Viva la Retribucion: Preemptive Victim Blaming for Not Voting as "Instructed"

If you go back through my posts this election, here and elsewhere, you can verify that not once have I asked for people to vote according to my opinion. I have my opinion. I state it. I back it up. I ask you to consider it. End of transaction. I have repeatedly stated that it is correct for different people to have different political priorities that depend on the circumstances of their lives. My arguments may or may not be compelling within the context of your life and that's fine.

However, there has been a very strong contingent this primary season of people who simply cannot abide people "refusing" to vote for "the right" candidate. And I'll be clear about this: it's only one candidate. In fact, they've been so adamantly pro-Sanders that they consider it "telling them how to vote" for superdelegates or Clinton supporters to have an opinion-- or even for reporters to report statistics showing Clinton in the lead. "That's unethical and it shouldn't happen!" But of course, it's perfectly legitimate for them to tell us how to vote based on their opinion of what's best for us, which of course is actually what's best for the Default White Male.

Orange fluff ball of hate.

It's not surprising; it's just the same old same old. They are mostly educated, middle-class white men who spent the primary whitesplaining to Black people and mansplaining to women that our needs are actually less important than helping poor people pay for college, on the (very flawed) assumption that the middle class goal of attending college is a universal goal among the poor and also, anyone who paid for college already suffers no forms of inequality.

However, stomping your feet and yelling that people must vote with you because you know that your needs are universal? It's just not very convincing to people who have different needs. And when people voted for their own needs instead of following instructions, Sanders zealots were appalled and shocked and furious! "Why are women and Black people so stupid that they voted against their interests?"

"They refused to vote as we instructed, but they ask for party unity, so now they're telling us how to vote? No one tells us how to vote!"

Bernie Trump or Bust!

"And I'll say 'I told you so!'"

At first, the Bernie or Bust movement seemed like nihilism with a side-order of "I thought socialism was a boogeyman until a white dude ran against Hillary Clinton." But when they didn't win, a nastier side came to light.

Clinton supporters said "OK, we have a nominee now. It's time to work together to defeat The Orange Fluffball of Hate! If he wins, the GOP will control all three branches of government, and women and minorities will lose rights! And the SCOTUS nomination means they could lose rights for decades! And also, he's freaking terrible and will probably kill us all but will most certainly make penis jokes during the State of the Union Address!"

And Bernie or Busters replied "No! I'm voting for Trump because he's anti-establishment! If we get a Trump presidency and you lose your rights, it's your fault for voting for Clinton! That's what you get for not supporting the right candidate! Then you'll come begging for us!"

They don't want the best remaining candidate to win. They don't want to protect the progress that we've made. They don't want to ensure that women and minorities retain our rights and get access to greater equality-- progressive ideals that Busters previously claimed to hold dear. They want us to lose health care, lose rights, and suffer so that we learn the error of our ways and beg them to take us back like a codependent ex.

They want retribution.

Viva la Retribucion!

Many of them insist that they will not back Clinton unless she adopts Sanders' platform, which lost. Even though it lost, it is "the only platform that can win." [insert mental gymnastics here] And because we dared to vote "incorrectly," they will sabotage the election to punish us. Also, we must be superdeduper nice to them because don't we know they have feelings?

I really loved this friend of a friend, who believes that the person who got 55% of the vote isn't "a vital piece of the [Democratic Party] puzzle," but the guy who got 45% is (stats cherry-picked in his favor). Because reasons! It's Clinton's job to unite the party, not Sanders' job to endorse her, breaking from tradition. And she is to unite the party by conceding to the loser on every issue!

After all, tradition and even contracts don't apply if that means supporting a woman. If the woman doesn't submit to their demands, she's not "doing the right thing."

Also, if Sanders endorses her, it's because he's diluting his own message.

He'd even be a traitor to his own cause, just like Elizabeth Warren.

Or perhaps just a hostage to the party that he decided to join to get publicity, since upholding your end of that bargain is... well, I'll let this dude speak for himself because I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it.

Totes the same thing, dude.

Others insist that the DNC nominate Sanders anyway, to listen to the "Will of the People." Otherwise, they will write Sanders in in the states that allow that, which should totally intimidate us because they are the only people who count. Or exist, I can't tell which it is anymore.

Or leave the Democratic Party, which should scare us because they are so goddamned important.

And on their way out, they are going to vote against any downmarket candidate that supports Clinton, to ensure that the Democrats can't take the Legislative branch either.

After all, the DNC cheated by upholding its rules, making "the wrong person" win.

I prefer a trochaic victory, myself.

Some of them are even threatening to vote for Trump as a way to convince superdelegates to switch to Sanders, overruling the "Will of the People" that they said they held so dear.

Oo. He's not afraid to follow through with threatening to vote for Trump to troll. I'm impressed. Some just believe that Trump and Sanders are the same because "Establishment."

Obviously, civil war is better than foreign war.

It's a "fuck you to the stupid people that voted Hillary in." At least someone can admit that the motivation is vindictiveness and retribution.

She Was Asking for It

And as a last resort, if Trump wins because they refuse to support Clinton (which they do based on lies and misogyny), all of those women and black people who voted for her will lose their rights and get what's coming to them.

Saying that you want rights is a guilt trip and not an actual concern, obvs.

After all, once there was a man in the race, she should have dropped out!

Well, we should defund Planned Parenthood too then. Any trumped up investigation is proof!

"This gash." Totally no sexism involved here, "Valerie."

Or at the very least, it's "The Establishment's" fault, so they absolve themselves of responsibility for their votes.

Because lying about Clinton and the DNC for months is "righteous" and irrelevant.

The guy who did nothing isn't entitled but the woman who worked still needs to earn it. Hmm.

The popular vote "forced Hillary Clinton on the electorate." Because, you know, votes by women and minorities aren't actually votes because we're not part of "the electorate."

Ahh yes, the "spineless" lady from the Benghazi hearing who didn't quit the race when ordered.

Because, of course, the way to prove that misogyny has nothing to do with your beliefs is to say that women are "asking for it if" they vote for the female candidate and then you vote with the intention to sabotage the female candidate. You voting to sabotage the female candidate is the fault of her supporters for not following your orders.

After all, women are responsible for anything bad and men are responsible for anything good.

If you are ever discussing women and the phrase "asking for it" comes out of your mouth, just fucking shut up and rethink your life.

In Closing... 

I bring you this thread, which should live in infamy if there is any sanity left in the world. (TW: sexism, suicidal threats, more sexism, ableist false claims of mental illness, a lot of cursing, and a metric butt tonne of racism.)