Democrats have an inability to tell their own story. That is a messaging problem on the Dems’ side. When the infrastructure bill passed, why was the Lincoln Project the first group to release an ad about it?
I mean this with all the kindness and respect that is in me, but why is this message coming now as opposed to when we joined the battle? I have the utmost humility and am not a person who isn't prepared to look at what's not working or have tough conversations, but it feels a tiny bit condescending for this message to come now when a lot of the folks in the pro-democracy battle were going along with the messaging that was in place. And not only going along with it but fully confident it was going to prevail in a win. Am I wrong? Again, I mean no disrespect but I think there are a lot of us feeling slightly duped. And I think before we can move forward together, an acknowledgment of that is necessary. Maybe I'm crazy :)
I completely agree. To blame this on Democratic leadership is too easy and too late. I followed Reed Galen into grassroots organizing and worked like crazy--not for 2 months, but for weeks. What I now realize is that America has a racist and misogynistic streak and and many love the loud-mouthed, in-your-face, rude, bullying macho types. I have been self-reflective my entire life and sought to learn and be better. BUT, no more self-flagellating as the crude, cruel, no-apologies ever party wins the day.
No, you are not crazy. I agree. Maybe it would be counter-productive to address who else might be somewhat responsible for this mess. But it does feel like this is too late. AND, it feels like once again Democrats have to be the adults and take the blame for failures started decades ago. I don’t know what the path forward looks like, but I don’t think reforming the party into a mirror image of the GOP is the answer. But it no longer matters to me. I’ve done what I could as an American abroad. I’m no longer going to use my time to help people in the US. I really feel like Americans can fuck all the way off. $2500 seems cheap to renounce my citizenship!
Reed and the LP have been preaching this for 6 years - maybe now the Democrat elites will listen, as the GOP did when Rove took them to the woodshed in 2006.
I agree with Shawna above. Then I heard today that the Latino vote went to Trump because of the economy. Trump was handed a good economy and screwed it up with tariffs and “injecting bleach” during a global pandemic spurring inflation. Inflation is now at 2.1% and I know as well as anyone, it sucks paying more for things. But the cause I stated above. If you noticed that the economy was the #1 issue. The economy is great until Trump gets in and starts with the tariffs and adding 7trillion in tax cuts for the 1% and slapping tariffs across the board which is a tax that we, the consumer pays. Now how do you explain to people that don’t understand basic economics that they made a big mistake voting for Trump and maybe destroying our democracy? The Democrats warned and warned that Project 2025 was his agenda and where to find it but they didn’t listen. Are we/they better off now? I get what you’re saying that Democratic leaders need to speak more to their constituents and interact with them. Do you get where I’m coming from? We have not all been living under a rock for the past 10 years, I knew it. Musk bought Twitter for just that purpose you mentioned to sow disinformation. So now we’re in a pickle that we don’t know what’s going to happen. Maybe what you are saying to us, you should sit down with democratic leaders and speak to them. Only a suggestion because many of us who voted for Harris knew what the right thing was and we like the conversation and input on where we go next. Thanks for listening.
I think the hardest part this election is that the stakes were so high. This is our democracy we're talking about. In years past if a republican got elected, you knew democracy would survive. We would get through it. I'm not so sure this time
agree with you generally that the Democratic Party needs to use this loss to soul-search and make structural changes at various levels. some of this has been going on for decades, back to the '90s at least. it will be tough to address this kind of change, and I hope the party has the fortitude to do it. after all, the GOP infamously ditched the results of its 2012 post-mortem, opting instead to double down on the policies that were narrowing its base and pushing it so hard to the right. will Dems show more grit, more care for our party? I hope so. time will tell.
on other points I have questions. Harris had actual economic proposals to directly help middle-class families: price-gouging legislation, $25K for home down payment, $6K for new parents, $50K for people starting a business. which she talked about with her message discipline all over the place, and often. the other guy has no policies. but voters felt Harris didn't care about their financial distress? my brain hurts.
the other guy seems to me to offer nothing that voters connected to except his fear and rage. maybe that was enough. but a lot of the current rhetoric about Dems' failures goes into this point at length but doesn't note that, again, Trump has no economic policies for the middle class. Harris did and pounded them constantly. so...she did it wrong? and voters went with the guy who has none, bc they feel like he'll address their concerns? un-understand.
