For the previous 8 years, instead of fighting fascism and white nationalism, the Democrats have made their enemy the populists within their own party.
It ended expectedly.
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For the previous 8 years, instead of fighting fascism and white nationalism, the Democrats have made their enemy the populists within their own party.
It ended expectedly.
DNC rigged their primary in favor of Hillary in 2016 and fucked him over AGAIN in 2020 when Obama made a phone call urging both Klobuchar and Buttigeg to drop and endorse Biden. They fucked themselves and the rest of the country twice (now three times) in a row. They're done as a party, many moved Independent and will remain there for the rest of their lives unless the Dems get their shit together.
Bernie won fewer votes in Vermont, his home state, than Kamala. One of the rare incumbent Democratic Senators who actually underperformed Harris.
Okay now do swing states, the only states that actually end up mattering in presidential elections. Bernie captivated audiences on Fox news during his campaign, appeared in Republican town halls and listened to people. Id bet you dollars to donuts Bernie would outperform her by miles in the swing states.
I go back and forth, but I do think Sanders would have had good odds in 2020. We had the same "I can't vote for the status quo" non-arguments going around and a semi-populist candidate arguing for all the things people desperately needed (a socioeconomic safety net, basically) at the height of COVID and civil unrest would have done well. That said, an old white guy who was "warm and safe and was in the same room as Obama a few times" was probably still the right play.
But yeah. In 2024 when all people care about is "not the status quo" and "why eggs expensive"? A guy arguing for MORE government programs does not fair well against "Yo, what if we got rid of all taxes and government funding? Don't ask where the money is going"
But yeah. In 2024 when all people care about is "not the status quo" and "why eggs expensive"? A guy arguing for MORE government programs does not fair well against "Yo, what if we got rid of all taxes and government funding? Don't ask where the money is going"
Bernie has better answers to that than Trump, though.
Maybe, but it's all academic if we don't have the power to get him nominated. I am reminded of a quip: "We elect people without power and we're surprised that they're powerless to change things". That is the best case scenario if the DNC had somehow nominated Bernie. We need to build power, no matter what our strategy or objective. Highly recommend reading this over doom posting: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/11/10-things-to-do-if-trump-wins/
I was a Bernie delegate in Minnesota when he won the state in 2020 and I skill knew he had no shot in the vast majority of less liberal states. Where are the numbers coming from for people who would have supposedly voted him in, despite not winning enough primaries?
They would have been coming from:
This is absolutely untrue.
Dems should have just used more charts that show how actually you're not paying more for groceries and making less money adjusted for inflation.
They also should have just had Kamala drop out and replaced her with Liz Cheney, that would have gotten the moderate vote.
They also should have shamed the people who don't like funding wholesale slaughter around the world more, these are jobs we're talking about here!
My heart belongs to Bernie.
The left really should actually organize and form a secret party of political actors who run as republicans to disrupt the vote.
They should just run fake centrists in the Democratic Party and then turn all progressive when they get into office.
Like centrists did with the fake progressives Fetterman and Sinema.
Let’s do both! Sneak attack
If we're very lucky, we can get it so it's a stealth progressive against a stealth progressive.
How does that make any sense compared to moderates going to the Republican party?
Like, the current Dems are "progressives" who want what every other 1st world country got decades ago, and "moderates" who want what Republicans wanted decades ago...
Why are the "moderates" trying to moderate the Dem party instead of the one that's so far from center they're openly fascist?
If they had stayed where they were in the 80s, then the furthest right we'd have been in 2024 was Kamala
Do you understand how ridiculous it is to say everyone to the left of them should go R?
Absolutely best case scenario we end up with two modern Dem parties and that fixes nothing.
But if the moderates go to the Republican party?
They'd get what they want, they can be pro-fracking. They can be for genocide, they can be for politicians using insider knowledge to make millions off the stock market, they can be for the end of political donations regulations.
And have total party unity on all those topics, while moderating the Republicans so they run McCains instead of trumps.
But that's hard.
And moderates have never been fighters.
The only way they'll go moderate Republicans, is if Dems kick them the fuck out of running the party.
They did it in 08, they'll do it again if we get a progressive to the general. It's not a problem either because we'll gain waaaaay more votes than we lose.
They would last MAYBE one term before they were instantly primaried and removed from power.
The reason manchin and sinema are so destructive is that they were from INCREDIBLY purple states. Going up against them would just split the vote and guarantee the republican candidate one. fetterman is more of a special case and time will tell on him.
The other? To get elected as a magat you need to be a pretty hateful son of a bitch. And people are already turning on AOC for removing her pronouns from her social media bio.
Because... just look at the Bernie Bros. Democrats are INCREDIBLY good at purity testing each other. So someone who pretended they wanted to enslave women and then voted for progressive legislature? They would be forever tainted and vilified... and kind of rightfully so.