There’s always an aviation angle. People were flying – across the country, across the Atlantic – to cast ballots, often because of challenges they faced trying to cast their votes absentee. That’s a lot of time and effort considering each is about one of 160 million registered voters in the United States. But people are passionate! Many of you are elated today, while just as many are apoplectic.
WHO IS THIS DIVA pic.twitter.com/Y8OQRJzsMc
— chris evans (@notcapnamerica) November 5, 2024
My brother did this pic.twitter.com/oqdRfWjgeD
— Sheel Mohnot (@pitdesi) November 6, 2024
It’s easy to critique the woman making a transatlantic trip to vote for Kamala Harris because it was futile, however a single vote was always going to be futile – Pennsylvania, for instance, wasn’t going to be decided by one vote! Most of the time and in most places, voting is purely expressive.. performative.. but that’s exactly the case for this woman. She cares deeply about the outcome and wants to participate even if she’s not affecting it.
Is it entirely rational? In a subjective sense, yes. She’s pursuing a narrative she believes matters to her. Is it entirely consistent? If we infer some things about her likely politics, such as environmental concerns, then probably not (although it’s complicated).
- Remember that American Airlines alone consumes 1% of global fuel (and so do each of United and Delta).
- At the same time, not all flying contributes to harmful emissions equally. It’s a small portion of flying that does, and it seems as though this can be mitigated by changes in altitude.
- Although we’re not quite to the point of knowing for certain in advance which flying, and being able to adjust, though it seems like we’re close.
I’d prefer making a trip like this using miles. First, it feels like that’s what miles are for, being able to pursue the passions that matter to you. And when you’re getting a good deal on miles, it’s usually because the airline expects to fly a plane anyway but not to sell the seat they’re offering on points. And that’s precisely when you have the least impact on the environment through your travels.
Sure, flying to vote may seem like it doesn’t make sense when it doesn’t alter the outcome of the election. But for the people doing it, it’s fun! And if they can travel on points then the fun seems to come with less baggage, fewer negatives, both in terms of cost and possible criticism over environmental impact.
Meanwhile, about half the country will be the perfect target markets for airline ads like this one today:
WestJet running ads on IG for the US election – I actually love this. Great top of funnel move that’s going to get a bunch of shares and tags. pic.twitter.com/SmtnXFtgHm
— Stefan Kalczynski (@stefkal_) November 5, 2024
Maybe making a one-way trip is psychologically the easiest. Everyone who flew to cast a ballot only to see their candidate lose faces the prospect of flying back. Given that the whole point was to participate in a collective act that failed, the return flight home especially has to be truly deflating. Let’s just avoid fisticuffs in the cabin over the outcome.
Of course they didn’t affect the outcome, which was probably preordained by Vice President Harris holding her final rally on the famous steps from Rocky in Philadelphia where, I’ve seen pointed out, she declared, “And here at these famous steps, a tribute to those who start as the underdog and climb to victory…” forgetting that Rocky lost.
Camel-a has been preposterous or ludicrous throughout .
Her and Brandon’s policies have been nuts from the beginning , and we can thank our lucky stars that their nutty policies are now going to be ended .
@ Alert… Since you are doing it, can you answer the question of what is the point of name calling when referring to someone you don’t like? Both side do it obviously…
Camel-a reads in the New York Times that she is not a moron , and she is such a complete moron that she believes it.
That is akin to the Mad Hatter reading Mad Magazine .
@patrick … I admit that I am a “deplorable” and “garbage” , as described by Brandon and Camel-a.
Trump is my driver today , and he will make a stop and cook me some McDonalds .
Camel-a reading the New York Times , is akin to the Mad Hatter reading Mad Magazine .
Someone who goes to extraordinary efforts to vote should not be mocked. Regardless of who one chooses to vote for, it’s a civic duty and a right that should not be taken for granted.
thank you, Ron.
Let’s not forget that the entire concept of a democracy has existed for a very small portion of human history.
Americans have a CHOICE to vote even though it is a right and a responsibility.
