Republicans can't defend many of their policies with truth. So they often lie, many examples of which are above and part of the political soup. Democrats and progressives aren't perfect, but aren't willing to go as far. With RW news outlets keeping supporters ignorant and ill-informed, can it ever be a fair fight? Let alone a debate of policy visions.
I agree that the democratic narrative needs to stay away from fringe positions. Zero in on all the biggest issues for the majority of Americans. Fox News has spent years dwelling on crazy things that are not an actual issue and convincing viewers the country was going down the toilet due to Democrat agenda. Concentrate on what is actually affecting people's everyday life. We found out this last election that people are crazy enough to vote on egg prices. Shallow, selfish and uninformed people. But we need to attract those voters. I don't know how trans people became a headline issue. They are a VAST minority. I agree they deserve freedoms but why was it such a hot topic? Probably Fox News again. Hopefully Fox will be gone after loyal viewers figure out they've been misled and misinformed . National security is definitely a top issue now that we've alienated all our allies.
Quite simply, you have missed the most obvious problem. The Dems have spent all their energy for the past decades trying to manage the whak-a-mole frenzy of appeasing the impossibly needy, and ever-growing, list of well-intentioned self-righteous factions. Meanwhile, the Republicans have refined and implemented an insidious plan to neuter all branches of government (local, State, and Federal) for the financial gain (and thus increased power) of the rich. THE DEMS HAVE NO PLAN, NO LEADERSHIP, NO VISION, AND NO CLUE THAT THEY NEED ANY OF THESE THINGS. Game over.
Yes, the Dems tried too hard, and went too far. Badly managed good intentions? Did they lose votes for trying? Or for the way they tried? I don't know.
But did Republicans win votes promising to do those things you listed? I don't think so. Isn't that their Trojan Horse? What was it that caused the swing to Trump? Lies, mostly. Lies of fact, lies of insinuation, and lies of intention. And it worked.
So is the question, "How do we change minds?" Or might it be, "Why are so many American minds open to this?"
I ABSOLUTELY HATE HOW NOBODY BUT 45 IS TALKING ABOUT IT BEING RIGGED!! He cheated on epic scales and all these article are like, oh Dems struggle after loss, oh Dems have to refocus… really??? People showed up for her, but he cheated so once again THATS OK!! No It’s Not OK
This was a great piece. So much of “wokeness” which should simply mean caring and mutual respect, has become about demanding others use the words to describe people and things that we prefer. It is, to many, a synonym for censorship. Messaging needs to be inclusive, but the dems often act like petulant bullies who want to control others. Object when someone offends, but please don’t ostracize. Listen and share points of view. I think that’s the message.
When it comes to the “deeply reckless and deplorable,” few exceed Charlie Kirk. Nonetheless, Newsom displayed courage in talking with him. The governor was simply speaking common sense on the transgender athletes issue, something that most Democrats still seem afraid to do. Perhaps his prominence will begin to change that.
Charlie, I sincerely appreciate your willingness to offer constructive suggestions. I am heartily sick of bashing each other and playing Monday morning quarterback with politics. For any of us who believe that our current administration is dangerous and demented (🙋♀️), I think we need to do a couple of things. First, allow every elected official to have a voice, even if you don’t agree with them. We are not a monolith. A strong party will not be brought down by outliers if we have a strong, coherent party message. Second, make sure the heart of the message is centrist. Let people on both sides know that we see them, we hear them, and we are genuinely trying to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Sure, there are issues that impact a very small portion of the population. This doesn’t make them any less important, but we can’t allow the disinformation machine to cause others to believe that we have lost sight of the issues that impact us all.
If the point is to develop a framework for voters, the teachers in elementary and high schools, abetted by organizations such as The League of Women Voters, should emphasize civics.
If the point is to address how candidates of any political party or who are independent of a party campaign for votes, i suggest they speak for themselves, divorced from a political script handed down by a politburo.
