"it is manifestly good that our country be a democracy and not an autocracy" - something basically every Dem political strategist seems to think is a winning argument - just isn't people don't care! they want treats and they're mad about whatever and many of them are fine with having a king
the funny thing is I don't think the strategists think this source: there was a Pod Save America guy on my Kamala bus and he was like "my god don't talk about democracy, the data says they don't care about it."
I do think the argument "fuck this tyrant" uhhh failed to cohere, and Dem strategists did not have a plan to get it to cohere under fire.
I think a better argument is: we will demand accountability and end to corruption, then follow through. People understand that a government that is not accountable is not good for anyone.
Sad but true. Bread and circuses really is an effective strategy for dictatorship. But the thing here is, this Administration has been an experiment of Authoritarian Rule that is All Stick No Carrot and I don't think it's working.
I think people care about it a lot! But the set of people who are committed to that have already sorted very blue for quite some time.
They think they are because they don't know how bad it is in places that try that.
what takes Trump down, if anything does, is not going to be "he is ruling us as a king" it is going to be "he is doing a shit-ass job ruling us like a king and he is taking away all your treats"
Micah's been re-reading Guards! Guards! and Men at Arms again...
I'd say Feet of Clay: "Royalty was like dandelions. No matter how many heads you chopped off, the roots were still there underground, waiting to spring up again."
"It seemed to be a chronic disease. It was as if even the most intelligent person had this little blank spot in their heads where someone had written: "Kings. What a good idea." Whoever had created humanity had left in a major design flaw. It was its tendency to bend at the knees."
Yeah it kinda pervades all three of the first Watch books.
I legit believe the narrative ought to be “Donald Trump is dumb as hell and his stupidity is going to get you and your loved ones killed.”
the trouble is that a lot of Americans are also dumb as hell, resent the very idea of expertise (that is, the idea that someone might become in some way superior to them through hard work and study, not inherent greatness), & are willing to sacrifice their & their families' lives to exalt stupidity.
Yeah, it's pretty clear that in the minds of many voters, Trump defined a slew of new social contracts (Pro-Business Corporatism, Herrenvolk Socialism, National Rebirth, other fantasies) and then almost immediately broke every single one of them.
True. The American revolution was mostly about the taxes (Stamp Act, Tea Act), loss of local control, and being denied trial by jury than it was about having a king. George III was an especially shitty monarch to the colonies. If he was more laisez-faire there wouldn't have been revolution in 1776.
I think the story was both not as bad but also much dumber than that? The median voter thinks a dictatorship is bad and democracy good, it's just they weren't smart enough, informed enough, and with such deficient object permanence to believe Trump was an actual threat. /1
It's why when you ask these people what they think about Trump... they think about his persona on The Apprentice and not his first fucking term in office. It's why Trump's approvals are cratering as people go "Oh, he meant that?" if they ever knew he said what he was going to do at all /2
I'd imagine that the average American already thinks of the president as a king that just changes every so often and believes that that change doesn't have much of an impact on their life.
Apparently far too few people have the background to realize that non-democratic governments make countries poorer and less fair. I.e. less treats for everyone.
IIRC there was *some* evidence that anti-authoritarianism motivated some voters in one of the midterms--maybe something like, Rs who voted not to certify the '20 election did worse in '22? but that might mean *midterm* voters care. by '24 swing voters cared only about treats
I do think this is mediated partly by the non-explicitly-conservative media burying Trump's authoritarianism and hammering the drumbeat that Biden had the worst economy ever, but that is a factor Democrats have to deal with
I genuinely thought his, "You'll have 2 dolls instead of 30 and they'll cost more" would go over a lot worse with his base/the general public. I guess it just got shifted to the back of their minds, but still I expected something
Let's wait for the Christmas season, I think we may see a lot of people begin to care on that front
I have trouble believing people don’t value their democracy enough to vote to save it. I think they’re just confused because of lies on the right and a pathetic both-sides media.
Sadly I think the percentage of people who already think that laws are what the president declares is definitely above zero. Maybe greater than 10%.
And still when Dem posts about “no treats” people say that they should focus on the dictator part. Voters showed they are consumers not citizens. They don’t deserve anything better
we are unfortunately in a treatlerite state and we won't escape by hoping for a better class of citizen
Quite literally a recession/hyperinflation would be the best thing to happen
something something that one quote from Night Watch about fighting for the People
The absence of democracy will be felt as a loss only when a more winsome candidate rises up, and the people are not able to actually *vote* for them. Until then, philosophical differences are purely academic.
I think you're right, but lots of people will say it's because he is a dictator. "Oh I didn't vote for him to be a dictator" bullshit. You bought his inflation lies and maybe some of the bigotry too. He failed to deliver is why you're pissed and you're just trying to sound good.
A lot of people are looking around and are like "what's so great about democracy?" because they are under the impression what we are experiencing is an actual democracy and what they see is everything going to shit
These voters haven’t any idea of what it means when everything truly goes to shit— it never has for most Americans. Only Black Americans and Native Americans know what it is. And it’s not when healthcare and college are expensive. It’s way worse.
