Where do we go from here?

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Zoo_View said:
Pretty certain the last time working class whites formed a coalition with black Americans was in North Carolina prior to the Wilmington Coup and Massacre in 1898.

Jim Crow put an end to that nonsense.

Bussing in the ‘70’s, Reagan Democrats, and similar dog whistles to the white working class (see “open borders, open borders, open borders”) have appealed to racism and not economic class.

Let me know when working class whites align with blacks and Latinos on economic issues.
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There are certain feelings that come with struggling to make ends meet that those who've gone through it, or are going through it, can identify with. It is a common thread in their lives, and a thread that affects everyone who has had to struggle. This is not to say that previous admin haven't focused on race when trying to ease these struggles in certain groups. And, to be clear, that is not what I am saying, at all. Neither is that what folks who I tend to align with on this issue are calling for. I'm talking about symptoms here, not treatment. I understand that many want to simply chalk up the loss to racism and misogyny, probably because it's easier to believe in that as the cause instead of actually looking inwards and analyzing (mis)actions.

Maybe I'm completely missing the plot here, but it does seem that more folks are coming around to this. Maybe we are all just missing the plot.
 
stankeylegjones said:
There are certain feelings that come with struggling to make ends meet that those who've gone through it, or are going through it, can identify with. It is a common thread in their lives, and a thread that affects everyone who has had to struggle. This is not to say that previous admin haven't focused on race when trying to ease these struggles in certain groups. And, to be clear, that is not what I am saying, at all. Neither is that what folks who I tend to align with on this issue are calling for. I'm talking about symptoms here, not treatment. I understand that many want to simply chalk up the loss to racism and misogyny, probably because it's easier to believe in that as the cause instead of actually looking inwards and analyzing (mis)actions.

Maybe I'm completely missing the plot here, but it does seem that more folks are coming around to this. Maybe we are all just missing the plot.
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For decades a significant percentage of the white working class has voted for the GOP.

They haven’t done so for economic reasons.
 
If the theory that disaffected working class votes went to Trump simply because they wanted a shot in the dark is correct, then I see no real reason to do much other than wait. We all know this admin is going to be an unmitigated disaster for those folks.
 
wmheel1287 said:
If the theory that disaffected working class votes went to Trump simply because they wanted a shot in the dark is correct, then I see no real reason to do much other than wait. We all know this admin is going to be an unmitigated disaster for those folks.
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You might be right, because this is going to be a shit-show.
 
This is from Adam Lucas’ article after the AU basketball game. Coach Davis is discussing Cadeau’s impact.

I told the team after this game that there are two different kinds of leaders," Hubert Davis said. "There are transactional leaders and transformational leaders. A transactional leader brings will, want-to, attention to detail, enthusiasm and effort, but it is dependent on what they might get from it. It's about getting their shots or their playing time or their notoriety.

"A transformational leader brings that same will and want-to, that same attention to detail and enthusiasm and effort, but it's not dependent on what is happening to them. A transformational leader just genuinely does it without regard for himself. That's Elliot. It doesn't matter if he's scoring or even if he's playing. He's always cheering and celebrating the success of others."

Our country desperately needs a transformational leader as POTUS. Maybe we will get it 4 years from now.
 
CFordUNC said:




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Eh. Biden was about 20 years older than would have been ideal but I really don’t think things would have turned out much differently if he’d been more of a crusader. From an economic perspective, the last four years will defined by the principle that people credit themselves for good things that happen (wage gains, more jobs, etc.), and blame the government for bad things that happen (higher prices). I really think it’s about that simple.
 
lawtig02 said:
Eh. Biden was about 20 years older than would have been ideal but I really don’t think things would have turned out much differently if he’d been more of a crusader. From an economic perspective, the last four years will defined by the principle that people credit themselves for good things that happen (wage gains, more jobs, etc.), and blame the government for bad things that happen (higher prices). I really think it’s about that simple.
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Yeah, you might be right. It might really be just that simple. Maddeningly so, in fact.
 
stankeylegjones said:
There are certain feelings that come with struggling to make ends meet that those who've gone through it, or are going through it, can identify with. It is a common thread in their lives, and a thread that affects everyone who has had to struggle. This is not to say that previous admin haven't focused on race when trying to ease these struggles in certain groups. And, to be clear, that is not what I am saying, at all. Neither is that what folks who I tend to align with on this issue are calling for. I'm talking about symptoms here, not treatment. I understand that many want to simply chalk up the loss to racism and misogyny, probably because it's easier to believe in that as the cause instead of actually looking inwards and analyzing (mis)actions.

