere → u/Frequent-Maybe1243]

As I said, one is clearly better than the other. I am not encouraging people not to vote for Dems

[u/4th_DocTB → u/Frequent-Maybe1243]

Purity tests never lost you people an election, being mediocre right wingers did.

[u/Just_Log_8528 → u/tommytheturtleishere]

I totally understand and totally agree. However with 8 of the last 12 years firmly in the F category maybe he can respectfully shut the fuck up before the midterms so maybe things don’t get consistently worse for the next two years.

[u/RideFastGetWeird → u/Just_Log_8528]

THIS PART. I swear to god if Dems lose because of altruistic protest voting... 

[u/This_Elk_1460 → u/sketchampm]

You're expecting people on the internet to actually listen to the lyrics of rage against the machine songs?

[u/sketchampm → u/This_Elk_1460]

“Ok what well about the fact that Morello and De la Rocha got vaccinated and wore masks to protect against Covid?! More like raging FOR the machine amiright?” - a fucking idiot

[u/waffle_iron_maiden → u/sketchampm]

I'll never understand why antivaxxers can't trust medical professionals who don't even work with the government. Like there are people who have dedicated their lives, their careers to studying this shit. They're not even affiliated with the government, they just understand how vaccines work, and still there are people so hopped up on kool-aid they can't listen to those people. At least with government distrust I can understand that, considering global powers and their governments tend to be very corrupt. It's not unprecedented for a government to lie to its people. But the medical professionals? You think they studied all of this shit for show?

There is a historical record of vaccines working, measles going down in huge numbers. Medical professionals aren't just going to make that shit up for some conspiracy they're not a part of. Some people just can't accept others know more than them about a subject

[u/sketchampm → u/waffle_iron_maiden]

Hell we have hard evidence about how the antivax movement was started and why it’s most vocal champions are motivated to lie to us…but I heard a disgraced fake doctor go on a right wing podcast and he spit a bunch of bullshit that is frequently and hilariously untrue but fuck it, I guess.

[u/mcolive → u/waffle_iron_maiden]

People only believe things that they can see. We literally need to bring them into a room and show them shit like Pasteur's swan neck flask experiment and brownian motion and if we talk really softly and make them feel smart we MIGHT be able to convince SOME of them that disease is spread through the air and not a conspiracy.

[u/Fun_Assignment2427 → u/sketchampm]

I'm happy that he got vaccinated and wore a mask during COVID. Because I think there's room enough in the world for practicing good safety AND fighting destructive capatilism/abusive government policy.

[u/lolzomg123 → u/This_Elk_1460]

Wait, lyrics?! You mean to tell me it's not just someone musically ranting about a printer?!

[u/motorcycleboy9000 → u/lolzomg123]

Their biggest hit, "PC Load Letter."

[u/feralb3ast → u/lolzomg123]

They're actually raging against their moms for not buying enough pizza rolls. /s

[u/FistyMcTwistynuts → u/lolzomg123]

Some of those that send faxes are the same that xeroxes

[u/The-Duke-of-Delco → u/lolzomg123]

https://giphy.com/gifs/3tK7DEMGN6jewLa6aL

[u/gingerflakes → u/lolzomg123]

I thought it was about descaling a nespresso. What a fool I’ve been

[u/Jozias_Tump → u/sketchampm]

I prefer Zack over him.

[u/matlockga → u/sketchampm]

Tom Morello stumped for Kerry, along with Michael Moore and Roseanne Barr... On a college campus tour. 

Edit:

John Kerry ran on ending the war in Iraq

He famously didn't 

Roseanne and Tom never even shared the same stage.

Yeah they did, at least at the college I was at. She was standing right beside him and Abdul Henderson while he played on his acoustic 

And who was Kerry running against?

Irrelevant non sequitur I knew was coming. Kerry was a textbook corporate Democrat. 

[u/hufft3 → u/matlockga]

Context matters.

Roseanne Barr was an anti war democrat until 2012. The Slacker Uprising was in 2004. Tom Morello has always been anti war and John Kerry ran on ending the war in Iraq. The Slacker Uprising Tour featured several guest celebrities and was about getting young adults registered to vote.

Edit: Roseanne and Tom never even shared the same stage.

[u/TrevelyansPorn → u/hufft3]

John Kerry did not run on ending the war, he voted for it but criticized bush for how it was done.

