Some musings about the Democratic Party's deep challenge

25,681 Views | 414 Replies | Last: 33 min ago by sycasey
HearstMining
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sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

The issue for MAGA is that at some point it will have to show results, like all political ideologies. They have control right now but it's loose and tenuous. If things don't improve (particularly economically) then their party will be punished like all other parties. Trump is old and won't be around forever; the whole thing can't operate on a cult of personality without him.

I don't doubt that at root of MAGA there is a desire for the country to become more Christian, more white, and more America-first (slam those together and you get White Christian Nationalism, though not all planks of the party may care about all three of these things in equal measure). The further you go into this extreme the more you will lose support from the middle, who mostly just care about pocketbook issues.

Trump is hardly a right wing idealogue and won the popular vote based on what you referred to as "extreme". The left can't accept that the Democrats lost to a populist candidate again so they use a pejorative phrase to demean not just Trump but more than half the country to make their delusion make sense to them.

You guys can keep telling yourselves that, but Trump has only narrowly won the popular vote once and when in office has almost never been above 50% approval. That suggests that his support is very tenuous.

I'll use immigration as an example: I think the Trump Administration does have a certain mandate to reduce immigration. The voters pretty clearly expressed that as a preference. Where you can go to extremes are in things like:

1. Sending people directly to prison without trial.
2. Aggressively separating young families and traumatizing children in the street.
3. Sending troops into American cities.
4. Arresting/detaining American citizens without cause.
5. Targeting legal immigrants for speech the government disagrees with.

The public will support a harder line on immigration (for now). The above things will not be broadly supported.

Referring to more than half the country as extreme or deplorable or any other pejorative isn't going to help the Democratic Party win more votes. Instead of trying to learn from the mistakes they've made since Trump entered politics, they are doubling down on them. This is why they are in the state they are in as you mentioned.

Okay, let's have it: what do you think Democrats should do?

Obviously this cannot include "Just do everything Trump does" because someone else is already doing that. What would be viable opposition?

I will also note that I did not say anyone should define all Trump voters as extreme: I said there were some aspects to Trumpism that can gain popular support and some that can't.

IMO, here are a couple of things the Democrats need to do:
  • Understand the reasoning behind those voters who switched from Biden in 2020 to Trump in 2024. Was it just pocketbook issues?
  • They need to decide whether they're going to address issues that moderates and independents care about or just run another "talk to the base" campaign and rely on scare scenarios (generally justified, but they didn't work in 2024, did they?). Hint: The answer is contained in this data: https://theconversation.com/in-2024-independent-voters-grew-their-share-of-the-vote-split-their-tickets-and-expanded-their-influence-245125
  • Regardless of the answers to these questions, the Democrats need to craft dumbed-down messages that get the attention of a progressively more ignorant electorate. Yeah, OK Boomer blah blah blah, but it's absolutely appalling how ignorant much of today's electorate is about basic government. This is true of Dems, Reps, and Indies.

HearstMining
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HearstMining said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

The issue for MAGA is that at some point it will have to show results, like all political ideologies. They have control right now but it's loose and tenuous. If things don't improve (particularly economically) then their party will be punished like all other parties. Trump is old and won't be around forever; the whole thing can't operate on a cult of personality without him.

I don't doubt that at root of MAGA there is a desire for the country to become more Christian, more white, and more America-first (slam those together and you get White Christian Nationalism, though not all planks of the party may care about all three of these things in equal measure). The further you go into this extreme the more you will lose support from the middle, who mostly just care about pocketbook issues.

Trump is hardly a right wing idealogue and won the popular vote based on what you referred to as "extreme". The left can't accept that the Democrats lost to a populist candidate again so they use a pejorative phrase to demean not just Trump but more than half the country to make their delusion make sense to them.

You guys can keep telling yourselves that, but Trump has only narrowly won the popular vote once and when in office has almost never been above 50% approval. That suggests that his support is very tenuous.

I'll use immigration as an example: I think the Trump Administration does have a certain mandate to reduce immigration. The voters pretty clearly expressed that as a preference. Where you can go to extremes are in things like:

1. Sending people directly to prison without trial.
2. Aggressively separating young families and traumatizing children in the street.
3. Sending troops into American cities.
4. Arresting/detaining American citizens without cause.
5. Targeting legal immigrants for speech the government disagrees with.

The public will support a harder line on immigration (for now). The above things will not be broadly supported.

Referring to more than half the country as extreme or deplorable or any other pejorative isn't going to help the Democratic Party win more votes. Instead of trying to learn from the mistakes they've made since Trump entered politics, they are doubling down on them. This is why they are in the state they are in as you mentioned.

Okay, let's have it: what do you think Democrats should do?

Obviously this cannot include "Just do everything Trump does" because someone else is already doing that. What would be viable opposition?

I will also note that I did not say anyone should define all Trump voters as extreme: I said there were some aspects to Trumpism that can gain popular support and some that can't.

IMO, here are a couple of things the Democrats need to do:
  • Understand the reasoning behind those voters who switched from Biden in 2020 to Trump in 2024. Was it just pocketbook issues?
  • They need to decide whether they're going to address issues that moderates and independents care about or just run another "talk to the base" campaign and rely on scare scenarios (generally justified, but they didn't work in 2024, did they?). Hint: The answer is contained in this data: https://theconversation.com/in-2024-independent-voters-grew-their-share-of-the-vote-split-their-tickets-and-expanded-their-influence-245125
  • Regardless of the answers to these questions, the Democrats need to craft dumbed-down messages that get the attention of a progressively more ignorant electorate. Yeah, OK Boomer blah blah blah, but it's absolutely appalling how ignorant much of today's electorate is about basic government. This is true of Dems, Reps, and Indies.
Signed,
A casual moderate Republican most of my life but when I realized I hadn't voted for a Republican presidential candidate since George HW Bush, I finally registered as an Independent.


Aunburdened
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sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

Referring to more than half the country as extreme or deplorable or any other pejorative isn't going to help the Democratic Party win more votes. Instead of trying to learn from the mistakes they've made since Trump entered politics, they are doubling down on them. This is why they are in the state they are in as you mentioned.

Okay, let's have it: what do you think Democrats should do?

PAC-10-BEAR
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sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

The issue for MAGA is that at some point it will have to show results, like all political ideologies. They have control right now but it's loose and tenuous. If things don't improve (particularly economically) then their party will be punished like all other parties. Trump is old and won't be around forever; the whole thing can't operate on a cult of personality without him.

I don't doubt that at root of MAGA there is a desire for the country to become more Christian, more white, and more America-first (slam those together and you get White Christian Nationalism, though not all planks of the party may care about all three of these things in equal measure). The further you go into this extreme the more you will lose support from the middle, who mostly just care about pocketbook issues.

Trump is hardly a right wing idealogue and won the popular vote based on what you referred to as "extreme". The left can't accept that the Democrats lost to a populist candidate again so they use a pejorative phrase to demean not just Trump but more than half the country to make their delusion make sense to them.

You guys can keep telling yourselves that, but Trump has only narrowly won the popular vote once and when in office has almost never been above 50% approval. That suggests that his support is very tenuous.

I'll use immigration as an example: I think the Trump Administration does have a certain mandate to reduce immigration. The voters pretty clearly expressed that as a preference. Where you can go to extremes are in things like:

1. Sending people directly to prison without trial.
2. Aggressively separating young families and traumatizing children in the street.
3. Sending troops into American cities.
4. Arresting/detaining American citizens without cause.
5. Targeting legal immigrants for speech the government disagrees with.

The public will support a harder line on immigration (for now). The above things will not be broadly supported.

