“Jill Stein is a useful idiot for Russia. After parroting Kremlin talking points and being propped up by bad actors in 2016 she’s at it again,” DNC spokesman Matt Corridoni said in a statement to The Bulwark. “Jill Stein won’t become president, but her spoiler candidacy—that both the GOP and Putin have previously shown interest in—can help decide who wins. A vote for Stein is a vote for Trump.”

  • TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    3 months ago

    Seems a little cruel.

    Her policies are far better than the DNC’s, though I understand that part of being a candidate with zero chance to win is being able to say whatever you want without consequence.

    I don’t think there’s any pragmatic reason to vote for Stein, since it’s so incredibly important that Trump not win, but I think calling her a useful idiot isn’t helpful.

    • jordanlund@lemmy.worldOPM
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      3 months ago

      In this instance, “useful idiot” has a very specific meaning:

      https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/useful idiot

      : a naive or credulous person who can be manipulated or exploited to advance a cause or political agenda

      It is one task of the KGB [in 1982] to apply its skills of secrecy and deception to projecting the Soviet party’s influence. This it does through contacts with legal Communist Parties abroad, with groups sympathetic to Soviet goals, with do-gooders of the type that Lenin once described as “useful idiots” … .

      Re: the Lenin thing:

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useful_idiot

      “A useful idiot or useful fool is a pejorative description of a person, suggesting that the person thinks they are fighting for a cause without fully comprehending the consequences of their actions, and who does not realize they are being cynically manipulated by the cause’s leaders or by other political players.[1][2] The term was often used during the Cold War to describe non-communists regarded as susceptible to communist propaganda and psychological manipulation.[1] A number of authors attribute this phrase to Vladimir Lenin, but this attribution is not supported by any evidence. Similar terms exist in other languages.”

    • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      She can say her policies are whatever gets votes. She has no chance of winning and having a chance to implement them.

      If you know you won’t ever have to follow through, there’s no punishment for promising anything.

    • Eldritch@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Policy that never gets implemented is meaningless. It cannot be better. I mean if that weren’t the case you’d be a fool not to elect me. Because of my policy is that every person in America gets a million dollars. And I guarantee you that will help people far more than anything Stein is proposing.

      What the Simple Minds don’t comprehend or want to understand. Is that Jill Stein is in many ways exactly like Donald Trump. They will tell you what you want to hear. Regardless of their ability to deliver on it.

      All liberal policy sucks. Regardless of whether it’s conservative or progressive. Their reflexive recoiling from anything even tangentially related to socialism. Their need to shove capitalism in everything especially in places it should never be. If you vote for conservative. You get sodomized against your will. Dry and rough. When you vote for progressive. They sodomize you against your will still. But they will be gentle about it provide lube and even sometimes a reach around. Voting for Jill Stein you are lied to and told that the outcome will be better than either of those. Only to find that you will still be sodomized dry by a conservative. Only now Jill Stein and Putin will be standing behind you high-fiving. Which is actually worse.

      Not to demean or Kink shame those that like sodomy. But even they like some consideration from their partner. Something which sadly only one of the parties currently in this presidential election can actually offer.