[u/IllRock316 → u/TrevelyansPorn]

voting against it at the time was political suicide tbf

[u/Shavasara → u/IllRock316]

The media at the time pretended the anti-war sentiment was non-existent. Plenty of us recognized Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11 and were in the streets.

[u/hetham3783 → u/Shavasara]

There was a huge “if you don’t support the Iraq War, then you don’t Support Our Troops” narrative in the public at the time

[u/FTownRoad → u/hetham3783]

Freedom fries was our lake America

[u/cob59 → u/sketchampm]

Is he? You can't claim "Destroy American Fascism" one day, then chose not to vote when asked to pick between a fascist and a non-fascist.

[u/kagethemage → u/cob59]

As the black panthers said “scratch a liberal and a fascist bleeds”. Corporate democrats are responsible for shifting the Overton Window to the right and allowing fascism to be a viable political platform. If Democrats were actually the party of the left instead of catering to the oligarchs then we wouldn’t be in this mess.

[u/Hazmat-Asscastle → u/sketchampm]

he's only supposed to rage against the other guys machine, not ours!

[u/TheFillth]

As a kid I remember watching the ratm video filmed outside the dnc and being confused why they were against the "good guys". Truly an awakening type of moment.

[u/Nayre_Trawe → u/TheFillth]

They were speaking out against the Dems from the very beginning, calling out "Dixiecrat Clinton" and his policies regularly during shows. In fact, Dems were in control of the government for their entire run as a band before the first break up.

[u/ContentDrawer5543 → u/TheFillth]

And I hope you realized that there are no actual “good guys” in americas duel party establishment. Just bad guys, and then bad guys who don’t want to be seen as such.

[u/estedavis → u/ContentDrawer5543]

Both sides are full of bad guys, but you have to admit that one side is full of exponentially worse guys than the other side.

[u/AlimaraCesa → u/estedavis]

To paraphrase a comment I saw a while back, it’s shitty corporatism where minorities get to keep their rights, vs shitty corporatism where minorities are hunted for sport.

[u/Parfait_Prestigious → u/estedavis]

One side has bad guys and the other side has Nazis, pick your poison wisely Americans

[u/Rage_Like_Nic_Cage → u/Parfait_Prestigious]

One side is the school shooter. The other is the uvalde police

[u/estedavis → u/Rage_Like_Nic_Cage]

Both bad, but one significantly more bad

[u/Rage_Like_Nic_Cage → u/estedavis]

But you can’t exactly be surprised when people criticize the police and they’re immediately hit with “BuT tHe sHoOtEr Is wOrSE” by cop defenders every single time, that they start to become disillusioned by it all.

Perhaps the cops should actually start talking about how they’re going to improve people’s lives rather than just relying on “we aren’t as evil as the school shooter”. which isn’t a winning message.

[u/JMC_MASK → u/estedavis]

One side has fascists, and one side are rainbow waving fascists who are controlled opposition who do very little once in power so that the true fascists can point their fingers about how the Dems did nothing and you should instead vote for the GOP as they will actually do something (aka something truly terrible).

But now we have actual progressives and socialists taking power. You must vote for them if you ever want this ratchet wheel of Republican to corporate democrat cycle to end.

[u/caligaris_cabinet → u/ContentDrawer5543]

Idk. One side just cheered the hypothetical destruction of LA and San Diego. Both sides has never been true and this is just the latest example

[u/Digital_Tomb → u/ContentDrawer5543]

[u/Sarahacha7]

I saw him perform in 2015/2016. He flipped his guitar over and it said, “vote no one”

[u/SecurePlate3122 → u/Sarahacha7]

Pretty privileged take

[u/Tutorbin76 → u/Sarahacha7]

It may as well have said "VOTE TRUMP"

[u/BLRNerd]

The protest vote doesn’t fully piss me off, it’s who he chose

Jill Stein

She’s green energy yet wants to ban solar, wind, and nuclear

She’s denied COVID and is anti-vax, wants to ban them until “further research can be done”

Claims that Russia can be our friend and No One Should be charged for Jan 6th

I would be impressed if like they put their money where their mouth is while screaming no war but class war but god she’s such a POS

EDIT: Pretty sure if Green Party got the threshold, they would rig their primaries to prevent any of the newbies from choosing a reasonable candidate also while they liked fucked around with the other primaries

[u/EricSanderson → u/BLRNerd]

Jill Stein is quite literally funded by Republican donors.