Referring to more than half the country as extreme or deplorable or any other pejorative isn't going to help the Democratic Party win more votes. Instead of trying to learn from the mistakes they've made since Trump entered politics, they are doubling down on them. This is why they are in the state they are in as you mentioned.

Okay, let's have it: what do you think Democrats should do?

Obviously this cannot include "Just do everything Trump does" because someone else is already doing that. What would be viable opposition?

I will also note that I did not say anyone should define all Trump voters as extreme: I said there were some aspects to Trumpism that can gain popular support and some that can't.

Democrats need someone with courage to reach out to Trump and develop a relationship with him since he's willing to negotiate. They will also need that person to find a way to distance themselves from the old Democratic establishment and the far left wing of the party. Unfortunately, it's difficult to distinguish between those two groups anymore and they also draw in the big money.
sycasey
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PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

The issue for MAGA is that at some point it will have to show results, like all political ideologies. They have control right now but it's loose and tenuous. If things don't improve (particularly economically) then their party will be punished like all other parties. Trump is old and won't be around forever; the whole thing can't operate on a cult of personality without him.

I don't doubt that at root of MAGA there is a desire for the country to become more Christian, more white, and more America-first (slam those together and you get White Christian Nationalism, though not all planks of the party may care about all three of these things in equal measure). The further you go into this extreme the more you will lose support from the middle, who mostly just care about pocketbook issues.

Trump is hardly a right wing idealogue and won the popular vote based on what you referred to as "extreme". The left can't accept that the Democrats lost to a populist candidate again so they use a pejorative phrase to demean not just Trump but more than half the country to make their delusion make sense to them.

You guys can keep telling yourselves that, but Trump has only narrowly won the popular vote once and when in office has almost never been above 50% approval. That suggests that his support is very tenuous.

I'll use immigration as an example: I think the Trump Administration does have a certain mandate to reduce immigration. The voters pretty clearly expressed that as a preference. Where you can go to extremes are in things like:

1. Sending people directly to prison without trial.
2. Aggressively separating young families and traumatizing children in the street.
3. Sending troops into American cities.
4. Arresting/detaining American citizens without cause.
5. Targeting legal immigrants for speech the government disagrees with.

The public will support a harder line on immigration (for now). The above things will not be broadly supported.

Referring to more than half the country as extreme or deplorable or any other pejorative isn't going to help the Democratic Party win more votes. Instead of trying to learn from the mistakes they've made since Trump entered politics, they are doubling down on them. This is why they are in the state they are in as you mentioned.

Okay, let's have it: what do you think Democrats should do?

Obviously this cannot include "Just do everything Trump does" because someone else is already doing that. What would be viable opposition?

I will also note that I did not say anyone should define all Trump voters as extreme: I said there were some aspects to Trumpism that can gain popular support and some that can't.

Democrats need someone with courage to reach out to Trump and develop a relationship with him since he's willing to negotiate. They will also need that person to find a way to distance themselves from the old Democratic establishment and the far left wing of the party. Unfortunately, it's difficult to distinguish between those two groups anymore and they also draw in the big money.

So your answer is "be more like Trump." Shocking.
PAC-10-BEAR
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sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

The issue for MAGA is that at some point it will have to show results, like all political ideologies. They have control right now but it's loose and tenuous. If things don't improve (particularly economically) then their party will be punished like all other parties. Trump is old and won't be around forever; the whole thing can't operate on a cult of personality without him.

I don't doubt that at root of MAGA there is a desire for the country to become more Christian, more white, and more America-first (slam those together and you get White Christian Nationalism, though not all planks of the party may care about all three of these things in equal measure). The further you go into this extreme the more you will lose support from the middle, who mostly just care about pocketbook issues.

Trump is hardly a right wing idealogue and won the popular vote based on what you referred to as "extreme". The left can't accept that the Democrats lost to a populist candidate again so they use a pejorative phrase to demean not just Trump but more than half the country to make their delusion make sense to them.

You guys can keep telling yourselves that, but Trump has only narrowly won the popular vote once and when in office has almost never been above 50% approval. That suggests that his support is very tenuous.

I'll use immigration as an example: I think the Trump Administration does have a certain mandate to reduce immigration. The voters pretty clearly expressed that as a preference. Where you can go to extremes are in things like:

1. Sending people directly to prison without trial.
2. Aggressively separating young families and traumatizing children in the street.
3. Sending troops into American cities.
4. Arresting/detaining American citizens without cause.
5. Targeting legal immigrants for speech the government disagrees with.

The public will support a harder line on immigration (for now). The above things will not be broadly supported.

Referring to more than half the country as extreme or deplorable or any other pejorative isn't going to help the Democratic Party win more votes. Instead of trying to learn from the mistakes they've made since Trump entered politics, they are doubling down on them. This is why they are in the state they are in as you mentioned.

Okay, let's have it: what do you think Democrats should do?

Obviously this cannot include "Just do everything Trump does" because someone else is already doing that. What would be viable opposition?

I will also note that I did not say anyone should define all Trump voters as extreme: I said there were some aspects to Trumpism that can gain popular support and some that can't.

Democrats need someone with courage to reach out to Trump and develop a relationship with him since he's willing to negotiate. They will also need that person to find a way to distance themselves from the old Democratic establishment and the far left wing of the party. Unfortunately, it's difficult to distinguish between those two groups anymore and they also draw in the big money.

So your answer is "be more like Trump." Shocking.

Democrats need to pick and choose their battles. They're looking foolish for attacking Trump on everything including policies that were previously supported by liberals.
sycasey
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PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

The issue for MAGA is that at some point it will have to show results, like all political ideologies. They have control right now but it's loose and tenuous. If things don't improve (particularly economically) then their party will be punished like all other parties. Trump is old and won't be around forever; the whole thing can't operate on a cult of personality without him.

I don't doubt that at root of MAGA there is a desire for the country to become more Christian, more white, and more America-first (slam those together and you get White Christian Nationalism, though not all planks of the party may care about all three of these things in equal measure). The further you go into this extreme the more you will lose support from the middle, who mostly just care about pocketbook issues.

Trump is hardly a right wing idealogue and won the popular vote based on what you referred to as "extreme". The left can't accept that the Democrats lost to a populist candidate again so they use a pejorative phrase to demean not just Trump but more than half the country to make their delusion make sense to them.

You guys can keep telling yourselves that, but Trump has only narrowly won the popular vote once and when in office has almost never been above 50% approval. That suggests that his support is very tenuous.

I'll use immigration as an example: I think the Trump Administration does have a certain mandate to reduce immigration. The voters pretty clearly expressed that as a preference. Where you can go to extremes are in things like:

1. Sending people directly to prison without trial.
2. Aggressively separating young families and traumatizing children in the street.
3. Sending troops into American cities.
4. Arresting/detaining American citizens without cause.
5. Targeting legal immigrants for speech the government disagrees with.

The public will support a harder line on immigration (for now). The above things will not be broadly supported.

Referring to more than half the country as extreme or deplorable or any other pejorative isn't going to help the Democratic Party win more votes. Instead of trying to learn from the mistakes they've made since Trump entered politics, they are doubling down on them. This is why they are in the state they are in as you mentioned.

Okay, let's have it: what do you think Democrats should do?

Obviously this cannot include "Just do everything Trump does" because someone else is already doing that. What would be viable opposition?

I will also note that I did not say anyone should define all Trump voters as extreme: I said there were some aspects to Trumpism that can gain popular support and some that can't.