wondering what the Democratic Party might look and act like as the generational shift continues. we have a fireball young state Dem party chairman here in North Carolina, Anderson Clayton (great NC name), who is revitalizing the party in some of the ways you mention. I hope other states are also moving past the sclerotic abandonment of huge swaths of the country.
just a word, though: it's always tough to get the "now Dems, it's time for some tough love." for one thing, it's such a trope. it sounds condescending, like being called on the carpet and not by your own boss but someone else's. and it might be a tad premature, a mere 72 hours after the godawful Tuesday night we all endured, to start grinding that in. I totes agree the party has major, serious work to do. but maybe extend us a bit of grace to process what happened and get grounded. you are an excellent analyst and make worthwhile observations, but like your own counseling on how to talk to voters, my observation is that well-intentioned pulling-aside of Dems for tough love closes more doors than it opens. it's reflexive: I've lost count of how many times I've heard the tough love thing from people I follow and respect, and I always give it a hearing. but the framing isn't good, and it narrows the receptiveness of the recipients.
perhaps. I hope it's clear from my comment that I don't think or respond that way.
put yourself in our position. we hear endlessly about Dems' bed-wetting. but when that's not the knock, it's "Dems aren't anxious enough about..." —you see the problem? whatever our current state, we're told we're doing it wrong. for years I heard and agreed that letting the progressive wing have too much sway was a mistake, that we needed to include moderates. now hearing we screwed up by wooing moderates and alienated the progressives.
seems like nobody spends any time lecturing GOPs on their mistakes (maybe bc everyone knows they'd tell them to eff off). I'm asking seriously, is it true that Dems are seen as a few bricks shy of a load—in need of constant correction, as wayward children? it's hard and of course necessary to take criticism. but whatever resistance there might be to hearing difficult things is compounded by being treated as idiots. the harder the truth, the more trust and good faith it takes to accept.
you don't really expect anyone, Dems included, to be responsive to criticism from people who don't seem to respect them?
I agree with some of your analysis, but it misses the mark is several respects.
Biden's historic inability to communicate meant his policies...which DID bring jobs, salvage an economic disaster, successfully put pressure on monopolies, strengthened union bargaining via the NLRB, move forward from the pandemic, turn inflation, etc DIDNT reach the public.
Biden never even tried to address people's beliefs that the system was benefiting the 1%. He could have pointed to antitrust wins...he could have talked about price gouging (it is a real thing). No one believes the slogan about "taxing the rich".
The Harris campaign ran a low-risk/generic Democratic campaign when the stakes were stratospheric. She mentioned price gouging once, and the media and billionaire donors slapped it down. A fighter says, screw you...I'm here to fight for the 90%. She folded.
I don't blame Harris...she trusted the 7-figure strategists who flattened every sentence, and made toothless ads (pocketing huge amounts of the legendary billion dollars), and she gave the exact same stump speech for 3 months (losing the attention of the media and influencers alike).
In Walz, the Democrats had someone who didn't speak "Democratic-poll-tested pablum". The campaign then hid him until panic set in 2 weeks before ED.
Yes, the Democratic party needs to rebuild with new blood and real fighters.
Yes, they need to ditch their useless strategists and 99% of their pollsters.
Yes, they need to provide a platform for the working class and middle class, and stop modulating messaging to appease billionaire donors.
Yes, they need to stop talking like Democrats.
Ad buys, ground game were a waste of resources. People follow influencers not ads, unless they're surgically targeted, hard-hitting, and consistent with the overall messaging.
The constant changes in tone from joy to fascism were jarring and inconsistent.
With all these caveats (which would have reduced the losses), the anti-incumbency post-Covid blowback is a worldwide phenomenon.
The apathy of the electorate towards women's reproductive rights was something no one saw coming.
Half the analyses state economic populism is key, half say Republican-lite is the answer.
Likely, both are partly correct. The reflexive cherry-picking of student loans as a rationale is tiresome. The IRA allocated billions to rural communities. The PACT act was passed, yet millions of veterans voted for a felon. Trump has talked non-stop about tariffs and mass deportations, yet the billionaires support policies that will tank the market. They believe Vance will stop him, or nonexistent guardrails...this is laughable.