Staging a protest against the Trump administration while essentially voting for them is so infuriatingly dumb

[u/jackofslayers → u/EricSanderson]

And russia.

[u/flofjenkins → u/BLRNerd]

Jill Stein is a Russian asset. None of her policy positions make sense, and she disappears immediately after the election, only to show up for the next one. Only idiots vote for her.

[u/Mrhiddenlotus → u/flofjenkins]

I don't think it's even that. It's just a grift.

[u/porktorque44 → u/Mrhiddenlotus]

For the uninitiated here's Jill Stein seated at a dinner table with Vladimir Putin and other Russian assets.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/guess-who-came-dinner-flynn-putin-n742696

EDIT: I should add I've seen zero evidence that Morello voted for Stein

[u/JodyGonnaFuckYoWife → u/Mrhiddenlotus]

Grifting rubles

[u/Comfortable_Self_736 → u/BLRNerd]

Where did he say he voted for Jill Stein?

[u/Academic_Carrot_4533 → u/Comfortable_Self_736]

Fr, I’m not finding shit on that. Other commenter is spewing bs about who Morello voted for.

[u/Krunksicle → u/BLRNerd]

Can I get a source on this claim? I can't find any evidence of him voting for her anywhere. I'm surprised this comment has gotten so many upvotes and comments without anyone else noticing.

Edit: Okay it's looking like most of the claims in this comment are blatant lies lmao

[u/RickRulezz → u/BLRNerd]

Let's also not forget that Jill Stein had a hard time calling Putin and Assad war criminals during an interview with Mehdi Hasan.

[u/IAmDisturbanceFeedMe → u/BLRNerd]

Agreed. Jill stein seems awful from the bits I’ve seen.

And I’d add one more layer to your protest vote perspective. I think it should be situational. For instance are you in a state that goes 100% blue or red? If so then you can make a protest vote without influencing the election.

Also if it’s a run of the mill dem-gop election like Obama-Romney or obama-McCain and you want to vote third party to voice dissent I’m fully supportive of that (and I’ve done so myself many times). But when the stakes are Trump vs anyone else then it’s a different scenario and dissent is way less meaningful than voting against a truly awful candidate.

[u/FillMySoupDumpling → u/IAmDisturbanceFeedMe]

I don’t support it for a run of the mill election either. 

In the end their actions show us who these people are.

Had we had better people in the house and senate back then, we would have had an ACA with a public option. That’s much  closer to a universal multipayer system like what Germany has. Instead we got the ACA. Had we had better people across the board in 2017, the mandate wouldn’t have been removed further gutting a lot of the ACA. 

Had we had more progressives in congress then or even later with even the most corporate Dem president, we could have codified Roe. 

This shit takes time. It takes election after election getting better judges and laws into place. Now a significant portion of our population is in a far more precarious state than it was sixteen years ago. 

Instead, we keep getting worse and worse shit as more stuff keeps breaking. 

[u/JeulMartin → u/BLRNerd]

I looked for evidence to support your claim that Stein wants to ban solar & wind, that she's a COVID denier, or that she's anti-vax. I found zero evidence to support these claims.

Can you link a source?

[u/FillMySoupDumpling → u/BLRNerd]

All these Stein voters have fire for their hated candidate but all that fire goes right out the window for her because they are just looking for anything. Zero critical thinking goes into that decision. 

[u/vesleskjor → u/BLRNerd]

Beyond all this, I would never vote for Jill Stein because her supporters are SO INSUFFERABLE. I randomly had a girl on the subway ask me if I was voting for her (presumably because I am a woman so obviously I gotta support her I guess) and I said no, very mildly. She looked at me like I murdered the family dog.

[u/jrtf83 → u/BLRNerd]

Your comment is blatant misinformation. She is very clearly not anti-vax, and never said that “no one should be charged for Jan 6th”

It’s kind of amazing the brigading against her on here every time she’s brought up. Makes me think you’re all bots and this is a dead internet.

