Focus on the economy, which still matters to most voters.
Tone down the crazy. Show this by passing meaningful laws against hatred, discrimination and privacy violations.
Continue sensible policies like fully supporting the police and intelligence but with more meaningful oversight.
Re-Introduce “Conservatism with compassion” by getting rid of egregious border policies involving families, giving long term immigrants a chance at citizenship, projecting democratic values using international institutions when much at risk.
Decide policy areas so important they can work with Democrats to pass meaningful legislation.
He’s already burned Pence, Carson, Sessions, and Ivanka.
Newt Gingrich? Nikki Haley? MTG said she would be honored if picked as VP, but acknowledged she would probably would hurt his campaign in the general election.
It’s my understanding that the GOP indeed HAS made major gains with those groups. And it shouldn’t really surprise anyone.
Hispanic voters have been drifting to the right for a while. There are a few issues at play here. The more recent arrivals and first-generation Hispanic-Americans (and I am of course making generalizations, without which it is impossible to have any discussion of demographics and their political leanings) are by and large parochial people with an old-school, patriarchal view of the world, which doesn’t jibe with woke-ism. These are not people who have uttered the word Latinx, nor have they heard any of their peers speak it. Harping on reproductive rights isn’t gonna win points with them. Advocating for transgender issues is DEFINITELY not gonna win points with them. And they’re less turned off by anti-migrant rhetoric than you might think. The ability of people to compartmentalize the suffering of other people, even similar people to themselves, is vast. “Fuck them, I was here first” is unfortunately a universal human trait.
With black voters - I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there are some pretty substantial black online spaces that overlap considerably with QAnon and like minded crackpots. What we have seen with Kanye West and Kyrie Irving is the tip of the iceberg. And the “machismo/men’s rights” sphere that you refer to - black guys have that too.
It’s dead-ass true that Trump has firmly welded the Q/Racist/White nationalists to the Republican cause. But what you gotta understand is that a bunch of other people of different ethnic and racial background are busily welding themselves to that same cause.
This isn’t 1992 with stodgy old boring white men on one side and slightly less stodgy but still boring, old and white men on the other side. The collective online marketplace of ideas is WAY wackier than anything society has ever seen. It’s a crazy flea market/carnival/food-court, the FDA and OHSA are nowhere to be seen, and people are mixing and matching from a baffling buffet of bullshit. And it’s only going to get crazier, believe me.
They do what they’ve always done: push further to the right. They’ll double down on Trump-like behavior because it’s proven to be wild successful in national elections.
Their economic positions could and should promote responsible budgets, meaningful competition and sensible merit-based spending.
They have a responsibility to defend borders and encourage legal immigration. Discourage illegal immigration in ways that are humane and less hypocritical.
A small government is often better and a libertarian focus can be a good thing.
Reducing crime and increasing security are worthy goals. Do this for everyone in ways that work.
Patriotism is fine. Take pride in your country. Support the military. Pay enough to attract worthy candidates. Let it foster important diplomatic change. Take a leadership role in global affairs.
Return to positions with some appeal to moderates. Polls suggest, in some places, Democrats are perceived as more out of touch than Republicans. Deal with, but do not dote on, past injustices - be fair and move forward.
Support business, improve infrastructure, demand value for money. Recognize value in strong institutions, tradition, ethics and actual Conservative intellectual values of the past, without getting stuck there. There is some merit in these.
Pass meaningful laws against hatred, you say. What on earth does that mean?
I don’t think Republican ideology is consistent with the concept of a law against hatred, and I don’t think Democrats are pushing for one either. Freedom of thought and all.
Pedantry aside, Republicans have been consistently tough on crime since the mid-twentieth century. The closest thing to a law against hatred I can think of is harsher sentencing for crimes motivated by hatred of the victim’s perceived race, religion, etc (hate crimes). But those laws have been on the books for decades, for example Fla. stat. 775.085 and 775.0863 have had their substantial form since the early '90s.
Over the few years I have been politically aware, I have come to understand left-wing movements to strengthen “laws against hatred” or “hate crime laws” as any proposal that solves a particular problem. I haven’t had the occasion to really dig deep into this with someone of the liberal persuasion so I apologize if I’m straw manning. The particular problem is that many crimes are in fact motivated by hate, but aren’t investigated, reported, or prosecuted as such. Possibly the additional premise (flawed IMO) that racial animus makes it easier to convict. A law to fight hate crime appears to mean, in actuality, law enforcement (police) reform. Examples: mandatory police training programs, dedicated funding to hate crime divisions, hate crime hotlines, etc. Is that, specifically, what you mean when you say Republicans should pass meaningful laws against hatred? Not a change in criminal law, but police reform?
No, it means they should get in touch with reality and stop spewing inane nonsense. You know, I’ve said for years I would vote for a non-crazy Republican if one ever showed up. With that in mind…
A reality based assessment of the economy? I’ll listen to that. Although I vote Democratic pretty reliably, I have no particular affection or loyalty to them.
Republicans like to talk about freedom. Let’s see them pony up and actually DO something about it instead of just invoking it as a buzzword when it suits them.
