I am happy for the Biden win. Saddened about the senate results. I did make significant contributions today to Ossoff and Warnock, for their Jan 5th Georgia US senate runoffs, and I would encourage all to do so, and/or volunteer if you are able to. A contribution to Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight (https://fairfight.com) is also a good idea to. I did.
We need a strategy for the next 2 years. Simply putting the Trump years behind us, like Obama did with Bush, will not work. With control of the House and Presidency, subpoenas for Trump executive-branch documents and Trump administration flunkies will now work, and these hearings will make for great TV moments as well. In addition, there will be both criminal and civil lawsuits.
Imagine declassifying (almost all of) the Mueller Report and the associated depositions, and then having Trump come testify under oath. What great fun!
Divide and conquer the Republican party into Trumpists and traditionalist Republicans, and let them fight amongst themselves.
In Myth 4, John writes, "it’s populism based largely on white supremacy, not economics." Since I experienced Trumpism while undergoing cataract surgery with only sedation, hearing the surgeon discussing "Hunter Biden's corruption," I've given a lot of thought about Trump voters.
__Yes, I live in Alabama, a notorious "Red" state, but it shocked me to hear a physician discussing politics in such a tribal fashion while I had my left eye clamped open and couldn't really move away or even order my thoughts well enough to engage in the conflict. My "fight or flight" reaction levels were off the charts but I knew it was in my physical best interests to stay still, but even so, I did manage to tell the doctor and other people in the room that I didn't feel safe.
__Not feeling safe while undergoing surgery was a truly "eye-opening" event in my life. I've known, of course, that I was surrounded by the Cult of Trump, but in a really stereotypical way, I had believed that this sort of irrational tribalism was limited to White people without college degrees, usually categorized as "working class" by pollsters. I thought that any educated person would see through the lies and see the harm being done to our country. Being so wrong was profoundly damaging to my psyche.
__After ruminating about this experience, I believe that Trumpism includes people like my surgeon, who take John's 5th myth, "Socialism," and use their repugnance of it as a blanket to cover both greed and White nationalism, seeing themselves above the working class because they are part of the professional elite. If Black people manage to "elevate" themselves into this cadre, they are welcomed as proof that there is no racism among the ranks. They live in denial of their racism because they do not SEE anything in their carefully ordered lives that might demolish their façade of "post-racism" Alabama.
__They may work in cities surrounded by White peers while Black people answer their phones, serve their meals, and clean their offices. They go home to the suburbs where they live in $500,000 homes, play golf, and drive BMWs or Range Rovers. Their children go to private schools. They go to church and give to charity. There is nothing inherently wrong with any of this. But--
__their world barely intersects with those who live in trailers and scrape by paycheck to paycheck, White or Black. Socialism means socialized medicine to those in medical fields, and that is a threat to the very fabric of their lives. Any attempt to balance the scales of social justice is also perceived as a threat, so Trump's defense of law enforcement officers and his deployment of federal agents are seen as a defense of this way of life.
__Because this type of elitism is built on the attainment of wealth or at least the intention to attain wealth, which anyone of any color can be a party to, there is the rationale that these "blessings" are God-given as a reward for their efforts. The cloak of religion therefore precludes any hint of racism or other ill intent. They are God's chosen ones.
__They are asymptomatic White nationalists and racists who deny the darkness that resides within by shielding themselves with arguments provided by Fox News à la Hunter Biden.
__Because I'm White and upper-middle-class, I'm sure my former doctor felt I was part of his political persuasion and a participant in this façade. In the Deep South, racism has only morphed, not gone away. Economic well-being has become code for White nationalism.
Excellent article, John. It's worth noting that the Biden campaign team performed remarkably well. It took little for granted, drew up a playbook that worked, and followed through. If anything it was a clear demonstration (very much in the Obama mold) of what top-quality performance and sticking to a plan looks like. Kudos to the team. I doubt few others would have executed as well. (Of the Democratic candidates, my suspicion is Liz Warren and Pete Buttigieg would have run "playbook" campaigns of this sort. The other candidates not so much.)
