Ermahgerd, I cannot take another four years of living in chaos. You're right, it *is* exhausting and demoralizing. Frankly, the only thing that's going to pull me through is the schadenfreude of watching the people who voted for the Leopards Eating Faces Off party sobbing, "But I never thought they'd eat *my* face!"
(And even then I'm kidding myself -- the cult members and the Right wing media machine will *always* find a way to blame it -- whatever "it" is that week -- on Democrats.)
I disagree on this point: "They are lying to themselves and don’t deserve respect or deference. They deserve scorn."
Per reporting on their private conversations they know *exactly* what Trump is. Lindsay Grahm compares Mar-a-Lago to North Korea. Mitch McConnell claims Trump did commit crimes. But in the end they know, as Mike Pence put it, that their party is dying. That the people who showed up for Trump wouldn't and didn't show up for them. In the end the only thing they do care about is keeping their place.
I also disagree that there is a difference between Romney and Tillis. All of them are neutered, either by ostracization (Romney) or self-gelding (Tillis). At this point it is "pro-forma".
Great observations, Thomas, as usual. I think the Gaetz nomination, besides being Trump's most pressing, is the most dangerous. I don't think you can just get any Republican to do what Trump wants of Gaetz and that says a lot about MGs character. You could call it the retribution department. Spurious non-serious investigations can bankrupt the subjects (legal expenses etc) and destroy reputations and lives. No requirement to find anything illegal, just destroy the subject. Even AG Sessions balked at most of this. Trump definitely learned something from that experience, and lets watch him replace FBI Director Christopher Wray for good measure. These are truly dark times and about to get much worse.
“The party will likely struggle in the post-Trump era if we can prevent them from rigging the electoral system before he’s gone.” Actually, they’ve already rigged the electoral system in NC via gerrymandering. Without it, we’d likely have a 7-7 Congressional delegation and Republicans wouldn’t be even close to supermajorities in the legislature.
Maybe when Trump said there was a lot of cheating going on, he was actually confessing to stealing the election. We should not have dismissed his rant as just more propaganda, but looked into it as something his billionaire buddies were cooking up for him.
I hate to say it because I thought our country was beyond it but the democrats cannot have a women and especially a woman of color running for president. It is a sad statement and one I don’t like making but feel it is true. The VP was a great candidate and is a great person and would have made a great president but racism and misogyny are too prevalent and might be forever in this country.
Are we going to spend 4 years documenting Orange Julius' crazy behavior, as if calling the kettle black changes anything. What Democrats should be doing is examining their own policies and inclinations to figure out why people chose the patron saint of sore losers over our party. It isnt as if Trump himself is that popular, but that Democrats are unpopular. Why? Immigration, crime, Identarian moralizing.
I think crime is variable, depends on what crime and where, they revised the prior FBI statistics that showed the drop. It is definitely exaggerated on the right. But what wins elections is perception, and Dems are perceived as 'weak on crime' and in some policies, in some places, they are weak on crime. The further left prioritizes social justice over public safety, and that sticks on the Dems. Crime and immigration are the issues that about 60% of voters favor Republicans on, just as they might favor Dems on abortion and healthcare.
To succeed in politics you cant just always argue you are right, that doesn't win, but change perception. And if you want to not be tagged with weak on crime, then be strong on crime - fund the police, dump the idea that the problem is the police and the justice system, but that of the robbers and shooters.
It's really messaging. Somehow Democrats have no idea how to get the general population to see what great things were accomplished under Biden. It happens all the time, only this time, we could loose out Democracy because of it. Crime is down, fewer people are crossing the border. Prices are high, but covid was the main culprit and we brought inflation down faster than other countries, but as far as the population is concerned, the Dems have done nothing for them.
I find it a little hard to believe that in spending a billion dollars (twice that of the GOP) the Dems didn't have an army of consultants on messaging. I do agree it was the message, but not the skill of the messaging, but the actual message, that should state that Democrats a) value safety over 'social justice' and not only refute 'defund the police' but want more funding for the police, arrest shoplifters, break up homeless encampments in public spaces b) taxpayer funded transgender surgery is a stupid idea, that sounds sensible to people in CA but hardly in PA (why we shouldn't have candidates from CA, but NC and I advocated for Cooper c) we not only support stronger borders but that record numbers of illegal entrants from 2021 to 2024 was a mistake, and when Harris was given the chance to distance herself from Biden's most unpopular policy on the FOX interview, when asked whether she "would have done anything differently" only came up with "I cant think of anything".
So you have an incumbent with close to record low approvals from mid 2022 on below 40% and she was VP. That is a real hole to get out of, and I would have preferred a new face, but if it had to be her, then she had to play defense on that unpopularity, and she didn't.
This is a time of discouragement and grieving for Democrats nationally, for sure. I continue to ask "why" as well. Trump won narrowly -- barely 50% -- possibly for one main reason: more than a third of voters consistently told pollsters they were having trouble making ends meet due to the cost of food and rent. https://open.substack.com/pub/jimbuie/p/10-what-ifs-of-the-2024-election?r=7j6hq&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
It may be as simple as that.
