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John Tarley's avatar

Money quote: “ I think it would be better for him to fear that Democrats might do something, rather than do nothing. That might make him fear committing election crimes anywhere Democrats have law-enforcement power.” The Rs keep doing stuff because they’re not afraid of D repercussions.

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E.K.'s avatar

I think the fundamental issue—and the logic behind Favreau's comment about putting down the polls for five minutes—is that Democrats seem to be tailoring their message to public opinion instead of taking a moral stand and persuading the public to come along with them. Public opinion is, in general, uninformed and incoherent, so at this point, I think Democrats have to get away from mushy centrism and just say: "The tariffs are profoundly stupid and bad for the world; everyone is owed due process and disappearing people off the streets and sending them to a foreign gulag is evil and un-American; indiscriminately firing people is breaking the government and making it less efficient not more" etc., etc.—just take a stance and say these things! (Maybe say it pithier and using fewer words, but I think my point stands.) This has been one of my frustrations with the party's stance on trans rights. I've seen many Dems say things like, "Well, the public isn't with us yet." Your job is to persuade them! It's not hard. "Every human deserves human rights." See?

Republicans do this all the flipping time. They take a stand and then go about persuading the public to agree with them, often through lies and subterfuge, but it works! The white supremacists in the party want to deport all the brown people, so they've made it their project for decades to persuade Americans that the greatest threat to their safety and well-being are immigrants, thus Trump's approval on immigration remains high.

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