The key thing is that the majority of voters never heard anything Dems said because they are walled off by Fox and Sinclair - but they did hear from Musk’s $45M micro target ad blitz. We need to assess what message people heard before we decide they rejected it
To me, the miniscule popular loss this time is racism and misogyny, especially among young men. As for voter suppression, the GOP knows that we cannot fix it if they can keep winning through ever more extreme voter suppression. The main voter suppressor is Fox News. Perhaps the monster-owner will become incapacitated and the lawsuit to give all power to Lachlan will fail. Otherwise, we did just fine in the things WE control
Waldman is right. but... while the candidates did not run on the issues the pundits think they ran on, it seems to me commentators on the left talked enough about them to scare away those leaning the other way. maybe that's because I listen to the wrong commentators. It is also the case that Trump and the commentators on the Right accused the Left of those things. And people tend to believe the lies they hear mosr often. One cannot watch a Trump rally and not be afraid for the nation that has such people in it.
Disenfranchisement might have played a role. And also those on the Left who thought they could refuse to vote for Biden because he disagreed with him on their pet issue w/o regard to the consequences of a Trump win,
One thing Harris should have done is counter the anti-trans ads by explaining to cost for surgery for prisoners is nothing compared to the tax breaks for oil companies or a multitude of other business. As for trans kids on sports, the number of kids in jr/sr high school playing vs roughly the number of trans kids….betting less than .25%. This was a huge mistake on her part, made no effort to counter the ads especially with so many in the last 2-3 weeks of the race. You just can’t let that kind of thing go. No different than when Kerry took all of August off instead of fighting back on the swift-boating. This is the kind of thing Dems almost always fail at. Too scared to took the bastards head on.
Re: “ I haven’t seen any evidence that this is true for the voters who were actually up for grabs in this election. The far more compelling explanation is simply that, just like voters in every country that had national elections this year, they essentially said “Ugh, inflation sucked" and voted for the opposition party. “
If this is true then it also means that a significant portion of voters are literally P-Zombies.
When the dust settles I would like to know how many voters went Biden > Trump, how many Biden > no one, how many no one > Trump. Also how many potential new D voters such as college students, didn’t.
I hear a lamentation we didn't have a "primary" after Biden stepped aside. Those promoting this insist Gavin Newsom would have won that and the election. But the bickering and in fighting might well have split the party apart. And these folks tend to be the same ones who insist Bernie would have defeated Trump in 2016. Maybe so since misogyny seems to be rampant in this country.
This isn’t a proposal (and if anything is an indicator of how disturbing my mind can get), but I wonder how the Democrats would perform if they tried to do kayfabe bigotry. Think how conservatives insist on verbally proclaiming themselves Christian while promoting the antithesis of their alleged values. I think that if Democrats did an exaggerated verbal performance of bigotry in all its forms (not enough to deport illegal immigrants, they should be beaten to near death on camera, not enough to exclude trans people, they should be put into concentration camps, etc) while keeping their other policies (tax the rich, affordable healthcare, gun control), they theoretically would be able to convey their policies while also giving voters the same dopamine hit that comes from the Trump campaign. The kayfabe part comes from when they’re actually in power, where they don’t use the power of the government to punch down on people and rather use it to put forth the aforementioned other policies. If asked why they didn’t do those things, they can blame it on Republicans, or something else, but if you elect them again, they’ll be able to give those parasites what they deserve! I am aware that as a cis straight white guy, this strategy won’t affect me as much as others. However, I do genuinely believe that it’s not enough to offer better policies, but voters are also looking for something to despise, loathe, etc. Much of the articles I’m reading in the Atlantic and NY times seem to imply that there’s a lot of hate for elites, and Trump’s win was a fuck you to them. Democrats need to offer something voters can direct their vitriol to, rather than appealing to their better angels.
Seen this movie before ... seeing it again. "Do it my way ..." say the factions. More useful simply to organize at whatever level is possible and contest, contest, contest.