“Defund the Police” was, unfortunately, not a good slogan. It fits on a bumper sticker, but didn’t describe good policy. Supporting the police, to me, means possibly getting them out of the business of things like traffic enforcement and various social problems which could be better de-escalated and dealt with by other kinds of professionals. It might also mean more, or different training. See? Doesn’t fit on a bumper sticker, so nobody will listen to me.
This isn’t even that much of a reach. See GW Bush - what he proposed wasn’t too far off from this.
I hereby promise not to call any Republican politician a hypocrite if they make good faith changes to their policy positions. This is actually on us, the general public, not them. We too often reward politicians for being “consistent”, when we should encourage them to change when there’s a good reason.
Good luck with that. The Republican response to the 2012 audit was to double down on stupid. But still, one hopes.
Bring 'em on. Show me some principled Republicans who aren’t crazy (Q, birther-ism, the big lie, etc), and don’t believe we should make laws based on their personal religion, and I will strongly consider voting for them.
My guess is the republicans are now praying that the Dems prosecute Trump and throw him in jail.
Then they can all piously say how awful that was and you had better elect DeSantis to stop these evil Dems who unfairly crucified their beloved leader.
In private though, they will be thrilled. Dems take the beating (politically) and feeds the republican narrative and they are also done with the orange menace. Win/win for republicans.
While I really want to see Trump prosecuted I also want to see him be the albatross around the republican neck. Not sure how to square that one.
Laws mean nothing if not enforced or enforceable. The average citizen should understand the law. Police often do a good job in difficult circumstances, but reforms are also needed.
It should, at least, be a factor considered in any crime - included where appropriate and affecting sentencing. Delineating boundaries between free speech and excessive provocation is hard, but let’s not pretend it is harder than it is. It can be done. You do know it when you see it and it crosses the line. It is unreasonable that huge percentages of people should feel bullied, and it means there is a problem and action is required. The fact it is commonplace does not make it normal nor acceptable. If excessive, it should not be acceptable at school, or work, or elsewhere. It should not be glorified.
Free speech is certainly important, but not at any cost, as other rights are also important and these need to be balanced. Study what other countries do. Assess and address root causes, of bullying and crime in general. Include tolerance in educational programs. Encourage travel and meeting people from different cultures. Be less tolerant of trolling and dirty tactics.
Training programs? They might work a little. I think more police should be highly educated and naturally outgoing and helpful. In New Zealand, they advertise for people willing to help disabled people cross a street, since these are whom they hope to attract. They need all types of people, of course, for a variety of jobs. Pick bright people, train them for longer periods than a few weeks, enforce higher standards. Pay them fairly. Realize it is a difficult job, but build trust through transparency.
I don’t disagree, but was and will continue to be careful when it comes to painting with too wide a brush. I am fully aware that there is a large segment of Hispanic and African-American males that absolutely fall into that category, and who thus envy and support Trump. I will also concede that I had ‘major’ doing too much work in my prior post - they can and will make inroads into all those groups, which admittedly, (D) have been taking too much for granted - making it an easier lift than it should have been.
Right now, the weirdest thing to me is that the (R) have been very, very successful in grabbing the attention of various classes of voters who are being hurt the most by (R) policies. IMHO, especially in light of the actions by the various groups we’ve been talking about, it’s the even more human tendency to ignore unfair treatment against a disenfranchised group as long as said group is given a target that they can then look down upon freely in turn.
Not healthy for the nation, but there you have it.
Dreams are nice but there are also nightmares. I wouldn’t count Trump out. Many of us did after January 6 and we were very wrong. He could win the nomination and DeSantis could be quite content to play nice given VP, knowing that he would be likely to be nominee in 2028, fully inheriting the MAGA base after, win or lose.
I share the dream of him hissy fitting the GOP into collapse though.
(This is a bit tangential to the thread. I apologize and will not further discuss it here.)
Authorities in Estonia, the Netherlands and Israel, I am told, are more skilled than many other countries at tackling cyber issues. If these affect enormous numbers of businesses every year, the technical skills to address these issues are required. Paying good people well, including any education necessary to stay current, would help. Maybe bright people could be identified earlier, part or all of their education paid for, and a proportionate “return of service” with an important authority required. In any case, skills need to be current and commensurate with actual needs.
At this point, I’m not sure how much farther right and deplorable they can go. Open use of racial slurs and detailed plans for mass incarceration and executions?
I don’t know. I think a lot of times Trump ends up believing his own nonsense. He may actually think he has a lot of personal popularity around the country that he could tap into, if he could escape the constraints imposed upon him by organized political parties.
But even if I’m wrong and you’re right and Trump realizes he can’t win as an independent, he may go ahead and run as one anyway. Because while he might not win, it would still be something he can make money at. Trump will never stop running for office because it’s now become a source of income for him.
How old-school are you planning to be. If you’re going to act on those issues, that’s about 50 years ago. If you’re just going to talk about them, then you’re in the 1980-2008 time frame.
Being a political candidate is a very well-paying gig if you’ve got a major donation machine running behind you and zero scruples about stealing anything and everything that anyone sends in.
If Trump leaves the GOP, runs as an Independent, and loses over and over again, the donation machine will eventually dry up, and he will be labeled a has-been loser. I don’t think his ego could stand for that, and people will stop donating to campaigns that never win. Besides, he has plenty of state secrets he can always sell to adversaries to make money, and he doesn’t have to risk losing another election.