This is a great article, more than just bait for “You voted for leopards eating faces and now you’re surprised that a leopard ate your face” comments.
There’s a great opportunity for Dems here, if they are willing to take it. Point out to the conservative little people that Trump’s friends are the rich and powerful and the little conservatives will get nothing and like it. Highlight that Trump is hurting farmers so he and his rich buddies can get a tax cut. Remind them that the GQP doesn’t care about people. It only exists to get stupid rich off of everyone’s labour.
There’s a great opportunity for Dems here, if they are willing to take it.
Probably not. Every time the leadership is presented with an opportunity, they choose to do the exact wrong thing.
Indeed. Hence my ‘if they are willing to take it’ bit. They most likely aren’t.
they’re not going to take it because their goals overlap considerably w the republican’s goals.
If they drop the ball on this extremely easy layup of a messaging task then we gotta really seriously figure out how to replace AT LEAST the Dem leadership
The simpsons got it right decades ago with Dems: We’re incompetent and can’t govern Reps: We’re evil! But Seriously, the biggest problem the Dems have in 2025 is that they’re ANCHORED in establishment. Those in the lead now are not there because they’re capable, intelligent, or popular, but because they waited their turn. It’s a commitment to fairness and rules to the point of self sabotage. Tell Schumer and Pelosi to take a hike, put AOC, Booker, anyone else who has a plan and is committed to actually FUCKING DOING SOMETHING in charge, rather than telling them to play nice with the party and wait their turn behind the wheel when current leadership dies.
*slow clap
/s
The problem here is that they’re also owned by the rich and powerful. They might give you a cookie, but they can’t meaningfully challenge power.
“Hmm, rise to the moment and present a real alternative? Why, when we can just run a shitty uninspiring candidate and just say ‘vote for them or Donald Trump kills everyone?’”
I think with current Democrat leadership, yeah they’ll fuck it all up.
In 2028, Democrats will run a candidate with experience. They’ll run a candidate with bipartisan bona fides. They’ll run a candidate that has already run previous primary campaigns as a Democrat, Republican, and independent. They’ll run a candidate that finally, at long last, can actually achieve the DNC’s unholy obsession at appealing to Republican voters.
Say hello to 2028 Democratic nominee…David Duke!
That’s their job. They’re the Washington Generals.
I wouldn’t hold my breath if I was you. The current DNC is too afraid that they’ll scare off the rich donors if they attack Republicans. They’re worried about collateral damage if they take pot shots and accidentally hit one of the rich donors.
Both the GOP and the DNC want to focus on culture war bullshit rather than anything class related because neither wants to do anything that would run counter to the interests of the ultra wealthy.
A lot of those donors are also the ones losing as well. Doing nothing accomplishes nothing. Might as well try.
That’s the hope, but I’d not plan for it!
They aren’t, though. The whole reason Trump is crashing the economy is so his rich donors can buy up everything for cheap
sooner or later you’re going to run into somebody who’s crunching the numbers and is losing tons and tons of money you’re not just generating funds by watching the market spiral down. Yes this thing will with all best intense start bouncing back upwards and will improve but that doesn’t mean in the meantime that things aren’t going to be extremely bad and you may end up seeing almost literal bloodshed from some companies simply due to the manner in which things are made and as much as we want to complain about this we don’t have the ability to just up and make manufacturing. Nor do you just have the ability to make capacity overnight. To steal an old quote. Rome wasn’t built overnight. In the same time Neither did we paint ourselves into this corner. These things tend to be fixed easier when you give it time as opposed to trying to do knee-jerk reactions that end up just sending everything into absolute turmoil for no particular reason other than the current Any change is at least change…?
Got it in stereo, even. Yep. I agree. That’s why I put the ‘if they are willing to take it’ in. They most likely aren’t because of what you cited in your reply, though.