Democrats need someone with courage to reach out to Trump and develop a relationship with him since he's willing to negotiate. They will also need that person to find a way to distance themselves from the old Democratic establishment and the far left wing of the party. Unfortunately, it's difficult to distinguish between those two groups anymore and they also draw in the big money.

So your answer is "be more like Trump." Shocking.

Democrats need to pick and choose their battles. They're looking foolish for attacking Trump on everything including policies that were previously supported by liberals.

What is the right battle to pick, in your view?
PAC-10-BEAR
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sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

The issue for MAGA is that at some point it will have to show results, like all political ideologies. They have control right now but it's loose and tenuous. If things don't improve (particularly economically) then their party will be punished like all other parties. Trump is old and won't be around forever; the whole thing can't operate on a cult of personality without him.

I don't doubt that at root of MAGA there is a desire for the country to become more Christian, more white, and more America-first (slam those together and you get White Christian Nationalism, though not all planks of the party may care about all three of these things in equal measure). The further you go into this extreme the more you will lose support from the middle, who mostly just care about pocketbook issues.

Trump is hardly a right wing idealogue and won the popular vote based on what you referred to as "extreme". The left can't accept that the Democrats lost to a populist candidate again so they use a pejorative phrase to demean not just Trump but more than half the country to make their delusion make sense to them.

You guys can keep telling yourselves that, but Trump has only narrowly won the popular vote once and when in office has almost never been above 50% approval. That suggests that his support is very tenuous.

I'll use immigration as an example: I think the Trump Administration does have a certain mandate to reduce immigration. The voters pretty clearly expressed that as a preference. Where you can go to extremes are in things like:

1. Sending people directly to prison without trial.
2. Aggressively separating young families and traumatizing children in the street.
3. Sending troops into American cities.
4. Arresting/detaining American citizens without cause.
5. Targeting legal immigrants for speech the government disagrees with.

The public will support a harder line on immigration (for now). The above things will not be broadly supported.

Referring to more than half the country as extreme or deplorable or any other pejorative isn't going to help the Democratic Party win more votes. Instead of trying to learn from the mistakes they've made since Trump entered politics, they are doubling down on them. This is why they are in the state they are in as you mentioned.

Okay, let's have it: what do you think Democrats should do?

Obviously this cannot include "Just do everything Trump does" because someone else is already doing that. What would be viable opposition?

I will also note that I did not say anyone should define all Trump voters as extreme: I said there were some aspects to Trumpism that can gain popular support and some that can't.

Democrats need someone with courage to reach out to Trump and develop a relationship with him since he's willing to negotiate. They will also need that person to find a way to distance themselves from the old Democratic establishment and the far left wing of the party. Unfortunately, it's difficult to distinguish between those two groups anymore and they also draw in the big money.

So your answer is "be more like Trump." Shocking.

Democrats need to pick and choose their battles. They're looking foolish for attacking Trump on everything including policies that were previously supported by liberals.

What is the right battle to pick, in your view?

The same old stuff the left and right used to argue about for years prior to Trump - spending, budgets, taxes, social programs, foreign policy...
sycasey
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PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

The issue for MAGA is that at some point it will have to show results, like all political ideologies. They have control right now but it's loose and tenuous. If things don't improve (particularly economically) then their party will be punished like all other parties. Trump is old and won't be around forever; the whole thing can't operate on a cult of personality without him.

I don't doubt that at root of MAGA there is a desire for the country to become more Christian, more white, and more America-first (slam those together and you get White Christian Nationalism, though not all planks of the party may care about all three of these things in equal measure). The further you go into this extreme the more you will lose support from the middle, who mostly just care about pocketbook issues.

Trump is hardly a right wing idealogue and won the popular vote based on what you referred to as "extreme". The left can't accept that the Democrats lost to a populist candidate again so they use a pejorative phrase to demean not just Trump but more than half the country to make their delusion make sense to them.

You guys can keep telling yourselves that, but Trump has only narrowly won the popular vote once and when in office has almost never been above 50% approval. That suggests that his support is very tenuous.

I'll use immigration as an example: I think the Trump Administration does have a certain mandate to reduce immigration. The voters pretty clearly expressed that as a preference. Where you can go to extremes are in things like:

1. Sending people directly to prison without trial.
2. Aggressively separating young families and traumatizing children in the street.
3. Sending troops into American cities.
4. Arresting/detaining American citizens without cause.
5. Targeting legal immigrants for speech the government disagrees with.

The public will support a harder line on immigration (for now). The above things will not be broadly supported.

Referring to more than half the country as extreme or deplorable or any other pejorative isn't going to help the Democratic Party win more votes. Instead of trying to learn from the mistakes they've made since Trump entered politics, they are doubling down on them. This is why they are in the state they are in as you mentioned.

Okay, let's have it: what do you think Democrats should do?

Obviously this cannot include "Just do everything Trump does" because someone else is already doing that. What would be viable opposition?

I will also note that I did not say anyone should define all Trump voters as extreme: I said there were some aspects to Trumpism that can gain popular support and some that can't.

Democrats need someone with courage to reach out to Trump and develop a relationship with him since he's willing to negotiate. They will also need that person to find a way to distance themselves from the old Democratic establishment and the far left wing of the party. Unfortunately, it's difficult to distinguish between those two groups anymore and they also draw in the big money.

So your answer is "be more like Trump." Shocking.

Democrats need to pick and choose their battles. They're looking foolish for attacking Trump on everything including policies that were previously supported by liberals.

What is the right battle to pick, in your view?

The same old stuff the left and right used to argue about for years prior to Trump - spending, budgets, taxes, social programs, foreign policy...

One of the major issues I brought up in this thread was immigration and how the Trump administration is handling it. You think this is not part of that?
PAC-10-BEAR
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sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

The issue for MAGA is that at some point it will have to show results, like all political ideologies. They have control right now but it's loose and tenuous. If things don't improve (particularly economically) then their party will be punished like all other parties. Trump is old and won't be around forever; the whole thing can't operate on a cult of personality without him.

I don't doubt that at root of MAGA there is a desire for the country to become more Christian, more white, and more America-first (slam those together and you get White Christian Nationalism, though not all planks of the party may care about all three of these things in equal measure). The further you go into this extreme the more you will lose support from the middle, who mostly just care about pocketbook issues.

Trump is hardly a right wing idealogue and won the popular vote based on what you referred to as "extreme". The left can't accept that the Democrats lost to a populist candidate again so they use a pejorative phrase to demean not just Trump but more than half the country to make their delusion make sense to them.

You guys can keep telling yourselves that, but Trump has only narrowly won the popular vote once and when in office has almost never been above 50% approval. That suggests that his support is very tenuous.

I'll use immigration as an example: I think the Trump Administration does have a certain mandate to reduce immigration. The voters pretty clearly expressed that as a preference. Where you can go to extremes are in things like:

1. Sending people directly to prison without trial.
2. Aggressively separating young families and traumatizing children in the street.
3. Sending troops into American cities.
4. Arresting/detaining American citizens without cause.
5. Targeting legal immigrants for speech the government disagrees with.

The public will support a harder line on immigration (for now). The above things will not be broadly supported.

Referring to more than half the country as extreme or deplorable or any other pejorative isn't going to help the Democratic Party win more votes. Instead of trying to learn from the mistakes they've made since Trump entered politics, they are doubling down on them. This is why they are in the state they are in as you mentioned.

Okay, let's have it: what do you think Democrats should do?

Obviously this cannot include "Just do everything Trump does" because someone else is already doing that. What would be viable opposition?

I will also note that I did not say anyone should define all Trump voters as extreme: I said there were some aspects to Trumpism that can gain popular support and some that can't.