I am leery of those who cast people as ultra-right or ultra-left. Naive perhaps am I. When I was in my teens in Georgia, some categorized me as a "[black]-lover" because I stood for school integration and spoke in favor of MLK Jr. and against the history of federal policies against our indigenous tribes. That was long before the word "woke" acquired its current mistaken appropriation.
As an unabashed Navy veteran, I'm often misidentified as a Republican or, worse, one who "naturally" supports The Oath-Breaking SoB and MAGA. Shock, surprise, and severe disappointment await those who make such an assertion.
I tend to speak like a sailor.
What is someone's position on transgendered athletes? I don't know and I don't care. Should Congress pass legislation about the subject?
Is that issue of greater or lesser import than our support for our allies or how we, as a nation, should address poverty, education, public health, social security, veterans, or national defense?
I assume that our historical, collective national responses to such questions are the basis for the reason our federal government is significantly larger than it was during George Washington's two administrations.
I also recall the significant opposition to the ACA by the so-called Blue Dog (conservative) Democrats in 2010. While that disagreement involved abortion, to my recollection, one result was the elimination of the "public option" (often mislabeled "Medicare for All").
The ACA enabled me, who was then a Type II diabetic, to obtain private health insurance for the first time.
I have a moderate friend who voted for Trump, even though he found the man distasteful, because he was affected by the trans-ads. He told me that if a trans person fell down, he would be the first to help them up, but he was scared that they were taking over things. Obviously not rational, but the fact is that it worked
Regarding trans people's push to make Democrats accept their full package, It seems to me that the trans activists don't have a lot of leverage because the alternative is democrats or a MAGA party that wants to exclude them from the country
Re the astounding misperception of independents in 2024, your one line sums up why the Dems lost: "Democrats never successfully pushed back."
How they talked to working class voters was a small issue. Teaming up with never-Trumpers like Liz Cheney was smart, and not why they lost (Jen Psaki and others are wrong). I could go on.
Charlie nailed the reason and they better learn how to counter disinformation or Dems will keep losing.
One more thing: When centrists, or realists, or former conservative Republicans-turned Anti-Trumpists (hi, Charlie, glad to have you on our side) tell liberals, progressives, or just plain old Democrats to shut up about transgender rights, or DEI, or Palestinian rights, or whatever other issues are important to us because we are scaring the kids, and driving the normal folks who just care about the price of groceries and gas into the arms of an anti-constitutional would-be dictator, you may not understand what a big ask you are making. Remember how important Reagan conservatism was to you? Remember how it made you feel like you were part of a cause that had moral, and not just political implications? Well, that’s how we feel about the causes that are important to us, even if you mock them as “woke”.
You may have been forced by Trump to leave your party, and reconsider the consequences of your political choices. That must have been hard. But when you tell liberals that we must compromise our fight to protect vulnerable people, because that’s what transgender people are, you may not realize that you are asking us not only to make a political compromise, but a moral one as well.
Many people are forced to make compromises all the time, political and moral as well. The Founders understood that very well when abolitionist Ben Franklin had to stand with slave owners, and vice versa. Doctors in emergency situations, military leaders on the battlegrounds. The Germans who refused to work with monarchists, communists, socialist, Catholics, Protestants, military, etc. The folks who didn't vote for Harris because of Gaza or Israel, or Afghanistan or abortion or transgender or whatever reason they use.
There are issues and times that DEMAND all of us to set aside differences, and vote together. The choice is now the existence of the US or dissolving into side issues (yes, side issues) that fracture our tentative partnerships and let MAGA/Project 2025/oligarchs win.
Times don’t make demands, Eva, people do. And while I share your belief that it’s very important to defeat Trump and Trumpism, I am reminding my friends on the anti-Trump right (and you are my friends) is that the issues that you call side issues are core issues to some, and you should be aware that you are making a significant demand when you tell people to put them aside.