There is a widespread delusion that Trump does mean what he says...except for XYZ (whatever the listener wants to be true).
A failure to understand Trumpism vs focusing on Democratic failures is a hollow analysis.
I’ve spent 9 years analyzing and fighting Trumpism. Trump owns it all. There’s not a lot we can do there. However, we can determine where to go from here.
I did cry yesterday. I felt the loneliness of the lost. Reed, the LP and your example got me actively involved. Worked hard here in my district and we did flip the US House seat to our Democrat candidate. Not sure if it had anything to do with me but I do feel that maybe one or two of door knots helped. This said, I am with you. Let's determine where to go from here.
ok, but your essay was an analysis of what went wrong.
If you want to discuss, what can be done to fix it, I have a laundry list of ideas...some of which I noted above.
I'd expand on your reference to the Lorenz article. The Democratic party must fire its useless consultants and pollsters, and direct funding to the podcast/influencer space (including you).
The only ads the DNC should send are surgically targeted digital ads to Trump voters most impacted by his policies: tariffs, deportations, tax cuts for the wealthy. These needs to happen once the impact hits (not 2 weeks before the midterms) and they need to be relentless.
Even if only 10% awaken from their bubble of ignorance and delusion, it's money well spent.
Once Trump starts touting Biden's accomplishments as his own, targeted ads showing when it happened and how their Congressperson voted.
If only 1% are reached, it's money well spent.
Mowing down misinformation and ignorance will take a generation, but 1,000 cuts makes a difference.
And now Project 2025 is going to spread its dark shadow over all of America.................even those who voted for Trump (but not of course the billionaires, they will be just fine)
I am trying to be positive, but I look at Muslims in Michigan who would have been banned under Trump 1 without the ACLU voting for him. I see Latino and Black men and White women voting against their interests to vote for him. I see Laura Luna-tick winning by ten points against a very strong candidate. I live in a state (Florida) run by the most corrupt politician since Daley. I see surveys showing people had no idea about most of what they just voted for. I see a candidate for the highest office in the world who is incompetent, lazy, treasonous and a felon, who ran only on racism and misogyny, and won. The data to me shows they ARE Igborant, misogynistic and racist, and I hope you are right - there is a way to build a counter operation, but I have severe doubts based on what I just saw.
I think this should be read by everyone who thinks that all of what we Democrats did in this election was screwed up. Maybe miscalculations are there, but this article speaks the obvious truth, Trump voters are what America has become. It is beyond shitty when you ignore every screaming warning of a racist, misogynistic, xenophobic fascist and still vote for him. The is no excuse for it other than MAGA Republicans too are racist, misogynistic, xenophobic Fascists! They don’t want truth
It was a tough loss. I listened to Kamala’s message and plans for Americans.
Drumpf had no plans for people. He did his grievance tour and told his Hannibal and snake stories. He failed in his 1st presidential tenure. He lied 24/7. He made sure his lies and shenanigans made the news every day. The guy was a stupid man. He was a failed business man. The media owned by these billionaires withheld or changed stories about Drumpf “sane washing”.
Putin and oligarchs with their money and meddling contributed to installing criminal Drumpf.
I’m not an expert on politics but above is how I view it.
It doesn’t do any good to castigate the democratic leaders. Maybe I’m wrong.
Why are so many people ignorant of civics and disengaged from community service? After the debacle of the 70’s the Republicans said (see Karl Rove) never again would they voluntarily give up power. They doubled down on their dog whistle politics. Enter Reagan with his government is ineffective, and real Americans are independent and can pull themselves up by their bootstraps ( cowboy myth) message. Enter Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, et al , and the propaganda that has been consumed for 24 years non stop.
The Democrats have been feckless and too often go along to get along, while Mitch McConnell and the other parasites laugh out loud.
Add the obscene redistribution of wealth to self centered billionaires, with too much money and not enough brains, how did/does the average American have a chance to make a decision that makes a difference to themselves or the country??
