In their despair at Donald Trump’s victory, liberal pundits are concluding that the masses, especially the working class, are irredeemably terrible. That’s apolitical nonsense.
  • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
    503·
    6 days ago

    I’m not giving up on America. But for now I’ve given up on Americans.

    The reason is that we agree on all of the concerns, working class families should be getting attention and support and they’re not. The rich are eating us alive. Mainstream politics isn’t helping.

    But it’s clearly substantially more the fault of the right, who are lying through their teeth to the working class while accelerating wealth disparities, anti-worker policies, and removing their upward-mobility as well as democratic, institutional and social protections they actually rely on.

    And if Americans are so uninterested in facing reality that they’d rather be lied to than put in a little effort to actually check the candidates’ policies, if they’ll vote against their interests and give in to blatant propaganda and manipulation, when everyone is telling them what well happen… Well, what can we say but, “Ok, face-eating leopards it is. Enjoy. Let us know when you’re tired of that.”

    • dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
      211·
      6 days ago

      I think the reason why Democratic politicians have so much trouble articulating their vision is that their voters will call them out on blatant lies, so their positions need to have some logical consistency, or else those politicians will not win their support.

      Republicans are not so encumbered. I think their base enjoys being lied to.

      • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
        11·
        6 days ago

        That’s part of it. The other part is that they can’t be honest about their vision because it (perpetrating the neoliberal status quo) isn’t actually what the working class wants.

        Or rather, they can be honest about it, but then they lose. Then, of course, they learn the wrong lesson, blame anybody but themselves, rinse and repeat.

        [Edit: LOL, I just realized I accidentally wrote “perpetrating” instead of “perpetuating.” Oh well, it fits so I’ll leave it.]

      • Omega@lemmy.world
        8·
        6 days ago

        The left is judged based on their absolute worst (and often just a strawman of the left) while the right is judged based on their best (or a vague sense of what the right represents to them).

    • astanix@lemmy.worldEnglish
      173·
      6 days ago

      In this analogy I don’t think the Democratic Party knows what a horse is.

    • FlowVoid@lemmy.worldEnglish
      113·
      6 days ago

      Pundits are losing their minds, but I don’t think the Democratic party leaders are giving up.

      My hunch is that they are playing the long game. They are counting on three things. First, Trump’s plans will crash the economy. Second, the Trump White House always turns on its own. Third, with a GOP trifecta there isn’t much Democrats can do to stop Trump - for now.

      So any demands they make now will be ignored, and even used in the future to blame Democrats as obstructionist. I think they are lying low and giving the GOP what they need to hang themselves. When the public is furious about the economy, it will be time to start making demands.

      Basically, it’s the political equivalent of the Willy Wonka gif

      • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
        8·
        6 days ago

        My hunch is that they’re in denial, still trying to treat the situation as “business as usual,” and will make for very surprised corpses when Trump’s thugs put them up against the wall.

      • ArgentRaven@lemmy.world
        3·
        6 days ago

        They kind of have to, I suspect. But it won’t work. They’ll see things go bad, put in their sound bite as “we need to do something about ___!” And the average American won’t see it, and instead be inundated with right wing “Democrats are screwing it all up!” And not think of the logic that the Democratic party can’t do anything. And they’ll vote Republican again.

        Democrats need to get better at media.

        • FlowVoid@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          6 days ago

          they’ll vote Republican again.

          That’s not how midterms usually work. More people will vote for Democrats in 2026 than 2024. The key is maximize just how many more.

    • dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
      23·
      6 days ago

      The Democratic Party resembles the horse, or at least part of it.

  • awake01@lemmy.world
    211·
    6 days ago

    I mean, yeah… I don’t blame them. America has spoken and they aren’t interested in education, science, ethics, honesty, integrity, and certainly not any intellectualism. That is all sucker nerd shit. Good luck getting ahead with any of that sucker. I like people who just take what they want. - America

  • Rentlar
    17·
    6 days ago

    Tbf I expected way better of Americans than to fall for Trump twice.

    The Democratic Party might as well give up if they are still going to try to keep rooting for same old, same old. Blame media both sidesing and sanewashing, blame unlimited money in politics, blame your average voter’s lack of critical thought. If the party leadership doesn’t want change, if media doesn’t want actual change, then it’s hard to expect anything good from them for the time being. Governor Kathy Hochul is a prime example, she keeps kneecapping good policies at the last second like proper right to repair and congestion pricing, thinking like playing political games is going to help anyone. It’s not, it only hurts us.

    All blue states and blue cities in purple and red states can do right now is show themselves as shining beacons of democracy and progress as the remainder of states get absolutely screwed by the feds. The Dem party as a whole needs to take a moment and rethink its strategy.

  • JigglySackles@lemmy.world
    202·
    6 days ago

    I mean I’ve basically given up on this country. It’s so irredeemable at this point I don’t see what my paltry involvment will matter. Bunch of people fucked around and now we all get to find out whether we wanted to or not. I can’t keep expending energy fighting stupid.

    • undercrust
      161·
      6 days ago

      Switch tactics to firearms training. At least it’s a useful skill regardless of the future.

  • WatDabney@fedia.io
    151·
    6 days ago

    Civilizations are born, then they live, then they die.

    The US is critically ill, and at this point, it looks terminal. It might not be, but the odds are that it is.

    And that, as they say, is that.

  • Omega@lemmy.world
    8·
    6 days ago

    I’m still processing.

    I’m definitely not giving up. I’ve thought about just being more blunt with people. But I’m naturally an empathetic person. So I’ll probably still listen to people and try to understand. Some people are just freaking ignorant though. And it’s frustrating to see people who disagree with everything Trump stands for still vote for him because they don’t like Democratic vibes.

  • ALQ@lemmy.world
    6·
    6 days ago

    The article is okay but I’m struggling with the author’s conflation of misanthropy and misandry. Both are mentioned, but only one applies. It could be that the author made a typo, but the tone of the article to me suggests otherwise.

    Fixed my own typo.

    • TempermentalAnomaly@lemmy.world
      2·
      6 days ago

      I think this is what they were talking about about when labeling liberals with “misandry”:

      “White men without college degrees are going to ruin this country.

  • LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    41·
    6 days ago

    Most Americans don’t understand what an election is they just think it’s funny content like pranks or something