The final totals were driven by significant divisions within American society that need to be addressed not just for the betterment of America but for the world.
Well it proves irrationality and hysteria. Climate Change is going to destroy the planet in ten years yet the people believing that will fly across the ocean to cast a vote that can be done by mail. Same behavior during COVID. No logic and intelligence.
@Tim … Are you referring to the significant divisions between us citizens , and the illegal alien Venezuelan gangs ?
Hopefully The Donald will address this issue , to the betterment of us citizens , and for the sending home of the Venezuelan gangs .
@George … +1 . The dinosaurs also worried about climate change and what they could do about it .
What a waste. I sent in 4 mail-in ballots in Montgomery County, PA and I ahve never lived there!
Democrats made the rules. Enjoy!
Gary, to be fair, Rocky did win in basically every sequel.
Maybe Gary and Ben will stop their ridiculous Ted Cruz/Cancun obsession
@Sean … +1 . Also , this is The Donald’s Third Presidential election victory in a row .
I keep hoping that disaffected democrats will take these airlines up on their offers so that their threats to leave can be fulfilled. Trump won, even the popular vote, so the USA is irredeemable.
But, Belarus is an affordable socialist paradise! The PRC is shiny and clean with great public transpoer and free healthcare. Sure, they don’t go for the LGBTQ+=& thing, but whatever – different culture. Canada has little Justin running things (for now), so if your like corrupt, inept socialist creatures, Canada offers an awesome option. As a bonus, housing is unaffordable for the hoi polloi, and taxes are super high. Its awesome! Then there’s Venezuela, a socialist paradise. And they hate Trump too!
I’ll even donate my miles for a one way flight to somewhere really far for Joy Reid, any idiot from The View or Bobby DeNiro – just so they can happily no longer exist here.
Get to it lefties! Time to go!
@sean – right, so she was setting herself up perfectly to run a campaign sequel in 2028..
It’s pretty clear now more than ever the 2020 election was stolen just by vote count alone.
Trump needs to launch a massive investigation in the 2020 election using the full force of his government. People need to go to jail.
He better pardon all the jan 6th patriots and proclaim it as Ashley Babbit day.
The ‘2020 was stolen’ stuff really is stupid. When Trump was President and in charge of the federal bureaucracy he was so incompetent as to let it be stolen from under him… but those same agents provocateur couldn’t manage the same feat when their side ran the bureaucracy? Democratic governors in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina couldn’t assist this time? Okey dokey.
The reward you get for :
Hiding dementia from day1.
Illegally putting a person the ballot that wasn’t elected in the primaries
Putting a person on the ballot because she’s black (?)
Putting a person on the ballot because she’s a woman.
Putting a person on the ballot with the lowest iq in history.
Putting a person on the ballot who can not even hold a basic conversation.
Putting a person on the ballot who dodges every question.
Putting a person on the ballot who has NO policy except ‘im not trump’
Putting a person on the ballot who divides the country, not unites it.
Putting a person on the ballot who plays the race card.
Did they really expect this to work ????
It shows how dumb people are when they fly here to vote. Typical for the left
“They Flew Across Oceans To Vote and Get Social Media Hits with their Virtue Signaling Story”
There, fixed it for you, Gary.
I made sure I made it back to the USA to vote in person for this election.
That said, based on the comments both should make a GoFundMe account, it sounds like a bunch of people would be happy to send them money.
Or maybe, just maybe, they’re also virtue signaling in the comments. Set up a fund and find out.
If she can afford to fly transatlantic to cast a ballot, she’s probably doing OK. Might even be doing better today after the stock rally.
The rally probably doesn’t affect the average supporter, though, which is textbook for him.
These idiots probably just finished up at an extinction rebellion protest. I guess that climate “emergency” isn’t quite that urgent. The cognitive dissonance required to patch together all these conflicting beliefs is impressive.
Well, yes that might be extreme to some, but she has another cool travel story. What is that worth?
Life is not always rational… obviously.
