The problem -and I don’t know the solution here- is that sometimes there’s no way to not sound like you’re talking down to the voters because sometimes the voters are really fucking dumb! I don’t know how to explain tariffs aren’t free money from China without sounding condescending!

What you do is invite people to share in your exasperation with stupidity. Form your arguments so that the stupid people are always being talked *about* not *addressed.* It gives people emotional permission to pretend they were one of the smart people who knew all along that the sky was blue.

Yes, this. It's about how you frame your target.

i can see small solutions, like it coming from a very charismatic person, but that doesn't scale. otherwise, you end up with a john oliver effect where even people who agree with him start to think he comes off as smug and then tune out. so yeah, no idea what the solution is either.

We can’t get out of this unless we treat this shit like what it really is

Bingo. My great grandparents and grandparents understood this perfectly. People whose ignorance hurts the community are enemies; not political opponents.

They also understood that there're always two sides to every story but the truth doesn't lie somewhere in between.

having the wrong opinions and being smug assholes is much worse and it’s what’s happening now

genuinely anti-Trump voters would be THRILLED to hear Dems call these fascists what they are, to hear somebody stand up and fight in a way that isn’t performative and dishonest like Newsom

It generally only works if you’re a smug asshole but your opinions are also the wrong ones. Because then you’re appealing to the cruelty crowd.