I know. I'm one of those with issues I didn't want to compromise with. I'm a staunch seamless pro-life Democrat. The party screwed people like me when NOW had a big mouth and completely rejected anyone who wanted to reduce abortion by helping women and children and offering them alternatives back in the 80s. NOW and far left women's rights's groups rejected people like me, and groups like Feminists for Life. I was left in a limbo - I refused to vote for the extremist Ds (and yes, they did advocate abortions right before birth for any reason and opposed any attempts to make certain abortionists followed safe medical procedures and opposed any attempt to make certain that the few babies who survived were given care instead of being left to die - and they did it openly and proudly). And I refused to vote for Rs because of all the other reasons - insane wars, the death penalty, the no Medicare for all, the "welfare queens" garbage, the refusal to actually care about the poor, the hungry, the ill, the tax cuts for the rich that tanked the economy, the money above all mentality, etc.. Now, thank God, the really far, far left has shut up and the party is trying to return to their roots - the working class, and an umbrella that incorporates more of the values that Ds used to have.
So, yes, I have had to put what I do consider a core issue to the side and get rid of the disease that Trump and his sycophantic billionaires and cowards have inflicted on the country. We're in a war, not yet as extreme as the Civil War, but one we need to win. And that includes people who have to put aside their core issues and realize we have only one issue now that means anything - getting rid of Trump and everything and everyone he stands for. Otherwise, we're doomed as a country.
Try to put yourself in the shoes of a committed pro-Palestinian activist. Since I am not one myself, I will join you in this mental exercise. Perhaps a good analogy from the right would be a committed anti-abortion activist. Imagine being told that you had to compromise, or even abandon, your cause for the greater good of your country. My only point is that you would not be immediately receptive. You might believe that you were being asked to abandon a certain moral position for an uncertain political advantage. Again: this is a hard thing to ask people to do, no matter how strongly we believe in the political necessity.
The party that gets serious about getting money out of politics will have the most unifying message. People don’t feel represented. They think their legislators only care about the wants of their donors.
Republicans can't defend many of their policies with truth. So they often lie, many examples of which are above and part of the political soup. Democrats and progressives aren't perfect, but aren't willing to go as far. With RW news outlets keeping supporters ignorant and ill-informed, can it ever be a fair fight? Let alone a debate of policy visions.
I agree that the democratic narrative needs to stay away from fringe positions. Zero in on all the biggest issues for the majority of Americans. Fox News has spent years dwelling on crazy things that are not an actual issue and convincing viewers the country was going down the toilet due to Democrat agenda. Concentrate on what is actually affecting people's everyday life. We found out this last election that people are crazy enough to vote on egg prices. Shallow, selfish and uninformed people. But we need to attract those voters. I don't know how trans people became a headline issue. They are a VAST minority. I agree they deserve freedoms but why was it such a hot topic? Probably Fox News again. Hopefully Fox will be gone after loyal viewers figure out they've been misled and misinformed . National security is definitely a top issue now that we've alienated all our allies.
Quite simply, you have missed the most obvious problem. The Dems have spent all their energy for the past decades trying to manage the whak-a-mole frenzy of appeasing the impossibly needy, and ever-growing, list of well-intentioned self-righteous factions. Meanwhile, the Republicans have refined and implemented an insidious plan to neuter all branches of government (local, State, and Federal) for the financial gain (and thus increased power) of the rich. THE DEMS HAVE NO PLAN, NO LEADERSHIP, NO VISION, AND NO CLUE THAT THEY NEED ANY OF THESE THINGS. Game over.
Yes, the Dems tried too hard, and went too far. Badly managed good intentions? Did they lose votes for trying? Or for the way they tried? I don't know.
But did Republicans win votes promising to do those things you listed? I don't think so. Isn't that their Trojan Horse? What was it that caused the swing to Trump? Lies, mostly. Lies of fact, lies of insinuation, and lies of intention. And it worked.
So is the question, "How do we change minds?" Or might it be, "Why are so many American minds open to this?"