[u/Krunksicle → u/jrtf83]

Also it's looking like Morello didn't vote for her anyway so it's all moot lol

[u/Nizle_Bizle_Shizle]

It's not a political divide, it's a class war

[u/jim45804]

Voting is a chess move, not a love letter. Vote to reduce harm.

[u/SplendidPunkinButter → u/jim45804]

What do you mean? Just because voting third party has exclusively helped to elect right wing extremists by dividing the opposition, that doesn’t mean it won’t work this time! My protest vote will make the establishment do some serious soul searching, believe you me! /s

[u/ranban2012]

this will stop the corporate fascist shills from making bad faith criticisms of him, surely.

[u/double297]

This entire comment section is what keeps dems from winning anything or accomplishing anything. You dont hear Republicans arguing about degrees of how republican someone is. They have the R next to their name, they get the vote. Dems have to have the perfect candidate for them to vote for them or they dont vote at all and a perfect dem for one voter isnt perfect for another, forever splitting the voting power.

I didn't vote for any dem in the last presidential race, I voted against Trump. My only goal was to keep him out of power. Want to talk Corp stooge candidates? Trump is #1 as long as their lining his personal or families pockets.

[u/benopiemusic → u/double297]

I rarely vote for someone. I usually vote against the other.

[u/theslimbox → u/benopiemusic]

Ist that the truth.

[u/VanillaRadonNukaCola → u/theslimbox]

And it suuuuuuucks

[u/pocketjacks → u/double297]

I'm not even a Democrat, but I will vote for ANY Democrat facing off against ANY Republican. You want to vote your conscience? There's a primary for that. Not voting for the opponent of any Republican because they don't pass your purity test is effectively voting for the Republican.

[u/toldyasoo1 → u/double297]

Yes the fuck they do! If they didn’t John Cornyn would still be the incumbent running for senate. And Thomas massie would still have his seat.

[u/crionenissgev → u/double297]

These folks want a political movement as responsive to their needs as MAGA is to the needs of gibbering racist dimwits, but instead of doing what those dimwits do and going out and voting for the person closest to their position, they hold a gun to their own head and say CONVINCE ME NOT TO PULL THE TRIGGER NEOLIB!

Then, they wonder why nobody outsides of circle-jerks on websites like this take them seriously.

Edit - a lot of you are catastrophically dumb. Muting these comments for my own mental health.

[u/Jessieflow → u/crionenissgev]

Dems should really focus on why 30+ million Americans don't take them seriously enough to get out and vote. 

[u/ringobob → u/Jessieflow]

What makes you think if those people were to come out and vote, that they wouldn't be voting for Republicans?

[u/Frrv2112 → u/crionenissgev]

It’s baffling. We don’t live in an ideal world where you get to wait to vote until you agree with literally everything a dem candidate represents. There has to be some practical consideration behind the consequences of your vote (or lack-thereof)

[u/Professional-Day73 → u/double297]

Hasn’t the last decade been Dems reluctantly voting for the lesser of two evils but still ending up in the position we’re in now? The majority of the Dem base wants universal healthcare, money out of politics and for us to end all foreign wars/stopping military aid to Israel, yet the voters are to blame when the establishment won’t budge an inch on any of those policies? If a party or candidate refuses to enact the will of the people then they don’t deserve to be voted into office. This is coming from someone who’s voted Dem over the past decade but is sick and tired of Dems caving to Republicans on every issue because they’re too compromised or scared to fight.

[u/ChipKellysShoeStore → u/Professional-Day73]

The last Dems actually held a filibuster proof majority in Congress and the presidency, we got the ACA which wasn’t perfect but helped millions and millions of people.

Democrats haven’t had the political control to change anything ever since

[u/hewkii2 → u/Professional-Day73]

No, people genuinely liked Joe Biden more than the other candidates in 2020

Yes, even that one

[u/futurefires42 → u/Professional-Day73]

We aren’t getting those things because we caved to republicans. We aren’t getting those things because our candidates are corporate employees.

[u/Tyton89 → u/double297]

Sorry to disagree, but you absolutely hear this from Republicans nowadays. Why else would the term RINO exist? If you arent 100% in tow with the MAGA agenda and kiss the taint like a good puppet you're the enemy. How many career politicians/incumbents just lost their seats for second guessing the word of God?

[u/hitman2218 → u/Tyton89]

If it’s between a RINO and a Democrat they vote for the RINO.

