I see Wikileaks shifted into punditry well.
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What does this really mean? Clearly about half of the country doesn’t think the Democrats represent them no matter who they nominate, and Hillary did garner more votes than Bernie in the primaries so enough of the Democratic electorate felt she represented them.
I’m not sure that’s true. There does still appear to be a small battle brewing in the GOP since some Republicans are now on Trump’s enemies list. There is still a long way to go, Trump hasn’t even taken office yet, knowing his temperament things could get dicey very quickly between him and the GOP.
Anyway, I think a lot of the really powerful influences on this election are things far outside our control, perhaps even outside the control of either party at this point. Consider how much Fox News and talk radio control the conversation: most Americans are unaware that George W. Bush had also used a private email server and was deleting emails, and if a Republican were in office during Benghazi does anyone here think there would have been more than a cursory investigation?
The one big reason the New Deal even came about was because of how serious and overwhelming the Great Depression was. If things once again get that bad then hopefully the Democrats can regain a strong enough majority to do something long-lasting (I would recommend reinstating the Fairness Doctrine and extreme campaign finance reform, among other more obvious things), but I can’t say I have much hope in them regaining any kind of control simply by being more progressive.
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Excellent example of how careful data analysis can help you understand what was never the issue.
I read Sanders lament for the Democratic Party as saying that they did not do the work to drill current economic policy issues into the consciousness of the working class (quite possibly because their candidate really didn’t want to get too specific). Sanders, with lifelong ties to both old and new school Union movements, means something much more direct and active when he says ‘talk to us’ than the modern, individualist democrat communication via Fresh Air and After Ellen. People who no longer have unions to rile them up, educate them constantly, discipline their votes and peer pressure them back into line if they start off half cocked were left to their own devices to be radicalized by others-precisely those who disciplined them to close ranks around sexism and white supremacy, or just against Clinton and the stays quo.
Clinton never really mentioned her policy in the campaign, obviously glad to avoid its unpopular areas and contradictions, relying instead on talking about Trumo, which is a more likely explanation for the media message pictographs than the ex-Sanders campaign, which was campaigning for her at that time.
Useful statistics, and a very necessary read, but not convinced they support his premise. If WWC voted all squigdlywanked when it comes to economic policy, it is precisely because the democrats did not get through to them that this was urgently important. Because, come on, what could they say?
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Relevant:
Trump’s vote was not, overall, driven by economics. It was just the usual racism & misogyny motivated Klan/theocrat GOP base.
However, the collapse in Clinton’s support, particularly amongst the working class, likely was driven by despair at the Dem’s ineffectiveness/corruption on working class economic issues. That’s still hypothesis rather than fact, though.
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Dear God, I just wanted to say that as a Midwestern American, you’re completely right.
jlw, I love you and love what you’ve built here, but you’re not here. You’re in one of the most over-privileged parts of the United States. The funny thing about the Trump phenomenon is how appallingly divorced from reality the Trump support machine really is. Does racism, sexism, etc., play into it? Sure! But so does the notion that Midwesterners might be able to get a decent job without having to live in an urban environment, an environment a lot of us like to visit, but don’t want to live in.
And again, it doesn’t really matter to a lot of them, and they ignore the parts they don’t like. They really, truly think that you wanted us to vote for Hillary Clinton merely because Donald Trump said mean things. They truly believe that Hillary Clinton allowed Americans to die at Benghazi. Some of them, God as my witness, honestly believe that every Clinton associate that is no longer alive, has been killed by the Clintons. I wish I was lying. And some of them are thoroughly invested in the “human life begins at conception” view of pregnancy and seem to think that Trump will manage to banish legalized abortion to the history books. But they’re willing to overlook all the abhorrent crap about Trump, because they think he’ll bring the Midwestern economy back to life.
Also keep in mind that even in our age of multinational corporations and cookie-cutter businesses taking over small town America, it still takes a while for recessions to hit small-town America. Other than gas prices spiking in 2008, the recession didn’t really hit hard here until Obama was already in office. So when some Republican talking head tells them that Obama caused the recession with his failed policies, they tend to believe it. Hell, they’re not a bunch of econ majors. All they know really is that Obama allegedly never worked a day in his life while Trump is a business owner who eats fast food, and that makes him a good egg with a good head on his shoulders so let’s put him in charge.
