👇🎯 This is why the calls for Popularism & Abundance & not saying funny words like "oligarchy" & all the other "normal politics" strategies are category errors. The fascists are doing inhuman things to actual human beings. People who are our neighbors. It's destroying democracy & needs to stop now.
Also: insisting we should ignore the “distractions and focus on bipartisan kitchen table economic issues” is no different than “people are only fascist because of economic insecurity and when we give them socialism it will fix them.” Fighting fascism is THE issue. No nuance. Black and white.
Given Trump's recent declaration that "I hate Democrats. I really do.", I think there's no reason to assume the newly expanded ICE/SS is going to restrict itself to grabbing only immigrants. Hitler imprisoned political enemies, and Trump will, too.
It's the endless campaigning that we are really sick of. Back and forth, every fucking day of every fucking year. Know what is making MAGA happy? Their guys are done campaigning and are just getting something done. Dems can't get anything passed, at least fail fighting.
The real What Democrats Must Do thing is to say, "Trump/the GOP are doing corrupt & illegal things that are killing people, harming your family, & destroying the country. We have one election left to stop this & if you give us power we'll reverse it & make sure people go to jail." The rest is noise.
Things Democrats Need Not Do: - Enabling crypto (bsky.app/profile/mcop...) - Denigrating Real Folkz by insisting they can't understand complex words (bsky.app/profile/mcop...) - Taking advice from the white male Gen X/Elder Millennial Pundits who don't see Black voters & want to Do A Popularism 👇
I'd argue that having a vision for the future of this country so that this kind of shit never happens again + a vision to start tackling the real, substantive, dare I say structural, problems we're facing as individuals and as a collective, is more than just 'noise'. 1/2
Oh, don't get me wrong. They need that, too. But that's a project for 2028, not 2026:
I’ve thought about your comment the last day and I don’t think I agree. As you are aware, midterms are lower turnout than prez elections. Lower turnout bc less engaged voters don’t show up. To expect less engaged voters to be engaged enough to be energized by a platform that requires 1/2
prior engagement in order to be energized, I don’t think that’s the ticket. I would think the anti Trump angle is for whoever runs for prez next, and for 2026 it’s about stopping Trump (to keep partisans engaged) while putting forth a clear vision for the future. Hope this makes sense.
It will be enough for many for the Dems to just "not be Trump" in 2026/8, but Dems cannot afford to rely upon partisans anymore, much less demand so much of Black voters to cinch out a win each election cycle. A vision for the future is what will get those folks out of their living rooms. 2/2
they'd have too much to lose. if they do that, they might have to face almost identical consequences for already doing 75% of what the GOP is now.
Unfortunately, the problem is the Dem leadership will never allow campaigning like that nor will they ever follow through with holding fascists accountable. They haven’t for more than a generation and I don’t see them starting now.
Right now one of the more powerful state Dem caucuses is openly organizing to ratfuck their own candidate for NYC mayor that was overwhelmingly chosen by party members.
Yes. And criticizing him for the price of eggs is unnecessary. People know the price of eggs! If you're going to talk economics, have an honest message that shows an honest understanding of the huge structural problems in our economy. Otherwise, Trump is the only one with answers (racist lies)
The "Money is no object" crowd is perfectly happy to seize and abuse control.
I went to Vermont on vacation. Participated on a mushroom hunt as a fun activity. Thought I'd join a local group back home in Tucson only to find out that the local organizer had been detained. The sickness is everywhere.
Is Abolish ICE going to be winning issue?
Dems have to simultaneously deliver outcomes that demonstrably help people directly (which is different than passing good policy) while calling out the deep threat. Average voter will accept an unimaginable amount of cruelty and destruction without the former.
this entire regime is based on the perpetuation of fear and hate, and the supply of performative cruelty to satisfy it
Words matter.
The atrocities of Ice daily have to become Democrats daily story! The country is against their actions! Dems need to state facts every day! Fight back, push back. Never stop informing the nation!
Sadly, I've seen many Trump followers who see the inhumanity as a plus. They revel in the proxy power of hurting people they don't like and have dehumanized them in their own minds. I'd like to believe there are a majority of people who haven't yet, but will mobilize against that cruelty.
Do swing voters actually care about sadism and dehumanization if they don’t personally know and care about the victims? Sadly, the answer seems to be no. So then what?