Throughout the election, we heard one warning, repeated ad infinitum: A Donald Trump victory would precipitate a fascist dictatorship, and the United States would soon resemble Nazi Germany.
But Democrats didn’t take up arms to defend the ramparts of democracy. They didn’t repel Trump’s storm troopers who descended on Washington. Instead, something more. . . traditional happened. President Joe Biden welcomed Donald Trump to the White House, congratulated him, and promised a “smooth transition.” (A courtesy, we should note, that Trump did not extend to Biden in 2020.)
But now that Democrats have lost power—both in the White House and Congress—what changes should they make to regain it?
Here to answer that question today are Freddie deBoer and Ruy Teixeira. Freddie is a writer, self-described Marxist, and longtime critic of “social justice” identity politics. Ruy is a political demographer, Democratic strategist, and co-author of the book, Where Have all the Democrats Gone?
We talk about how Democrats became the party of elites, whether Kamala Harris’s loss is the death knell of identity politics, why abortion wasn’t enough to save the Democrats, and whether the party will learn any significant lessons from this historic defeat.
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"No one cares about terrorism anymore". That may have been the most inane statement of all of the inane statements on this podcast. October 7th (um, a clear act of terrorism), is in the minds of many Americans every day until the terrorists release the (some American) hostages at a minimum.
It's always good to hear that the left continues to be out of touch and is not likely to win a presidential election in the next 20 years or more.
DeBoer continues to be the poster child for why most people distrust or cannot stand Marxism/Socialism. When you have an open mind and truly listen to both the left and the right, the answer as to why the Democrats lost is clear as can be:
1. Economy - it's not about assets, it's about wages and prices. Asset improvement obviously impacts the wealthy more than the average person and wages/prices impact the average person more than the wealthy. More average people than wealthy people = more votes.
2. Immigration. for the millionth time, the issue is illegal immigration and the impact it has on people's lives...from sex and drug trafficking to crime to economic impact (see #1). While some people on the right stupidly push back on legal immigration, most conservatives want a better approach to immigration.
3. Identity politics/wokeness. The left doesn't think it's an issue, but it absolutely was. The transgender overplay was dumb politics with little benefit and a ton of issues. It's why "Tampon Tim" and They/Them not You resonated so strongly. Anti-racism was clearly understood to be a form of racism. DEI continued to flush world-renowned universities down the drain and those idiots pushed their ideology up to business and down to school systems. People are sick of this crap and it's another key reason why minorities, in particular, started to realize that the white liberal elite was truly just using them.
4. The trigger: Jew-hating captured the left. Many Jews and common sense non-Jews understood the canary in the coal mine comparison. Once radical Islam is done with the Jews, they are coming for you next. So, let's put a stop to that now.
Lastly, while the Democratic campaign was constructed of cardboard with an incredibly bad candidate and as fake as could be (joy! yay!), the Republican campaign, if you got into it, was simply a ton of fun. The Trump dance, the podcasts, the rallies, Elon, the Democratic converts - all made it feel like the right side was the side that could really make things fun again.
For what it's worth, I'm excited again about the future of America.
Anyone who says that the U.S. has to admit it's in decline and the real question is how to manage it does not understand why Trump won and should take their loser attitude to Europe.
Please, no more Freddie deBoer. He has nothing interesting to say, doesn't understand economics, and seems to think living near New Haven is some sort of credential.