[u/rvasko3 → u/Tyton89]

They may say that shit, but they still vote together.

[u/Jwagner0850 → u/double297]

This. Shit bag MAGAs didn't take over, overnight. They slowly chipped away and won various areas until they basically forced the conservatives to slide to the authoritarian right. They supported winning over purity in their candidates. Hell, they even ran pieces of shit that had huge background issues anyway and STILL won, because they know how to really behind one party.

Dems, and my dear friend Dem socialists have to learn and do the same. Fight for our socialists in the primaries. If they win, great!!! If not, join forces with the like minded Dem that won and keep moving forward. We can't keep banking on some piece of shit taking office and making things SO bad that the right would want to start voting blue. It's going to be a gradual change in the party until we can get the DSA to take over.

Otherwise, we get another Bernie vs Clinton situation and tank our chances due to the fragmentation that occurs when we pout over not getting our candidate. Listen, I know, because I learned my mistakes from voting for Bernie in the general election, even though he wasn't chosen in the primary.

[u/Frrv2112 → u/double297]

Voting for slightly liberal but imperfect candidates is the only way to begin to get the truly liberal government some desire. Letting trump take power is not helping the cause to swing our country leftwards

[u/Leshawkcomics → u/Frrv2112]

The problem comes when voting for slightly liberal candidates is being portrayed as voting for radicals.

Republicans are actively steering the country off a cliff, and between the guy steering away from the cliff, and the guy who just promises not to touch the steering wheel, the latter is treated as the reasonable candidate, and the former is treated as some sort of unicorn impossible candidate that no one should take seriously.

[u/ParticularLadder7200]

I don’t give a shit who he votes for in California.

The problem is some dumbass in Pennsylvania is gonna hear this.

[u/loqjaw]

Voting for a lesser evil is still voting for evil.

[u/CMG30]

In the American system, the time for choosing the candidate is in the primaries. By the election, people must circle the wagons.

So the issue with the Dems continually ramming corporatist candidates through to the general ballot needs to be addressed internally.

Holding ones nose to vote for the lesser of two evils is not a strategy for long term success. Outside of the racism and hate, what got the current president elected was a desire to break the current system.

Democrats do themselves no favors by holding the candidates desired by the base out of the running in favor of those the party deems acceptable. Putting up these compromised candidates repeatedly is how you get normal people voting for a convicted felon.

[u/DrQuailMan → u/CMG30]

You were so close to realizing the answer. Which is, the primaries ARE the addressing of the corporate Dem issue. You can vote in the primary. All your like-minded friends can vote in the primary. You can build a reputation of being a progressive person, start campaigning early, win in the primary, and pull all the corpo Dem voters along with you. It's no one else's responsibility.

[u/cmptrblu → u/CMG30]

Make all your choices alienate the public and they'll choose the handsy corporate billionaire every time

Democrats will never learn, watch them repeat the same thing with Newsom next election

[u/Tasty_Particular4997 → u/CMG30]

he lives in California. he can afford to vote as he would prefer.

if dems are so afraid, maybe they shouldn't appoint shitty ass candidates.

[u/Guinefort1]

Okay cool. I live in a red state. Voting for corpo Democrats is the protest vote/most progressive option available to me. So, what am I supposed to do Tom? I don't like corpo-Dems either and want actual progressive candidates in their place, but even corpo Dems are less awful than the alternative.

Edit: fixed a sentence

Edit: Yes guys, I read the article. Yes, I understood his point. Red-state-inhabitor that I am, have to put up with people of Tom's political persuasion constantly saying "Eww, Corpo Dem neo-libs!" without any nuance or disclaimer to acknowledge the reality that I, and millions of others live in: that people like me who would be lucky to elect even a crappy corpo Dem into office. Tom is only giving that contextual allowance/clarification now because he got pushback.

[u/boozewald → u/Guinefort1]

And he's in California where there are ton of different political movements and corporate dems dominate. He's not wrong and you aren't either

[u/Crossovertriplet → u/Guinefort1]

Half the time in red states there’s not even a dem running for a bunch of the positions

[u/LimpBizkit4ever → u/Guinefort1]

So, what am I supposed to do Tom?

He answered it in the very interview no one clearly listened to:

"But in any and every contested race, as my mom Mary Morello always said, we have to fight the fascist every which way we can, recognizing that even if there's but an inch of difference between two candidates, there are a lot of vulnerable people who could be greatly harmed in that inch."