Maybe I'm completely missing the plot here, but it does seem that more folks are coming around to this. Maybe we are all just missing the plot.
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1. As someone who has been following the research about Trump and racism, I can tell you that it's not the easy way out. If it were about economic anxiety, then we'd have a better chance to make the problem go away. But that's not what it's about, and that's why the problem won't go away, and that's why we end up playing whack-a-mole.

2. Trump certainly isn't acting as if he thought economic anxiety or economic suffering was the key to his victory. Precisely zero of his transition team energy has been devoted to economic measures to help the working classes. What's going to happen, it appears, is that Trump is going to use tariffs on ordinary Americans to raise enough money to give Elon a huge tax break.

You know, the sort of obscene betrayal that would cause his economic anxiety supporters to flip out and abandon the GOP forever. Let's see if that happens.

3. Here are the actually unpleasant facts to deal with:

A. Trump probably would have won in 20 but for the pandemic dislocations. After all, the one thing Stop the Steal gets correctly is that Trump's 2020 vote total is, in fact, usually enough to win the election. Dems turned out for Biden in a way they didn't for either HRC or Kamala. 2020 is looking more anomalous than 2016.

B. Probably the only reason we held the Senate during this time was the GOP's nomination of bozos like Herschel Walker and Oz. Barring a complete collapse of the economy, it might be a long time until we hold it again. Things change, so this isn't a prediction so much as a dispiriting reality that we have to address.

C. The right-wing cult is so well established that it is virtually impenetrable. The mayor of Dearborn (or maybe it was a nearby town) said that he was worried about the Huckabee selection but was still trusting Trump to keep his word about protecting Gaza, because Trump is above all a man of his word. Like, wtf? I could have followed up that interview by saying 1+1=3 and I'd be less wrong.

D. Counting on the other side to continue to fuck everything up isn't a great strategy. Because sometimes things don't fuck up quite on schedule -- like Covid. More deaths occurred after election day 2020 than before, and then the inflation hit, and somehow it was all Biden's fault because Americans can't think beyond, "bad thing happened during a presidency = bad president = vote for the guy who caused it all"
 
CFordUNC said:
Yeah, you might be right. It might really be just that simple. Maddeningly so, in fact.
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You know all those lols you had about Trump supporters being humiliated by him riding around in a garbage truck and fellating microphones?

You weren't wrong, if we were talking about normal people. But MAGA didn't and doesn't care. You say, "I can't imagine having so little self-respect . . . " but it appears a lot of Americans do indeed have that amount of self-respect.
 
superrific said:
You know all those lols you had about Trump supporters being humiliated by him riding around in a garbage truck and fellating microphones?

You weren't wrong, if we were talking about normal people. But MAGA didn't and doesn't care. You say, "I can't imagine having so little self-respect . . . " but it appears a lot of Americans do indeed have that amount of self-respect.
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Yep. Totally right.
 
superrific said:
You know all those lols you had about Trump supporters being humiliated by him riding around in a garbage truck and fellating microphones?

You weren't wrong, if we were talking about normal people. But MAGA didn't and doesn't care. You say, "I can't imagine having so little self-respect . . . " but it appears a lot of Americans do indeed have that amount of self-respect.
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They hate your "woke ass" minority loving side lots more than they respect themselves. Pretty simple stuff no need for over analysis
 
It won’t matter. Once Trump’s mental state declines enough that it is clear he is no longer fit for office, Vance will come in and “save” America. He is going to cement himself as “the voice of reason in the room” in the coming months. And in four years pubs will have had it spun on social media to them enough that they will believe that they always supported him.

“The past was alterable. The past never had been altered. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.”
 
This is a good interview regarding what Trump/MAGA tapped in to and things the Democrats can do to reconnect with folks they are losing:
 
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