It's perhaps a bit too telling that my initial reaction to the headline was, "Which Nazi problem? The texts? Heritage and Fuentes? The salutes? The race-based gestapo? Reserving refugee status for apartheid perpetrators?
All this hoohah about Dems being too left is garbage. The reason Zorhan Mamdani will win the election tomorrow is that he has been speaking directly to the concerns of New Yorkers. He's not talking about anything else. I remember an old adage that all politics is local (Tip O'Neill?) Well, it is. It is soooo refreshing to hear someone willing to tackle basic issues that have been totally ignored for 30 years while pundits on both sides have twisted themselves into knots arguing over really stupid stuff like bathrooms, trans girls, gay marriage, who is more patriotic...I could go on. I put all that stuff into the "Live and Let Live" bin. Battling constantly over these issues is a waste of time and a waste of money. How about we just decide (as Dems) that we won't throw ANYONE under the bus to seem more centrist? Because that's not centrist, that's cruelty, that's deflection away from issues like climate change, poverty, oligarchy...I could go on. There's a great quote from one of my favorite authors--Kurt Vonnegut. He asked his son what life was all about, and his son Mark said, "We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is." If the Democrats keep that thought in mind, we'll do all right.
How most of the ‘pundits’ just roll with the idea that anything that happens is bad for dems and that they need to answer for it while republicans can just lie or “what about…” and move on without much pushback is ridiculous and has largely contributed to why everything is so fucked up.
There are still a few so called mainstream reporters with access to elected representatives and why democrats have not contacted every single one of them with quotes about republicans loving nazis is beyond me.
Democrats need to take a page out of their opponents playbook and learn to tie every bad move to the entire Republican Party instead of just Trump or the administration.
Lemme get this straight: Dem consultants and leadership want to appeal to as broad a range of voters as possible, from the center (any maybe even center-right) all the way to progressives. So they need a general, "salient" message that won't alienate anyone across that spectrum.
What is more universally proper and fucking "salient" than, "The Republicans are Nazis. We're not." (Or, better: "THEY'RE NAZIS. WE'RE NOT. SEE?") And please, Chuck Schumer, don't tell me that "it's not really true." It's true enough. And if it's not, make them prove it. Repudiate Fuentes and Carlson. Exile those hideous "young" Republicans. Denounce groypers. Define all Republicans as racists, anti-Semites, and fascists, and let them stammer and lie in response.
Yes, run on SNAP and ACA. But is it too much--too "divisive"--to run AGAINST Nazis? The GOP is handing Dems a spiked club, and the consultants are saying, "Oh, no, don't hit them with THAT. Somebody might not approve." Jesus. As Casey Stengel said about the first year or two of the Mets, "Can't anybody play this here game?"
"They proceed as if politics follows the rules of Calvinball, where Democrats have to theatrically purge unpopular ideas and flagellate themselves in order to win the trust of swing voters, but all it takes for Republicans to maintain an image of moderation is for Trump to lie unconvincingly about his governing agenda once or twice."
THANK YOU -- this is the best and most concise statement of this attitude I've ever seen. I couldn't quite put it into words myself without going on for paragraphs and paragraphs. Of course, there's a truth to this attitude because of the media environment, but the moderation pushers tend to avoid that point.
Part of Dems communication problem is how inept many of them are. When Mamdani was asked if he’s the future of the party he neatly sidestepped it. When Spangerger was asked the same question—about Mamdani—she stepped on a rake.
I'd downgrade Chuck to a "mention" rather than honorable mention since his post has so little engagement. That's probably 1) it's on the Nazi bar and 2) he's less than engaging. Hire a social media team who knows how to get your engagement up or farm the work out to the younger, more liberal members of your party you despise.
In the view of median voter, the Republican party may be having a nazi problem, but at least they are not weak, lame, and out of touch. And unfortunately it is the liberals have a values hierarchy not aligned with the masses. Nazis are not liked here, nazism is still a negative in eyes of a swing voter. But given the choice between an nazi-friendly conservative, or a democrat who accepts trans women in female sport, the choice is often obvious. Anti-nazism is an idea simply is not a priority for the working classes, and democrats have to regroup to an attractive alternative in swing states.
The “meltdown” is loud, public, disgust and rejection of the interview two non-elected outcasts/proud iconoclasts from all levels of the right. Meanwhile Democratic voices have been publicly denouncing the GOP’s “Nazi problem” for at least a decade, while now publicly questioning whether to stand by a Senate primary candidate with a literal Nazi tattoo who they made a national icon for some reason. This follows support for the Democratic governor who couldn’t remember if he was the guy in blackface or the Klan costume in an old photo (real, minstrel blackface, not makeup to look like a black character).