[u/WigwamTheMighty → u/Guinefort1]

Did you read the rest of what he said?

Fight the facists any way possible. If one candidate is an inch better than the other, a lot of people need that inch.

[u/Leading-Dot-311 → u/Guinefort1]

So what am I supposed to do Tom?

From the article:

Where I live in California, I have the luxury of voting my conscience for president for third-party candidates that better align with my ideas of justice and equality. But in any and every contested race, as my mom Mary Morello always said, we have to fight the fascist every which way we can, recognizing that even if there's but an inch of difference between two candidates, there are a lot of vulnerable people who could be greatly harmed in that inch.

Seems to me like he answered your question. I'm not sure how you missed that part when you read the article.

[u/_YellowThirteen_ → u/Leading-Dot-311]

I just said it above, too, but I'll repeat it here. This thread is a reading test that most people are failing.

[u/obiwanconobi → u/Guinefort1]

What are you supposed to do? Idk but start with reading his actual comments in the article 

[u/Kind-Crab4230 → u/Guinefort1]

Primaries are the time to vote against corpo Democrats. And election day is the time to vote against fascism.

I thought for sure Tom of all people understood that.

[u/WonderChemical5089]

Corporate democrats are better then fascist republicans

Addition: the knife fight below this comment is why we have trump for president. Y’all live a VERY privileged life if life under trump is the same as it would have been under Kamala or Hillary. The day i get to pick between zohran/abdul vs Kamala/Hillary/newsom, I’ll pick zohran/abdul. But between them and trump I’ll pick the corporate Democrat.

[u/glassbellwitch → u/WonderChemical5089]

Look at our liberals dawg, we'll never be free.

[u/gm92845]

I agree with Morello's sentiment, but if you live in an area where it's made or break it 9 times out of 10 the Democrats will be better than the Republican. This is why it's important to vote in the primaries and pick the best candidate that will go on to the general. At the end of the day it's our fault that we end up with shitty candidates.

[u/Division_Of_Zero → u/gm92845]

This is also Morello’s view, if you look at the source and not just the headline.

  Where I live in California, I have the luxury of voting my conscience for president for third-party candidates that better align with my ideas of justice and equality.   But in any and every contested race, as my mom Mary Morello always said, we have to fight the fascist every which way we can, recognizing that even if there's but an inch of difference between two candidates, there are a lot of vulnerable people who could be greatly harmed in that inch. 

[u/_YellowThirteen_ → u/Division_Of_Zero]

I think this thread is just a reading test that most people are failing.

[u/meattuba]

Vote for who you want in the primaries. This nonsense of “I won’t support corporate democrats” in the general election is how we got where we are now. Not a fan of corporate democrats either but it is far better than the alternative which should be painfully apparent to all now.

[u/tMoneyMoney → u/meattuba]

Kamala was a corporate democrat. Does anyone really think we’d be worse off today if she got elected?

Those are the stakes. JD Vance/Tucker Carlson/etc or possibly corporate democrat. Vote with your heart in the primary, vote with your brain the general. It’s not that hard to prevent yourself from getting fucked for 4 more years.

[u/Fr33Flow]

The fact that Democrats and Republicans both hate Tom Morello proves that he’s one of the greatest political activists of our generation.

[u/What_A_Good_Sniff]

No idea what he did prior to saying this, but I agree with this statement related to corporate owned, neoliberal democrats.

2/3 of all Americans want universal health care. Question is, why don't we have candidates that also want it if so many of us agree that is needed?

Because corporate money speaks louder than us.

[u/DiggWuzBetter]

While I personally think it makes sense to vote strategically, to vote for the party who is most aligned with your views that has a chance to win, Tom Morello clearly disagrees. This isn’t new for him, he’s always had very hard line, far left, uncompromising views.

Also, FWIW, he does admit that he has the luxury of voting for small 3rd party presidential candidates that more closely align with his views because he lives in California, where it’s a given the Democrats will win anyways: https://www.facebook.com/share/19Pu5ALF27/?mibextid=wwXIfr

He’s very politically active, and does a lot of grassroots political/social justice work. It’s not like the dude is pushing a racist, hateful, sexist agenda that I fundamentally disagree with. He’s very pro equality/anti-racism, he’s anti-capitalist, fights for Indigenous rights, pro working class empowerment; he just thinks the way to push these causes forward is grassroots movements. Too impractically idealistic/uncompromising for my personal taste, but not an opinion I have meaningful issues with. We don’t all have to have identical political viewpoints/approaches, just don’t be a hateful asshole, and he’s not.

