Teary-eyed John Oliver begs reluctant voters to back Harris

Imperfection should not make the undecided voters give up on democracy, how can we have progressive policy when the people who want it don’t vote?

Exactly.
We cannot afford to fall victim to the Nirvana fallacy.
We must work within the system to change the system or we risk being excluded entirely.
- Nirvana fallacy, also know as "perfect solution fallacy" is suggesting that no solution is better than an imperfect solution. If I can't have nirvana, I don't want anything.
  I see it all the time in online arguments. "Oh, you advocate for housing the homeless? Well then why do you have empty rooms in your house? Just fill it with homeless people." this is an example of the fallacy. It suggests that my solution, "house the homeless" should be discarded because it is not a perfect solution, which would be filling my house up with strangers. The goal is to make me say, "oh, I'm not willing to do that, so we should do nothing instead."
- we risk being excluded entirely
  I misread "being executed entirely".
  Oh. Wait.
In the paraphrased words of an old white dude
Don’t judge her against the Almighty, judge her against the alternative.
- Alternatively: don't let perfect be the enemy of good.
By moderating our online discussion boards to better weed out posts, comments, replies, etc. from foreign interference and domestic Astroturfing that present themselves as far-left in order to convince people that perfect should be the enemy of better. I swear, nobody comes to the conclusion "Esteemed prosecutor Kamala Harris isn't as bad as convicted felon Donald Trump, but she still has flaws and isn't worthy of my vote in a competition for the most influential job in the world that will certainly come down to one of the two of them" on their own. That idea has to be planted by someone arguing in bad faith, and repeated in many forms for someone to begin to believe it.
Some of us are old enough to have heard the lies decade after decades about preserving democracy while watching it get tossed out the door. Talking about progressive policy is all they've ever done then blame someone else when they end up doing nothing.
The delusion that you have to work within the system to change the system is pure fantasy because the system is operating as designed. And those in power will do everything they can to ensure it continues this way.
- The delusion that you have to work within the system to change the system is pure fantasy because the system is operating as designed.
  I find this point amusing because the people who don’t vote out of protest usually don’t do anything else either. They just sit back and let whatever happens, happen.

Not voting is an act of renouncing your voice and your rights. It's not a protest. It's at best complicity with the status quo, and at worst going to support a candidate that will be far far worse for the issues you are "protesting". You don't get to complain when you don't vote. All you get to do is sit down, shut up, and continue your inaction.

Individual politicians and political parties routinely use count a vote as approval. In that way, if no other, voting does serve to support the existing system.
But, even if you believe there must be revolution and the current system CANNOT be reformed, voting is still harm reduction, unless revolution will happen before the results of the election can influence the system.
- Individual politicians and political parties routinely use count a vote as approval. In that way, if no other, voting does serve to support the existing system.
  I don't think that tracks.
  The highest turnout in any US election since 1908 was 62% in 2020, and at no point has a party won an election and been like 'look at all the people who didn't vote, I guess we don't have a mandate to govern'
  Parties win elections and govern in power with less than 50% of voters backing them all the time, it's literally the standard. A low turnout will not change the way any party acts once in power.
- In that way, if no other, voting does serve to support the existing system.
  The amount and percentage of non-voter signals to most politicians that people tacitly approve of the entire system. After all, if they disapproved of something about it, they would've at least bothered to show up and vote, right?
  There's no better "the status quo is fine" indicator than not even giving enough of a shit to show up at the polls (or in some cases return a slip of paper through the mail).
When someone that would normally vote blue goes third party, they are giving their vote to trump. That is practically Jill Stein's while entire purpose.
Would you be happy for a republican to renounce their vote in protest?
that is why I tend to submit an invalid vote. I vote for exactly none of them.
calm down, I'm not in the US
Na, I like to stand up and shout my inaction and why.
"All you get to do is sit down, shut up, and continue your inaction."
So how is that any different from what the centrists will be doing? Seems like the same outcome for the peasants either way, especially if you dont live in a swing or red state.

I thought it was touching where he discussed his worries about using his last opportunity to speak before the election, and that he could be left wondering if there was something else that he could have said to change the outcome if it ends up going bad. I imagine there has to be a good bit of pressure when you have such a large platform.

For a show that points out so many wrongs with our country, it's easy to look at things negatively. But for now, at least, we are able to point out those wrongs and still have a hope we can do something about them. Not even 5 years a citizen, I imagine it could be scary as well that if a re-elected Trump goes for a type of "media reform," Oliver is likely going to be high on the list of people to be looked at.