The answer to every one of your messaging screeds is that Democrats completely lack the credibility to create counter messaging.
I was living in Charlottesville back in 2017 when the Unite the Right rally happened. I remember seeing one of the “very fine people” point a loaded handgun at a counter protestor and yelling, “Die, n***er” and pulling the trigger. By some miracle the gun jammed, only firing when the aforementioned fine person (now perplexed) pulled it down to mess with it. If that exact sequence of events had played out in the exact same way, except that the very fine person had been a Christo-national counter protestor and the wannabe shooter a member of Antifa, I guarantee we’d still be seeing that clip on Fox News and that we’d know the name, sexual history, and Facebook friends of that person.
To what extent do you think current strategy decisions about "messaging" (er politics) by the Democratic Party are driven by trying to make sure the strategy can be done by the weakest communicators (politicians) in the Caucus?
So… I really, really, REALLY hate even entertaining this thought, but in the spirit of seeing the world as it is, not as I want it to be, I will ask:
What if the problem isn’t just the media environment? What if the problem is that too many people are more okay with neo-Nazism than they are with being “scolded” by lefty activists about race/trans issues/climate change?
What then?
Example: David Frum famously wrote, pre-2024 election, “If Democrats say that it’s fascist to enforce immigration rules, then voters will hire fascists to enforce immigration rules.” In that case, Brian points at Republicans and says “Look, they’re fascists,” and voters resoundingly respond, “yeah, so what, they’re willing to protect us from illegal immigrants and you’re not.”
I think that this is a big problem but like you, I am not sure what dems could do to reach those voters since no matter what they say or do, republicans and their mouthpieces will lie about it and the “mainstream” media will, at best, both sides it.
That said, being aggressively anti-nazi should be a no brainer.
The Republicans do have a Nazi problem. Nazis support mass murder and genocide. The Right has some hatreds: Jews, Hispanics, Blacks, white Liberals. Have I forgotten one? Oh, yes, women who don't look like Barbie.
So when they're done with their elimination agenda the only people left will be dumb white men and Barbies. In that final struggle Barbies will clearly win.
It's perhaps a bit too telling that my initial reaction to the headline was, "Which Nazi problem? The texts? Heritage and Fuentes? The salutes? The race-based gestapo? Reserving refugee status for apartheid perpetrators?
The Republican Party has a Nazism problem and, therefore, so does the rest of America.
All this hoohah about Dems being too left is garbage. The reason Zorhan Mamdani will win the election tomorrow is that he has been speaking directly to the concerns of New Yorkers. He's not talking about anything else. I remember an old adage that all politics is local (Tip O'Neill?) Well, it is. It is soooo refreshing to hear someone willing to tackle basic issues that have been totally ignored for 30 years while pundits on both sides have twisted themselves into knots arguing over really stupid stuff like bathrooms, trans girls, gay marriage, who is more patriotic...I could go on. I put all that stuff into the "Live and Let Live" bin. Battling constantly over these issues is a waste of time and a waste of money. How about we just decide (as Dems) that we won't throw ANYONE under the bus to seem more centrist? Because that's not centrist, that's cruelty, that's deflection away from issues like climate change, poverty, oligarchy...I could go on. There's a great quote from one of my favorite authors--Kurt Vonnegut. He asked his son what life was all about, and his son Mark said, "We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is." If the Democrats keep that thought in mind, we'll do all right.
How most of the ‘pundits’ just roll with the idea that anything that happens is bad for dems and that they need to answer for it while republicans can just lie or “what about…” and move on without much pushback is ridiculous and has largely contributed to why everything is so fucked up.
There are still a few so called mainstream reporters with access to elected representatives and why democrats have not contacted every single one of them with quotes about republicans loving nazis is beyond me.
Democrats need to take a page out of their opponents playbook and learn to tie every bad move to the entire Republican Party instead of just Trump or the administration.
Lemme get this straight: Dem consultants and leadership want to appeal to as broad a range of voters as possible, from the center (any maybe even center-right) all the way to progressives. So they need a general, "salient" message that won't alienate anyone across that spectrum.
What is more universally proper and fucking "salient" than, "The Republicans are Nazis. We're not." (Or, better: "THEY'RE NAZIS. WE'RE NOT. SEE?") And please, Chuck Schumer, don't tell me that "it's not really true." It's true enough. And if it's not, make them prove it. Repudiate Fuentes and Carlson. Exile those hideous "young" Republicans. Denounce groypers. Define all Republicans as racists, anti-Semites, and fascists, and let them stammer and lie in response.
Yes, run on SNAP and ACA. But is it too much--too "divisive"--to run AGAINST Nazis? The GOP is handing Dems a spiked club, and the consultants are saying, "Oh, no, don't hit them with THAT. Somebody might not approve." Jesus. As Casey Stengel said about the first year or two of the Mets, "Can't anybody play this here game?"
