Looking back at NAFO in US 2024 elections

On November 5, 2024, United States had a presidential election, which Donald Trump won, and Kamala Harris lost.

It’s up to smarter people than me to analyse why that happened, and what happens now. I am among the people who believe that the real choice was between fascism and democracy, and fascism won. This does not mean that the world will explode immediately, and I am not interested in whining or doomsaying. Today, a few days after the elections, I see mixed signals about how things will actually turn out, and some of the outcomes may be good and currently unpredictable.

Being in Europe, I take the European view on things, and smart people said already way before the election that the thing to do for Europe is to get more self-sufficient in defense matters and contribute more to assisting Ukraine, regardless of who wins the 🇺🇸 election.

A few months before the election, I wrote the post below, which motivates why NAFO is more on the side of Kamala Harris. I think it holds up pretty well.

My original post follows.

(Originally published in July 2024.)

Should NAFO be involved with 2024 🇺🇸 elections?

If you are a 🇺🇸 fella, should you apologize for having 🇺🇸 elections on your timeline?

If you are outside 🇺🇸 and wondering if it is appropriate for you to get involved in the elections of another country, what should you do?

(Not hypothetical questions. I have seen real fellas recently wondering and asking these.)

Here is what I think.

TLDR: in 2024, NAFO is Team Kamala.

I’ll start with a story from my own country. I live next to russia, and russian occupation ended here in 1991. Then, for several decades, and sometimes even now, we get all sorts of Westsplainers coming to lecture us about how we should live and how to run our country. Sometimes it was done in good faith, but often it was bad faith russian influence activity disguised under well-meaning labels like “protecting minority rights” and such garbage. Often they don’t know or care anything about local circumstances, and talk down to us. I’m highly allergic to this kind of foreign lecturing in my country, or any country.

Next, about elections. Elections always and everywhere are mostly about domestic matters. I’ve seen enough of the world (including living in 🇺🇸 for several years) to know that each country has their own culture and peculiarities, and it’s difficult for outsiders to grasp all nuances of that. All countries have things that seem weird to outsiders. I know mine does too. You may of course have your own opinions on it, but it’s really none of your business to tell people in other countries who and what to vote for. Let them sort their out their life and elections, and you worry about your own.

Now, about the picture. It is a silly meme, but has more depth and salience than half of fancy think tank papers. Politics for me falls into two categories. “Above the line”, as seen on this picture, is regular healthy good-faith politics, often in multiparty systems (my country is one too). People and political parties here interact with each other in good faith, recognizing that they have different programs, but all of them legitimately represent their voters, and it’s best to treat each other with respect, and form coalitions and make compromises to govern. And “below the line” is extremism, which these days in the Western world has a big overlap with being a russian poodle.

Personally I find “above the line” politics somewhat boring. Fortunately, most politics in my country recently has been “above the line”. I do always vote of course, but my record is not very consistent, and I’m not really a member or fan of any party. The view I take is, if you zoom out far enough, as long as things stay above the line, it doesn’t really matter who exactly is governing, because the system of democracy and at least some basic rights for people are preserved. (This is of course all simplification. But bear with me.)

So in general, you don’t get involved in another country’s elections. And NAFO is not a political movement, and is not affiliated with any party in any country. And if 🇺🇸 politics was healthy and above the line, this would be the end.

BUT. It’s not the end.

🇺🇸 elections of 2024 have a direct oversized massive impact on the defense of Ukraine and the future of the whole free Western world. The Republican child rapist russian poodle fascist camp is so far below the line on this picture that it’s not funny. russia is actively involved in manipulating the election in favor of the fascist camp, including in all social media, especially on the Twitter hell site. (Just go to any post from any big political account on this site, and you’ll find a load of comment from russian Ivans pretending to be warm-water-port-loving true American patriot Texians.)

If Trump were to win, the bulk of the fascism would be felt by people of US, which is unfortunate for them, but you can consider it a domestic matter which maybe does not concern others so much. But there is also a foreign policy and defense impact which directly affects Ukraine and all of Europe. Trump and his team will sell out Ukraine to russia in two seconds after they enter office, which will embolden russia and endanger the security of all surrounding areas. They do not recognize the rule of law, either domestic or international, and want to actively tear down the international system that the free world has painstakingly led to create after WW2 over many generations.

(And here’s why it’s not about political parties, but behavior: Republican Party of 1988 helped to liberate my country from russian occupation, which I remember and appreciate. Republican Party of 2024 wants to sell me right back to russia. They are not the same.)

Besides hard security and defense impact, what happens in US also drives extremists and russian poodles in many other places. The wannabe fascists in my own country have even fewer original ideas and brain cells than Trump MAGA–quite a feat, but that’s really the case. They just brainlessly follow Trump’s template in everything. If Trump does well, they are emboldened, and the same kind of hate and lies proliferate. I do not want that. It’s destructive to society and democracy.

So it makes sense for anyone in the free world with any amount of heart or brain to stand with Kamala Harris in 2024. Not because of her personality or policies–those are fine, but again, mostly between her and the American people, not so much the rest of us. But mainly because she is America’s chance to avoid falling under Trump’s fascism, which would bring hell to the entire world. My country has been under both fascist AND russian occupation. Both really really sucked, and I do not wish this fate upon anyone else.

The governments of Ukraine or other countries have to maintain the diplomatic line of being ready to work with whoever wins the US election. The beauty of being a cartoon dog is that we are not bound by this diplomatic protocol, and can speak freely from our… hearts? Paws?

It makes sense to participate, because you’re actively shaping history here. I am not of course claiming that silly Twitter posts will make the election, especially given how rigged the site and its owner are, but the impact of our collective work is certainly greater than zero. I am a fan of the collapsed small village world.

Here is a final point to motivate my case. russia is actively shaping the election on the side of hate, secretly and with its poison. It only makes sense that I do the same on the side which believes in humanity and Ukraine, openly, and with love.

#Kamala2024

PS. I did intentionally not specify what “getting involved” means for non-US fellas.

One thing you should definitely NOT do is give cash. DO NOT DONATE. Foreign political donations are illegal in US and most other countries. Donate your cash to 🇺🇦 defenders instead.

Bonking Ivans, and amplifying truth and positive messages is what global NAFO can help with.