Of course campaigning is not governance. What that "playbook" looks like will be anyone's guess, but the Biden transition team would be wise to develop one right away. (Even better if it was already developing one--now that's true playbook politics.)
There are still, however, critical weaknesses to the Democratic ground game. Stacy Abrams' efforts in Georgia really delivered. However, Democratic party efforts in Texas and especially Florida did not. In these arena Democrats are still not giving enough playbook effort to developing these two potential sunbelt swing states. Latino voter engagement is still badly underfunded and, until Beto Rourke had shown up two years ago, badly done. There is opportunity here to build the party rather than a cult. The Republicans, smartly, continued party building with Trump (or even despite Trump) during his administration. Democrats should not shirk this duty even with Biden in the White House. The 2022 and 2024 campaigns have already started.
I have a different take on the outcome. I was never very optimistic about the outcome of this election, so I'm not surprised at what we are seeing. People voted in a large Democratic House majority in 2018 to hold Trump accountable, and Pelosi inexplicably insisted that voters only cared about healthcare. Insanity. There was no blue wave in the Senate...what lessons did Schumer learn? Apparently none. I would also hope that the polling industry finally closes their doors and slinks away...they clearly failed to understand the dynamics of 3 elections in a row. 1) The fear of socialism was indeed a factor...it worked on an odd array of voters across racial lines. Democratic leadership failed repeatedly to understand (once again) the power of propaganda and to effectively counterbalance its effects. Excepting Pete Buttigieg who has performed brilliantly in his Fox News appearances, there has been almost no effort by Democratic leaders to create a star lineup to bring the arguments where people reside. Constant appearances on Fox News would have allowed punctures to the bubble of fear in which so many on the right exist. I'd venture to say that 90% of Trump supporters haven't a clue what socialism is, but they fully believe it's a danger to the country. Cuban Americans were single-issue voters against socialism--they do know what it represents, but they had no countervailing opposition explaining that neither Biden nor the Senate candidates were remotely a danger, while Trumpism is the actual embodiment of everything they fear. 2) Pelosi and Schumer failed spectacularly in failing to hold Trump to account and to highlight his unfathomable corruption or to slow the consolidation of autocracy. The majority of people across the political spectrum despise corruption, yet many are completely unaware of the depths of the GOP self-dealing. The electorate takes its cues from the top--Pelosi just shrugged and insisted that healthcare was the only concern, while Schumer lacks vision, strategy, and imagination. Both failed to 'show' not just 'tell' the country about the manifest corruption and danger posed by another 4 years of Trump and Trumpism in the form of the McConnell Senate. 3) Taxes--people don't want their taxes raised. No matter how often they are told that it will only affect 10% of the population, too many privately believe that one day they will reach the coveted 10%...it's a fantasy, and in the meantime, our entire social safety net is straining at the seams. I don't have any ideas about how a culture of greed can be changed. 4) Covid-19 - Trump's magical thinking (and the abject cowardice of the FDA/CDC/Birx and the GOP Senate) created an impenetrable shield resistant to facts and science. Will it take everyone in the US to have a death in their family to realize the danger of believing that you can reopen an economy without controlling a pandemic? Again, I don't know the answers. Other than failing to adequately communicate to the LatinX populations from Day 1, Biden ran an admirable campaign, while the leadership in the House and Senate failed at every turn (absent Adam Schiff who was brilliant in the much too short and overly restricted impeachment hearings). What will it take for Pelosi and Schumer to finally step aside and allow those who can actually lead take the reins?
I am happy for the Biden win. Saddened about the senate results. I did make significant contributions today to Ossoff and Warnock, for their Jan 5th Georgia US senate runoffs, and I would encourage all to do so, and/or volunteer if you are able to. A contribution to Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight (https://fairfight.com) is also a good idea to. I did.