Ermahgerd, I cannot take another four years of living in chaos. You're right, it *is* exhausting and demoralizing. Frankly, the only thing that's going to pull me through is the schadenfreude of watching the people who voted for the Leopards Eating Faces Off party sobbing, "But I never thought they'd eat *my* face!"
(And even then I'm kidding myself -- the cult members and the Right wing media machine will *always* find a way to blame it -- whatever "it" is that week -- on Democrats.)
I disagree on this point: "They are lying to themselves and don’t deserve respect or deference. They deserve scorn."
Per reporting on their private conversations they know *exactly* what Trump is. Lindsay Grahm compares Mar-a-Lago to North Korea. Mitch McConnell claims Trump did commit crimes. But in the end they know, as Mike Pence put it, that their party is dying. That the people who showed up for Trump wouldn't and didn't show up for them. In the end the only thing they do care about is keeping their place.
I also disagree that there is a difference between Romney and Tillis. All of them are neutered, either by ostracization (Romney) or self-gelding (Tillis). At this point it is "pro-forma".
Great observations, Thomas, as usual. I think the Gaetz nomination, besides being Trump's most pressing, is the most dangerous. I don't think you can just get any Republican to do what Trump wants of Gaetz and that says a lot about MGs character. You could call it the retribution department. Spurious non-serious investigations can bankrupt the subjects (legal expenses etc) and destroy reputations and lives. No requirement to find anything illegal, just destroy the subject. Even AG Sessions balked at most of this. Trump definitely learned something from that experience, and lets watch him replace FBI Director Christopher Wray for good measure. These are truly dark times and about to get much worse.
“The party will likely struggle in the post-Trump era if we can prevent them from rigging the electoral system before he’s gone.” Actually, they’ve already rigged the electoral system in NC via gerrymandering. Without it, we’d likely have a 7-7 Congressional delegation and Republicans wouldn’t be even close to supermajorities in the legislature.
Pounding home the BIG LIE was a formula honed by the Nazis. It worked! We have an electorate being groomed to not analyze what they are being told.
Maybe when Trump said there was a lot of cheating going on, he was actually confessing to stealing the election. We should not have dismissed his rant as just more propaganda, but looked into it as something his billionaire buddies were cooking up for him.
Every accusation with the Right is a confession. Or nearly so.
I hate to say it because I thought our country was beyond it but the democrats cannot have a women and especially a woman of color running for president. It is a sad statement and one I don’t like making but feel it is true. The VP was a great candidate and is a great person and would have made a great president but racism and misogyny are too prevalent and might be forever in this country.
Vigilance necessary. Lots of publicity about grift necesary
Are we going to spend 4 years documenting Orange Julius' crazy behavior, as if calling the kettle black changes anything. What Democrats should be doing is examining their own policies and inclinations to figure out why people chose the patron saint of sore losers over our party. It isnt as if Trump himself is that popular, but that Democrats are unpopular. Why? Immigration, crime, Identarian moralizing.
What crime? Crime of all types is WAY down. Ranting about crime was just Fox News propaganda.
I think crime is variable, depends on what crime and where, they revised the prior FBI statistics that showed the drop. It is definitely exaggerated on the right. But what wins elections is perception, and Dems are perceived as 'weak on crime' and in some policies, in some places, they are weak on crime. The further left prioritizes social justice over public safety, and that sticks on the Dems. Crime and immigration are the issues that about 60% of voters favor Republicans on, just as they might favor Dems on abortion and healthcare.
To succeed in politics you cant just always argue you are right, that doesn't win, but change perception. And if you want to not be tagged with weak on crime, then be strong on crime - fund the police, dump the idea that the problem is the police and the justice system, but that of the robbers and shooters.
It's really messaging. Somehow Democrats have no idea how to get the general population to see what great things were accomplished under Biden. It happens all the time, only this time, we could loose out Democracy because of it. Crime is down, fewer people are crossing the border. Prices are high, but covid was the main culprit and we brought inflation down faster than other countries, but as far as the population is concerned, the Dems have done nothing for them.
I find it a little hard to believe that in spending a billion dollars (twice that of the GOP) the Dems didn't have an army of consultants on messaging. I do agree it was the message, but not the skill of the messaging, but the actual message, that should state that Democrats a) value safety over 'social justice' and not only refute 'defund the police' but want more funding for the police, arrest shoplifters, break up homeless encampments in public spaces b) taxpayer funded transgender surgery is a stupid idea, that sounds sensible to people in CA but hardly in PA (why we shouldn't have candidates from CA, but NC and I advocated for Cooper c) we not only support stronger borders but that record numbers of illegal entrants from 2021 to 2024 was a mistake, and when Harris was given the chance to distance herself from Biden's most unpopular policy on the FOX interview, when asked whether she "would have done anything differently" only came up with "I cant think of anything".
So you have an incumbent with close to record low approvals from mid 2022 on below 40% and she was VP. That is a real hole to get out of, and I would have preferred a new face, but if it had to be her, then she had to play defense on that unpopularity, and she didn't.