This. It might happen, but it won’t in 2022 or 2024 with a Democratic POTUS in place. The earliest would be 2026. I also think it’s probable that should a Democrat win in 2024, that Trumpism will lose the wind in its sails and won’t be a thing by 2028.
Not just possible, but likely.
Never underestimate the capacity of a triumphant party in power to screw up massively.
As to “election fraud” and “voter suppression”, it’d be nice if demagogues would STFU and instead do something bipartisan to encourage maximal voter participation, while mandating receipt of ballots in time to avoid delays in vote counting which energize conspiracy theory nitwits.
They literally take animal medication and call us sheep.
Republicans in Michigan refused to consider letting the local clerks begin counting absentee ballots prior to the close of polls on Election day, pretty much insuring the exact same scenario you call on them to try to avoid.
I agree. I think we’ve lost.
Trump lost by 7 million votes but Biden won by like 44000 votes on a few states.
The senate and house are also biased towards rural areas. the Supreme Court is 6-3 and will be 7-2 because Breyer is too arrogant to care about the effects of his decision to die at work.
democrats control the big cities and a handful of coastal states. but the big cities in red states have their power neutered.
The best we can do is try to limit the damage the far right can cause. that’s our best bet. hopefully in a couple decades demographics will make white resentment about civil rights slightly less appealing.
why would they do that? the republican party is a, proto fascist party that wants to undermine democracy because democracy empowers non whites.
bipartisan voting rights are never going to happen any time soon. in 2006 renewal of the voting rights act passed overwhelmingly and bipartisan. but it’s a different world now. maybe it’ll change in a few decades but right now the gop is intentionally anti democracy and anti voter rights
This sort of thing frustrates me very deeply. At a time where these sorts of things should be rallying everyone to push harder, too many people seem to not only be succumbing to fatalism, but in effect encouraging it in others by trying to argue that their view is the correct one.
Why in the world would knowing that Republicans are trying to restrict voting and limit its power make you think we should just accept they’ve won? That should inspire people to want to come out and fight. The one thing that would upend all of this would be if Democrats would come out in higher numbers than usual in the midterms. And that’s entirely possible.
And what about the reason why the Republicans are doing this? They don’t think they can win a fair election. They know that their anti-science rhetoric has resulted in enough deaths among their own to swing elections. They’re rigging the system to maintain the status quo, not to make massive gains. And their tactics aren’t without severe risk, or they would have used them before.
What we should be doing is coming together and pushing the message “Republicans don’t want you to vote. Are you gonna let them get away with it?” We should be trying to run up the numbers, not telling the faithful that the battle (or even the war) is already lost.
We actually have an opportunity here to actually be able to win. Eek out a Senate seat or two, and at least keep the majority in the House, and we can make real change. We had record breaking turnout for Biden, and we don’t need anywhere near all of those voters to win in the midterms and then get ourselves in a better position.
Imagine if the Republicans operated this way. How many times did we look at the situation and think that they couldn’t possibly win, but they kept stubbornly deciding they could and did? What happens when you see a Republican who thinks that the PC liberal SJWs have taken over? Are they in despair, giving them the victory? Hell no. That just makes them more fired up to fight.
That’s where we should be. Not giving away the fight before the battle is even fought. Not give in to the psychological war that the Right has been pushing on us.
I get it if you feel burnt out. But then you need to rest, or post somewhere to get encouragement. Not this fatalistic attitude that we can’t win. We very much can. So let’s push up the morale. Get angry and ready to fight.
I actually think this fatalism may in fact be our greatest enemy.
And I’m not sure that it isn’t actually being pushed by Republicans. They were already pushing for the progressives not to vote because Democrats were insufficiently left, while no one on the far right would not vote Republican because they are insufficiently right.
This, very much this. This is a time when we need to be more motivated than ever to fight, especially when you see articles like this
Despite my uneasiness, I couldn’t help but find myself liking the women in the room. They were charismatic. They were energetic. They had no problem letting my low-functioning autistic son play with their children, which is unfortunately rare among a lot of the other mothers I’ve encountered. But this made me even more uneasy. I realized these women were dangerous precisely because they were so friendly. Their condemnation of history lessons about Ruby Bridges and Jim Crow laws and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was repulsive. They were trying to suppress the truth by labeling the unassailable facts of racism in the U.S. as “divisive.” “Equality,” “diversity” and “inclusion” were not virtues to be celebrated but “trigger words” with a poisonous intent. This nefariously clever bit of relabeling disgusted me. There was a very clear far-right agenda at work here.
Groups like the one I joined often appeal to mothers. The pandemic has hit moms especially hard. Lack of child care has resulted in a “she-cession” with thousands of women leaving the workforce to take care of their children. Lonely, frustrated, financially stressed people tend to be prime targets for radical groups. These right-wing women’s groups offer a sense of community and friendship to women who are isolated at home with their kids. It can be frighteningly easy for some people to start nodding along with all the rhetoric about the evils of critical race theory and COVID conspiracy theories if the women espousing them are also offering you coffee and friendship and child care ― and making you feel seen and heard.
