Environmental Group Spits In Biden's Face A Month After Praising Him Because Something Something "Gaza"
You know what? Fuck you.
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On Tuesday, Axios reported that the Sunrise Movement, a progressive environmental group, is withholding its endorsement of President Joe Biden. For the moment, at least. Why? Because of Gaza, a well-known environmental issue:
But Biden's position on college protests and the Israel-Hamas war, as well as his approval of some fossil fuel projects, is leaving some folks decidedly apathetic about supporting him in 2024.
…
"Biden is shooting himself in the foot: his actions on fossil fuels and Gaza mean he's not going to get the celebration he's looking for" from environmentally conscious voters, Stevie O'Hanlon, communications director for Sunrise, told Axios.
This is not all that surprising to me since the Sunrise Movement is closely aligned with Justice Democrats. If that name is not ringing a bell with you, don’t be surprised.
Justice Democrats is a group founded after the 2016 election by a bunch of Bernie Bros. Their explicit goal was a hostile takeover of the Democratic Party. They were going to march in, primary everyone, and seize control in much the way the Tea Party took control of the GOP.
The fact that you probably have no idea who the hell I’m talking about should tell you that this did not work. They had a few successes, their most notable being Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez1 and the Squad. But overall, they have a track record of losing. A lot.
But still, prodding the party to move to the left is never a bad thing, even if they were being really obnoxious and kind of ratfucky about it. The Sunrise Movement was successful in helping shape Biden’s climate agenda. And, this is the really important bit, Biden’s climate agenda has been insanely progressive.
We don’t talk about it enough because the press avoids touting Biden’s accomplishments like the Black Plague, but the Inflation Reduction Act was a massive investment in just about everything the Sunrise Movement said it wanted.
Don’t believe me? Cool. Here’s a bunch of environmental groups saying the same thing:
President Biden made protecting the environment and climate progress a top priority on his first day in office when he recommitted the U.S. to the Paris Agreement. Since then, he has delivered more climate action than any other president in American history with his affordable clean energy plan. He signed into law groundbreaking investment in clean energy, climate action and environmental justice; the greatest yet in support of revitalizing communities feeling the loss of jobs, addressing environmental justice issues nationwide, creating cleaner, cheaper energy choices for consumers and slashing pollution. And he closed longstanding loopholes to force Big Oil and corporate polluters to pay their fair share. Biden has done more to take climate action and protect, restore, and secure our health and our environment than any president in American history, and he isn’t done yet.
Since day one of his presidency, Biden has taken more than 300 climate, conservation, public health and clean energy actions, more than any other president in history.
Who are these groups? Take a look. Let me know if you spot anyone you recognize:
Huh. That’s odd. I thought the Sunrise Movement wasn’t happy with Biden’s progress on climate. Yet here they are, just a few weeks ago, signing on to a letter praising him to high heaven.
Just to be absolutely clear, Biden really has gone all in on tackling climate change. This is from the letter Sunrise Movement signed on to:
Created more than 271,000 new jobs, reducing pollution and lowering energy costs through homegrown energy choices like wind and solar.
Put us on a path to create 9 million jobs by 2030, which will cement American leadership over China in clean energy and clean cars, tripling American production of clean, renewable energy.
Created the American Climate Corps (ACC), which is training and preparing over 20,000 young people for jobs in clean energy, conservation, and climate resilience — with plans to triple that number in the next decade.
That last one, the American Climate Corps, was a really big goal of the Sunrise Movement. Take a quick peek at the image topping this article. The ACC was a big part of the protests. And Biden got it done.
There’s a whole lot more and you should definitely read the letter for yourself. It is indisputable, however, that Biden is not just good on the environment or just “better than Trump,” he’s been exactly what progressives have been demanding for decades.
This makes it a little strange that the Sunrise Movement is refusing to endorse him in a contest where Donald Trump is the other candidate. Not for nothing, Donald Trump is hardly an unknown quantity here. His environmental track record is as crystal clear as it is horrific:
Withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement
Replaced the Clean Power Act with weaker regulations
Rolled back regulations on airborne mercury emissions
Allowed an increase in toxic coal ash dumping
Shrunk national monuments to allow drilling
The list is extensive and goes on for some time. His second term would be far worse. Trump recently demanded $1 billion from the oil industry in exchange for gutting fossil fuel regulations and granting every drilling permit they could ever want. There is literally nothing Trump will not give to companies that pollute if they give him money and/or praise.
Trump will also deregulate everything Biden touched just as a ”fuck you” to Biden. We know this for a fact because this is exactly what he did to Obama. No specific policy agenda. No ideology. Just “Obama did it? Undo it right fucking now.”
But Biden wasn’t great on Gaza so an environmental group will risk unleashing that. This is, to put it bluntly, strategically fucking stupid.
Biden did not personally save 30-40,000 Palestinians so we will help doom the future of the human race. It makes one wonder how serious they were about their environmental goals in the first place.
One frequently finds that people once associated with the Sanders campaigns did not go on to pursue careers in progressive politics. They went on to pursue an agenda that was explicitly about making Democrats lose.
Not for nothing, it’s telling that this scolding from Sunrise went out a week after Biden announced he was close to twisting the arms of both Israel and Hamas into the very ceasefire that the environmental group wants. Because, again, the conflict in Gaza is very central to climate change and the future of the human race. Scout’s honor!
My biggest problem with bullshit like this is that it’s teaching Democrats not to pursue the progressive vote. Biden delivered on a laundry list of progressive asks. Massive investment in climate action. Rescheduling marijuana (it’s happening soon). Billions in student loans forgiven. Hitting monopolies harder than any president has in half a century. Turbo-boosting labor.
The response from progressives? "Fuck you, you have to earn my vote!”
That tells Democrats that those votes cannot be earned so why bother chasing them? It moves the party away from the left which is stupid because even though the alt-left is being a bunch of assholes, the policies are good for the country. Why would “progressives” do that? Unless, like Justice Democrats, they’re not progressives.
It has occurred to me, on more than one occasion, that the alt-left set a bunch of goals they probably thought were unattainable. And then Biden went ahead and fucking did it, leaving groups like Sunrise in a position where they had to either back Biden or find some other excuse to withhold their endorsement even though Biden has done everything they asked for.
Does it make sense for an environmental group to throw a temper tantrum over Gaza? No. Unless they were, in fact, looking for an excuse. In that case, Gaza is perfect. Unless Biden brokers a ceasefire. Then they’ll have to move the goalposts again and find a new excuse.
That’s when you’ll know they were never dealing in good faith to the detriment of us all. Want to guess what I think they’ll do?
There are 150 days until the 2024 election. Vote blue like your life depends on it.
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It’s really important to note that AOC has since distanced herself a bit from Justice Democrats and their extreme anti-Democratic Party stance. She’s worked with the party to get shit done and, as a result, is universally loathed by the alt-left. But I thought they wanted their people to be leaders? Or did they just want to tear the party apart? (Hint: It’s the latter)
I consider myself to be proudly progressive, but cannot fathom *anyone* on the left pushing against Biden and honest Democratic candidates. It's pure idiocy, given the alternatives. Will be voting blue this November, up and down the ballot.
Dear Sunrise Movement,
Good work undermining your, and others, environmental mission you self-defeating fuck monkeys.
Yours,
The Normal Left & Environmental Stewards