As a someone who has spent the last 7 years doing alot of political organizing, reads a ton of news and uses my personal social media platforms to spread facts, I find this take way too simplistic. I see Dems CONSTANTLY messaging on the economy, immigration and every other issues that our big tent says they care about. I see Biden-Harris/Dems delivering historic, life-changing legislation to working class and middle class voters after being handed a total shhtshow. I see Dems constantly cleaning up after Republican-presidential recessions. YET we have a MSM that refuses to hold Trump accountable while holding Dems accountable for literally everything. The MSM also LOVES to blow up cultural issues which actually do not dominate most people's day to day lives, yet the media pretends it does. And still we are constantly blaming Dems?! And when you say "elites" - who are you talking about? "Elites" bought and paid for Trump's reelection and offer nothing to help WC and MC except lies. Should we lie more? Is that the answer?
We do need to talk to voters. We also need a Dem media infrastructure, but that is gonna take some billionaires or a lot of regular folks supporting independent media. We have a disinformation problem. We have a billionaire problem. We have a foreign interference problem. We have a SCOTUS problem. Let's be constructive and figure out how we build from here.
As always, Reed, great stuff. Perhaps time is running out. Not acknowledging as an absolute priority the ongoing fuckery in our country by Russia and Putin, covert and overt, is shredding the nation. In 1987, Putin found the perfect psychopath to implement his war to destroy us. As of now, I’d offer that he’s winning and, perhaps, won. Eg: he did it again overtly last tuesday and no one gives an eff. It’s as normalized as trump himself. The long game. Putin knows how to play it. Isn’t that right freedom caucus?
Why is no one mentioning the Putin factor plus the fact that the repugs have been damaging our Democracy for decades, beginning with Reagan’s cancellation of the Fairness Doctrine which opened the gates for Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and Rogan? Not to mention stealing two scotus seats from us, if not three? Making it harder to vote … they cannot win without cheating and gerrymandering… that’s my two cents.
Democrats have an inability to tell their own story. That is a messaging problem on the Dems’ side. When the infrastructure bill passed, why was the Lincoln Project the first group to release an ad about it?
Dems messaged on this constantly and the media ran stories - every single day for four years - with inflation and recession in the headlines.
I mean this with all the kindness and respect that is in me, but why is this message coming now as opposed to when we joined the battle? I have the utmost humility and am not a person who isn't prepared to look at what's not working or have tough conversations, but it feels a tiny bit condescending for this message to come now when a lot of the folks in the pro-democracy battle were going along with the messaging that was in place. And not only going along with it but fully confident it was going to prevail in a win. Am I wrong? Again, I mean no disrespect but I think there are a lot of us feeling slightly duped. And I think before we can move forward together, an acknowledgment of that is necessary. Maybe I'm crazy :)
I completely agree. To blame this on Democratic leadership is too easy and too late. I followed Reed Galen into grassroots organizing and worked like crazy--not for 2 months, but for weeks. What I now realize is that America has a racist and misogynistic streak and and many love the loud-mouthed, in-your-face, rude, bullying macho types. I have been self-reflective my entire life and sought to learn and be better. BUT, no more self-flagellating as the crude, cruel, no-apologies ever party wins the day.
No, you are not crazy. I agree. Maybe it would be counter-productive to address who else might be somewhat responsible for this mess. But it does feel like this is too late. AND, it feels like once again Democrats have to be the adults and take the blame for failures started decades ago. I don’t know what the path forward looks like, but I don’t think reforming the party into a mirror image of the GOP is the answer. But it no longer matters to me. I’ve done what I could as an American abroad. I’m no longer going to use my time to help people in the US. I really feel like Americans can fuck all the way off. $2500 seems cheap to renounce my citizenship!
Reed and the LP have been preaching this for 6 years - maybe now the Democrat elites will listen, as the GOP did when Rove took them to the woodshed in 2006.
You’re not crazy; you’re perceptive and honest.
