There are huge swaths of the country that the Democratic party has simply given up on. They “make wise choices with campaign contributions” by avoiding those areas altogether. In short, there is little to no counter-messaging reaching millions of Americans.
Algorithms have assured that the internet has not become the great leveler we expected on this front. We expected that everyone would have equal access to information, but no, it doesn’t work out that way.
Voters know when a party has given up on them. If you are paying no attention whatsoever to their needs and concerns, they are going to vote for the guy who says he will. Even if he’s proven time and again that he won’t keep those promises, he’s still the best option they’ve got.
Republicans are reaping the rewards of decades of work. They have given scholarships to “church leaders” who will spread their message. They have pushed religious fanatics into taking over local school boards. They have wiped out the requirement to tell the truth on TV. And they have scuttled the CFC, keeping it underfunded and understaffed.
As a result, they can say anything, spend anything (from anyone) and fully expect a following of undereducated faithful who will hang on their every word like it came from God. They never expected that Trump would come along and coopt their crowd. But McConnell found him useful as a rodeo clown, dancing and distracting while McConnell swept through some truly appalling legislation.
Now that they know how to use him, they will tolerate Trump until he blows an artery.
Note to the moderators: my apologies if you decide that my post (#57) is off topic. My last sentence was a direct answer to the OP’s question, so I thought the contents of my post were appropriate.
But I can see that, since my post was more about Dems than about Trump , you might want to block it.
Sorry.
Maybe move it to a new thread of its own?
The Democrats just brought lots of infrastructure and manufacturing to those places. Money and jobs is hardly ignoring them. You may remember the stories about R members of congress going home and touting the money “they brought” to their districts somehow by voting against every one of those bills? Biden called them out for that.
Conservative money has bought out all local news networks and AM radio across these areas. The reason they aren’t getting the message is that the Republicans have bought all the loud speakers in those areas so they can lie with impunity and tell them only the GOP cares about them. Funny how they never have to do anything tangible to help them though.
Could the Ds do better about outreach and communications to those areas? I’m sure they can, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that right wing money is the main reason for this. The trope that the Democrats have given up on these areas is just Republican BS.
I think this is very true, and perhaps represents a consequence of our very economically stratified society.
When you live in such a gilded age as we do, where wealth is concentrated and so many people struggle to get by, there rises up a very large populist movement. I think, right now, it’s splitting between the Bernie wing of the Democratic party and the trump wing of the Republican Party. And since the trump wing is full of the more reactionary, and less thoughtful, of the two populist groups, it’s far larger and capable of swaying elections.
I would add that it was unknown before, but the record does show now that embracing him is causing more harm than good for the Republicans in the “being electable” front.
And more importantly, many cannot even tell what Trump’s policies even are on these issues. Trump is a Tabula Rasa, and his supporters hear what they want to hear, and imagine that he represents their issues.
But then, Trump also knows how to go out to factories and make similar claims about how he brought jobs somewhere.
Trump is an authoritarian. Biden is pro-democracy. That huge to me, and I fault my next link for not pointing it out. But as explained here, neither party is giving up on the rust belt:
Trump went years essentially talking about himself without stating any policy positions. I have read this has recently changed and he has produced a series of videos. However, I do not seek them out nor want to watch them. I think it more likely Trump will lose the election than win. Amazingly, this would not be entirely due (IMHO) to the many, many reasons I think he is a poor choice, but rather due to other policies pursued by Republicans or the Supreme Court and the failure of most other candidates to criticize him or portray themselves as other than Trump Lite.
There’s been a lot of smart commentary on trump and related issues in this thread, but the core of what I was trying to understand, which maybe I didn’t relate very well in my OP, is: what exactly is the dark magic trump seems to have that allows him to keep clawing his way back into political relevance time and time again, despite being so awful and incompetent.
Several posters have made great points and come close, and there’s not one correct answer, but this seems like it’s really close to the bullseye.
trump is the ultimate cipher. He spews out little refrigerator magnet snippets of keywords and phrases that his followers can do with and interpret as they will. And his raging, unstoppable ego keeps the insane merry-go-round turning.
Okay, I know enough political history to be aware that the classical liberal ideology was based on ideas like freeing middle class businessmen from the restraints of crown monopolies and encouraging international free trade. But in a thread about the 2024 election, I think it’s better to use terms as they apply in current mainstream American politics.
I see the divide you’re describing between conservative ideology and right wing ideology. But I don’t think that divide is as important as you appear to be suggesting. The right wing is insignificant in American politics (as they demonstrated on January 6). They don’t drive any significant political agenda on their own.
Conservatives. on the other hand, do have a political agenda and they expect results. When they demand lowered taxes and government contracts, they don’t want to hear promises. They tell elected officials to deliver and be replaced.
Conservatives often find the right wingers to be a useful tool. They can be riled up and manipulated into voted in support of conservative issues. And to keep them happy, the conservatives will occasionally throw them a bone (like overturning Roe). But if the right wing ever tried to declare its independence, they’ll discover they can’t do anything without conservative help.
The conservatives on the other hand can work without the right wing. They can pivot to the center and appeal to moderates.
I feel what we’re seeing right now is the conservatives feeling that the right wingers have gotten too uppity and are thinking they run things. The conservatives are looking to put the right wingers back in their place, which is subordinate to the conservatives.
Historians, assuming continued existence of free nations, will be debating this for centuries.
This short book — free to download — explains a big part of it — how DJT gained control of the GOP:
I think another big part is the decline of local mainstream newspapers and their replacement by opinion journalism. This doesn’t guarantee a demagogue will arise, but makes it more possible.
Because conservatives actually believe all the toxic, macho bullshit they espouse, and when most of the world is telling you you’re a jerk, it can be very validating to have a high-profile “leader” who unapologetically models all your worst behavior.
It’s very simple, IMO. It’s because of the rigid two-party system in the US.
Most people, both Dems and GOPers, will vote in the general election for whoever their party nominates—even if they’re scum—because you have to if you don’t want the other party to get the White House.
You can’t vote for a third-party or you’ll be throwing away your vote.
If Trump gets chosen by all the Trumpets (who make sure they vote in the primary) then some GOPers and Independents who despise Trump will vote for him anyway. Because they don’t want the liberal, Commie Democratic candidate to win.
Trump is still viable the same way Joe Biden is: Politicians and social media have driven the left and right to hate each other, so both have elected pugilists who ‘fight’. Neither of them have any business being near the oval office, but so long as there aren’t other viable alternatives, each side will completely ignore the faults of their candidate, or decide that the faults are strengths.
As for why there aren’t viable alternatives: Because politics has gotten so abusive that serious people just aren’t willing to put themselves and their families through it. So for candidates we get lifetime politicians, people hungry for power or fame, or stooges fronting for powerful interests. Most of the excellent people who mght run in either party have left the building, along with a lot of voters. The biggest political faction in the U.S. now is ‘independent’, and by a big margin, because both parties are distasteful to the normies.
I know that Americans on the right now consider Biden extreme, but, as a moderate, I can’t see it. Neither his policies nor his rhetoric is extreme by the standards of his party, or even his nation. Except for his age, he’s a strong candidate.
So — the reason Biden is viable is because Trump is a weak candidate due to DJT’s extreme demeanor. If Nikki Haley or Tim Scott somehow get the nomination, Biden won’t be viable.
If DeSantis gets the nomination, I wouldn’t give up on Biden having a chance. Ron’s too hard right for Biden to have no chance against him.