"They proceed as if politics follows the rules of Calvinball, where Democrats have to theatrically purge unpopular ideas and flagellate themselves in order to win the trust of swing voters, but all it takes for Republicans to maintain an image of moderation is for Trump to lie unconvincingly about his governing agenda once or twice."
THANK YOU -- this is the best and most concise statement of this attitude I've ever seen. I couldn't quite put it into words myself without going on for paragraphs and paragraphs. Of course, there's a truth to this attitude because of the media environment, but the moderation pushers tend to avoid that point.
Part of Dems communication problem is how inept many of them are. When Mamdani was asked if he’s the future of the party he neatly sidestepped it. When Spangerger was asked the same question—about Mamdani—she stepped on a rake.
I'd downgrade Chuck to a "mention" rather than honorable mention since his post has so little engagement. That's probably 1) it's on the Nazi bar and 2) he's less than engaging. Hire a social media team who knows how to get your engagement up or farm the work out to the younger, more liberal members of your party you despise.
In the view of median voter, the Republican party may be having a nazi problem, but at least they are not weak, lame, and out of touch. And unfortunately it is the liberals have a values hierarchy not aligned with the masses. Nazis are not liked here, nazism is still a negative in eyes of a swing voter. But given the choice between an nazi-friendly conservative, or a democrat who accepts trans women in female sport, the choice is often obvious. Anti-nazism is an idea simply is not a priority for the working classes, and democrats have to regroup to an attractive alternative in swing states.
God willing, today is a sweep: Abigail to Zohran!
The “meltdown” is loud, public, disgust and rejection of the interview two non-elected outcasts/proud iconoclasts from all levels of the right. Meanwhile Democratic voices have been publicly denouncing the GOP’s “Nazi problem” for at least a decade, while now publicly questioning whether to stand by a Senate primary candidate with a literal Nazi tattoo who they made a national icon for some reason. This follows support for the Democratic governor who couldn’t remember if he was the guy in blackface or the Klan costume in an old photo (real, minstrel blackface, not makeup to look like a black character).
The answer to every one of your messaging screeds is that Democrats completely lack the credibility to create counter messaging.
I was living in Charlottesville back in 2017 when the Unite the Right rally happened. I remember seeing one of the “very fine people” point a loaded handgun at a counter protestor and yelling, “Die, n***er” and pulling the trigger. By some miracle the gun jammed, only firing when the aforementioned fine person (now perplexed) pulled it down to mess with it. If that exact sequence of events had played out in the exact same way, except that the very fine person had been a Christo-national counter protestor and the wannabe shooter a member of Antifa, I guarantee we’d still be seeing that clip on Fox News and that we’d know the name, sexual history, and Facebook friends of that person.
To what extent do you think current strategy decisions about "messaging" (er politics) by the Democratic Party are driven by trying to make sure the strategy can be done by the weakest communicators (politicians) in the Caucus?
So… I really, really, REALLY hate even entertaining this thought, but in the spirit of seeing the world as it is, not as I want it to be, I will ask:
What if the problem isn’t just the media environment? What if the problem is that too many people are more okay with neo-Nazism than they are with being “scolded” by lefty activists about race/trans issues/climate change?
What then?
Example: David Frum famously wrote, pre-2024 election, “If Democrats say that it’s fascist to enforce immigration rules, then voters will hire fascists to enforce immigration rules.” In that case, Brian points at Republicans and says “Look, they’re fascists,” and voters resoundingly respond, “yeah, so what, they’re willing to protect us from illegal immigrants and you’re not.”
I think that this is a big problem but like you, I am not sure what dems could do to reach those voters since no matter what they say or do, republicans and their mouthpieces will lie about it and the “mainstream” media will, at best, both sides it.
That said, being aggressively anti-nazi should be a no brainer.
The Republicans do have a Nazi problem. Nazis support mass murder and genocide. The Right has some hatreds: Jews, Hispanics, Blacks, white Liberals. Have I forgotten one? Oh, yes, women who don't look like Barbie.
So when they're done with their elimination agenda the only people left will be dumb white men and Barbies. In that final struggle Barbies will clearly win.
"the Democratic Party must span the left and center, and even a bit beyond."
But Dems must *not* be Gender Critical. No way! Even if the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women is-
https://x.com/UN_HRC/status/1937824019207561702
As are Finland and Norway!
segm.org
And the UK Supreme Court too....
https://x.com/UN_HRC/status/1937824019207561702
Hang tough Dem leadership! Do *not* listen to these guys! Not even a little peek...
https://www.di-ag.org/