I agree with Shawna above. Then I heard today that the Latino vote went to Trump because of the economy. Trump was handed a good economy and screwed it up with tariffs and “injecting bleach” during a global pandemic spurring inflation. Inflation is now at 2.1% and I know as well as anyone, it sucks paying more for things. But the cause I stated above. If you noticed that the economy was the #1 issue. The economy is great until Trump gets in and starts with the tariffs and adding 7trillion in tax cuts for the 1% and slapping tariffs across the board which is a tax that we, the consumer pays. Now how do you explain to people that don’t understand basic economics that they made a big mistake voting for Trump and maybe destroying our democracy? The Democrats warned and warned that Project 2025 was his agenda and where to find it but they didn’t listen. Are we/they better off now? I get what you’re saying that Democratic leaders need to speak more to their constituents and interact with them. Do you get where I’m coming from? We have not all been living under a rock for the past 10 years, I knew it. Musk bought Twitter for just that purpose you mentioned to sow disinformation. So now we’re in a pickle that we don’t know what’s going to happen. Maybe what you are saying to us, you should sit down with democratic leaders and speak to them. Only a suggestion because many of us who voted for Harris knew what the right thing was and we like the conversation and input on where we go next. Thanks for listening.
I think the hardest part this election is that the stakes were so high. This is our democracy we're talking about. In years past if a republican got elected, you knew democracy would survive. We would get through it. I'm not so sure this time
hey Reed, thanks.
agree with you generally that the Democratic Party needs to use this loss to soul-search and make structural changes at various levels. some of this has been going on for decades, back to the '90s at least. it will be tough to address this kind of change, and I hope the party has the fortitude to do it. after all, the GOP infamously ditched the results of its 2012 post-mortem, opting instead to double down on the policies that were narrowing its base and pushing it so hard to the right. will Dems show more grit, more care for our party? I hope so. time will tell.
on other points I have questions. Harris had actual economic proposals to directly help middle-class families: price-gouging legislation, $25K for home down payment, $6K for new parents, $50K for people starting a business. which she talked about with her message discipline all over the place, and often. the other guy has no policies. but voters felt Harris didn't care about their financial distress? my brain hurts.
the other guy seems to me to offer nothing that voters connected to except his fear and rage. maybe that was enough. but a lot of the current rhetoric about Dems' failures goes into this point at length but doesn't note that, again, Trump has no economic policies for the middle class. Harris did and pounded them constantly. so...she did it wrong? and voters went with the guy who has none, bc they feel like he'll address their concerns? un-understand.
wondering what the Democratic Party might look and act like as the generational shift continues. we have a fireball young state Dem party chairman here in North Carolina, Anderson Clayton (great NC name), who is revitalizing the party in some of the ways you mention. I hope other states are also moving past the sclerotic abandonment of huge swaths of the country.
just a word, though: it's always tough to get the "now Dems, it's time for some tough love." for one thing, it's such a trope. it sounds condescending, like being called on the carpet and not by your own boss but someone else's. and it might be a tad premature, a mere 72 hours after the godawful Tuesday night we all endured, to start grinding that in. I totes agree the party has major, serious work to do. but maybe extend us a bit of grace to process what happened and get grounded. you are an excellent analyst and make worthwhile observations, but like your own counseling on how to talk to voters, my observation is that well-intentioned pulling-aside of Dems for tough love closes more doors than it opens. it's reflexive: I've lost count of how many times I've heard the tough love thing from people I follow and respect, and I always give it a hearing. but the framing isn't good, and it narrows the receptiveness of the recipients.
Perhaps if they took the constructive criticism as it was offered rather than “you don’t know what you’re talking about” then change would happen
perhaps. I hope it's clear from my comment that I don't think or respond that way.
put yourself in our position. we hear endlessly about Dems' bed-wetting. but when that's not the knock, it's "Dems aren't anxious enough about..." —you see the problem? whatever our current state, we're told we're doing it wrong. for years I heard and agreed that letting the progressive wing have too much sway was a mistake, that we needed to include moderates. now hearing we screwed up by wooing moderates and alienated the progressives.
seems like nobody spends any time lecturing GOPs on their mistakes (maybe bc everyone knows they'd tell them to eff off). I'm asking seriously, is it true that Dems are seen as a few bricks shy of a load—in need of constant correction, as wayward children? it's hard and of course necessary to take criticism. but whatever resistance there might be to hearing difficult things is compounded by being treated as idiots. the harder the truth, the more trust and good faith it takes to accept.
you don't really expect anyone, Dems included, to be responsive to criticism from people who don't seem to respect them?
Who is "they"? Please be specific.