I hope tomorrow goes well for America. I've been disappointed the last few elections that the comedians have been more critical than the mainstream journalists, but right now, I'm glad we've had them if nothing else, motivating us to still be our best.

Ukraine went and elected one of those TV comedians, and, while imperfect, he's been a pretty inspiring leader over the past few years.
- I had him in my mind writing my original comment. I don't know much about him before the war, but he seems to be doing admirable if anyone had concerns at his election.
  It's fun to turn back the clock and read old news:
  BBC: Ukrainian comedian Volodymyr Zelensky has scored a landslide victory in the country's presidential election. 22 APR 2019
  "I will never let you down," Mr Zelensky told celebrating supporters.
  Russia says it wants him to show "sound judgement", "honesty" and "pragmatism" so that relations can improve. Russia backs separatists in eastern Ukraine.
  Mr Poroshenko, who admitted defeat after the first exit polls were published, has said he will not be leaving politics.
  He told voters that Mr Zelensky, 41, was too inexperienced to stand up to Russia effectively.
  Mr Zelensky starred in the long-running satirical drama Servant of the People in which his character accidentally becomes Ukraine's president.
  He plays a teacher who is elected after his expletive-laden rant about corruption goes viral on social media.
  He ran under a political party with the same name as his show.
  With no previous political experience, Mr Zelensky's campaign focused on his difference to the other candidates rather than on any concrete policy ideas.
  NPR: Comedian Wins Ukrainian Presidency In Landslide 22 APR 2019
  "What's amazing is that despite Zelenskiy being a household name, people don't really know what he stands for," NPR's Moscow correspondent Lucian Kim told Morning Edition. "During the election campaign, he was very vague about his positions, and in that way he really became a blank slate for people to project whatever they wanted on him." The fact that voters chose Zelenskiy shows how desperate people are, Kim said.
  But Ukraine's outgoing president cautioned that the Kremlin is celebrating the election of an inexperienced candidate. Russia believes that "Ukraine could be quickly returned to Russia's orbit of influence," Poroshenko said on Twitter.
  According to The New York Times, many voters said they had supported Zelenskiy "not so much because they thought he was a good candidate but because they wanted to punish Mr. Poroshenko for deflating the hopes raised by Ukraine's 2014 revolution and for doing little to combat corruption."
  The Washington Post notes that Zelenskiy is just the latest comedian to win public office in elections around the world. In Guatemala, the former comic actor Jimmy Morales won the presidency on an anti-corruption platform with the slogan, "Not corrupt, not a thief." In Iceland, comedian Jón Gnarr ran for mayor as a joke candidate and won, serving one term before he stepped down in 2014. And in the U.S., Saturday Night Live comedian Al Franken became a senator from Minnesota.
  Maybe laughter and self-reflection is what the world needs right now. The comedians seem to be picking things up when everyone else is dropping the ball.

Living in the US as a person who grew up in Western Europe must be most masochistic way of life possible.

The best way to live in the US is to work at an European company and be send out long term to the US branch, you get European paychecks with the European taxing system and have European health insurance. You can receive your pay to a bank that allows global withdrawal with a miniscule currency transfer fee, for everything else you can use a Visa or MasterCard. Sure, this only works for a couple of months to a couple of years max, but you don't have to deal with so much US bullshit and when shit is about to hit the fan, the company is going to pull you out anyway.
- you get European paychecks with the European taxing system
  You lost me there, sorry. That's the worst way to live in the US.
  Software engineers in the US make like 5x what they do in most of Europe. For that money you can get pretty good health insurance too.
  If you're working for an European salary in the US, what's the point even.
Not really. A lot of people have this personal accountability mentality which supposes we all need to man up and deal with our own problems or suffer in silence. Which is all hypocritical and hardly ever do you find the people who espouse these views live up to them. Be it the self made millionaire trust fund baby who got a job at dad's dealership after dropping out when he burned through all his college funds. The drowning in debt college grad who doesn't work in the field they majored in because there wasn't any attractive jobs. The self made man who came up from nothing but now is completely burnt out or swindling people to amass a fortune.
You show me an American who claims they don't take hand outs and work harder then any one else could manage; and I'll show you a self centered prick that got lucky once and sits on their ass the rest of the day consuming conservative media.
That's my major point, though. By and large Americans are lazy self serving jerks who couldn't stop consuming if they were only selling turds. They like to binge after they binge and no amount of alcohol or weed is enough to make them contented.
No we aren't masochists. We are children who want loud orange man to make it so we can have more F150's and we get to play beer pong every single day.
- Wtf is this even? How does this address what the other commenter said? Did you just reply to a top comment for visibility?