The key thing is that the majority of voters never heard anything Dems said because they are walled off by Fox and Sinclair - but they did hear from Musk’s $45M micro target ad blitz. We need to assess what message people heard before we decide they rejected it
To me, the miniscule popular loss this time is racism and misogyny, especially among young men. As for voter suppression, the GOP knows that we cannot fix it if they can keep winning through ever more extreme voter suppression. The main voter suppressor is Fox News. Perhaps the monster-owner will become incapacitated and the lawsuit to give all power to Lachlan will fail. Otherwise, we did just fine in the things WE control
Waldman is right. but... while the candidates did not run on the issues the pundits think they ran on, it seems to me commentators on the left talked enough about them to scare away those leaning the other way. maybe that's because I listen to the wrong commentators. It is also the case that Trump and the commentators on the Right accused the Left of those things. And people tend to believe the lies they hear mosr often. One cannot watch a Trump rally and not be afraid for the nation that has such people in it.
Disenfranchisement might have played a role. And also those on the Left who thought they could refuse to vote for Biden because he disagreed with him on their pet issue w/o regard to the consequences of a Trump win,
One thing Harris should have done is counter the anti-trans ads by explaining to cost for surgery for prisoners is nothing compared to the tax breaks for oil companies or a multitude of other business. As for trans kids on sports, the number of kids in jr/sr high school playing vs roughly the number of trans kids….betting less than .25%. This was a huge mistake on her part, made no effort to counter the ads especially with so many in the last 2-3 weeks of the race. You just can’t let that kind of thing go. No different than when Kerry took all of August off instead of fighting back on the swift-boating. This is the kind of thing Dems almost always fail at. Too scared to took the bastards head on.
Re: “ I haven’t seen any evidence that this is true for the voters who were actually up for grabs in this election. The far more compelling explanation is simply that, just like voters in every country that had national elections this year, they essentially said “Ugh, inflation sucked" and voted for the opposition party. “
If this is true then it also means that a significant portion of voters are literally P-Zombies.
When the dust settles I would like to know how many voters went Biden > Trump, how many Biden > no one, how many no one > Trump. Also how many potential new D voters such as college students, didn’t.
I hear a lamentation we didn't have a "primary" after Biden stepped aside. Those promoting this insist Gavin Newsom would have won that and the election. But the bickering and in fighting might well have split the party apart. And these folks tend to be the same ones who insist Bernie would have defeated Trump in 2016. Maybe so since misogyny seems to be rampant in this country.
This isn’t a proposal (and if anything is an indicator of how disturbing my mind can get), but I wonder how the Democrats would perform if they tried to do kayfabe bigotry. Think how conservatives insist on verbally proclaiming themselves Christian while promoting the antithesis of their alleged values. I think that if Democrats did an exaggerated verbal performance of bigotry in all its forms (not enough to deport illegal immigrants, they should be beaten to near death on camera, not enough to exclude trans people, they should be put into concentration camps, etc) while keeping their other policies (tax the rich, affordable healthcare, gun control), they theoretically would be able to convey their policies while also giving voters the same dopamine hit that comes from the Trump campaign. The kayfabe part comes from when they’re actually in power, where they don’t use the power of the government to punch down on people and rather use it to put forth the aforementioned other policies. If asked why they didn’t do those things, they can blame it on Republicans, or something else, but if you elect them again, they’ll be able to give those parasites what they deserve! I am aware that as a cis straight white guy, this strategy won’t affect me as much as others. However, I do genuinely believe that it’s not enough to offer better policies, but voters are also looking for something to despise, loathe, etc. Much of the articles I’m reading in the Atlantic and NY times seem to imply that there’s a lot of hate for elites, and Trump’s win was a fuck you to them. Democrats need to offer something voters can direct their vitriol to, rather than appealing to their better angels.
Seen this movie before ... seeing it again. "Do it my way ..." say the factions. More useful simply to organize at whatever level is possible and contest, contest, contest.