You can’t convince ANY Trumper or Independent. I spoke with my ex-husband again about all this last week. He’s very wealthy, hates Trump, but hates all democrats too. So he threw his vote away to the 3rd party will be buying more TSLA during the dip. And here is why I’ll never talk about politics with him again; he thinks it’s a GREAT IDEA that Muskrat is taking a sledgehammer to the government. Doesn’t matter that Musk is an unelected foreigner doing major damage to our country. “It’s what’s needed.” Ex-husband said.
I always believed he was smarter than that, but nope. He’s got enough money to ride this out and retire at 55.
Will probably he doesn’t have his money under a mattress… so I guess he may eventually unretire 🤷♂️😂
No, he’s got enough, and he’s diversified very well. We’re both 54, and I was really, really hoping that I could retire at 67. However, I don’t know if I can come back fast enough after this nosedive. But the ex-husband will be fine and he’ll retire next January.
That’s the U.S. in a nutshell. The very wealthy will be fine, but people like me who are constantly trying to just hold onto what I’ve already earned will be worse off by a mile.
I’m really REALLY curious to know from these people when they say “it’s what’s needed” and they’re doing as well as you say…why? Why is it needed?
If you’re doing well, then surely dismantling everything that hurts others isn’t what’s needed unless it’s solely going to help you and only you (or others in your same position). If that’s why, then the problem isn’t the system…
When we were young, he was hardcore republican because “small government.” And he’s convinced that the biggest drain on the budget is poor people. I’ve argued that wealthy people and farmers are the biggest welfare queens. And our military is the biggest drain, but he won’t see.
I now understand what a moron I’ve been to believe that he ever meant it when he agreed that healhcare should be provided, college should be free, and childcare should be free. I see that he’d be the first person demanding those get shot down. I mean, anyone buying the TSLA dip is telling you they don’t care about the human quality of life, nor about naziism. They only care about making money.
I’ve come to the realization that he’s still republican, but Trump is obviously brain damaged, so ex can’t support him. But maybe the rest of the repugnants aren’t that bad.
Pretty much 100% bullshit as you’ve probably already guessed. I will no longer talk to him about anything requiring brain function because he’s proof that wealth <> intelligence.
Thank you for taking the time to write this. It is definitely all bullshit and I still don’t understand how someone with wealth can think poor people are a drain on society considering in a society where there are ways to win then there will be a loser. In another timeline, his wealth that he’s accumulated might be seen as poor and he’d be a drain on the economy despite all he supposedly has.
Not everyone can be reached, but I don’t think no one can be reached either. It just takes the Dems growing a fucking spine, though, which is the harder lift, IMO.
There’s a great opportunity for Dems here, if they are willing to take it.
They can’t take it, because they are shackled to the same petty financial cartels and tech oligarchs that delivered Trump the first two times.
Dems can’t break from neoconservative when all their money and their leadership is coming from Bush Era neoconservatives.
They need to go around the country and target Republican communities for the next 4 years. Point out how Republicans are fucking them over.
Point out how Republicans are fucking them over.
No, no, no. Running on “We’re not X” does not work. Don’t talk about how the Republicans have hurt them. They already know that. They need to tell them how the Democrats can help them and then fucking follow through.
How is this any different from the same, “move right and win by appealing to Republicans” strategy that has failed Democrats every election since Obama?
It’s not different if Dems keep pushing the same tired neo-liberal memes and keep fellating the rich and powerful, but maybe they could try an alternative plan, you know, doing rather than just talking?
Because they are fucking ignorant of how the world works.
Most people are. You vote based on your vulgar popular impulses, not based on some PhD level insight into market mechanics.
It is very easy to get people to go against their own best interests with a sufficient degree of propaganda. And the volume of propaganda has been tilted towards fascism for (conservatively speaking) a decade.
Wall to Wall “Immigrants from gangs affiliated with the CCP are doing a 9/11 every day to your jobs and your white women” coverage for most of a generation is going to shape public perception regardless of how High IQ the audience.
Garbage in, garbage out.
Thank you.
Rural people, by and large, aren’t stupider people -they just have different experiences with education than urban voters. These are human problems, organizational problems.