Democrats need someone with courage to reach out to Trump and develop a relationship with him since he's willing to negotiate. They will also need that person to find a way to distance themselves from the old Democratic establishment and the far left wing of the party. Unfortunately, it's difficult to distinguish between those two groups anymore and they also draw in the big money.

So your answer is "be more like Trump." Shocking.

Democrats need to pick and choose their battles. They're looking foolish for attacking Trump on everything including policies that were previously supported by liberals.

What is the right battle to pick, in your view?

The same old stuff the left and right used to argue about for years prior to Trump - spending, budgets, taxes, social programs, foreign policy...

One of the major issues I brought up in this thread was immigration and how the Trump administration is handling it. You think this is not part of that?

The Democrats disqualified themselves to voice anything related to immigration based on the last four years with Biden for allowing the country to be invaded.
sycasey
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PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

The issue for MAGA is that at some point it will have to show results, like all political ideologies. They have control right now but it's loose and tenuous. If things don't improve (particularly economically) then their party will be punished like all other parties. Trump is old and won't be around forever; the whole thing can't operate on a cult of personality without him.

I don't doubt that at root of MAGA there is a desire for the country to become more Christian, more white, and more America-first (slam those together and you get White Christian Nationalism, though not all planks of the party may care about all three of these things in equal measure). The further you go into this extreme the more you will lose support from the middle, who mostly just care about pocketbook issues.

Trump is hardly a right wing idealogue and won the popular vote based on what you referred to as "extreme". The left can't accept that the Democrats lost to a populist candidate again so they use a pejorative phrase to demean not just Trump but more than half the country to make their delusion make sense to them.

You guys can keep telling yourselves that, but Trump has only narrowly won the popular vote once and when in office has almost never been above 50% approval. That suggests that his support is very tenuous.

I'll use immigration as an example: I think the Trump Administration does have a certain mandate to reduce immigration. The voters pretty clearly expressed that as a preference. Where you can go to extremes are in things like:

1. Sending people directly to prison without trial.
2. Aggressively separating young families and traumatizing children in the street.
3. Sending troops into American cities.
4. Arresting/detaining American citizens without cause.
5. Targeting legal immigrants for speech the government disagrees with.

The public will support a harder line on immigration (for now). The above things will not be broadly supported.

Referring to more than half the country as extreme or deplorable or any other pejorative isn't going to help the Democratic Party win more votes. Instead of trying to learn from the mistakes they've made since Trump entered politics, they are doubling down on them. This is why they are in the state they are in as you mentioned.

Okay, let's have it: what do you think Democrats should do?

Obviously this cannot include "Just do everything Trump does" because someone else is already doing that. What would be viable opposition?

I will also note that I did not say anyone should define all Trump voters as extreme: I said there were some aspects to Trumpism that can gain popular support and some that can't.

Democrats need someone with courage to reach out to Trump and develop a relationship with him since he's willing to negotiate. They will also need that person to find a way to distance themselves from the old Democratic establishment and the far left wing of the party. Unfortunately, it's difficult to distinguish between those two groups anymore and they also draw in the big money.

So your answer is "be more like Trump." Shocking.

Democrats need to pick and choose their battles. They're looking foolish for attacking Trump on everything including policies that were previously supported by liberals.

What is the right battle to pick, in your view?

The same old stuff the left and right used to argue about for years prior to Trump - spending, budgets, taxes, social programs, foreign policy...

One of the major issues I brought up in this thread was immigration and how the Trump administration is handling it. You think this is not part of that?

The Democrats disqualified themselves to voice anything related to immigration based on the last four years with Biden for allowing the country to be invaded.

To me Republicans did that by embracing the family separation policy under Trump, but to each his own I guess.
PAC-10-BEAR
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sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

The issue for MAGA is that at some point it will have to show results, like all political ideologies. They have control right now but it's loose and tenuous. If things don't improve (particularly economically) then their party will be punished like all other parties. Trump is old and won't be around forever; the whole thing can't operate on a cult of personality without him.

I don't doubt that at root of MAGA there is a desire for the country to become more Christian, more white, and more America-first (slam those together and you get White Christian Nationalism, though not all planks of the party may care about all three of these things in equal measure). The further you go into this extreme the more you will lose support from the middle, who mostly just care about pocketbook issues.

Trump is hardly a right wing idealogue and won the popular vote based on what you referred to as "extreme". The left can't accept that the Democrats lost to a populist candidate again so they use a pejorative phrase to demean not just Trump but more than half the country to make their delusion make sense to them.

You guys can keep telling yourselves that, but Trump has only narrowly won the popular vote once and when in office has almost never been above 50% approval. That suggests that his support is very tenuous.

I'll use immigration as an example: I think the Trump Administration does have a certain mandate to reduce immigration. The voters pretty clearly expressed that as a preference. Where you can go to extremes are in things like:

1. Sending people directly to prison without trial.
2. Aggressively separating young families and traumatizing children in the street.
3. Sending troops into American cities.
4. Arresting/detaining American citizens without cause.
5. Targeting legal immigrants for speech the government disagrees with.

The public will support a harder line on immigration (for now). The above things will not be broadly supported.

Referring to more than half the country as extreme or deplorable or any other pejorative isn't going to help the Democratic Party win more votes. Instead of trying to learn from the mistakes they've made since Trump entered politics, they are doubling down on them. This is why they are in the state they are in as you mentioned.

Okay, let's have it: what do you think Democrats should do?

Obviously this cannot include "Just do everything Trump does" because someone else is already doing that. What would be viable opposition?

I will also note that I did not say anyone should define all Trump voters as extreme: I said there were some aspects to Trumpism that can gain popular support and some that can't.

Democrats need someone with courage to reach out to Trump and develop a relationship with him since he's willing to negotiate. They will also need that person to find a way to distance themselves from the old Democratic establishment and the far left wing of the party. Unfortunately, it's difficult to distinguish between those two groups anymore and they also draw in the big money.

So your answer is "be more like Trump." Shocking.

Democrats need to pick and choose their battles. They're looking foolish for attacking Trump on everything including policies that were previously supported by liberals.

What is the right battle to pick, in your view?

The same old stuff the left and right used to argue about for years prior to Trump - spending, budgets, taxes, social programs, foreign policy...

One of the major issues I brought up in this thread was immigration and how the Trump administration is handling it. You think this is not part of that?

The Democrats disqualified themselves to voice anything related to immigration based on the last four years with Biden for allowing the country to be invaded.

To me Republicans did that by embracing the family separation policy under Trump, but to each his own I guess.

Human trafficking, child trafficking, drug trafficking...Americans don't want this. But Democratic politicians can't say anything because the people in charge of their party want it.
Eastern Oregon Bear
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PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

The issue for MAGA is that at some point it will have to show results, like all political ideologies. They have control right now but it's loose and tenuous. If things don't improve (particularly economically) then their party will be punished like all other parties. Trump is old and won't be around forever; the whole thing can't operate on a cult of personality without him.

I don't doubt that at root of MAGA there is a desire for the country to become more Christian, more white, and more America-first (slam those together and you get White Christian Nationalism, though not all planks of the party may care about all three of these things in equal measure). The further you go into this extreme the more you will lose support from the middle, who mostly just care about pocketbook issues.

Trump is hardly a right wing idealogue and won the popular vote based on what you referred to as "extreme". The left can't accept that the Democrats lost to a populist candidate again so they use a pejorative phrase to demean not just Trump but more than half the country to make their delusion make sense to them.

You guys can keep telling yourselves that, but Trump has only narrowly won the popular vote once and when in office has almost never been above 50% approval. That suggests that his support is very tenuous.