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2015/01/29/from-the-archives-frederick-douglass-on-the-republican-party/

Frederick Douglas on voting at a time when both Parties had shafted Reconstruction.

I am so ready for this election to be over

“Forever elections” are the new normal, imo.
I fucking hate it too :(
- If only Citizens United v. FEC could be overturned, because it's so very obviously terrible😅
- Don't worry, once Democrats win 2024 MAGA will just give up forever and stop trying to implement American fascism.
  We won't be trapped in a cycle that can only end with the death of the boomers and Gen X or a civil war for the next two decades.

I suggest watching the entire video from GA State Rep. Ruwa Romman that is embedded in the article. Not so much for her reasoning about why she is voting for Harris, but for her comments of how to accomplish things politically in this country, how it works, how to actually move the country forward bit by bit. It's hard and takes work and time but it can definitely be done, and her thoughts about the Green party, how it doesn't do those things and thus never accomplishes anything.

The video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWZAbKU-JzE

Oliver said voting for Harris would mean the world could laugh at this past week’s photo of an orange, gaping-mouthed Trump in a fluorescent vest and allow Americans to carry on with life without worrying about what he might do next.

This sounds like my dad. He's kinda a Republican, but doesn't like Trump, and asserted that Trump would just go away after the last election.

Trump and Trumpism are not going away. If Harris wins, even by a lot, it's only going to validate his follower's fears, if it doesn't start an all-out conflict.

Well, I dont think Trump can survive another loss politically. He basically only survived because he moaned about election fraud and refused to accept the results.
Truth is that, the older he gets, the less likely he'll be able to run and the less convincing his "charisma" will be. I think we already see this in effect today to some degree.
- Putting aside all other anxiety, I'm fascinated to see if Republicans will finally flee his sinking ship as he fades to history. A lot of them only support him for survival... They're all spineless in the end.
- He's already said he won't run again. He probably physically can't.
  It's not a political problem though, he's all but god to so many people. Honestly I don't know what's gonna happen to a void he leaves behind when he passes away.
I get your fear, but my optimistic side thinks that trump is special in his ability to self promote to gullible fools. And while the reality denial of trumpism will never completely go away, Republicans will return to some sense of normalcy after he loses his grip.
- I don't believe so. Trump has only further enabled them and taught them that what they say has no bearing on votes received.

The thing is that shouldn't be an option.
- It shouldn't be but it is, and it's terrifying.
- It being an option is gated behind voter turnout.
I submitted my paperwork as soon as it was clear Trump had lost the last election, and I naturalized the following summer (with no record of that man on my official documents). I live here, this is my home, this is where my chosen family are, this is where I have created my best memories and plotted my best future life. I love speaking to friendly neighbors, being part of a rich and vibrant community of all different flavors and colors of Americans and guests. This will all be destroyed if the orange fart wins. A Trump America is not the fun happy safe place, it will break up these communities, create hate, purposely divide the people that represent this country just for the sole fucking purpose of a few people gaining power, control, and money.

C'mon you lazy people. I already voted by mail almost two weeks ago or three. Do that next time if you're going to be lazy like me. But now go out there and face the consequences of your inaction....bad weather, MAGA idiots, fake electors.....fake date if you are prepared to vote Jan 6th or some other date, etc.

Go now! Vote or we're going to have Trump as president again and he's gonna be crazier than before.

But if I vote today, I get a deal at Krispy Kreme!
(I voted two weeks ago too, but we have to do it in-person here.)

I have friends who will not vote for trump for obvious reasons but not for kamala as well, because they don’t vote for a cop!!!!!! Sad stuff

Are they forgoing voting in down-ballot races as well? Undervoting is a thing, and most electoral shifts start at the local level.
- They will vote a random candidate besides the aforementioned 2. Pathetic
- Another interesting question is if they vote for one of their local DA or sheriff candidates or just obtain.
Have you tried to explain to them that prosecutors are not cops? Maybe showed them the intro to Law & Order?

I think the first 35 seconds of his "Election 2024: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)" clip are a very strong argument against the Citizens United v. FEC ruling. Same for voting for judges, including marketing at RealCapitalismTM levels in politics is not good, because eventually it will be worth it for sooooo many corporate entities to just pump large portions of the GDP into politics. Nothing can compare with that, so corporations are favored to win, because marketing works. Fatigue is just one of the symptoms that go across the isle, i'm sure.

Great.Fucking.Speech.

I expect sales of that shirt to go through the roof now.