It is true that when the People to Square Mile ratio tilts a certain way you’re less likely to encounter opposing viewpoints, which favors conservativism. But these are generalities, nothing more.
I’m sick of seeing rural America get thrown under the bus by so many publications. A truly democratic America would see the breadbasket for what it is - the bell curve.
But these GODDAMN FASCISTS have gotten so entrenched in conservative circles over the past century, making it more and more impossible for reasonable Satan-fearing blue-collar Anarchists like me to do our FUCKING JOBS and help them build STRUCTURES THAT WILL HELP THEM… sorry I get a little annoyed
Where was i?
Satan-fearing blue-collar Anarchists
✊🤘
We out here lol
✊️ 🤘
For sure, I didn’t mean ignorant as in stupid, just unaware, not paying attention
Legitimate question- do you know any IRL? I am convinced that these people will stand by Trump no matter what. I live in a Trump heavy district and everyone is talking about how hard this is but how it’s all actually a genius negotiating tactic. They truly cannot believe that Trump isn’t their Savior.
I know a guy who did a 180 in the first month. Of course he never likes to remember that he was spreading conspiracy theories about Harris, or calling Trump “the devil [he knew].” He just knows he’s watching his crypto gains vanish into thin air.
I still have family in the rural Midwest and the cope is real. There’s a handful of people back home that will admit Trump sucks and of the farmers that my family knows, only one regrets their vote, the rest are smoking the copium hard.
I do.
I know some who work in defense/military/foreign policy who had assumed that there would still be guardrails in place to prevent the nomination and appointment of totally unqualified conspiracy theorists to the highest positions in the defense and intelligence world, the haphazard effects of DOGE cuts on the military and intelligence and veteran agencies, or the vindictive pettiness of some of the senior military firings (or even the termination of security details for officials from the first Trump admin).
I know some who work in healthcare who are terrified about the cuts to healthcare and science research, and a lot of the informational/data infrastructure that they depend on: tracking diseases, etc.
I know some who work in finance and banking who thought that the tariff talk was just a negotiating plot rather than a true belief, and sees real danger that Trump permanently ends the post-war global economic systems that elevated American prosperity.
I even know some in oil and gas who are now convinced that even though Trump says he cares about their industry, he’s not even competent enough to protect them from the harm he’s causing everyone.
And sadly, the worst examples are the immigrants I know who didn’t actually believe us when we told them that Trump 2.0 was going to be a disaster for immigrant human rights and livelihoods, even permanent residents and legitimate visa holders with high incomes and educational backgrounds. Now they’re sharing stories of good law abiding people they know getting rounded up and questioned, and just otherwise fearing for their safety.
And this isn’t exactly the same as people only caring when things affect them. It’s slightly different. It’s people only realizing that he’s full of shit when they come to mess around with areas of their own expertise and experience.
So yeah, I know a bunch. I try to tell them they’ve been duped and that we can move forward by lobbying the Republicans they voted for, but the underlying unspoken theme does often carry a bit of an “I fucking told you so” foundation.
I know a couple that flipped after the first month
i agree, if people are bought into the propaganda, they wont be deprogrammed as easily. the only people i saw that broke out of being a republican, was older people, especially the way they were treated by younger magas.
Nope, they’re still full-on MAGATizing out there. If they realize anything yet, it’s only subconsciously and they’ll never admit it, even to themselves.
Narcissists will never admit they’re wrong, or apologize.
“My team no matter what!”
It’s the information environment, stupid.
Same conclusion as everyone. If Democrats want to survive, they have got to start pushing these online information siloes shamelessly like Republicans do instead of rambling on about issues, door to door, like it’s 1950. It’s like they’re fighting drones with swords.
It sucks. But if they aren’t going to reign in big tech and literally criminal media, well, they better join the mess they’re complicit in.
online information siloes
I’m not sure that’s possible because the Democratic platform doesn’t have the sort of populist appeal that Trump’s Republican platform does. Moderation can’t compete with extremism in this domain. I suppose that the Democrats could try to pivot to their own (presumably class-based) form of populism but, at least from my point of view, one very strong reason to support the Democrats is because they aren’t populist. Having one populist party versus another would be a lose/lose situation.
