Two questions

[minoanmiss]

US politics, of course.

1) People have begun looking forward to the 2026 elections.

Are there going to be 2026, or 2028, or 2032 elections?

2) "Democrats have to do things differently to win back Trump voters."

As I asked someone in a discussion I should not have gotten into:

"If the Democrats get rid of the concept of equality of all people, and instead actively promote that White men (Christian, able-bodied, etc) are better than everyone else, that women don't deserve the vote or bodily autonomy, that POC deserve racism and queer people deserve to be legislated out of existence, what would make them different than the Republicans? Because that's the only way to satisfy people who treat loss of privilege as oppression and complain that those of us who will no longer believe we are inferior to White men just HATE White men."

As Konrad Adenauer said, "The one sure way to conciliate a tiger is to allow oneself to be devoured." I refuse to hand over the trans people and women and immigrants I love to be sacrificed. I would also be annoyed to get chewed up myself.

Comments

[dewline]

1. I expect there's work to do to ensure those elections happen and are both free and fair. Whether that work will be tolerated by the Vulgarian and his retinue...?

2. Amen to all of that per Adenauer.

[minoanmiss]

Meep and also meep.

[conuly]

Better to have the elections but fucking nerf them, from their perspective. Less fighting that way. It's like Orban's early approach to the press - let them publish whatever, but never respond to it. He got to look a lot better than he ever was.

And I know lots of ways progressives could gain back voters, but they all depend on, first and foremost, ditching the FPP system. (And also the electoral college, but that's a different problem.) If there can only be two choices because the system forces two choices then those two choices will always trend towards the shittiest possible middle.

[minoanmiss]

We definitely need to be rid of FPP and tehe Electoral College. Though neither would have saved us this time.

The comparison to Orban is apt and chilling.

[amaebi]

I think we'll have elections in 2026. Not only because these coup things typically take some time, but because Trump doesn't give a damn about anyone not him. He may not be around in 2028, but if he is he will want to continue being president and won't want to run. Not betting on 2028.

I agree that emulating the right is a pointless thing even from the barren point of view of winning elections. (Oddly, the Magisterial Theory behind this comes from the very rightwing Buchanan school of public economics. This as well as it continually not working should have seen it dead.) In addition, these are guys for whom snarling resentment is a supporting beam of identity.

[med_cat]

1. There will :)

and

*hugs*

[lunabee34]

Your last line made me laugh.

*hugs*

[minoanmiss]

I do try to be amusing. :)

[princessofgeeks]

I think there is a nonzero chance that Trump will attempt to cancel future elections and that a lot of people will have to push back in every way possible to stop that from happening.

I think there is also a nonzero chance that a lot of other stuff will happen to head off the actual death of democracy here but still, a lot of people will have to push back to get us back again.

I think Democrats are bemoaning "what we did wrong" and "how to win back Trump voters" because if there was something we did wrong, there is something we can do to fix it.

But on some issues there is not and will not be agreement, as you say. Democrats cannot win back Trump voters by becoming racists. They would be changing sides then.

[magid]

^ All of this.



I also wonder whether the H5N1 bird flu will take off, gain human-to-human transmission, and kill lots of folks. Because then who knows what the landscape of remaining voters will look like......

[full_metal_ox]

If that happens, it’ll do a fuckton of collateral damage and innocent people will catch the blame, along established prejudice lines. Remember when people were hoping that the COVID deaths of elders, antivaxxers, and antimaskers would deprive Trump of voters?

There is no weapon that exclusively pinpoints Bad Guys™. (“But what if there were?“ The Death Note is a seductive power fantasy—but, like the One Ring, it’s an inherently corrupting artifact.)

[magid]

Um, that was why I said that who knows what the political landscape will look like at that point.

[full_metal_ox]

Fair enough, and I plead guilty to having read too much into your comment.

[sabotabby]

Russia, increasingly the model for the US, still has elections. You just don't get a choice about who to vote for.

I'm very old and so very tired of seeing the Democrats lose an election and conclude that they need to be more like the Republicans next time. Not in terms of dirty tricks, but in terms of policy. It's the wrong lesson.

[minoanmiss]

Word.

[acelightning73]

How in the name of all that's holy can anybody beleive that straight white middle-aged men DESERVE TO HAVE ALL THEIR DEMANDS MET. How can anybody beleive that equality, justice, rights, and dignity don't apply to ALL SENTIENT BEINGS. And I am congenitally a believer in tolerance - the one thing I can't tolerate is intolerance.

[gwydion]

I adore you.