I'll use immigration as an example: I think the Trump Administration does have a certain mandate to reduce immigration. The voters pretty clearly expressed that as a preference. Where you can go to extremes are in things like:

1. Sending people directly to prison without trial.
2. Aggressively separating young families and traumatizing children in the street.
3. Sending troops into American cities.
4. Arresting/detaining American citizens without cause.
5. Targeting legal immigrants for speech the government disagrees with.

The public will support a harder line on immigration (for now). The above things will not be broadly supported.

Referring to more than half the country as extreme or deplorable or any other pejorative isn't going to help the Democratic Party win more votes. Instead of trying to learn from the mistakes they've made since Trump entered politics, they are doubling down on them. This is why they are in the state they are in as you mentioned.

Okay, let's have it: what do you think Democrats should do?

Obviously this cannot include "Just do everything Trump does" because someone else is already doing that. What would be viable opposition?

I will also note that I did not say anyone should define all Trump voters as extreme: I said there were some aspects to Trumpism that can gain popular support and some that can't.

Democrats need someone with courage to reach out to Trump and develop a relationship with him since he's willing to negotiate. They will also need that person to find a way to distance themselves from the old Democratic establishment and the far left wing of the party. Unfortunately, it's difficult to distinguish between those two groups anymore and they also draw in the big money.

So your answer is "be more like Trump." Shocking.

Democrats need to pick and choose their battles. They're looking foolish for attacking Trump on everything including policies that were previously supported by liberals.

What is the right battle to pick, in your view?

The same old stuff the left and right used to argue about for years prior to Trump - spending, budgets, taxes, social programs, foreign policy...

One of the major issues I brought up in this thread was immigration and how the Trump administration is handling it. You think this is not part of that?

The Democrats disqualified themselves to voice anything related to immigration based on the last four years with Biden for allowing the country to be invaded.

To me Republicans did that by embracing the family separation policy under Trump, but to each his own I guess.

Human trafficking, child trafficking, drug trafficking...Americans don't want this. But Democratic politicians can't say anything because the people in charge of their party want it.

Please explain why the Trump administration refuses to release the Epstein Files and the Democrats favor it.
TandemBear
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Fact-free arguing is a Repube virtue!

It fits perfectly with their world view.

Example 1: They HATE Consumers Union. They've called them all sorts of names forever. Objective, fact-based consumer product information is anathema to marketing private enterprise.

Example 2:
This also explains their hatred for Public Media. Despite their smear campaigns and endless propaganda, the ONLY way you are going to promote freedom of speech, educate the population, reveal graft, greed, fraud & crime, as well as protect the First Amendment, is through public media. Sorry but "objectivity" is deemed "libtard propaganda."

Example 3:
Hatred for regulation also falls within this subject. Regulation takes an empirical view of consumer safety and comes to a sensible conclusion. Profits over people cannot tolerate this socialism!

Example 4:
Science. Need I say more?

Marketing, business double-speak, shilling, MBA's making health care decisions, money determining policy, the list of bias against a fact-based society is endless. If they can't turn a profit on something, it should be banned.
BearlySane88
How long do you want to ignore this user?
socaltownie said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

socaltownie said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

bearister said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

socaltownie said:

At the heart the MAGA project is about White Christian Nationalism. I really do NOT want to use that term pejoratively but it encompasses the central issue of a reactionist attack against 4 big trends in the first quarter of the 21st century

The bad guys shot and killed white Christian nationalism and church attendance and Turning Point USA enrollment exploded across the country. Huge fail!

The problem isn't white Christian nationalism. Democrats still haven't self-reflected to understand why they lost multiple elections to Donald Trump and continue to delude themselves. Just listen to NPR for half an hour and you can tell they're still clueless.

So coming up with a messaging strategy won't work because one, the Democrats don't know what they believe anymore, and two, Americans distrust legacy media more than ever after years of gaslighting. I hear the Chinese don't consume their own mainstream media because they understand it's just CCP propaganda. Besides, Elon Musk owns Twitter so the Democrats and the Deep State have no control over the de facto town square.

I see only three options:

1. Hope there is a group of sinister elements working within the Trump admin to subvert him, ala Russiagate and Spygate.

2. Hope that a political movement arises from the ashes of the Democratic Party and takes it over much like what the Tea Party and MAGA did with the Republican Party.

3. Continue with violence and targeted killings (Kirk, Trump, Scalise, etc...)

The third option appears trendy with the left these days.


"Democrats still haven't self-reflected to understand why they lost multiple elections to Donald Trump and continue to delude themselves."

When media interviewed No Kings protestors over the weekend to ask why they are protesting and why they think Trump was behaving like a king, most couldn't give any specific examples. One or two were outraged over ICE. I believe you and others here are no different from them.

The "media"????!!! I amjSURE you watched every show and read every newspaper. Do you really believe two randos constitute a sample?

You sir, are exhibit one in what is wrong with our education system.

CNN and NPR. The protestors were emotional, though, I give them credit for that. I'm waiting until you start using ALL CAPS.

Oh this quote from NPR (after 60 seconds of googling). Feels pretty smart on to me

" "Now listen, there are those in this country who have decided at the behest of the President to declare war on Chicago and American cities across this country!" the Democratic official said. "But we are here to stand firm, to stand committed that we will not bend, we will not bow, we will not cower, we will not submit to the authoritarianism that is coming down!"

or

"Adam Livingston, a 35-year-old Marine Corps veteran, wore fatigues and carried a Marine Corps flag.
"Veterans and even active duty service members need to realize that we're loyal to the Constitution and not to a faith, a political party, an ideology, or a man," he said."

or Jenny (I want to give her a hug)

"Jenny Colombo held a rainbow-trimmed sign that said "The Emperor Has No Clothes."
"I feel President Trump is the epitome of that character," Colombo told member station KERA. "Everybody is just walking around him, everybody can see what's going on, and they're all just supporting him blindly.""

You are fact free again. Stop it. YOu are embarassing yourself.



None of those are facts…

He's not declaring war on Chicago or any city, he's enforcing the law.

Military enrollment is up.

You have no idea what the people around him think and neither does Jenny Colombo.
Cal88
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Eastern Oregon Bear said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

sycasey said:

The issue for MAGA is that at some point it will have to show results, like all political ideologies. They have control right now but it's loose and tenuous. If things don't improve (particularly economically) then their party will be punished like all other parties. Trump is old and won't be around forever; the whole thing can't operate on a cult of personality without him.

I don't doubt that at root of MAGA there is a desire for the country to become more Christian, more white, and more America-first (slam those together and you get White Christian Nationalism, though not all planks of the party may care about all three of these things in equal measure). The further you go into this extreme the more you will lose support from the middle, who mostly just care about pocketbook issues.

Trump is hardly a right wing idealogue and won the popular vote based on what you referred to as "extreme". The left can't accept that the Democrats lost to a populist candidate again so they use a pejorative phrase to demean not just Trump but more than half the country to make their delusion make sense to them.

You guys can keep telling yourselves that, but Trump has only narrowly won the popular vote once and when in office has almost never been above 50% approval. That suggests that his support is very tenuous.

I'll use immigration as an example: I think the Trump Administration does have a certain mandate to reduce immigration. The voters pretty clearly expressed that as a preference. Where you can go to extremes are in things like:

1. Sending people directly to prison without trial.
2. Aggressively separating young families and traumatizing children in the street.
3. Sending troops into American cities.
4. Arresting/detaining American citizens without cause.
5. Targeting legal immigrants for speech the government disagrees with.

The public will support a harder line on immigration (for now). The above things will not be broadly supported.