[u/CrazeRage → u/DiggWuzBetter]

to vote for the party who is most aligned with your views that has a chance to win, Tom Morello clearly disagrees.

the article quotes him saying he has the luxury to vote third party...because his state is basically guaranteed blue. how is he clearly disagreeing.....

[u/RAG319]

shitshow of a comment section

[u/SlowDancer-001]

Liberals will literally blame everyone else for the state of things besides themselves. Why is Mamdani, a mayor, being a more powerful voice of reason than… Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, Kamala Harris, rat fuck himself Gavin Newsom? Push us left. Democrats are literally what, only 2 points more favorable than republicans right now? That’s embarrassing.

[u/station_agent]

We can't hate on Tom. Being a CA resident, it's unilaterally a blue state. I see his point, but yeah. Keep in mind, he has done a lot to educate people through RATM's music, and his (literally active/frequent) activism. His mother was the CEO of Parents for Rock and Rap. He's one of the good ones. Don't throw him under the bus.

[u/Echos_myron123]

Genuinely confused that people are angry about this. The band isn't called Rage Against the Lesser of Two Evils.

[u/StandardAssignment19]

Him voting for Jill Stein is him voting for Donald Trump with same moral fortitude of Joe Rogan.

[u/phaesios → u/StandardAssignment19]

Jill Stein is nothing more than a Putin shill.

[u/Totally_Scott]

Purity-tested voting is a privileged activity. He has plenty of money. He won't ever need an abortion. He can afford healthcare. He's not on foodstamps. He's not in danger of being deported.

[u/SweetPinss → u/Totally_Scott]

Is it purity testing or having a coherent political ideology?

[u/ghostoftheradio]

I don’t think anyone who knows him misunderstand the original comment. This clarification is for everyone else.

[u/eriksoulfly]

Voting for one corrupt party over the other should not be the answer. If you want people to vote for your candidate all I can say is have better candidates.

[u/YakubianExperiement]

Good for him. Someone needs to have the balls to say that being better that the right doesn't mean you're good. Piss is better than shit to step in, but neither are good.

[u/Kagrenac8]

The type of dude who'd vote for Jill Stein

[u/dkinmn]

Voting is always a preference poll. Anyone who thinks of it as a statement of perfect moral, ethical, or political alignment, even MAJORITY alignment, is wrong.

As an educated political scientist, he should know this. It's a preference poll. Period. There is no other valid construct.

[u/Totally_Scott → u/dkinmn]

Yeah, it's not a cool t-shirt. It's a binary choice with an outcome whether you participate or not.

[u/MyCatLaughsAtMe]

Which is the last moral position left in this ruined nation. Le enlightened moderates opened the doors for the fasicsts.

Progressive or bust, that is this nation's final test.

[u/McJohnson88]

When Corporate Democrats have a 1-2 record against the most beatable Republican in 2 generations, who here can say he's wrong?

[u/Commy1469]

If more people were like him America would be less of a shit hole

[u/Left_Fist]

I can’t believe he would rage against the machine. I am shocked

[u/spicy-chilly]

Good I hope he voted for Claudia De La Cruz, ans she got the most votes for an explicitly socialist presidential ticket since Norman Thomas in 1936.

Tough pill to swallow, but if 72% of Democrat voters and 62% of independents can oppose arming fascist mass slaughter but the party still supports the polar opposite, you're living in a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie where the value the capitalist class extracts from you dominates our political institutions to make sure you have no say and their class interests get served. You not wanting to arm fascist mass slaughter doesn't matter one iota if the capitalist clsss wants a de facto U.S. military outpost to launch attacks from in bs imperialist wars.

And the logical reaction to that isn't to put your head down and eat your gruel and become a fascist, it's to fight back with class independent communist parties and organize revolutionary unions to fix the root cause of why you have no real say in the first place.

[u/This_Elk_1460]

You're telling me the guy that has had a hammer and sickle on his guitar his entire career isn't a fan of corporate ass kisser dems?