There needs to be a proper primary system. This choosing the candidate months in advance of the convention by some sort of fiat, no discussion of policies that candidate endorses, then having an eleven month campaign is fucking ridiculous.

If nominees have to get up, espouse their willingness or not to commit genocide in the name of middle east oil interests, and then maybe pay a price for that by not being nominated, might have brought all this to a different end. The DNC's certainty that they know what's right for the people that support the Democrats is the reason Trump even got a first term, let alone why this race is a nailbiter.

Their fucking arrogance and complete lack of awareness outside the oligarchic bubble they inhabit needs to have some consequences if Harris doesn't pull their pickles out of the garbage disposal and then perhaps lay back on the brown-child-murder-endorsement thing.

Passions are too high right now; say the same thing after Harris wins and maybe people will hear you. It's like how everyone was on board with freedoms lost during the Bush-era (after 9/11). Years later we wonder wtf happened.
- So wait till it's too late and be blamed for being against the obvious issues and path of pain we are on? As if our statements and warnings are what made them true instead of a desperate plea from clearer exterior perspectives?
  Cause that makes it seem inevitable and that the oracle Cassandra is not a fluke but a constant of humanity to have the prophetic ignored and hurt for it.
Now that Harris lost, it seems like people are agreeing with you.
- Huh, imagine that.

crying on cue hasi its uses

Ugh. It's always so cringe when late night hosts pull this kind of crap. They have literally become a mouthpiece for their corporate interests. That's your entire job! You are a breathing advertisement for Hollywood and big media agencies!

And you expect me to see your actors tears and think, hmm...yeah, they are like real people!

Give me a break.

Isn't john oliver a political satirist? Isn't his whole thing politics?
Who would you have take the role of pleading with people to vote a certain way?
The coastguard, perhaps?
- The coastguard is clearly the first line of defense in the battle of hearts and minds......
Hasn't Jon Oliver on more than one occasion fired insults at the company that owns the network he's on?
Are actors capable of crying out of genuine emotion or is that something they lose after being in the business a certain number of years?

Lol, like what? Does liking a sport and hating and exposing the corruption of it's organizers equate to supporting it's organizers? https://youtu.be/DlJEt2KU33I?si=WJAc7yVePsn0GwaA
...and apparently understanding the frustration with the EU but calling leaving it insane and urging people to vote against brexit is "supporting" it? https://youtu.be/iAgKHSNqxa8?si=JsEMq6gV7-tp5y7k
Like are you even trying? Nobody is perfect, John Oliver included, and I'm sure there are reasons to dislike him but could you at least chose topics he hasn't released multiple YouTube full clips of episodes of his show where he literally contradicts your point?
Wow, you really coming in here saying the literal opposite of reality and expect us to buy your bullshit?
Obviously the other comments have given sources showing how wrong you are, just fuck right off with the lies.
Everything you're saying here is completely wrong, couldn't possibly be more wrong. Removed for misinformation and temp banned.
Trolling? Misinformed? Don't care. Use the time to get some fresh air.
- You say all that as if the modlogs themselves don't clarify, with "oops" being written as the registered reason for the temp-ban, that someone in charge had made a mistake (which you're claiming credit for as an intended move on your behalf), or that the very thing we're discussing didn't have to be blown out of the water by the very person we speak of, especially as a certain point I made (going back to the same replies of mine about the supposed tearfulness) has been proven, as it's been proven to be a trend everyone else in his camp (who, as experienced politicians, namely ones in the Democratic league, you'd think would just recognize this a part of the process) has been using, which everyone else just wants to be relieved of and look back on with spirits as I've been optimistic enough to do for these three days and are growingly fed up with as a far more maladaptive variation threatens to make it hard for people with more genuine issues to be taken seriously. For such reasons, with the horse's mouth as a source, without breaking the rule of unnecessary downvoting as others are able to get away regarding you as they have to me as a demonstration of its enforcement, would one think it's out of place that I call double standard regarding the four things I describe just now?
Not wrong, just incoherent.

maybe he should tell kamala how important it is and to do everything possible to gain voters.