Referring to more than half the country as extreme or deplorable or any other pejorative isn't going to help the Democratic Party win more votes. Instead of trying to learn from the mistakes they've made since Trump entered politics, they are doubling down on them. This is why they are in the state they are in as you mentioned.

Okay, let's have it: what do you think Democrats should do?

Obviously this cannot include "Just do everything Trump does" because someone else is already doing that. What would be viable opposition?

I will also note that I did not say anyone should define all Trump voters as extreme: I said there were some aspects to Trumpism that can gain popular support and some that can't.

Democrats need someone with courage to reach out to Trump and develop a relationship with him since he's willing to negotiate. They will also need that person to find a way to distance themselves from the old Democratic establishment and the far left wing of the party. Unfortunately, it's difficult to distinguish between those two groups anymore and they also draw in the big money.

So your answer is "be more like Trump." Shocking.

Democrats need to pick and choose their battles. They're looking foolish for attacking Trump on everything including policies that were previously supported by liberals.

What is the right battle to pick, in your view?

The same old stuff the left and right used to argue about for years prior to Trump - spending, budgets, taxes, social programs, foreign policy...

One of the major issues I brought up in this thread was immigration and how the Trump administration is handling it. You think this is not part of that?

The Democrats disqualified themselves to voice anything related to immigration based on the last four years with Biden for allowing the country to be invaded.

To me Republicans did that by embracing the family separation policy under Trump, but to each his own I guess.

Human trafficking, child trafficking, drug trafficking...Americans don't want this. But Democratic politicians can't say anything because the people in charge of their party want it.

Please explain why the Trump administration refuses to release the Epstein Files and the Democrats favor it.


The Dems didn't favor it when they were in charge, that much is clear. The rot runs deep in the Uniparty.
Aunburdened
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sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

Democrats need to pick and choose their battles. They're looking foolish for attacking Trump on everything including policies that were previously supported by liberals.

What is the right battle to pick, in your view?

sycasey
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Aunburdened said:

sycasey said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

Democrats need to pick and choose their battles. They're looking foolish for attacking Trump on everything including policies that were previously supported by liberals.

What is the right battle to pick, in your view?



This is actually pretty reasonable.
Aunburdened
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sycasey said:

The Graham Platner thing is a good example: I have no idea if he'll be a good candidate in the general election, but why not just sit back and let the primary run its course? If people in Maine buy his explanation for his tattoos then maybe he'll be stronger for it. If not, then he'll lose. The party itself doesn't need to put the thumb on the scale. That's kind of what got us into this mess in the first place.

Best description of the Democratic Party ever:

bearister
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Does Reich state your position here:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/28/zohran-mamdani-democratic-party?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

"The only upside to living through this dark time is it pushes us to rethink and perhaps totally remake things we once thought immutable.

Like the Democratic party.

Mamdani is talking about what matters to most voters: the cost of living. He says New York should be affordable for everyone.

He's proposing a few easy-to-understand things: free buses, free childcare, a four-year rent freeze for about 2 million residents, and a $30 minimum wage. He's aiming to do what Franklin D Roosevelt did in the 1930s: fix it.

Meanwhile, the editorial board of the New York Times counsels "moderation", urging Democratic candidates to move to the "center". Tell me: where is the center between democracy and fascism, and why would anyone want to go there?

In truth, the Times's so-called "moderate center" is code for corporate Democrats using gobs of money to pursue culturally conservative "swing" voters which is what the Democratic party has been doing for decades.

This is part of the reason America got Trump. Corporate Democrats took the party away from its real mission: to lift up the working class and lower-middle class and help the poor. Instead, they pushed for globalization, privatization and the deregulation of Wall Street. They became Republican-lite.


Mamdani poses a particular threat to New York's corporate Democrats because he wants to tax the wealthy to pay for his plan to make New York more affordable to people who aren't wealthy.

He aims to generate $9bn in new tax revenue by raising taxes on the city's wealthiest residents and businesses. He's calling for a 2% tax on incomes more than $1m, which would produce $4bn in tax revenue. He wants to increase the state's corporate tax rate to 11.5% to match New Jersey's, generating about $5bn annually.

He's right. The wealthy have never been as wealthy as they are now, while the tax rate they pay hasn't been as low in living memory.

Inequalities of income and wealth are at record levels. A handful of billionaires now control almost every facet of the United States government and economy.

The time is made for the Democrats. If the party stands for anything, it should be the growing needs of the bottom 90% for affordable groceries, housing and childcare. For higher wages and better working conditions. For paid family leave. For busting up monopolies that keep prices high. For making it easier to form and join labor unions.

Pay for this by raising taxes on the wealthy. Get big money out of politics.

This dark time should wake us up to the bankruptcy of the corporate Democratic party"


*This may be the only way…..I just hope it involves a different approach to law and order than Pamela Price and Chesa Boudin gave us.

*…and an argument can be made that the approach outlined above addresses the root causes of crime….but it doesn't address the back end, which is needed now.
Cancel my subscription to the Resurrection
Send my credentials to the House of Detention
I got some friends inside

“I love Cal deeply, by the way, what are the directions to The Portal from Sproul Plaza?”
Cal88
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Good overall, but I disagree with the $30/hr minimum wage, counterproductive. The current rate in NYC is set to rise to $17/hr, which is reasonable.
socaltownie
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BearlySane88 said:

socaltownie said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

socaltownie said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

bearister said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

socaltownie said:

At the heart the MAGA project is about White Christian Nationalism. I really do NOT want to use that term pejoratively but it encompasses the central issue of a reactionist attack against 4 big trends in the first quarter of the 21st century

The bad guys shot and killed white Christian nationalism and church attendance and Turning Point USA enrollment exploded across the country. Huge fail!

The problem isn't white Christian nationalism. Democrats still haven't self-reflected to understand why they lost multiple elections to Donald Trump and continue to delude themselves. Just listen to NPR for half an hour and you can tell they're still clueless.

So coming up with a messaging strategy won't work because one, the Democrats don't know what they believe anymore, and two, Americans distrust legacy media more than ever after years of gaslighting. I hear the Chinese don't consume their own mainstream media because they understand it's just CCP propaganda. Besides, Elon Musk owns Twitter so the Democrats and the Deep State have no control over the de facto town square.

I see only three options:

1. Hope there is a group of sinister elements working within the Trump admin to subvert him, ala Russiagate and Spygate.

2. Hope that a political movement arises from the ashes of the Democratic Party and takes it over much like what the Tea Party and MAGA did with the Republican Party.

3. Continue with violence and targeted killings (Kirk, Trump, Scalise, etc...)

The third option appears trendy with the left these days.


"Democrats still haven't self-reflected to understand why they lost multiple elections to Donald Trump and continue to delude themselves."

When media interviewed No Kings protestors over the weekend to ask why they are protesting and why they think Trump was behaving like a king, most couldn't give any specific examples. One or two were outraged over ICE. I believe you and others here are no different from them.

The "media"????!!! I amjSURE you watched every show and read every newspaper. Do you really believe two randos constitute a sample?

You sir, are exhibit one in what is wrong with our education system.

CNN and NPR. The protestors were emotional, though, I give them credit for that. I'm waiting until you start using ALL CAPS.

