Assuming we have elections in the future – The slogan for the midterms needs to be “Hit the Undo Button”. Broadcast it loud and proud and let’s try to get this under control. If that works, the 2028 candidate needs to run on being just as brazen as Trump, so he/she can claim a “mandate” to take extreme measures to unfuck all of this. Just as brazenly as Trump is fucking it. No more doing things the “right way”. There’s a lot to fix. Thoughts?
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Assuming we have elections in the future – The slogan for the midterms needs to be "Hit the Undo Button". Broadcast it loud and proud and let’s try to get this under control. If that works, the 2028 candidate needs to run on being just as brazen as Trump, so he/she can claim a "mandate" to take extreme measures to unfuck all of this. Just as brazenly as Trump is fucking it. Thoughts?
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Yes. The old rules are gone. I wish they weren’t but we have to make the choice between an aggressive government that protects the working clad and minorities and one that established fascism.
Unfortunately, it’s harder to grow crops than it is to burn the whole field.
Stopping payments to programs is easier than allocating money for a new program.
Useless but flashy PR stunts are easier than actually making meaningful improvements.
Harassing people is easier than preventing harassment.
So I don’t think "same thing but opposite direction" actually exists.
What Democrats need to do is run on a platform of pushing out Progressive policies like expanding ACA regardless of the potential consequences. Republicans run on tax cuts and heavily imply they’ll fix any problem as they come. Democrats should use the same mindset. And in parallel make serious efforts to remove the powers awarded to the Executive branch. Trump is highlighting something everyone knew but was too lazy to address; President having too much unilateral control.
Obviously, not in the same way Trump is fucking the country, but yes. We need to be aggressive. But as someone else mentioned, it will be hard to undo this. What we need to be doing now is formulating a plan for how reinstated departments are going to be. Not just carbon copies of what we had before. I don’t have much faith that Democrats are capable of that, but we have four years. And people will be pissed because of the Depression.
Those who come in after the midterms run offense to Trump, and messaging needs to target working class people. They need to hear "fuck the establishment, burn it down and build something new." Take their anger, steal Trump’s own platform. And then we make the government work for the people again. If they mess with the election, we take it for ourselves and have our own January 6th.
NO.
To fight authoritarianism and illiberal ideologies the only way is to fortify democratic principles, otherwise the whole system degrades further and further into chaos. It’s the paradox of tolerance that has made democrats ineffective, a paradox that destroys democracy around the world. Only informed and civically engaged citizens can stop this destruction spiral in its tracks.
The political capital of the next pendulum swing has to be used explicitly to fortify democracy, educate the population, get citizens engaged, reform institutions, remove money from politics, change the voting system to enable other parties to emerge, and only then start to undo the damage caused by the present administration. In retrospect that was Biden’s mistake, leaving the courts to do that job and expecting voters to recognize his handling of the country.
We have to make sure that Republicans, in all positions of power throughout the whole country including governors dog catchers and anyone with political aspirations, feel the shifting political winds. Elected republicans are also a social network, they talk to each other. They have to be afraid that their party will become unviable, taking their power with it. Attend local assemblies, meetings, town halls, request audiences, call, write, make it impossible for them to ignore us. Learn the facts, be prepared, but remember that asking questions is how you get them to contradict themselves to rationalize on the fly.
Inform, educate, organize, multiply, act. Create local groups and educate the community. Indivisible has the blueprint. r/50501 is a good sub to look at.
I think this is the exact right idea, but I’m not sure it goes far enough. Republicans understand that everything turns into a war in a liberal democracy and they are more than ready to declare an enemy, as they have been doing for the past handful of decades (anybody who doesn’t exhibit enough whiteness). Democrats need to realize it’s all or nothing at this point and they need to follow suit. It’s unclear who that looks like, to be fair, a braying MAGA dolt seems as likely a target as a pro-Palestinian college protestor, but that’s exactly what they need to make clear.
We should and I don’t really want to hear from people more interested in winning ideological battles than the battles we see in this country where people are being deported without cause. Where our economy is going to shit. Where we turn our backs on our allies. Trump has caused extreme damage to our country. We should take the exact type of action to repair it.
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I thought running on "not Trump" was a losing message. That’s what all the progressives have been saying.
"Ctrl-Z for Gen-Z"
Yes, and more.
No
Yes. I’m coming around to the MAGA thing as a practical approach. It’s extraordinary how effective he is just by his way of doing it..
And this can of worms wasn’t opened up by our side of the aisle.
All you need is the exact authority he is operating on.
It takes years to build a city, but it can all be burned down in just a few days. Building good oversight takes years of learning, hiring, and learning from mistakes. But all that institutional knowledge can be destroyed by one Executive Order from an unelected rich guy. Relationships between countries take decades to establish, yet it only takes Trump, JDV, et al 2 months to sour them.
IF democrats regain the presidency AND Congress (not a given), they absolutely should start rebuilding. And it’s kind of exciting to think of starting from near nothing, because lord knows these institutions absolutely needed to change. But with all this power in the executive branch, all the groundwork laid in 4-8 years could be undone in the first 2 months of one Republican president.
There are a couple long term solutions here, but you see the problem. You see why modern Republicans are so effective. “Burn it all, and blame brown people when life for everyday Americans gets worse” is ineffective at improving America, but it is very effective at getting votes from people who do not know how things work.
No, Dems are 100% supposed to do things the "right way". We need at least one party to be the serious reasonable party of good governance. If Dems won’t do that, they just deserve to lose.
There must be a reckoning for maga if/when we regain power, lest they return with greater force. Neolibs don’t have the gumption to do this, hence the imperative we elect bold leaders for democracy and justice
Yes. We should find everything that matters to Republicans and we should tear it down. That’s clearly how they want to play the game now.
We put up a whole bunch of guard rails. Really heavy reinforced ones. After we fix his mistakes.
I wish but democrats would never
Kinda have a reputation of losing "the right way" rather than ever actually fighting like things matter to them
They prefer performative gestures, moral victories, and quippy "i told you so" segments on CNN I guess