We are going to hear a lot of Democrat bashing in the next two years. It has already started.
There is no real consensus among Republicans except on one big thing: Democrats are vile. They are persnickety and snobby. They are hypocritical. They are crazy socialists. And they are out to get Trump.
This morning I awoke to Fox News' coverage of the Mueller Report. I expected a headline like "Trump totally vindicated!!!" or "Trump didn't collude!!!"
No.
Here is what I saw: Democrats distraught.
Take a minute and read. It is unintuitive and therefore very revealing of the inner motivation of the GOP message.
They don't defend Trump. They attack Democrats. There are eleven stories here, and every one is about Democratic disappointment, Democratic over-reach, Democratic attacks.
Trump is a divisive figure even within the GOP, but the attacks on Trump by Democrats are not divisive. Fox sees them as attacks on the team, as attacks on Republicans. Look at how they hate us!!!
No.
Here is what I saw: Democrats distraught.
Take a minute and read. It is unintuitive and therefore very revealing of the inner motivation of the GOP message.
They don't defend Trump. They attack Democrats. There are eleven stories here, and every one is about Democratic disappointment, Democratic over-reach, Democratic attacks.
Trump is a divisive figure even within the GOP, but the attacks on Trump by Democrats are not divisive. Fox sees them as attacks on the team, as attacks on Republicans. Look at how they hate us!!!
There are a few lessons for Democrats embedded in this Fox splash.
1. One is that the thing that most unifies Democrats--hating on Trump--may be backfiring. Republicans identify with Trump. The Democrat needs a positive message of political and social change--being for something popular. That needs to be a bigger message than Trump's behavior.
2. The second is that Trump will define the Democrat. Trump's record in office is not the sweet spot for getting Republicans to rally. Scorning Democrats is. He will demonize the Democrat. As this blog wrote yesterday, Trump is a master at branding and humiliating opposition. "Bolshevik Bernie." "Baby Beto." 'Pocahontas--'I don't know if I can listen to her shrill voice for four years, it hurts my ears.'" Stuff like that.
Many of the most engaged Democrats are already helping with that process of Democratic demonization. For perhaps 20% of the Democratic primary vote, anyone except Bernie is a progressive fraud. Social media is full of Bernie-or-nobody. Those voters are engaged and persuasive within their group. They think this is the great opportunity to move the electorate to the left, and failure to do it is a sell-out.
I have an grim potential image of election-2020, informed by memory of 2016, not by invention. By election day Democrats will have to hold their noses to vote for their candidate, and Independents will split for Trump, who by then will be the only viable candidate.
4 comments:
So far the Report has not been leaked to the media, which probably means it's not flattering to Trump.
There was always the possibility that the campaign attracted all manner of self seeking ne'er-do-wells who operated around a Magoo Trump oblivious to what was going on. Yeah? If that's the case it's nothing to celebrate, but it also could be that the Russians made several attempts to compromise various people but none actually bit to the extent of criminality. OK...and for the Russians that could well be enough for their purposes.
It's a bit of a head fake to me that we were led to believe that Mueller had access to Trump finances and they would likely show criminality. Not so? That's sure a ding on the media and certain Democrats.
I would hesitate to say Progressives are "Bernie or nobody"...a bit too soon? In 2016 the name calling was novel, not so much now so that tactic may not be as effective.
We'll see. The day is still young!
I attended the quarterly meeting of the Democratic Party of Oregon, held last weekend up in Monmouth. This meeting included elections for officers - the biannual reorganization. When one of the candidates running for Secretary of the party said, in her speech, that she had become politically active campaigning for Hillary Clinton in 2016, a significant number of the 150 or so people in the hall hissed.
When we talk about healing the wounds from 2016, there is self reflection required on both sides of the breach. The party has done alot to increase transparency, and has greatly limited the power of superdelegates. It’s time to unite. I hope the vitriol still felt by many of the Sanders supporters will be directed toward winning in 2020, and not toward internecine party battles.
United We Stand.
But what do we stand for?
And who...?
As a Berniecrat, I'm sad to hear that folks are wasting their time hissing Hillary or vilifying Trump. I've been with Our Revolution Southern Oregon for three years and I can count on one hand the number of times Trump has been discussed at our planning meetings.
Yes, there are wounds from the Wasserman-Shultz era, the theft of the DNC chair from Ellison and the DCCC thumb on the scale during the primaries, however, it seems Tom Perez & co. have gotten the message and supported some palpable democratic changes within the Party. If Larry Cohen (Chair of Our Revolution) is happy with Perez and the results, then so am I.
I have been concerned from the beginning about the zeal that many of my fellow democrats held for the Mueller Report...in fact, at the outset, I referred to it as very possibly a "big nothing burger." Corporate-owned MSNBC is particularly culpable in its obsession with this. (If I were a conspiracy theorist I might think it was a "get out of jail free card" for Party elites who would rather lose than jettison neoliberalism.) It's downright foolish for the Party to have put all their eggs in one basket...and, frankly, a vindictive one at that. It's time everyone got on board with what they are FOR and get the hell off those fb pages and their petty pyrrhic "victories" with their juvenile memes and snarky comments. We all need to focus on our shared values AND THE ISSUES.
The crowd yells, "Bernie, Bernie!" and he has to keep reminding them that this election is not about him but about THE MOVEMENT. It's time we all embrace that idea; we have work to do!
Andy Seles
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