But I am most depressed about the 70 million Americans that voted for Trump. Apparently being responsible for between 130,000 and 210,000 American deaths (per the Columbia University analysis https://ncdp.columbia.edu/custom-content/uploads/2020/10/Avoidable-COVID-19-Deaths-US-NCDP.pdf), separating kids from parents, etc doesn’t phase these voters.
We need a strategy for the next 2 years. Simply putting the Trump years behind us, like Obama did with Bush, will not work. With control of the House and Presidency, subpoenas for Trump executive-branch documents and Trump administration flunkies will now work, and these hearings will make for great TV moments as well. In addition, there will be both criminal and civil lawsuits.
Imagine declassifying (almost all of) the Mueller Report and the associated depositions, and then having Trump come testify under oath. What great fun!
Divide and conquer the Republican party into Trumpists and traditionalist Republicans, and let them fight amongst themselves.
In Myth 4, John writes, "it’s populism based largely on white supremacy, not economics." Since I experienced Trumpism while undergoing cataract surgery with only sedation, hearing the surgeon discussing "Hunter Biden's corruption," I've given a lot of thought about Trump voters.
__Yes, I live in Alabama, a notorious "Red" state, but it shocked me to hear a physician discussing politics in such a tribal fashion while I had my left eye clamped open and couldn't really move away or even order my thoughts well enough to engage in the conflict. My "fight or flight" reaction levels were off the charts but I knew it was in my physical best interests to stay still, but even so, I did manage to tell the doctor and other people in the room that I didn't feel safe.
__Not feeling safe while undergoing surgery was a truly "eye-opening" event in my life. I've known, of course, that I was surrounded by the Cult of Trump, but in a really stereotypical way, I had believed that this sort of irrational tribalism was limited to White people without college degrees, usually categorized as "working class" by pollsters. I thought that any educated person would see through the lies and see the harm being done to our country. Being so wrong was profoundly damaging to my psyche.
__After ruminating about this experience, I believe that Trumpism includes people like my surgeon, who take John's 5th myth, "Socialism," and use their repugnance of it as a blanket to cover both greed and White nationalism, seeing themselves above the working class because they are part of the professional elite. If Black people manage to "elevate" themselves into this cadre, they are welcomed as proof that there is no racism among the ranks. They live in denial of their racism because they do not SEE anything in their carefully ordered lives that might demolish their façade of "post-racism" Alabama.
__They may work in cities surrounded by White peers while Black people answer their phones, serve their meals, and clean their offices. They go home to the suburbs where they live in $500,000 homes, play golf, and drive BMWs or Range Rovers. Their children go to private schools. They go to church and give to charity. There is nothing inherently wrong with any of this. But--
__their world barely intersects with those who live in trailers and scrape by paycheck to paycheck, White or Black. Socialism means socialized medicine to those in medical fields, and that is a threat to the very fabric of their lives. Any attempt to balance the scales of social justice is also perceived as a threat, so Trump's defense of law enforcement officers and his deployment of federal agents are seen as a defense of this way of life.
__Because this type of elitism is built on the attainment of wealth or at least the intention to attain wealth, which anyone of any color can be a party to, there is the rationale that these "blessings" are God-given as a reward for their efforts. The cloak of religion therefore precludes any hint of racism or other ill intent. They are God's chosen ones.
__They are asymptomatic White nationalists and racists who deny the darkness that resides within by shielding themselves with arguments provided by Fox News à la Hunter Biden.
__Because I'm White and upper-middle-class, I'm sure my former doctor felt I was part of his political persuasion and a participant in this façade. In the Deep South, racism has only morphed, not gone away. Economic well-being has become code for White nationalism.