I don’t have an alternate proposal. It may actually be the case that social media will eventually force every serious political movement to pivot towards populism and create its own truth in order to be competitive, but then who would make the policy decisions in a world of meme warfare?
My proposal is that Democrats start lying.
Go on Tiktok, claim you’re gonna pass a law capping rent at $500/mo.
Go on MSNBC and say “clearly we can’t do that, it will cause severe economic shock, but we’ll look at expanding rent control and increasing housing stock”
There’s no consequences anymore. Just tell people what they want to hear. Say crazy populist shit. Have your donors purchase media outlets and juice the algorithm. Have botnets spread misinfo and disinfo. Then when you’re in power enact reasonable policy.
Voters don’t like boring, reasonable policy. That’s not enough drama. Start saying wild shit.
I don’t have an alternate proposal. It may actually be the case that social media will eventually force every serious political movement to pivot towards populism and create its own truth in order to be competitive, but then who would make the policy decisions in a world of meme warfare?
Simple, obliterate engagement obsessed social media. Or rein it in.
Failing that (and it already failed in the US, seeing how we basically crowned Big Tech), well… Two populist parties is better than a monoparty. And maybe a party can get someone “cynical” who will say absolutely anything but, behind closed doors, doesn’t drink so much of their own Kool Aid.
I better go to Costco and buy as many canned foods as possible huh?
they actually believed he only says things to get himself elected thats about it, or he would walk back the promises designed to hurt them. oh and conservatives are always addicted to drama/ propaganda, hence why they fall for scams very easily.
I was at a rally over the weekend. I can assure you that most of them are still quite committed to being taken. At least in my odd little corner of Oregon.
The rural parts of Oregon are something else. I don’t think people realize that blue states just have huge cities to vote blue, not that the entire state is blue. Same with the red states.
One of my favorite stats to pull out in regards to this:
What states have had the most votes for Trump (2016, 2020, 2024)?
Texas 16,968,991 California 16,572,025 Florida 16,396,742
slow clap Turns out that they’re not all illiterate, so I guess a belated congratulations on their achievement of 8th grade reading comprehension is in order?
I think this is a very important bit:
When we say they’re voting against their interests, I think we have to be very clear. I don’t think when they vote for somebody like Trump, or George W. Bush for that matter or Mitt Romney, they’re voting against many of their social and cultural interests. They may simply apply greater salience or weight to that than they do their ability to cover their health care costs or their ability to limit their co-pays and out-of-pocket expenses or their tax rates or their local industries.
Definitely important for us to understand and also just insane that that’s probably the right conclusion too. They care more about their culture war issues than they do about their health care etc., that is at least until the moment someone comes for them. It’s such a depressing failure of imagination that such a wide swath of the voting public fails to realize how bad it could get for them until it actually does.
Also, there was a part of the article that talked about the “us (rural) vs them (city)” mentality. We need to start pointing out that there are a shit ton of rural folk in the city. Cities are our true melting pot and why they’re usually very liberal. They are surrounded by the “thems” in the rural boogie man scenario. The city people work with them, talk to them, see them on the street and they are human also.
The covid portion is going to stick with me awhile too. The rural areas should have had the least amount of deaths during covid and I think that was what Trump was counting on. They aren’t on mass transit and don’t have to see their neighbor if they don’t choose too. They had a natural social distancing. But they were 3 to 4x the death rate. The lack of interaction makes them more racist and that racism made them die more. It’s a crazy way to look at it.
Aaaaaand scamer get scammed.
“This was supposed to happen to them, not me!”
Not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.
The BEST thing the DNC can do Right Now is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING while People Suffer! That way they can Prepare their WINNING CANDIDATE Kamala Harris for a Run in 2028! It’s a NO LOSE Solution!