I ABSOLUTELY HATE HOW NOBODY BUT 45 IS TALKING ABOUT IT BEING RIGGED!! He cheated on epic scales and all these article are like, oh Dems struggle after loss, oh Dems have to refocus… really??? People showed up for her, but he cheated so once again THATS OK!! No It’s Not OK
This was a great piece. So much of “wokeness” which should simply mean caring and mutual respect, has become about demanding others use the words to describe people and things that we prefer. It is, to many, a synonym for censorship. Messaging needs to be inclusive, but the dems often act like petulant bullies who want to control others. Object when someone offends, but please don’t ostracize. Listen and share points of view. I think that’s the message.
When it comes to the “deeply reckless and deplorable,” few exceed Charlie Kirk. Nonetheless, Newsom displayed courage in talking with him. The governor was simply speaking common sense on the transgender athletes issue, something that most Democrats still seem afraid to do. Perhaps his prominence will begin to change that.
Newsome is correct to take this position. Biological men competing in women's sports is deeply unfair.
Charlie, I sincerely appreciate your willingness to offer constructive suggestions. I am heartily sick of bashing each other and playing Monday morning quarterback with politics. For any of us who believe that our current administration is dangerous and demented (🙋♀️), I think we need to do a couple of things. First, allow every elected official to have a voice, even if you don’t agree with them. We are not a monolith. A strong party will not be brought down by outliers if we have a strong, coherent party message. Second, make sure the heart of the message is centrist. Let people on both sides know that we see them, we hear them, and we are genuinely trying to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Sure, there are issues that impact a very small portion of the population. This doesn’t make them any less important, but we can’t allow the disinformation machine to cause others to believe that we have lost sight of the issues that impact us all.
What is the point?
If the point is to develop a framework for voters, the teachers in elementary and high schools, abetted by organizations such as The League of Women Voters, should emphasize civics.
If the point is to address how candidates of any political party or who are independent of a party campaign for votes, i suggest they speak for themselves, divorced from a political script handed down by a politburo.
I am leery of those who cast people as ultra-right or ultra-left. Naive perhaps am I. When I was in my teens in Georgia, some categorized me as a "[black]-lover" because I stood for school integration and spoke in favor of MLK Jr. and against the history of federal policies against our indigenous tribes. That was long before the word "woke" acquired its current mistaken appropriation.
As an unabashed Navy veteran, I'm often misidentified as a Republican or, worse, one who "naturally" supports The Oath-Breaking SoB and MAGA. Shock, surprise, and severe disappointment await those who make such an assertion.
I tend to speak like a sailor.
What is someone's position on transgendered athletes? I don't know and I don't care. Should Congress pass legislation about the subject?
Is that issue of greater or lesser import than our support for our allies or how we, as a nation, should address poverty, education, public health, social security, veterans, or national defense?
I assume that our historical, collective national responses to such questions are the basis for the reason our federal government is significantly larger than it was during George Washington's two administrations.
I also recall the significant opposition to the ACA by the so-called Blue Dog (conservative) Democrats in 2010. While that disagreement involved abortion, to my recollection, one result was the elimination of the "public option" (often mislabeled "Medicare for All").
The ACA enabled me, who was then a Type II diabetic, to obtain private health insurance for the first time.
I have a moderate friend who voted for Trump, even though he found the man distasteful, because he was affected by the trans-ads. He told me that if a trans person fell down, he would be the first to help them up, but he was scared that they were taking over things. Obviously not rational, but the fact is that it worked
Regarding trans people's push to make Democrats accept their full package, It seems to me that the trans activists don't have a lot of leverage because the alternative is democrats or a MAGA party that wants to exclude them from the country
Re the astounding misperception of independents in 2024, your one line sums up why the Dems lost: "Democrats never successfully pushed back."
How they talked to working class voters was a small issue. Teaming up with never-Trumpers like Liz Cheney was smart, and not why they lost (Jen Psaki and others are wrong). I could go on.
Charlie nailed the reason and they better learn how to counter disinformation or Dems will keep losing.
.