Oh this quote from NPR (after 60 seconds of googling). Feels pretty smart on to me

" "Now listen, there are those in this country who have decided at the behest of the President to declare war on Chicago and American cities across this country!" the Democratic official said. "But we are here to stand firm, to stand committed that we will not bend, we will not bow, we will not cower, we will not submit to the authoritarianism that is coming down!"

or

"Adam Livingston, a 35-year-old Marine Corps veteran, wore fatigues and carried a Marine Corps flag.
"Veterans and even active duty service members need to realize that we're loyal to the Constitution and not to a faith, a political party, an ideology, or a man," he said."

or Jenny (I want to give her a hug)

"Jenny Colombo held a rainbow-trimmed sign that said "The Emperor Has No Clothes."
"I feel President Trump is the epitome of that character," Colombo told member station KERA. "Everybody is just walking around him, everybody can see what's going on, and they're all just supporting him blindly.""

You are fact free again. Stop it. YOu are embarassing yourself.



None of those are facts…

He's not declaring war on Chicago or any city, he's enforcing the law.

Military enrollment is up.

You have no idea what the people around him think and neither does Jenny Colombo.

Your partner in Magaland wrote " When media interviewed No Kings protestors over the weekend to ask why they are protesting and why they think Trump was behaving like a king, most couldn't give any specific examples."

The above suggested they had examples.

Take care of your Chicken
bearister
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"If Trump ain't a king, he'll do until the real one shows up."
Cancel my subscription to the Resurrection
Send my credentials to the House of Detention
I got some friends inside

“I love Cal deeply, by the way, what are the directions to The Portal from Sproul Plaza?”
BearlySane88
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socaltownie said:

BearlySane88 said:

socaltownie said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

socaltownie said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

bearister said:

PAC-10-BEAR said:

socaltownie said:

At the heart the MAGA project is about White Christian Nationalism. I really do NOT want to use that term pejoratively but it encompasses the central issue of a reactionist attack against 4 big trends in the first quarter of the 21st century

The bad guys shot and killed white Christian nationalism and church attendance and Turning Point USA enrollment exploded across the country. Huge fail!

The problem isn't white Christian nationalism. Democrats still haven't self-reflected to understand why they lost multiple elections to Donald Trump and continue to delude themselves. Just listen to NPR for half an hour and you can tell they're still clueless.

So coming up with a messaging strategy won't work because one, the Democrats don't know what they believe anymore, and two, Americans distrust legacy media more than ever after years of gaslighting. I hear the Chinese don't consume their own mainstream media because they understand it's just CCP propaganda. Besides, Elon Musk owns Twitter so the Democrats and the Deep State have no control over the de facto town square.

I see only three options:

1. Hope there is a group of sinister elements working within the Trump admin to subvert him, ala Russiagate and Spygate.

2. Hope that a political movement arises from the ashes of the Democratic Party and takes it over much like what the Tea Party and MAGA did with the Republican Party.

3. Continue with violence and targeted killings (Kirk, Trump, Scalise, etc...)

The third option appears trendy with the left these days.


"Democrats still haven't self-reflected to understand why they lost multiple elections to Donald Trump and continue to delude themselves."

When media interviewed No Kings protestors over the weekend to ask why they are protesting and why they think Trump was behaving like a king, most couldn't give any specific examples. One or two were outraged over ICE. I believe you and others here are no different from them.

The "media"????!!! I amjSURE you watched every show and read every newspaper. Do you really believe two randos constitute a sample?

You sir, are exhibit one in what is wrong with our education system.

CNN and NPR. The protestors were emotional, though, I give them credit for that. I'm waiting until you start using ALL CAPS.

Oh this quote from NPR (after 60 seconds of googling). Feels pretty smart on to me

" "Now listen, there are those in this country who have decided at the behest of the President to declare war on Chicago and American cities across this country!" the Democratic official said. "But we are here to stand firm, to stand committed that we will not bend, we will not bow, we will not cower, we will not submit to the authoritarianism that is coming down!"

or

"Adam Livingston, a 35-year-old Marine Corps veteran, wore fatigues and carried a Marine Corps flag.
"Veterans and even active duty service members need to realize that we're loyal to the Constitution and not to a faith, a political party, an ideology, or a man," he said."

or Jenny (I want to give her a hug)

"Jenny Colombo held a rainbow-trimmed sign that said "The Emperor Has No Clothes."
"I feel President Trump is the epitome of that character," Colombo told member station KERA. "Everybody is just walking around him, everybody can see what's going on, and they're all just supporting him blindly.""

You are fact free again. Stop it. YOu are embarassing yourself.



None of those are facts…

He's not declaring war on Chicago or any city, he's enforcing the law.

Military enrollment is up.

You have no idea what the people around him think and neither does Jenny Colombo.

Your partner in Magaland wrote " When media interviewed No Kings protestors over the weekend to ask why they are protesting and why they think Trump was behaving like a king, most couldn't give any specific examples."

The above suggested they had examples.




They had examples of what? None of those quotes state any facts showing Trump is behaving like a king.
Aunburdened
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bearister said:

Does Reich state your position here:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/28/zohran-mamdani-democratic-party?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Reich might say things that would sound like things I would say, but the difference between him and me is that I don't get paid $250K plus to teach one class for less than 10 hours per week while getting big speaking fees around the country, then sheepherding people to vote for the same corporate Democrats he pretends to hate every Presidential election year. He's roleplaying as a white knight for the working class while he's actually a member of the Democratic elite.

I actually am a member of the middle class with genuine middle class concerns.

Quote:


Meanwhile, the editorial board of the New York Times counsels "moderation", urging Democratic candidates to move to the "center". Tell me: where is the center between democracy and fascism, and why would anyone want to go there?

Classic Democratic Party talking point which he will use in 2028 to tell you to vote for whatever soulless ********** the Democrats put up for President. The country isn't fascist and Trump's not a Nazi or Hitler and if they truly cared about the possibility of a U.S fascist state, then they wouldn't be ceding so much power to the executive branch like both parties have done every year since 9/11 happened. Just restore the legislative branch to having one third of the power to take federal action and you'll have your "democracy" back.

Quote:

Mamdani is talking about what matters to most voters: the cost of living. He says New York should be affordable for everyone.

BTW, the problem with Mamdani and Plattner is that both of those guys are cosplaying as working class heroes. Mamdani's father is a college professor and his mother is a successful film director. Plattner worked for Blackwater and his father is a well-known lawyer who has donated more than $50,000 to the Democratic Party over the years. That doesn't matter if they vote the right way (FDR came from capitalist royalty), but it means they should be viewed with a certain amount of suspicion that they won't just morph into worthless imitations of "The Squad" if they win their elections.

Quote:

The time is made for the Democrats. If the party stands for anything

It doesn't and the proof is how they have worked harder to sabotage the campaigns of both guys above than anything Trump is doing. The Democrats are never going back to the party they were in the 70's. They'd sooner rediscover their slaveloving roots than ever seriously partner with labor unions again.
bearister
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Thanks. Good post.
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PAC-10-BEAR
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socaltownie said:

I have been thinking about this for a while and watching Graham Platner's rise and fall underscores what I think is the core challenge.

If the Democrats would only stop spying on their political opponents, maybe it would be less of an uphill battle for them.
Aunburdened
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Aunburdened
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Most people who criticize the vapidness of the Democratic Party moved on from Sanders actually after he spent all his political capital defending his good friend Genocide Joe. It's only the dull centrists who keep bringing him up. Still, LOL.

sycasey
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Aunburdened said:

Most people who criticize the vapidness of the Democratic Party moved on from Sanders actually after he spent all his political capital defending his good friend Genocide Joe. It's only the dull centrists who keep bringing him up. Still, LOL.

Why are you responding to me here? Did I mention Bernie Sanders?
smh
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sycasey said:

Aunburdened said:

Most people who criticize the vapidness of the Democratic Party moved on from Sanders actually after he spent all his political capital defending his good friend Genocide Joe. It's only the dull centrists who keep bringing him up. Still, LOL.