Either Trump will win, or Harris will win. Choose one to help.
Clearly, obviously, Harris stands a better chance of helping Palestinians than does Trump.
- harris being better is a low bar and i can't support the same system & people that genocided my ancestors out of existence in this country; especially after claiming to abhor it for decades once the trail of tears footnote/paragraph became standard in american history books.
  i don't want to be a party to re-legitimizing genocide as acceptable political collateral damage, so i'm voting third party in a solidly blue state and doing so ensures that my vote could never support trump in any way thanks to the same electoral college that gives trump a chance of winning; i'm using the system against itself and i hope others do the same.
https://psychology-spot.com/basic-laws-of-human-stupidity/?origin=serp_auto
Doing anything else other than voting for Harris in this regard is firmly in the stupid category. Trump would be worse in this regard. You are not only hurting yourself but others as well.
- Stupid people really don't like being called stupid, and in my experience, will be stupid harder just to show you.... Something!
- i live in a solidy blue state and voting third party so my vote could never support trump in any way thanks to the same electoral college that's helping trump to win; i'm using the system against itself as you should too whenever you have the chance.
  i'm also sure that my ancestors would agree with me that being party to re-legitimizing genocide as acceptable political collateral damage and at the hands of the same system & people that genocided them out of existence in this country is a bad idea.
We all know that she needs to do. They have the power.
Instead we're going to end up like the 2016 elections when there were these "Bernie or bust" voters that basically gave away the election to Donald Trump instead of voting for Hillary.
Except this time it'll be over Israel and their genocide.
- What's even stupider is Trump would more than likely be worse in this regard.
- I was one of those Bernie guys but I learned my lesson after 2016, I voted for sleepy Joe and I already voted for Kamala.
- So not only she didnt completely refuse to listen to them, she also repeated lies to their faces, brought Israeli family on the stage to speak about how they feel and refuse electoral Palestinian to speak. And now let Clinton say that Palestinian,” the people of the land”, have no right to exist.
  How hard it is to say something along the line:
  we will ensure children and women are protected
  we will send x amount of aid of food and medicine
  we will never support war crime
  How hard it is to meet with Muslium or Arab or Palestinian, snd say something to make them trust her?
  And then there are the other things that i found fucked up.
  Screaming women rights and then letting Clinton, a known predator to endorse and speak in her event.
- i'm expecting another 2016 too and; just like now; people were telling her campaign that rejecting your most fervent supporters to court voters who equate kamala's relative flawlessness with trump's ineptitude doesn't get you votes.
  the one silver lining in this upcoming cloud is that they're using all of my identities to virtue signal as it pertains to project 2025 and; if kamala loses; that will become a failed political wedge strategy and help ensure that it will never be employed again.
  when we enact the few remaining parts of project 2025 that we haven't done yet since 1981; mutual aid is going to matter in a similar way that i experienced it during the aid/hiv crisis the last time our gov't did little except make a public show of support while idly sitting by and letting thousands of people die and i hope that the future's younger vulnerability minorities aren't so easily manipulated by those same people who cashed in on ensuring that they're minorities.
I was going to bury this lower in the thread but I think this deserves a top line reply.
she could literally just pay lip service the day of the election where it can do the least amount of damage when it comes to moderate voters and that would gain the support of people like me; but she won't
So let's make this perfectly clear for everyone else: this person would sacrifice the rights of women/people of color/lgbtq+ people, accelerate genocide in Gaza/Ukraine/elsewhere, and completely doom any action on climate change.. because they want lip service on an issue they don't actually care about. Wonder why that is?
- No, kamala is willing to sacrifice those rights to commit a genocide. trump will impact almost none of those things without support from congress or full of military dictatorship. get your facts straight. no one did this but the DNC and kamala.
How nice it must be to go through life blaming everyone else for your own stupidity and bad decisions
- ignorance truly is bliss and i envy you for it.
.ml moment
- Man I'm so happy we can all agree we can ignore this class of people cause of their place of origin. It makes it so much easier to instantly be right.
It's obviously just not a priority and blaming voters is both lazy and wrong. The Democratic party has shown itself to be a structurally racist institution where subservience to lobbyists is prioritized over victory.
No one asked for any kind of hyberbole from Harris. We simply wanted some kind of a signal that she would be willing to enforce US law (you know, as a prosecutor and as the component of our federal government whose literal job it is to do so) around the use of US arms. We asked for a few minutes on a stages so that we could make the case for why Muslim and Arab voters should stay committed to the Democratic party, and were denied. We could even be afforded lip service by this party, some cheap lies to hold us over, so here we are
There has been nothing gained by this Democratic parties pro-genocide position. But those who are truly to blame for it's maintenance are here. It's the apologists, who blame voters for not accepting the onerous positions in the limited times we get access to political power, who blame those among us who dare try and wield it. Those who defended Harris's position, and argued that you, the voter should be moved to a more moral wrong, rather than the candidate: they own the genocide of the Palestinian people now. Because they demanded we give up our one chance where we have access to power, Election Day, to accept little and less from a broken political system that capitalizes and your willingness to be disappointed.
It's no longer on Harris, dear apologists. This is your genocide now.