Case in point: How many of us have spent perfectly good money to board a plane, fly to some distant airport we don’t really want to be at, never leave the airport, then get back on a plane (Sometimes the same one) and fly back? Think mileage run. To some people, that sounds truly crazy.
Maybe the person will remember to set an alert on her phone to get an absentee ballot. That would be the intelligent and obvious answer to this.
One vote has exactly zero probability of deciding an election, unless it’s the vote of a judge. When the contest gets within 0.1%, judges decide.
@Gary re: 2020 stolen:
1) We both know that federal employees (the deep state) overwhelming are dem. The fact that Trump “controls” the bureaucracy is irrelevant. There was massive internal resistance throughout his term. Nothing to do with incompetence, more like insubordination.
2) GOP was ready for shenanigans this time, they learned from the last time.
3) Dems couldn’t use covid as an excuse to illegally change election laws on the fly.
4) This time the results were not close enough to be able to be stolen.
I have no doubt there was rampant fraud in 2020. Just look at the total vote counts in 2020 compared with 2016 and 2024. Anomalous to say the least. Whether Trump would have won without all the voter irregularity is another story. However, add to that the fraud of the media/pharma/tech suppression of factual stories (hunter laptop, vaccine dev, russia collusion hoax, etc) I think it’s safe to say the outcome would have been vastly different. Trump after all was coasting to reelection before covid hit.
@Romey “Climate Change is going to destroy the planet in ten years” Please ignore the following if this quote is not serious. A growing number of scientists are having a problem with statements like that. This subgroup contends that, since this is a preposterous exaggeration in the mind of virtually all who study this, the public, whose opinion you want with you, will reject you.
There’s a way to vote by mail and fax for overseas Americans:
https://www.fvap.gov/
Scroll down and click on “Register and request a ballot with the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA)”
@Gary I’m more analytical than most and I have no doubt the 2020 election was in fact stolen.
Compared to the 2016 and and 2024 elections, the total vote count for the 2020 election is greater by about 20 million. Perhaps there were this many fraudulent ballots in the 2020 election.
The evidence for the 2020 election theft exists for anyone open to looking at it.
Judges cowardly refused to get involved because they did not want to deal with angry mobs.
The same people telling us Kamala is our savior were telling us Joe Biden is sharp and on top of his game.
A Trump presidency should be good for travel because airline fuel will decrease in price.
Airfares should go down.
2000 was decided by 537 votes. So yeah it does count and make a difference.
@ Ren — I didn’t notice your name on the ballot. Clearly, I overlooked it.
“2000 was decided by 537 votes. So yeah it does count and make a difference.”
2000 was decided by 537 votes in Florida. So no, one vote there wouldn’t have made a difference. At the national or statewide levels, the chance my vote changes the outcome of an election is about the same as winning the lottery while being bitten by a sharks, as I’m hit by lightning, as a 747 crashes into me on my birthday.
@ Gene
If the truth hurts that REN said, just wear it and go on with life.
Look at the platforms…! One was Pro-Life, One was Pro-Death.
Pennsylvania pulled a John Fetterman on the voting public, then the Biden
White House tried to pull one on the American people, and they were caught!
Kamala was never nominated to be IN THE RUNNING for POTUS. Did NOT win the Democratic primary! Tried to win through the back door via
interlopers. No good. Justice prevails.
All these libturds spending thousands of dollars to vote only to have President Trump win in a landslide anyway makes this all that much more enjoyable.
I can’t wait for the J6 Pardons.
Facts really don’t care how you feel. Mantis has laid out the indisputable facts.
“The ‘2020 was stolen’ stuff really is stupid.” Pot, meet kettle. I’ll be more polite and only infer that you’re ignorant. Oh, and also, quit stealing your position from Mark Antonio Wright, who appears to be as naive as you.
As Mantis pointed out, the election theft would never have occurred at a level that could have been thwarted by a President and his functionaries, it happened at a more granular level. Whether you call it the “deep state”, “shadow government” or “TPTB”, these type of operations would take place regardless of who’s sitting in the oval office. There’s a reason it’s more a “selection” versus an “election”.