"One simply can't be a Trump supporter and claim morality other than really low-level morality. What I'm grappling with at the moment is just how morally arrested people have to be not to vote."
Seattle Political activist
There is a change happening within the progressive left. They are lightening up.
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| The Blue Wave required wins in swing districts |
That was then.
Trump has changed the political landscape on the left. Two years ago, it was OK to boycott. Just say "no" to Hillary. Don't soil yourself with a compromise with the devil. The lesser of two evils is still evil, they said.
Then the focus was on punishing Hillary. Now the focus is on stopping Trump.
My observation in 2016 was that the never-Hillary/Bernie-was-robbed people wanted two things. They wanted to push Democrats to be a full-on Bernie party. Simultaneously, they were unconsolable. They considered Hillary, and more generally the centrist Democrats, to be part of the ongoing problem, in some ways the more dangerous than Republicans. Republicans were a known danger; centrist, corporate Democrats were an insidious one.
My prescription at the time: Democrats should quit fooling themselves. Those voters were lost to them. No means no. It was Lucy and Charlie Brown and the football.
Change is slow but I observe some subtle shifts within the left. It is far from complete, but winning is so much better than losing gloriously. Ocasio-Cortez is supporting Nancy Pelosi, recognizing that she is as progressive as the new speaker can be, and that the vulnerable elements of the Democratic majority are in the newly won purple Districts. Those new House members are being welcomed, not condemned.
In addition, Facebook chatter is lightening up on Bernie. Bernie is still the burning symbol of hope, but he is no longer the one and only. Now he has potential rivals, people who appear to share the Bernie vision but who are a bit younger, with different baggage. New names can be mentioned: Elizabeth Warren, Beto O'Rourke. Ocasio-Cortez symbolizes the open-ended future: hope and change. She has charisma and she is young, both.
And there is Trump. Trump's gleeful flouting of democratic norms are hastening the comparisons to past authoritarian governments, put in place through democratic means. The canard that "whoever mentions Hitler first, loses" is itself losing its power. Liberals see warning signs: the "fake news" allegation; proposing a new interpretation of birthright citizenship, creating second class residents; authoritarian leaders as friends; his use of the pardon power; criticism of the FBI and intelligence services; chanting crowds in support; personal diplomacy; his very posture, tone, and manner as the strong and decisive and cruel leader.
The Trump crowds are real. Somehow, authoritarian government does not seem utterly impossible.
Trump is not getting the pushback from Republican officeholders that they experienced in 1973 during the Watergate hearings. Democrats see that the former Constitutional check on Trump--the loss of support in his own party--simply is not there. Trump is serving up conservative judges and he motivates GOP voters. His base is a minority, but it is an essential minority to a GOP officeholder. They enable Trump.
The Constitutional solution, then, is electoral wins by Democrats, so the progressive left is cutting the left-center some slack. The left is taking credit for a Blue Wave, but the victory happened because centrist Democrats won close elections. Some of the left isn't budging, but I see cracks in the wall of contempt for the center. The left isn't quite so fussy anymore.
Trump is frightening. Any port in a storm.
Then the focus was on punishing Hillary. Now the focus is on stopping Trump.
My observation in 2016 was that the never-Hillary/Bernie-was-robbed people wanted two things. They wanted to push Democrats to be a full-on Bernie party. Simultaneously, they were unconsolable. They considered Hillary, and more generally the centrist Democrats, to be part of the ongoing problem, in some ways the more dangerous than Republicans. Republicans were a known danger; centrist, corporate Democrats were an insidious one.
 |
| The never-Hillary left was unreachable |
Change is slow but I observe some subtle shifts within the left. It is far from complete, but winning is so much better than losing gloriously. Ocasio-Cortez is supporting Nancy Pelosi, recognizing that she is as progressive as the new speaker can be, and that the vulnerable elements of the Democratic majority are in the newly won purple Districts. Those new House members are being welcomed, not condemned.
In addition, Facebook chatter is lightening up on Bernie. Bernie is still the burning symbol of hope, but he is no longer the one and only. Now he has potential rivals, people who appear to share the Bernie vision but who are a bit younger, with different baggage. New names can be mentioned: Elizabeth Warren, Beto O'Rourke. Ocasio-Cortez symbolizes the open-ended future: hope and change. She has charisma and she is young, both.
And there is Trump. Trump's gleeful flouting of democratic norms are hastening the comparisons to past authoritarian governments, put in place through democratic means. The canard that "whoever mentions Hitler first, loses" is itself losing its power. Liberals see warning signs: the "fake news" allegation; proposing a new interpretation of birthright citizenship, creating second class residents; authoritarian leaders as friends; his use of the pardon power; criticism of the FBI and intelligence services; chanting crowds in support; personal diplomacy; his very posture, tone, and manner as the strong and decisive and cruel leader.
 |
| Nazi Celebration, Madison Square Garden, 1939 |
Trump is not getting the pushback from Republican officeholders that they experienced in 1973 during the Watergate hearings. Democrats see that the former Constitutional check on Trump--the loss of support in his own party--simply is not there. Trump is serving up conservative judges and he motivates GOP voters. His base is a minority, but it is an essential minority to a GOP officeholder. They enable Trump.
The Constitutional solution, then, is electoral wins by Democrats, so the progressive left is cutting the left-center some slack. The left is taking credit for a Blue Wave, but the victory happened because centrist Democrats won close elections. Some of the left isn't budging, but I see cracks in the wall of contempt for the center. The left isn't quite so fussy anymore.
Trump is frightening. Any port in a storm.
2 comments:
Good and hopeful observation.
It's imperative that Democrats be united which means the Democratic Socialists need to become more realistic. This doesn't mean "finding common ground", with the bigoted and ignorant. Yes, stopping Trump is the start, but the Tea Party wingnuts will still be with us and will find opportunistic unprincipled politicians who will pander to them. The midterms did seem to show that a few people are waking up and smelling the BS and Democrats need to double down. This includes convincing Sen. Sanders to abandon his "independence" and see it as a dangerous indulgence, join the Party and make the compromises necessary to get the movement back on track.
"The truth of the matter is that there is no neat ideological story to tell about the midterms, no obvious conclusion to be drawn about the future of the Democratic Party. Some progressives did well and others floundered; some moderates triumphed and others perished. Ideology, conceived of in terms of a basket of policies unified by an overarching view of government, did not seem to be a decisive factor one way or another."https://www.vox.com/midterm-elections/2018/11/9/18076068/midterms-2018-results-democrats-progressivism-left-trump
So much of the 2016 depended upon who was running and WHERE they were running (red,blue,purple) so difficult to draw conclusions. The rubber meets the road in Congress where a national platform will need to be agreed upon. It is my hope that the old guard will eschew corporate campaign contributions, including those from the healthcare industry, and adopt single payer as their top priority (followed closely by climate change).
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