this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2025
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Why is fucking Newsom, the most neoliberal establishment motherfucker to ever walk the earth, the first Dem to figure out you can take these assholes down by just using their tactics against them?
It's like if Pelosi just walked down onto the the chamber floor and just started yelling "okay boomer" every time someone tried to talk, while going the fortnight dance.
I don't know, I think Tim Waltz figured it out and then the Harris campaign shut him down. The whether or not it works or not I'm not sure. Certainly doesn't look like anything's been taken down.
TL;DR: calling fascists weird was and is EXTREMELY effective messaging and pivoting away from it was probably one of the top reasons for Trump being able to infest the white house again.
100%. Without a shadow of a doubt. Never underestimate the ability of the DNC to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in order to please the owner donors and/or uphold arbitrary institutional norms.
It ABSOLUTELY worked. Harris/Walz were far ahead in the polls while they were still calling weirdos weird and then they nosedived when they switched from that to the 1992 playbook.
The Trump messaging works by convincing people that the fascists are the only normal ones/the in group in a world taken over by abnormal and immoral people of the out groups
Even SUGGESTING that they might be just another out group rather than the only in group weakens the "everything our Dear Leaders say or do is correct because it's against the weirdos" narrative and more importantly the feeling of belonging and of being on the right side of history that the leaders of the cult have instilled in the followers.
Regular people have no problem being called weird (in fact, a lot of us actively celebrate our weirdness), but a fascist movement simply falls apart without the solid conviction that they're the only sane and normal ones.
This went a little longer than I intended, so I'll add a TL;DR at the top lol
Well said!
Somehow I had never made this connection until just now! It always struck me that just calling them "weird" seemed so effective, since it's not even really an insult, but this makes complete sense.
The American left constantly punching left even when they’re losing is why the American right ate your lunch. You guys cannot abide allies or any other leftists that aren’t of the exact same stripe, while the right unified. As a non American you guys make our head hurt
Seriously. Half the comments in here are basically "How dare this guy be on our side! I will not abide anyone less pure than the Virgin Mary". Maybe it's just a bunch of right wing bots trying to sow division, but if so they are doing it remarkably well.
Meh. He's a step up from Trump. So's literally anyone with whom I'm familiar.
So yeah, I guess if we want the 2016-era Democrats who sleepwalked us into Trump, and who see sacrificing trans rights as a necessary step so they can win some bigot votes, to be where we're setting our post-Trump goals I guess he's as good a milquetoast as any.
He probably won't try to dismantle our constitution and government, so alright, I guess that's not a given these days. 🎉
It could be that his counter-gerrymander is all talk and there will be some last minute failure to act on it, in which case he is indeed milquetoast and also full of shit. But, should he follow through on it, that's the opposite of milquetoast and an important step forward. It's great to see some recognition that the republicans fight dirty, always and openly, and that acting in good faith when your opponent doesn't, just means you lose.
We are at war, a creeping and undeclared war but war nonetheless. Newsom may be an asshole and his policies may be bad. In war, your allies might not be your heroes, nor even your friends. As long as they are shooting in the right direction and having an effect, that's a good ally.
I feel like we're more or less saying the same thing, we've just spun it on opposite directions. But his gerrymandering thing, while good, is also reactive. Granted, it's more interestingly reactive than nearly every other thing Democrats are doing in response to R, but it's still reactive, and I still have no faith in his values.
So again, is he better than Trump? Yes. Yes he is.
Will a 2028 Newsom run just be a return to white men who are only slightly less openly owned by their donors than Republicans and Trump? Yes, yes it will.
Now here's where it gets tricky. I voted Kamala even though I was very bothered by her poor strategic decision to try getting Republican votes (see my visual aid below) and her seeming turn from everything Progressive. (The Atlantic had her pegged on this way back.)
So, I've been watching this R goes Right and D follows them for votes from people who will never, ever vote for them at the expense of progressives and the left for several decades now. I ain't no spring chicken.
When I voted Kamala, I vowed that I would no longer support a Republican-lite party. Where we are today is the logical eventual conclusion of every conservative and Republican platform position and policy I can remember from the entire course of my entire life. And they have arrived here via the Ratchet Effect.
I will no longer support it. If 2028 is someone with a D after their name running on policies that could have been pre-Trump Republican policies, or 2016-era Democrat rhetoric, they will have to beat whoever replaces Trump without my vote. I will no longer support the ratchet effect and no longer support a Democratic party who blames all their losses on the left while simultaneously clinging to leadership that is ancient, out of touch, right-leaning, and corporate owned.
This is very specifically not OK, and is enough by itself to lose my vote:
Edit: And before someone replies to mention Ken Martin and the supposed changes he will bring, wake me up when he's done something that shows it's not going to be more of the same.
Edited to add visual aid about R votes and to fix hyperlink.
Well yeah I didn't mean to suggest anyone should back him as a presidential candidate. The ironic thing is the democrats would probably win more votes from Trump's base by having a more progressive candidate, because the left / right spectrum isn't everything. I'm sure many Trump voters were people who knew they were getting screwed over by the billionaire class and corrupt politicians, wanted change, and were dumb enough to think Trump would fix things. They could be won over by a progressive candidate, but I agree a right-leaning democrat is precisely the thing they will never vote for.
Sorry I'm very keyed up about current events lately, and while I'm not looking for a fight, some part of my lizard brain probably is.