I agree with some of your analysis, but it misses the mark is several respects.
Biden's historic inability to communicate meant his policies...which DID bring jobs, salvage an economic disaster, successfully put pressure on monopolies, strengthened union bargaining via the NLRB, move forward from the pandemic, turn inflation, etc DIDNT reach the public.
Biden never even tried to address people's beliefs that the system was benefiting the 1%. He could have pointed to antitrust wins...he could have talked about price gouging (it is a real thing). No one believes the slogan about "taxing the rich".
The Harris campaign ran a low-risk/generic Democratic campaign when the stakes were stratospheric. She mentioned price gouging once, and the media and billionaire donors slapped it down. A fighter says, screw you...I'm here to fight for the 90%. She folded.
I don't blame Harris...she trusted the 7-figure strategists who flattened every sentence, and made toothless ads (pocketing huge amounts of the legendary billion dollars), and she gave the exact same stump speech for 3 months (losing the attention of the media and influencers alike).
In Walz, the Democrats had someone who didn't speak "Democratic-poll-tested pablum". The campaign then hid him until panic set in 2 weeks before ED.
Yes, the Democratic party needs to rebuild with new blood and real fighters.
Yes, they need to ditch their useless strategists and 99% of their pollsters.
Yes, they need to provide a platform for the working class and middle class, and stop modulating messaging to appease billionaire donors.
Yes, they need to stop talking like Democrats.
Ad buys, ground game were a waste of resources. People follow influencers not ads, unless they're surgically targeted, hard-hitting, and consistent with the overall messaging.
The constant changes in tone from joy to fascism were jarring and inconsistent.
With all these caveats (which would have reduced the losses), the anti-incumbency post-Covid blowback is a worldwide phenomenon.
The apathy of the electorate towards women's reproductive rights was something no one saw coming.
Half the analyses state economic populism is key, half say Republican-lite is the answer.
Likely, both are partly correct. The reflexive cherry-picking of student loans as a rationale is tiresome. The IRA allocated billions to rural communities. The PACT act was passed, yet millions of veterans voted for a felon. Trump has talked non-stop about tariffs and mass deportations, yet the billionaires support policies that will tank the market. They believe Vance will stop him, or nonexistent guardrails...this is laughable.
There is a widespread delusion that Trump does mean what he says...except for XYZ (whatever the listener wants to be true).
A failure to understand Trumpism vs focusing on Democratic failures is a hollow analysis.
I’ve spent 9 years analyzing and fighting Trumpism. Trump owns it all. There’s not a lot we can do there. However, we can determine where to go from here.
I did cry yesterday. I felt the loneliness of the lost. Reed, the LP and your example got me actively involved. Worked hard here in my district and we did flip the US House seat to our Democrat candidate. Not sure if it had anything to do with me but I do feel that maybe one or two of door knots helped. This said, I am with you. Let's determine where to go from here.
ok, but your essay was an analysis of what went wrong.
If you want to discuss, what can be done to fix it, I have a laundry list of ideas...some of which I noted above.
I'd expand on your reference to the Lorenz article. The Democratic party must fire its useless consultants and pollsters, and direct funding to the podcast/influencer space (including you).
The only ads the DNC should send are surgically targeted digital ads to Trump voters most impacted by his policies: tariffs, deportations, tax cuts for the wealthy. These needs to happen once the impact hits (not 2 weeks before the midterms) and they need to be relentless.
Even if only 10% awaken from their bubble of ignorance and delusion, it's money well spent.
Once Trump starts touting Biden's accomplishments as his own, targeted ads showing when it happened and how their Congressperson voted.
If only 1% are reached, it's money well spent.
Mowing down misinformation and ignorance will take a generation, but 1,000 cuts makes a difference.
And now Project 2025 is going to spread its dark shadow over all of America.................even those who voted for Trump (but not of course the billionaires, they will be just fine)
I am trying to be positive, but I look at Muslims in Michigan who would have been banned under Trump 1 without the ACLU voting for him. I see Latino and Black men and White women voting against their interests to vote for him. I see Laura Luna-tick winning by ten points against a very strong candidate. I live in a state (Florida) run by the most corrupt politician since Daley. I see surveys showing people had no idea about most of what they just voted for. I see a candidate for the highest office in the world who is incompetent, lazy, treasonous and a felon, who ran only on racism and misogyny, and won. The data to me shows they ARE Igborant, misogynistic and racist, and I hope you are right - there is a way to build a counter operation, but I have severe doubts based on what I just saw.