One more thing: When centrists, or realists, or former conservative Republicans-turned Anti-Trumpists (hi, Charlie, glad to have you on our side) tell liberals, progressives, or just plain old Democrats to shut up about transgender rights, or DEI, or Palestinian rights, or whatever other issues are important to us because we are scaring the kids, and driving the normal folks who just care about the price of groceries and gas into the arms of an anti-constitutional would-be dictator, you may not understand what a big ask you are making. Remember how important Reagan conservatism was to you? Remember how it made you feel like you were part of a cause that had moral, and not just political implications? Well, that’s how we feel about the causes that are important to us, even if you mock them as “woke”.
You may have been forced by Trump to leave your party, and reconsider the consequences of your political choices. That must have been hard. But when you tell liberals that we must compromise our fight to protect vulnerable people, because that’s what transgender people are, you may not realize that you are asking us not only to make a political compromise, but a moral one as well.
Many people are forced to make compromises all the time, political and moral as well. The Founders understood that very well when abolitionist Ben Franklin had to stand with slave owners, and vice versa. Doctors in emergency situations, military leaders on the battlegrounds. The Germans who refused to work with monarchists, communists, socialist, Catholics, Protestants, military, etc. The folks who didn't vote for Harris because of Gaza or Israel, or Afghanistan or abortion or transgender or whatever reason they use.
There are issues and times that DEMAND all of us to set aside differences, and vote together. The choice is now the existence of the US or dissolving into side issues (yes, side issues) that fracture our tentative partnerships and let MAGA/Project 2025/oligarchs win.
Times don’t make demands, Eva, people do. And while I share your belief that it’s very important to defeat Trump and Trumpism, I am reminding my friends on the anti-Trump right (and you are my friends) is that the issues that you call side issues are core issues to some, and you should be aware that you are making a significant demand when you tell people to put them aside.
I know. I'm one of those with issues I didn't want to compromise with. I'm a staunch seamless pro-life Democrat. The party screwed people like me when NOW had a big mouth and completely rejected anyone who wanted to reduce abortion by helping women and children and offering them alternatives back in the 80s. NOW and far left women's rights's groups rejected people like me, and groups like Feminists for Life. I was left in a limbo - I refused to vote for the extremist Ds (and yes, they did advocate abortions right before birth for any reason and opposed any attempts to make certain abortionists followed safe medical procedures and opposed any attempt to make certain that the few babies who survived were given care instead of being left to die - and they did it openly and proudly). And I refused to vote for Rs because of all the other reasons - insane wars, the death penalty, the no Medicare for all, the "welfare queens" garbage, the refusal to actually care about the poor, the hungry, the ill, the tax cuts for the rich that tanked the economy, the money above all mentality, etc.. Now, thank God, the really far, far left has shut up and the party is trying to return to their roots - the working class, and an umbrella that incorporates more of the values that Ds used to have.
So, yes, I have had to put what I do consider a core issue to the side and get rid of the disease that Trump and his sycophantic billionaires and cowards have inflicted on the country. We're in a war, not yet as extreme as the Civil War, but one we need to win. And that includes people who have to put aside their core issues and realize we have only one issue now that means anything - getting rid of Trump and everything and everyone he stands for. Otherwise, we're doomed as a country.
Try to put yourself in the shoes of a committed pro-Palestinian activist. Since I am not one myself, I will join you in this mental exercise. Perhaps a good analogy from the right would be a committed anti-abortion activist. Imagine being told that you had to compromise, or even abandon, your cause for the greater good of your country. My only point is that you would not be immediately receptive. You might believe that you were being asked to abandon a certain moral position for an uncertain political advantage. Again: this is a hard thing to ask people to do, no matter how strongly we believe in the political necessity.
Again Republicans have lost their party and want to turn Democrats into the party they used to be. Stop it.
The party that gets serious about getting money out of politics will have the most unifying message. People don’t feel represented. They think their legislators only care about the wants of their donors.
Democrats were completely right to block the discriminatory anti-trans women in sports bill. Here, you’re wrong.