Trump says he could be ‘last Republican president’

[u/ushaque]

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6144713-donald-trump-republican-party-midterm-struggles/amp/

[u/Ozymandias12]

True but these are very different times. The oligarchs and their white supremacist and evangelical underlings learned a lot in the 20th century. They created Fox News and the entire propaganda network to brainwash hundreds of millions.

Democrats are also historically unpopular. They’re seen as milquetoast and weak. I say this as a democratic voter myself. It will take an extremely charismatic leader or leaders to turn that image around. In the meantime, democrats will hopefully retake Congress this year but it wont be because they are popular. It’ll be because Trump is such a complete fuck up and corrupt authoritarian ghoul. Americans have the memory of a goldfish. I fully expect them to turn on democrats the second things haven’t magically gotten better within a few months of the new Congress.

[u/oncestrong13 → u/Ozymandias12]

The Democratic Party before the Great Depression and New Deal was racist and ineffective. New leadership and a new coalition changed all that. It can be done again.

[u/OfficeSalamander → u/Ozymandias12]

It has been such a delight to see El-Sayed running in Michigan (where I am from), because he is very much aggressive and doesn't come off as milquetoast at all.

[u/perenniallandscapist → u/Ozymandias12]

I hope you're pointing all this out as things to overcome and not something to be deterred by, as your tone suggests. The oligarchs may have learned something, but so have the rest of us so its still going to be another fight against oligarchs 2.0 as the last century. The more things change the more they stay the same. Good overcomes evil in waves and waves are coming.

[u/Ozymandias12 → u/perenniallandscapist]

Totally. I think it’s important to have a realistic understanding of where things stand if we’re going to move from here. I think the most important things Dems can do right now, which they seem to have done this cycle, is nominate good candidates in primaries. The next step will be making sure that Schumer and Jeffries aren’t in democratic leadership in the next Congress. They’re a huge reason democrats have ended up where they have in the last two elections. It’s time to nominate leaders that won’t cater to corporations and Dem consultants. Leadership needs to stand up for what’s right, regardless of the politics and be forceful in their pushback on Trump. Just the fact that Jeffries thought it would be a good idea to meet with Kushner ahead of the midterms is more than enough evidence that he simply can’t be Leader.

[u/alaphamale → u/perenniallandscapist]

Once I hear this talk from leadership in congress with a plan of action behind it I’ll believe it. So far many of us online have long lists of things that need to change, drastically, when Dems get in power, but only a handful of candidates are saying these things. I think a lot of us are going to be very disappointed because our expectations are far outpacing what’s even being considered by our leadership. Elect new leadership, exactly. The thing is the center and moderates still overwhelmingly support current leadership. It’s very rare there is a mention of Schumer or Jeffries without just as many comments defending as attacking.

We agree. My only point is when expectations outstrip what’s being offered as much as they are now the backlash can be devastating. People are expecting things nobody in DC is even mentioning.

[u/restore_democracy → u/Ozymandias12]

Tbf the oligarchs controlled the media then as well, it’s only the technology that’s different.

[u/SapientTrashFire → u/Ozymandias12]

The reason people turn on the democrats is the opposite of "memory of a goldfish," it's because they have a very clear memory of decades of the democrats not doing shit to help them after promising to help. Mamdani is the first dem politician we've seen since AOC stick to his guns and actually even try. The democrats have let this happen. They sit across the table with fascists pointing a gun at their heads and say "we can find a compromise." Their base does not want to compromise with fascists, and dems are elected on this language of not doing that. The first thing they do once they get into power is punch left, take the money, and apologize to people who want them dead.