Mass media continuing to call Trump’s voting base “uneducated” sure as hell isn’t helping matters for the Democrats. Nor does attributing Trump’s win to racism and sexism. The anti-liberal resentment has turned up to about 110%. For Democrats to take the White House, they’re going to have to write off white working-class Americans at this point.
The news flash is that he doesn’t give a shit about the Midwest, of course, and that Trump isn’t going to manage or even have support in his party to bring back the high-paying union factory jobs, but they’re still clinging to their guns, their warped vision of individual freedom, and coal mines and factories.
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BTW, on the topic of Trump and Putin…
I hope Ed Snowden already has a relocation plan in action. Russia just got a lot less safe for him.
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Wrong!
The haters are just the base, the so-called people who vote GOP every time. What put him over were the morons who thought empowering the neoliberals was the way to get rid of neoliberals and the mass impoverishment they’ve created.
Because the proper response to abuse is to always just say More, please.
Fighting oppression? Why, that’s just so wrong.
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They actively seek out to anger and give sorrow to the other, yes.
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Is it still sexism if women won’t vote for a woman because “I’ve had female bosses and they’re bitches” ? (actual quote from my wife’s female coworkers)
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Internalized, absolutely.
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They definitely care about The Other, because The Other is an undeserving PoC or immigrant who’s stealing their tax dollars through evil soshalist welfare programmes (which of course don’t include disability payments and the mortgage tax break and Medicare for Meemaw). The Other is also stealing highly desirable jobs (like stoop agricultural labour and meat plant work) from white Americans.
That doesn’t imply a race war, it implies deciding that a bigoted orange grifter is a suitable President because he’s gonna stick it to The Other and give white Christian males who live outside the cities (AKA “real Americans”) what they’re entitled to.
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Correction: They haven’t given a **** about the underclass in general. Poor people of color, LGBT etc have stuck with the Party because it still (tepidly) stands against cultural oppression, but the Party long since abandoned their economic interests too.
We should try to avoid speaking of the “white working class” like it’s a separate body, because from the perspective of the elites, it’s not. They don’t care who’s washing their dishes, just that it’s not them. We are not arguing for “supporting white workers” or “paying more attention to white america”. That’s the fascist line. But we are arguing for supporting workers in general. We should emphasize the common interests and enemies that all poor people have, regardless of cultural differences. We have to promote class war as an alternative to race war.
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“Leave it to the states” isn’t the “middle” position on social issues that have already been settled by the Supreme Court. The middle position is to leave established law in place, not to overturn Loving v. Virginia and Roe v. Wade and Obergefell v. Hodges.
So you know he’s a sexist bigot, but that wasn’t a deal breaker.
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No-one’s saying that all people who voted for him are racists and sexists. Instead they’re saying that if one happened to be racist and sexist one was more likely to vote for him than for Clinton.
I’m curious to find out why you think a grifting and corner-cutting businessman running a right-wing populist campaign could be considered “economically conservative” – I’ve spoken with quite a few lifelong Republican banking and business executives in the past 18 months who would disagree with that classification.
I’m also curious why you think a septuagenarian who’s been widely recognised as one of the worst people in America since the 1980s (a bullying narcissist with a history of sexism and racism who stiffs vendors and screws over investors and partners) will suddenly become a better person now that the alt-right has helped him gain the most powerful office on the planet.
Finally, could you give examples of which social issues do you think should be left to the states?
Genuinely curious how you came to your decision.
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Self ascription does wonders.
I would say that most all are racists and sexists in some way, yes. Their priorities are pretty strong against all social justice.
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I also have to admire the second reason:
That’s not an explanation for why Trump was the best choice. It’s just a way of rephrasing that Trump would be the best choice. Like saying “I voted for Trump because I thought Trump was the one I should vote for.”
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Nationalism certainly can be racism Max, i’m not surprised that you’re reduced to this belief that “Muslims are not Americans” is a stellar example of proud rugged patriotism.
You are an intellectually dishonest person if you believe what you state here.
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