I am currently still a member of this local right-wing women’s Facebook group. It has helped me to understand where these people are coming from ― and just how motivated they are. My membership could end up being rescinded, however, as I plan to attend a few upcoming school board meetings to defend the accurate and honest teaching of all parts of American history, especially in regard to racism and what it has meant and means to be Black in this country.
I can’t stop thinking about the gleam in that woman’s eye as she said, “We just can’t sit around and let them attack our kids. We have to do something.” Though some people think merely tweeting our outrage or frustration is productive (it’s not), those of us fighting against the far right need to be more aware of how energetic and organized they’re becoming and the lengths they’re willing to go to in order to get their way. Right-wing activists are attending school board meetings in hopes of transforming our children’s education, and, ultimately, their lives and the future of the United States. It’s time for us to be just as active to ensure this doesn’t happen. We must fight for our children’s safety and their right to learn our nation’s history ― even the ugly parts. Especially the ugly parts.
This shows how vehement the far right is in trying to ruin our society. We need to show even more balls than that to prevent this. We can’t let them destroy democracy. Bad things happen when the good do nothing.
Fiscal conservatives are an irrational dog whistle. It sounds logical until one opens the hood. Fiscal conservatives are all for unfunded tax cuts, corporate carveouts or handouts, medicare expansion or military spending so they can’t “afford” things like better public education or ensuring that American’s don’t go hungry.
I’m all for being fiscally responsible. DON’T confuse that with the propaganda espoused by “fiscal conservatives.”
Anti science, anti-education, anti-medicine, anti-logic…. Hell, they are just ANTI. Republicans don’t actually stand FOR anything anymore.
oh hey easy, there’s…
…violent animated political ads, trips to Cancun, 17 year olds…
I really no longer give a tinker’s damn where they’re coming from. That party is now a criminal enterprise, a domestic terrorist organization, and completely beholden to a wannabe dictator. To Hell with anyone who supports them.
Conservatives are all 1996 up in here!
Anti people, now you’ve gone too far
Here’s your Antichrist Superstar
I don’t understand why the question of who to vote for remains difficult.
You’re saying one side fights against democracy and science *and* is fiscally irresponsible. And the other is only fiscally irresponsible.
So even agreeing with this analysis, you should obviously vote for the latter.
I guess party loyalty is a bigger thing in the US.
Oh yeah. “Fiscal conservatism” is just “I’m socially conservative, but rather than judge certain behaviors out loud, I find it safer to say that they’re just too expensive.”
No. There are other things about the Democratic Party I’m not a fan of, but I really don’t have the energy or desire to get into those things.
But you just listed a bunch of incredibly serious – one would say disqualifying – issues with the current GOP.
I’m sorry to challenge you on your position, but I feel it’s a microcosm of what’s happening in the US overall. I can point to a whole host of things that Republican leaders have done that mean that, at the bare minimum, no-one should consider voting for them, and at more than bare minimum several of them should be indicted. Is any of that wrong?
Things look pretty bleak from my perspective. At 61, financially comfortable, and living in a solidly blue state, I’m not sure how much “fight” I have in me.
At times I wonder if the Dems are misguided in their “big tent” approach. Yes, I support pretty much all of the most liberal policies. And I don’t want the Dems to ignore such things as the environment. But I wonder if there were possibly an approach that might be more effectively aimed at defeating the Repubs. And maybe staking out a more centrist position. As opposed to - say - supporting gender identity issues - the sort of topic that many Dems may not consider voting issues, and that may really turn off even non-insane conservatives. (Environment and gender identity just selected as 2 of countless issues). But the more rabid the Right gets, the further Left the Dems move. Which further enrages the Right and turns off moderates. But, you try to meet the fuckers in the middle, and they accept that as the newly moved goalposts…
The Repubs seem to have little focus other than beating the Dems. And they seem to be pretty effective at accomplishing that. Whereas the Dems seem impressively ineffective.
The only way I would temper the OP’s fear is to observe that things change over the long run. But the next few cycles will likely be telling. Demographically, the left sure SHOULD be growing. To a large extent, the Repubs succeed only because of Dem apathy.
And I’m not sure why someone upthread described the Dems as “controlling” the Senate…
I’m often concerned for my children and nieces/nephews. I feel my generation has been ineffective in moving things enough in the right direction (tho there HAVE been significant gains). And the boomers ahead of me sure gave up their purported ideology. Most of the young people I know in their 30s are busy with their careers and families, and do not know what they ought to be doing on top of just leading good lives.
My guess is guns. Single issue voters will support Republicans pretty much no matter what, out of the unfounded and misguided fear that Democrats will come and take their guns away.
If a Democrat says anything about gun control, it is disqualifying. If they don’t say anything about gun control, that’s just proof that they are hiding their true agenda.
And that’s the problem: it’s become a contest between two parties. One “side” against the other “side.” And each person picks a side. What’s the score today? Is it 2nd or 3rd down? Oh, and if you’re not on my side, you are Wrong™ and need to be educated.
I once saw a data plot that was really fascinating. It showed the number of bills in the U.S. Congress that were cosponsored each year, from around 1950 to the present. Up until around 1980, lots of bills were cosponsored. The graph begins to diverge starting around 1980; as the years went on, less and less bills were cosponsored. I wish I could find this graph again, but my Google-fu is failing me.