If there’s a left-wing tea party, it will fracture the democratic party, and it might hand republicans control of American government for decades. If there’s ever a time for various factions of the democratic party to put aside differences it’s now, but unfortunately, I have the feeling that this won’t happen.
I know people on the left want to believe it was Hillary Clinton and the DNC’s fault that Trump got elected, and to some extent, I agree that it is. However, this doesn’t mean that voters wanted Bernie Sanders. This election wasn’t just an attack on the DNC mainstream; it was also a repudiation of and a backlash against Barack Obama.
I think Obama was a good and decent president. However, Trump happened in part because he represented things that Trump voters feared: a changing America, an America that didn’t always have easy answers to tough questions, and an America that is looking increasingly less ‘special’ and less powerful compared to other countries. Trump represents the antithesis of Obama.
Right now, Democrats need another FDR or another TR, not another RFK.
Unless we’re in a 2008-style recession, it would splinter the party and the center vote that both parties need would probably be repulsed. America’s a more conservative country than a liberal one, and it will be that way for the foreseeable future.
I don’t think you even need a Tea Party. Trump lost the popular vote, and if enough lazy-ass voters had gotten up off their butts, he would have lost the Electoral College too. I think after four years of this court jester, those lazy-ass voters will get off their butts and soundly thrump Trump, no minor movement involved. Next year’s congressional elections will be telling.
Voter suppression and intimidation will be a real factor in terms of the minority vote – the minority (non-white) vote might actually be lower. It’ll be up to the dirty white boys to vote Trump out and that will depend on whether he is regarded as a ‘successful’ president or not.
They need someone who can unite the white working class vote and the minority vote. They need someone to focus on the economy but they also need someone who can make Americans feel good about being American. Obama was actually a very sold domestic president, particularly with economics, and particularly given the straight jacket he had to work with after 2010 – seriously underrated in that regard. But one ‘knock’ against him — and I don’t like to knock Barry 'cause I liked him as a person and as the prez - but one knock against him was that he just didn’t have that ‘America kicks ass’ kinda feel to him. I know his main selling point was getting us out of war and not into more war, but his image was that of an international weakling. Might not be fair, but that’s the truth. We need a blue collar economics president and a nationalist in terms of foreign policy.
Sez who? These days, the foreseeable future is a matter of hours.
Sez who, too?
And just speaking for myself and a few others, I’ve had quite enough of the “America kicks ass” feeling. Didn’t before I know better, but that was a long time ago.
I recall an article a long time ago, about the 2008 campaign, when Obama was first running for president, and the question was posed to him in a town hall, IIRC, about how he would respond as POTUS to a major terrorist attack.
Obama’s response was to the effect of:
*“1. Make sure the emergency response is adequate,
2. Investigate thoroughly to find who is responsible;
3. Move, with the international community, to apprehend the perpetrators.”
*
Obama’s response was considered to be too “wussy” and long and UN-diplomatic-speak-ish by many American voters who wanted more of a “Bomb 'em and blow 'em up” response, and his support dipped in the days that followed. After that, Obama began to issue a tougher-sounding line on terrorism, needing to sound more muscular.
But with no actual evidence to back that up. Other than the fact that they’re Republicans. The best Dopers have managed is to say that they have no experience in the field, which is to us Britons laughable: all that matters is that they quickly master their briefs and do a good job.
Sorry, Quartz. But I think that Scott Pruitt’s record as AG of Oklahoma constitutes such evidence. And given that candidate Rick Perry wanted to abolish the Department of Energy would lead a reasonable person to believe that he is hostile toward it. You don’t get much more hostile than “Bang, right between the eyes”.
(OK, technically DOE was the one he forgot when he was enumerating the departments he’d eliminate as Pres, but he had that intention.)
I’m going to point here that RFK had a sizable “blue collar” constituency, folks that eventually voted for Wallace after Kennedy’s demise. Indeed, it was the “RFK coalition” of blacks, young people, and some white working class types that eventually elected Obama.
trump played to the latter folks last year because, for some bizarre reason, he could. Now the Dems have to win them back by developing policies and programs that address the issues of importance to them.