I keep seeing people say “they’ll only vote for Dems if the Dems give them a reason to” and I don’t think the data really shows that. I think the Republicans are giving people a lot of reasons to vote for the Dems.
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People love to vote against Donald Trump. Many also love voting for him. But when he’s not on the ballot, only one of those things is possible. (And that’s before accounting for real changes in preferences due to *gestures broadly*)
aug 27, 2025, 12:55 pm • 10 1 • view
"New leadership yesterday", will most likely elect a good number of candidates willing to say it.
aug 27, 2025, 1:18 pm • 0 0 • view
What annoys me about that complaint is that the Dems give a ton or reasons to vote for them too and people just ignore that so they can complain that they didn't.
aug 27, 2025, 12:48 pm • 7 0 • view
Dems gave voters A LOT of reasons to vote “Blue” in November of 2024. Instead they voted for ::waves hands around:: this. Even if they didn’t mean “this.”
aug 27, 2025, 1:23 pm • 5 0 • view
bUt He’S a BuSiNeSs MaN
aug 27, 2025, 1:30 pm • 3 0 • view
Also people vote for individuals and I do think that matters
aug 27, 2025, 2:32 pm • 0 0 • view
My take for a few months has been that “orange guy bad” is not only fine for 2026, it’s probably *ideal.* For 2028, with a different electorate, it won’t be enough— but that will resolve with the 2028 primary where Dems will be able to set out an alternative, positive vision with their nominee.
aug 27, 2025, 1:07 pm • 0 0 • view
Any party-wide affirmative vision comes downstream from a nominee/leader. Dems do not have a leader. It is not the DNC’s job either. So just run against the status quo in 2026, and preferably embrace outsider candidates in doing so
aug 27, 2025, 1:07 pm • 0 0 • view
I have voted for a Dem Presidential candidate exactly twice in my life but I would piss on a spark plug if it would put an end to all of this.
aug 27, 2025, 1:03 pm • 0 0 • view
I would like there to be a party that isn't entirely led by folks over 60, that has sane, thoughtful, people in leadership, considers equity for everyone a good thing, and isn't hell bent on snatching anything dear leader wants to grab. Beyond that, I'm good. We can work out the rest.
aug 27, 2025, 1:14 pm • 0 0 • view
Most active voters seem to understand the concept of a binary choice. It’s the shitlibs on here that have trouble wrapping their heads around it.
aug 27, 2025, 1:01 pm • 0 0 • view
Yeah, I think a lot of people miss that Donald Trump is a huge motivator for politics in America right now in a way that everyone’s going to struggle with when he’s gone.
aug 27, 2025, 12:59 pm • 31 2 • view
Yeah. It sounds like a joke, but we are GOING to need to keep his memory alive. It's going to be important. If the broader public and popular memory are going to absorb the lesson, we have to make sure Trump becomes the canonical villain he needs to be. Little kids need to know who he was.
aug 27, 2025, 1:03 pm • 6 0 • view
We don't have THAT many of those! I guess it's natural that any national mythology has more heroes than villains. But what have we got? Benedict Arnold? Jeff Davis? Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon (not so much Studebaker and television). Various more niche figures (Trump progenitor Roy Cohn being one!)
aug 27, 2025, 1:10 pm • 3 0 • view
There is a world before Trump, a world during Trump, and a world after Trump and that's broken many peoples' worldviews.
aug 27, 2025, 1:09 pm • 0 0 • view
The baked in advantages in the midterms are known, the issue is the upcoming general. And the energy right now will be behind pure partisans who'll be loud and obstructionist. My hot take: the 2026 cycle primary to set the tone (and fear) in incumbents is more important than the pres candidate.
aug 27, 2025, 1:41 pm • 1 0 • view
The best reason to vote for Democrats is always to deprive a Republican of power, but most people hate this argument.
aug 27, 2025, 1:37 pm • 10 0 • view
Most people don't hate that argument. Most activists hate that argument and they're over represented on Bluesky.
aug 27, 2025, 1:40 pm • 3 0 • view
To be fair, it’s the argument that Republicans used for years to their advantage. “You may not agree with our candidate on everything, but you’ve gotta remember that the most important thing is to keep the Democrat from winning”
aug 27, 2025, 1:51 pm • 4 0 • view
They still use it!
aug 27, 2025, 1:54 pm • 2 0 • view
Exactly! It’s literally how we got Trump in ‘16! “Well, I don’t like everything he says, but we gotta keep Clinton out!” Obviously pro-Trump devotees have morphed into something much more deranged, but that’s how a lot of GOP voters were justifying their choice at the time.
aug 27, 2025, 1:57 pm • 3 0 • view
Well excuse ME Mr. Lawyer! No need to serve me, I will remember to add a clarifying "on here" next time I make a generalization about online communities.
aug 27, 2025, 1:59 pm • 2 0 • view
The witness is excused. Absent yourself, Congressman.
aug 27, 2025, 2:03 pm • 2 0 • view