Why Harris lost
Why Harris lost
21 comments
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I voted for her but this is such a dumb, reductive take
The problem with her messaging was that none of it was actually catered to the working class. Racists weren't voting dem anyway yet they still tried to appeal to the right.
I blame the people who didn't vote for electing Trump but I also get it. Harris was more of the same in a time we need actual change.
She would have won if the past 8 years hadn't made people so fuckin apathetic but instead of riling people up with policy promises, the campaign focused on how bad a second Trump presidency would be....that might have taken away votes for him but it sure as hell didn't motivate people to vote FOR her.
One of the best things I can say about the campaign is that I appreciated the lack of the Girl Power messaging that was so prevalent with Hilary Clinton. It's a selling point to very few people since women tend to care more about the POLICY after so many Republican policies have targeted them
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women tend to care more about the POLICY
Clearly the case with white women -- 52% of whom voted for Trump in 2016. He got 53% of white women this year.
They like his Supreme Court nominees, his support of abortion policy chaos with bans in some states threatening prison time for doctors and patients, his policy for separating migrant children from their parents, they seem to really love his pussy grabbing policy especially, and his offer to protect them whether they like or not, and I WISH I was trying to be funny here, but this is all literally true. White women love Trump.
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Keep being smug and condescending, and insult your opponent at every opportunity. That'll change people's minds.
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I mean smug, condescending, and insulting his opponent worked for Trump. "She's a very stupid woman. Very low IQ."
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Ok, like, I get what he's trying to get at, but, this is the exact sort of take that is the goal of Republican campaign tactics. Posts like this do their work for them.
Racial class grievances among working people, on all parts of the political spectrum, are what got us here.
If we ever want to see anyone to the left of the current Republican party take power in this country again, then campaigns are going to have to learn to directly address the economic needs of working people.
Retotric won't be enough there HAS to be meaningful follow through.
Posts, like the one presented here, are beyond counterproductive.
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Yeah, because apparently Americans don't look at the actual candidate, or listen to what they say. Trump told nothing but lies the whole campaign, just attacking democrats at rallies. He is a narcissistic bigot, a convicted felon. He's racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic. He's a fraudster, a misogynist, he hates democracy, literally said he would be a dictator, among many other extremely undesirable traits you would want in a leader. That's the entire point people are making while the media are ignoring all that and blaming the democrats for not being as radical.
It's absolutely insane that he got elected. Anyone with any sort of critical thinking would not even dream of voting for him.
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I don't necessarily disagree with you
but
I read a lot and follow the news. You probably read a lot and follow the news. A huge swath of the population in this country doesn't. Self actualization is a luxury. You have to keep that in mind.
I'm sure you saw the article in the LA Times that suggested that apparently a significant amount of the population did not even know that Biden had dropped out of the race. Take a second to really wrap your head around that. If so many managed to miss that fact, how likely do you think it is that they would have heard about Trump's dictator day one statement.
It takes a certain level of privilege to be able to concern yourself what's going on in Washington, what's going on in Gaza or the Ukraine. Those things don't matter when you can't figure out how you are going to afford food AND rent this month.
I've been there.
Dreams are a luxury.
People aren't born, racists, sexist, homophobes, transphobes: we build those through culture.
For many Americans thinking about this stuff is a luxury. They're tired. They work themselves to the bone and still barely get by. They've been resegregated by race and income and all they know is that when they look around, all they see are people who look like them and who are also struggling.
They're fertile soil for the seeds of bigotry to germinate in. I'm not trying to excuse them, just trying to help you understand them.
Trump saw gains in and across groups that have historically been part of the Democrats coalition. It's not just white folk.
Both parties have spent decades largely failing to address the everyday struggles of working Americans.
So, if neither party is likely to actually make improvements in your everyday life, but one party is threatening to blow up the whole fucking system: One is significantly more appealing than the other.
The hate is a symptom of the problem. It's built by policy and, for some, maintained by design for political exploitation.
There is a reason that all of the economic platform of the civil rights movement have been scrubbed from our education system and collective memory.
Race and class have been the main tools capital has used to divide and exploit working people from this countries birth and that's as true today as ever.
We all need to not forget that, and more importantly, not play into it.
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It's very reminiscent of Hillary's "deplorables" comment, isn't it? The smug sense of self satisfaction comes oozing from the screen.
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A bit yes, but that's not the real issue.
The bigger problem here is that it represents a complete misreading of the situation.
The racism and misogyny we're seeing at the poles aren't justifiable, they are terrible, dangerous things, and I am not trying to down play that.
That said, they are a symptom of the problem and not the root cause.
If you never treat the virus, you shouldn't be surprised when the fever doesn't break.
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Why the fuck are you still using a white power website?
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This is actually from Mastodon. Not Twitter
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Or maybe these college white leftists don't actually know shit about how working people, non whites and women very much included, feel about anything at all.
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I am a white college leftist.
I am also a former Teamster who spent just shy of 20 years schlepping boxes for UPS. I am now taking classes to be a social worker.
What you are saying is at least partially true, they likely don't understand, but it's easy to forget just how young college kids are. The things that college kids don't understand are legion, but they are there to learn, and I think that's worth keeping in mind.
Y'all, we if we ever want to accomplish anything positive on the left we have to start thinking about our tactics. These sorts of left on left circlejerk firing squads don't help anyone, anywhere, ever.
We have to be cognisant of who are our allies, and maybe more importantly, who are our potential allies. We can't afford to alienate anyone potentially useful to achieving our end goals.
I understand the anger and the frustration.
I do.
But we have to learn to talk to people like this guy. Teach them don't berate and lecture at them.
We have to save our vitriol for the real enemy.
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21 comments