Some of the seven Democrats who voted for Noem say they’d now oppose her in the wake of Trump’s aggressive deportation plans and last week’s incident involving Sen. Alex Padilla.

Five days after Donald Trump’s inauguration, seven Senate Democrats voted to confirm Kristi Noem to lead the Department of Homeland Security.

Nearly 5 months later, most of them are critical of her, with some going as far as to say they regret their votes.

“I’m very disappointed. I’m very disappointed in her,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told NBC News this week. “If I were voting on her today, I definitely wouldn’t vote for her.”

Freshman Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., also said he would vote differently and oppose her nomination if he could do it again.

  • @deegeese@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    702 days ago

    Why do we keep electing sellout Democrats who won’t even do their jobs? We haven’t even had a real primary in 17 years.

    • @seaQueue@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      392 days ago

      I’ll bite. Because on the whole they vote our positions more than the red team would. Are they a good fit for my politics? Nope, but they’re usually the least bad option in the general.

      That said we need to primary these fucks every time.

      • @timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        232 days ago

        To your latter point- if people show up to vote at all they don’t usually show up to primaries.

        Wish in one hand, shit in the other. See which fills up first. People aren’t voting every single election and just hoping someone great shows up. Well newsflash- you gotta show up first.

        • @seaQueue@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          152 days ago

          To your latter point- if people show up to vote at all they don’t usually show up to primaries.

          And this is the problem right here. You should be voting at least once a year and paying fucking attention to who the candidates are and their platform

      • @Freshparsnip@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        152 days ago

        We have a similar problem in Canada. A lot of us wanted to vote NDP but felt we had to vote liberal to avoid the risk of vote splitting leading to a conservative win. This problem could be avoided with ranked choice voting like they have in Australia, which our last prime minister promised to give us but he gave up on it.

      • Cruxifux
        link
        fedilink
        92 days ago

        You guys didn’t even get a primary last election lol they just picked Harris for you.

        • That’s false. 48 states held a democratic primary. Only Delaware and Florida didn’t. Biden won something like 87% of the vote, it was a landslide. Then he stepped down and put his VP in. Had someone else won those 48 states, Harris would have never been on the ballot. If they did hold a vote in Delaware (Biden’s home state) and Florida, the results would be the same.

        • @conditional_soup@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          52 days ago

          We did get a primary, I voted for Dean Phillips. It was a bullshit primary because they lied about and covered up Biden’s condition until it was too late to do anything about it, but we did have one.

        • The goal of primary is to grow the progressive wing as much as possible and eventually split to just being progressive. Even if we don’t get to that point we are a real threat to spoil, so we would get taken more seriously.

          Bit late at this point tho. Now we have a bigger and more complicated fight without clear goals and leadership. Which is needed to follow up protests.

      • @Eldritch@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        122 days ago

        I really enjoy that you have to put this in code now. Can’t openly state it. And still get largely downvoted for it.

        It’s such a shitty, dishonest take. And people are finally waking up to it. Hindsight has always been 2020. And looking back I think plenty of people right now sorely wish we still had a Democrat in the oval office. Regardless of all the problems that we would still have. We wouldn’t have a full-on autocrat on the March in our own country as well. And might actually be able to focus completely on what’s going on over in Palestine instead of having to split our resources now on more fronts. Including local.

        I’m not defending Or absolving democrats of their part in this. They’re still not learning. Just like you’re still not learning. And just as much as the Democrats are not an ally of the left or the people in general. Neither is someone like you who actively campaigned against our best interest. Helping to get the worst possible outcome elected. Simply because the other option was not perfect enough.

        • @TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          16
          edit-2
          2 days ago

          No yours is the dishonest take. You’re defending the rot at the core of the Democratic party, when it’s that very rot that prevents them from an easy path to victory in elections, and speeds our progress towards fascism.

          MLK was right when he said that the true enemy of progress in this world were those who would ask us to suffer an unjust peace instead of accepting the righteous tension required to bring about change.

          We’re here because we were told, by people like you, that we needed to accept less from Democrats because the alternative was worse. And we listened, for decades. And as a result both Democrats and their alternative both got worse, to the point that The Democratic party is at its lowest favor ability in almost a hundred years.

          So miss me with your anemic, shown to be losing, approach to politics

          • @Eldritch@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            13
            edit-2
            2 days ago

            I’m not defending the rot. I literally called you and them both out. But you’ve never been honest so why would you start now. We could do a lot more to take care of it if there was a democrat in office right now and we weren’t having to struggle to keep Ukraine from being steamrolled and our allies betrayed domestic and foreign. All the families now being ripped apart. Simply because Biden was not good enough for you simply because Harris was not good enough for you. You and your useless Purity tests.