[u/Notwerk]

Fuck yeah! Let's all fight and undermine each other! The billionaires love that shit!

[u/Jwagner0850 → u/Notwerk]

Controlled opposition for sure.

[u/Nythoren]

And that's why Harris lost and Trump won. The GOP votes for anyone they even remotely agree with. Meanwhile we have these "pure" progressives who will only vote for folks who agree 100% with all of their opinions.

[u/This-Echidna7139 → u/Nythoren]

 Not voting for someone who supports genocide isn’t a purity test. It’s basic humanity 

[u/jswansong → u/This-Echidna7139]

You need to walk me through the effect of your decision not to support Kamala when the realistic alternative was Trump. How many more Gazans died because Trump is president? How many more people died worldwide?

[u/aroslab → u/Nythoren]

You cannot explain away a multi-point collapse across every swing state with a sliver of third-party or non-voters

it is not a small amount of third-party votes or abstention that caused the "I can't think of a single thing I'd do different" candidate to lose

For the record, I voted for Kamala Harris, AND she was incredibly unappealing for the issues working class Americans actually feel every day. Sure Trump is a liar, but "I can't think of a single thing I'd do different" appeals to exactly zero people who are actively struggling to get by, when at least Trump acknowledged something was wrong.

That's why Harris lost, not people who rightfully saw the choice as bad or bad with nice words

[u/Hot-Statistician-955 → u/aroslab]

We certainly can talk about how loud Democrat Harris detractors were. You don’t think that influenced the vote, seeing as we had so many democrats NOT vote?

[u/Bludypoo → u/aroslab]

but biden was actually a good president. how do you square that peg?

If you objectively look at the things he accomplished, he did a fantastic job. best in literall decades.

anyone who says "Harris was just going to be a repeat of Biden" is telling on themselves. They are admiitting they simply did not pay attention to Biden's presidency. They paid attention to the republican propagandization of Biden's presidency.

[u/brindlewc]

Thanks Tom, super helpful.

[u/Another1MitesTheDust]

I know! I’ll stick it to the corporate Democrats by empowering the corporate Republicans who are even further from my ideal candidate. Yeah that’ll show them! I’m a genius!

[u/ElectroShockRevival]

We could use some new parties instead of playing nice with the corpos. The two party system we‘ve been propping up kinda needs to die.

[u/FillMySoupDumpling → u/ElectroShockRevival]

2 party system comes from FPTP and the EC.

NV had it on the ballot for statewide elections. They still didn’t show up to vote to get rid of it.

People are just lazy and make up excuses after the fact.

[u/mkfanhausen → u/ElectroShockRevival]

We gotta get the fascist termites out of the wall before we can start thinking about redecorating the house.

[u/Jwagner0850 → u/ElectroShockRevival]

Until then, we have to unite. Until the voting system changes, we can't "pray" that it will and then we have a shot. We need to fight the battle where it lies until the field we're playing on changes.

[u/ElectroShockRevival → u/Jwagner0850]

I agree, vote for whoever is against this administration right now. That’s the only thing we need to agree on in the short term.

[u/Hyperion262]

Thank god, I barely slept these last few nights thinking he doesn’t vote. I’ll tell the children tomorrow at breakfast.

[u/Digital_Tomb]

His instagram “clarification” was such a loser response. This guy says we can’t give an inch to fascists because of all the people who get hurt from that inch then didn’t vote Kamala.

This guy is all performative.

[u/pirate135246]

The day your vote no longer has to be earned is the day you unsubscribe from democracy

[u/Deep90 → u/pirate135246]

A vote can either be for or against something.

A vote for, needs to be earned.

A vote against, is when there is a lack of earning.

A vote abstained, is a vote for letting whoever actually voted decide for you.

[u/TheUnderCrab → u/pirate135246]

Libertarians and Greens don’t earn my vote by playing possum for three years and then showing up to grift campaign donations and spoil a candidate. Voting third party is just throwing away your voice under our current political situation. 

[u/Odd_Vampire → u/TheUnderCrab]

"Dr. Jill Stein" back once more from wherever she was every four years to fuck up the election again.

[u/what_mustache → u/pirate135246]

They day you let the bad guys win for your vanity vote is the day you lose the moral highground.