I agree with this! In 2017 I kind hoped his win would be like an electric jolt to the genitals for Dems to stop being how I've already described them being. If only...
I only wish I wasn't so sure that's who we're going to get. And with the same old arguments. "xxxx is just too radical. The middle will vote R if we go with them!"
I hate him because he wants to put me back in the men's room
I hear what you’re saying, but it’s worth noting that Newsom is far from an opponent to the trans community. He is the governor of CA, which is famously a strong trans sanctuary state. He was the major of San Francisco, and supported LGBTQ+ rights to the point that the city was issuing marriage certificates before it was federally recognized.
As for his other recent stances, I think him saying transgender athletes playing in women’s sports being deeply unfair is, unfortunately, a popular and nuanced opinion. I don’t paint with such a broad brush that I think him saying women’s sports should get careful consideration with trans athletes as being the same thing as him saying trans people shouldn’t exist.
That's a nice claim Senator, let's see you back it up with a source.
But... But... Biden and harris were complacent in the Gaza genocide and even though the opposition would be worse and do more damage elsewhere, I just couldn't vote for imperfect. 🫠
I think what really caused Harris to lose was the constant everything is great and I won't change anything messaging. People were struggling and she offered nothing.
Trump did offer something, but anyone with a memory greater than 4 years should have remembered his promises are lies, but here we are.
Harris and Biden all thought facts would help. Facts are great for policy decisions, not great for convincing people to support you.
If facts say that the economy is booming and everyone is off better however I don’t feel it, I don’t see it in my local community. Then fuck off with your facts.
Trumpie understands this. Any good sales person will tell you feelings are what closes sales. Trumpie harped on everyone’s feelings. People felt like the economy was leaving them behind AGAIN. Trumpie speaks like the common person, he’s able to relate to people. This is how Trumpie cons people. I imagine if you ran an analysis on all of Trumpie’s campaign statements, you wouldn’t find specific numbers. General, vague numbers at best.
It’s why Obama and Sanders can attract sell out crowds. Both of them know feelings are more important than facts.
This right here is another example of the issue. It's not "facts" that the economy was good for the average citizen. Yes our economy was performing well, but our metrics are not designed to tell us how well people are affording rent or groceries. It's designed to tell us how much is being produced. We can be more productive than ever, but that doesn't matter if housing has never been more unaffordable for the average American.
We measure the economy based on the needs of capital, not the workers.
I think it's because she's a woman. America hasn't matured enough for a woman to be a viable candidate yet. Sexism is still going strong here. Add to that the fact that she was black, and she stood no chance.
She actually did address and talk about many issues that people cared about, but she barely got any media coverage.
All I remember is how she wanted to assure us all how she wasn't coming for guns, owned a glock and was cool with Cheneys. (and let's not forget how she assured us all there would be Republicans on her cabinet) Seemed like what she wanted was Republican votes, but it didn't work out. Somehow when R goes right, D decides to chase them every last time.
The real reason Harris lost is because she had a vagina
It's more complicated than the mainstream narrative would let on. In the US the Democrats are a center right party, they're more or less in agreement with what the previous republican administrations wanted, with the exception of a few gender related issues (LGBT, women's rights, abortion). The new GOP is just much more extreme than usual. The Dems see this and are actively moving further right to try and get the leftover scraps of the extremists.
For example, most of the infrastructure that trump is using to round up brown people is stuff that was built under biden/obama. Deep down both parties want this, they're just using it to bash each other as a matter of tradition.
The left is actually quite ideologically unified at this point, especially compared to historical trends. It's better to think of the US as in a 3 party system where you have extreme right, center right, and a broad coalition of leftists, but all the infrastructure is only setup to allow two parties.
Purity tests are one of the biggest downfalls of the left.
Just give me a fucking fair primary, please. I'm going to lose my goddamn mind if they ram Newsom through like they did with Clinton and Biden.
If newsom goes for it, like it or not, he will be the nominee.
He has a massive war chest and ability to fundraise and has national name recognition.
He is a centrist corporate dweeb, but at least he is fighting… which is more than can be said for 95% of democratic politicians.
I won’t be voting for him in the primary, but he is a better choice over Harris or Clinton
It depends on how much contempt they have for electorate. And their propensity to learn anything.
I don't like these odds
Didn’t learn much from 2016.
So in other words, Newsom IS going to be the nominee unless Hakeem Jeffries somehow becomes presidential material by developing a personality between now and 2028.
Personally I hope he Jeb!s the primary. The republican electorate very quickly figured out when an establishment candidate was being rammed through and rejected it spectacularly. Let's hope the Dems follow suit this time. There's still a lot of time between now and the primary.
If they won’t learn on their own, they must be taught.
Do they even need primaries at all anymore? We'll just vote for whoever they select because it'll be less damaging than the Republican.
I really can’t stand Newsom. The guy is some of the worst aspects of the Dem party (note I did not say “the left”) Virtually guarantees they’ll run him.
Because he's also a narcissistic snake who has been self-interested and corrupt for years.
Which sadly, is exactly what we need to oppose the narcissistic snakes in power right now. We're just fortunate that he is finding success and support to his liking in being the opposition we wish we had.
I support the tactic broadly, I hope the rest of the so-called Democrats pick it up and start mountain an actual "get in the dirty trenches" opposition that declaws Trump's political capital.