I think this should be read by everyone who thinks that all of what we Democrats did in this election was screwed up. Maybe miscalculations are there, but this article speaks the obvious truth, Trump voters are what America has become. It is beyond shitty when you ignore every screaming warning of a racist, misogynistic, xenophobic fascist and still vote for him. The is no excuse for it other than MAGA Republicans too are racist, misogynistic, xenophobic Fascists! They don’t want truth
lhttps://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/06/opinion/trump-wins-harris-loses.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
It was a tough loss. I listened to Kamala’s message and plans for Americans.
Drumpf had no plans for people. He did his grievance tour and told his Hannibal and snake stories. He failed in his 1st presidential tenure. He lied 24/7. He made sure his lies and shenanigans made the news every day. The guy was a stupid man. He was a failed business man. The media owned by these billionaires withheld or changed stories about Drumpf “sane washing”.
Putin and oligarchs with their money and meddling contributed to installing criminal Drumpf.
I’m not an expert on politics but above is how I view it.
It doesn’t do any good to castigate the democratic leaders. Maybe I’m wrong.
Non democratic groups want to destroy America.
All I can say, is today I cried.
Me too.
Why are so many people ignorant of civics and disengaged from community service? After the debacle of the 70’s the Republicans said (see Karl Rove) never again would they voluntarily give up power. They doubled down on their dog whistle politics. Enter Reagan with his government is ineffective, and real Americans are independent and can pull themselves up by their bootstraps ( cowboy myth) message. Enter Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, et al , and the propaganda that has been consumed for 24 years non stop.
The Democrats have been feckless and too often go along to get along, while Mitch McConnell and the other parasites laugh out loud.
Add the obscene redistribution of wealth to self centered billionaires, with too much money and not enough brains, how did/does the average American have a chance to make a decision that makes a difference to themselves or the country??
As a someone who has spent the last 7 years doing alot of political organizing, reads a ton of news and uses my personal social media platforms to spread facts, I find this take way too simplistic. I see Dems CONSTANTLY messaging on the economy, immigration and every other issues that our big tent says they care about. I see Biden-Harris/Dems delivering historic, life-changing legislation to working class and middle class voters after being handed a total shhtshow. I see Dems constantly cleaning up after Republican-presidential recessions. YET we have a MSM that refuses to hold Trump accountable while holding Dems accountable for literally everything. The MSM also LOVES to blow up cultural issues which actually do not dominate most people's day to day lives, yet the media pretends it does. And still we are constantly blaming Dems?! And when you say "elites" - who are you talking about? "Elites" bought and paid for Trump's reelection and offer nothing to help WC and MC except lies. Should we lie more? Is that the answer?
We do need to talk to voters. We also need a Dem media infrastructure, but that is gonna take some billionaires or a lot of regular folks supporting independent media. We have a disinformation problem. We have a billionaire problem. We have a foreign interference problem. We have a SCOTUS problem. Let's be constructive and figure out how we build from here.
Read my next post which will be up tonight. The media infrastructure is the end, not the beginning, of a decades-long project
As always, Reed, great stuff. Perhaps time is running out. Not acknowledging as an absolute priority the ongoing fuckery in our country by Russia and Putin, covert and overt, is shredding the nation. In 1987, Putin found the perfect psychopath to implement his war to destroy us. As of now, I’d offer that he’s winning and, perhaps, won. Eg: he did it again overtly last tuesday and no one gives an eff. It’s as normalized as trump himself. The long game. Putin knows how to play it. Isn’t that right freedom caucus?
Here's a strange question. Just exactly who are the Dem elites?
Why is no one mentioning the Putin factor plus the fact that the repugs have been damaging our Democracy for decades, beginning with Reagan’s cancellation of the Fairness Doctrine which opened the gates for Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and Rogan? Not to mention stealing two scotus seats from us, if not three? Making it harder to vote … they cannot win without cheating and gerrymandering… that’s my two cents.