            Oh and nice selective quoting of Martin Luther King Jr. there. Don’t let yourself think that slipped by. But I’ll tell you one thing. While King was correct to call that out. You know what he didn’t do. He didn’t stop trying to seek alliances where he could to change things when possible. Martin Luther King Jr didn’t rely on Purity tests. Not like you. People are right to have a lot of regret. Things weren’t perfect. But they were better. And hopefully they will learn from all this purity testing. But letting the perfect be the enemy of the achievable is always a bad position.

            I’ve never told anyone to accept less from the democrats. In fact I regularly tell people to primary them everywhere and Republicans as well. The simple fact is when it comes to national elections like the presidency. It will either be a Republican or a Democrat that wins. And while neither one is good. One is certainly much much worse. As shameful as it was. Palestine wasn’t on the ballot in the presidential election. But blatant fascism was. And while Democrats I think did the Lions share to hurt themselves. People with purity test like yours did no service either.

            But you do you. Tell yourself what you need to to absolve yourself of any role in the problems we’re now facing in america. Build as many straw men as you like. People see you. And they’re not liking what they see.

            • Cruxifux
              link
              fedilink
              112 days ago

              Purity tests?! THEY WERE SUPPORTING A GENOCIDE! American liberals have lost their absolute minds.

              • @Eldritch@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                52 days ago

                And so we’re republicans. The genocide in Palestine literally was not on the ballot. No matter who won it was going to continue.

                The only thing that was on the ballot was whether we were going to bring the genocide home and make it worse or not. Spoiler.

                Now not only are we not having the minimal to no pushback against Israel that we had before. We have Trump actively enabling Israel and pushing to go to war in Iran. The worst possible option. And the Democrats definitely did plenty to bring it on themselves. But a lot of people were manipulated into turning the genocide in Palestine into an attack issue specifically against democrats. So effectively. That a number of Palestinians voted for Trump thinking he would be better about Palestine.

                • @electric_nan@lemmy.ml
                  link
                  fedilink
                  51 day ago

                  A system where literal genocide “is not on the ballot” is a wholly irredeemable system. Please understand that democrats are as responsible for Trumpism as republicans. Oh how people miss Obama, yet even with two terms in office, he failed to make any fundamental changes that could have prevented Trump. Democrats pose no credible opposition to republicans, because they are fundamentally incapable (unwilling) to address the problems we are facing. Basically the same foreign policy, and halfhearted reformist approaches to domestic issues. Republicans have all the wrong answers, but people see them fighting to implement them.

                  • @Eldritch@lemmy.world
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    41 day ago

                    I never said it was. Why would you even think that that’s what I was implying? Acknowledging reality is not endorsing it.

                    During the presidential election we had the choice to either hold our ground or make things worse. Between the Democrats Optical and rhetorical failures. Plenty were also more concerned with virtue signaling to attack them. Rather than do what was achievable. Hoisting that turd over the Finish Line just to spite the fascist and keep them from Power.

                    Trust me as an anarchist I want to see every National level politician out of the job. And most in the state as well. It’s got nothing to do with supporting them. Just acknowledging the reality of the situation.

            • @TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              13
              edit-2
              2 days ago

              You aren’t just defending the rot: you are the rot. And calling me dishonest when you’ve been in a state of perpetual gaslight for litterally years?

              Fucking rich dude.

              Litterally all I have done is that advocate that Democrats not use strategies shown to lose elections. Your brain interprets that as advocating against Democrats, and I’m sorry that I can’t take a time machine back to your 10th grade home home room teacher that Eldritch the apologist needs to work on their reading comprehension skills. Show me once, where I advocated for people to not vote Democrat in the 2024 election.

              Your persistent and nefarious approach to politics, your constant efforts to silence important accurate and relevant criticism of Democrats, advocacy that is trying to get them to do better: Your the fucking problem with the Democrats.

              Shielding Biden from criticism during an election cycle threw the election for Democrats. Shielding Harris from criticism when she didn’t shift policies from Biden lost the election for Democrats.

              Gaslighting people to deny the evidence of their eyes and ears will continue to lose Democrats elections.

              Democrats can’t win elections using your approach. We ran the experiment. We have the data. You were the fucking problem.

            • @BrainInABox@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              English
              62 days ago

              Biden was not good enough for you simply because Harris was not good enough for you. You and your useless Purity tests.

              Genocide apologia.

              But letting the perfect be the enemy of the achievable is always a bad position.

              You heard it here! Genocide is “good”.

              But blatant fascism was.

              Clearly not, because the Democrats policy on Palestine was blatant fascism

              People see you. And they’re not liking what they see.

              Your boos mean nothing, we’ve seen what makes you cheer

        • Cruxifux
          link
          fedilink
          82 days ago

          “Not perfect enough” is such a stupid way to phrase that.

        • @BrainInABox@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          English
          42 days ago

          And might actually be able to focus completely

          You had that chance for over a year, you spent my defending Bidens participation in genocide

          Simply because the other option was not perfect enough.

          Imagine describing “active participation in a modern Holocaust” as “not perfect enough”