Why are you responding to me here? Did I mention Bernie Sanders?

duh.. that's what trolls do, and BI allows (in the mostly garbage bbs)
tequila4kapp
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socaltownie said:

I have been thinking about this for a while and watching Graham Platner's rise and fall underscores what I think is the core challenge.

At the heart the MAGA project is about White Christian Nationalism. I really do NOT want to use that term pejoratively but it encompasses the central issue of a reactionist attack against 4 big trends in the first quarter of the 21st century

1) Global populations being much more mobile (aka immigration waves),
2) Global populations being less Christian (a shrinking demographic compared to the other great monothestic religions of the world and increasing agnostic viewsin the west),
3) People being much more relativist in their moral thinking about issues such as sexuality and personal morality (gay marriage and trends toward legalization of drugs).
4) Globalization of trade and the death of distance putting an every increasing number of people into the jungle of the global economy.

BI OT is taken up with ENDLESS discussions about these topics and their subtopics but if one where going to describe MAGA how the movement is a reaction to these four trends feels like a very good starting point. I think also that these 4 trends are "indisputable" facts on the ground. And I explicitly framed them in a morally neutral way.

So if I had a political movement around reversing those 4 trends I got a platform to communicate. I don't necessarily need to be internally logical (I don't think Trump and Maga are) - but I can easily point to one of those 4 things individually and say "bad".

Now dumb politics is fighting your opponent on their turf. So the democrats do NOT need to say they are FOR those four things. But what we have, near as I can tell, is a party who is mostly about defending (and modestly expanding) the core structure of the new deal. Better SS. Better Medicare. Decreasing the cost of Student loans. Maybe some modest expansion of the R&D system in the US. These are not the stuff of passionate voter engagement.

When the democrats DO go big (see AOC, Bernie or Planter) they lack a coherent narrative. We ARE living in a true new Gilded Age but (at least 2 date) no one has constructed a narrative that helps connect that concentration of wealth to diminished economic prospects. I can vilify the great robber barons who were squeezing the grange or killing union organizers. It is hard to point out how Zuck or Bazos are hurting ordinary people (I think they are but it is a really hard narrative in the 21st century to spell out quickly).

It is I think why I am in a down mood today. The four forces laid out above are NOT changing. In a real sense MAGA are the political luddites of the 21st century. But railing against them makes for good voter mobilization. The left needs something similar to emotionally connect.

PS. And a ton of BI'ers are guilty of this. Good politics for MAGA is railing against these four things and then universally saying "And the democracts (in other words 50+ million people) are universally FOR it. Thus "We are for strong borders and the rule of law and (all) democrats are one worlders that would do away with citizenship and let every Mexican national come into the US to work at any wage they wanted." "MAGA believes that there is good in Christianity and (all) Democrats believe in paganism and want us all to follow shiria law")

Your 4 criteria are not "indisputable" facts. Not even close.

The heart of MAGA is not White Christian Nationalism. This could be laughable but for it kind of being sad to continuously see how profoundly people do not understand Trump and MAGA (it is sad because the fact they are continuously wrong means they continuously employ incorrect tactics to defeat him).

Short version:
* MAGA moves the Republican party left in certain ways for certain policies (economic protectionism, Dove-ish foreign policy) while simultaneously appealing to core traditional Republican values (Border = law and order) and also simultaneously asserting that government's role is to take care of Americans first, which is of course correct.
* Democrats response is to move left and bash Trump. In doing so they completely and totally miss the mark. But one very simple example: if D's could credibly argue the border should be controlled and illegals should be removed in large numbers but the removals should be done with more humanity and carefulness to avoid mistakes they would win the immigration issue. Instead it is more "Trump is a Nazi," lawsuits, photo ops with wife beaters in central American prisons, etc. D's repeat this mistake over and over and over on nearly every issue: cede the center while appealing to their donor base by bashing Trump. S T U P I D.

Trump is an asshat. People on the left can only understand his existence as the byproduct of evil (white nationalism, etc). Normal people in the center and right - the ones who get him elected - trend toward liking the "correctness" of his issues (or at least his policy objectives) more than they dislike him as a person. And yes, there are others - drain the swamp types that tend to like Trump as a disruptor, and bad people with extremist views (I do not call these people 'far right'...they are lunatics, not the end of a political spectrum)

EDIT: you are also incorrect when you assert that D's lack a cohesive narrative when they go big. AOC, Bernie and Planter are Socialists. You can't go much bigger than that. And that proves my point...the party just moves further left. For an alternative perspective on the rise of AOC, Mandami (and by extension Planter) and the state of the D party see today's article in Reason.
Aunburdened
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tequila4kapp said:

EDIT: you are also incorrect when you assert that D's lack a cohesive narrative when they go big. AOC, Bernie and Planter are Socialists. You can't go much bigger than that. And that proves my point...the party just moves further left. For an alternative perspective on the rise of AOC, Mandami (and by extension Planter) and the state of the D party see today's article in Reason.

LOL. Sorry, but Republicans are ignorant when it comes to the Democratic Party and even more ignorant when it comes to socialism. If that feels too much like calling you an idiot instead of debating the topic, then so be it, but you don't know what you're talking about at all.

Real socialists want to seize the means of production away from private ownership. AOC and Bernie play ball with Democrats on way too many issues to be considered true socialists. That's just a lazy talking point that their opponents use. Plattner has to get elected before I can assess what he actually believes and what he says to be popular, especially since he comes from the upper middle class and not the working man persona he's cosplaying at. But mostly these people are just looking to expand the social safety net like FDR did in the 1930's, which is not socialism at all. To be blunt, FDR did that stuff to stave off socialism.

Meanwhile anybody who pays actual attention to the Democratic Party knows that well over 80% of the party is like this.

tequila4kapp
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Mandani explicitly says those magic words.
Platner described himself as a Communist and Socialist.
Bernie and AOC play the political game … they aren't going to say the words but does anyone really think they'd defend Capitalism from a proposed moving of the means of production? If you do then we will agree to disagree.

***Platner's published platform calls for increased housing, including restrictions on allowing PE /investors from buying houses. I like this and would go even further - no tax credits/deductions for 2nd homes.
Anarchistbear
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Aunburdened said:

tequila4kapp said:

EDIT: you are also incorrect when you assert that D's lack a cohesive narrative when they go big. AOC, Bernie and Planter are Socialists. You can't go much bigger than that. And that proves my point...the party just moves further left. For an alternative perspective on the rise of AOC, Mandami (and by extension Planter) and the state of the D party see today's article in Reason.

LOL. Sorry, but Republicans are ignorant when it comes to the Democratic Party and even more ignorant when it comes to socialism. If that feels too much like calling you an idiot instead of debating the topic, then so be it, but you don't know what you're talking about at all.

Real socialists want to seize the means of production away from private ownership. AOC and Bernie play ball with Democrats on way too many issues to be considered true socialists. That's just a lazy talking point that their opponents use. Plattner has to get elected before I can assess what he actually believes and what he says to be popular, especially since he comes from the upper middle class and not the working man persona he's cosplaying at. But mostly these people are just looking to expand the social safety net like FDR did in the 1930's, which is not socialism at all. To be blunt, FDR did that stuff to stave off socialism.

Meanwhile anybody who pays actual attention to the Democratic Party knows that well over 80% of the party is like this.




This is correct. Fiorella LaGuardia was a socialist mayor of New York. FDR's policies were largely socialist. The word has little meaning in contemporary politics being a victim of red scare politics and two political parties who are the first and second most capitalist parties in the world.

We could use some socialism and some communism
 
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