Excellent article, John. It's worth noting that the Biden campaign team performed remarkably well. It took little for granted, drew up a playbook that worked, and followed through. If anything it was a clear demonstration (very much in the Obama mold) of what top-quality performance and sticking to a plan looks like. Kudos to the team. I doubt few others would have executed as well. (Of the Democratic candidates, my suspicion is Liz Warren and Pete Buttigieg would have run "playbook" campaigns of this sort. The other candidates not so much.)
Of course campaigning is not governance. What that "playbook" looks like will be anyone's guess, but the Biden transition team would be wise to develop one right away. (Even better if it was already developing one--now that's true playbook politics.)
There are still, however, critical weaknesses to the Democratic ground game. Stacy Abrams' efforts in Georgia really delivered. However, Democratic party efforts in Texas and especially Florida did not. In these arena Democrats are still not giving enough playbook effort to developing these two potential sunbelt swing states. Latino voter engagement is still badly underfunded and, until Beto Rourke had shown up two years ago, badly done. There is opportunity here to build the party rather than a cult. The Republicans, smartly, continued party building with Trump (or even despite Trump) during his administration. Democrats should not shirk this duty even with Biden in the White House. The 2022 and 2024 campaigns have already started.
I have a different take on the outcome. I was never very optimistic about the outcome of this election, so I'm not surprised at what we are seeing. People voted in a large Democratic House majority in 2018 to hold Trump accountable, and Pelosi inexplicably insisted that voters only cared about healthcare. Insanity. There was no blue wave in the Senate...what lessons did Schumer learn? Apparently none. I would also hope that the polling industry finally closes their doors and slinks away...they clearly failed to understand the dynamics of 3 elections in a row. 1) The fear of socialism was indeed a factor...it worked on an odd array of voters across racial lines. Democratic leadership failed repeatedly to understand (once again) the power of propaganda and to effectively counterbalance its effects. Excepting Pete Buttigieg who has performed brilliantly in his Fox News appearances, there has been almost no effort by Democratic leaders to create a star lineup to bring the arguments where people reside. Constant appearances on Fox News would have allowed punctures to the bubble of fear in which so many on the right exist. I'd venture to say that 90% of Trump supporters haven't a clue what socialism is, but they fully believe it's a danger to the country. Cuban Americans were single-issue voters against socialism--they do know what it represents, but they had no countervailing opposition explaining that neither Biden nor the Senate candidates were remotely a danger, while Trumpism is the actual embodiment of everything they fear. 2) Pelosi and Schumer failed spectacularly in failing to hold Trump to account and to highlight his unfathomable corruption or to slow the consolidation of autocracy. The majority of people across the political spectrum despise corruption, yet many are completely unaware of the depths of the GOP self-dealing. The electorate takes its cues from the top--Pelosi just shrugged and insisted that healthcare was the only concern, while Schumer lacks vision, strategy, and imagination. Both failed to 'show' not just 'tell' the country about the manifest corruption and danger posed by another 4 years of Trump and Trumpism in the form of the McConnell Senate. 3) Taxes--people don't want their taxes raised. No matter how often they are told that it will only affect 10% of the population, too many privately believe that one day they will reach the coveted 10%...it's a fantasy, and in the meantime, our entire social safety net is straining at the seams. I don't have any ideas about how a culture of greed can be changed. 4) Covid-19 - Trump's magical thinking (and the abject cowardice of the FDA/CDC/Birx and the GOP Senate) created an impenetrable shield resistant to facts and science. Will it take everyone in the US to have a death in their family to realize the danger of believing that you can reopen an economy without controlling a pandemic? Again, I don't know the answers. Other than failing to adequately communicate to the LatinX populations from Day 1, Biden ran an admirable campaign, while the leadership in the House and Senate failed at every turn (absent Adam Schiff who was brilliant in the much too short and overly restricted impeachment hearings). What will it take for Pelosi and Schumer to finally step aside and allow those who can actually lead take the reins?
I'm still hoping Mr. Biden will soon be President-Elect Biden.