14 Comments

Joe- I wasn't 'sure', not even optimistic. I poll-watched for a couple of months, then got the feeling that they were all garbage. I went to bed early and did not open a single news source or Tuesday...and I haven't opened one since.

The profound pain and realization that a majority of my neighbors made this choice is exceedingly hard for me to accept. My glass is always half full and I believe in the innate goodness of most people. To think that my neighbors (I live in Phoenix) would accept a mass deportation of our neighbors is very, very hard for me to reconcile.

The 'immigration' issue is a canard; crime is not rampant here, and there are hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants here. They are hard working, decent people, seeking a better life, like all of my grandparents did. Of course, there are exceptions but we've lived her for nearly 25 years and not once have we been accosted or victimized by any criminal activity, let alone crime committed by undocumented aliens. To the contrary...we have families who have worked for us. We know their children. They are the rule, not the exception.

I feel dispossessed. The country that I thought I lived in had differences of opinion. I didn't think that those differences ran this deep. We've both seen some hard fought elections over the years...and felt the pain of losing. But even those losses were not as consequential as this one. The President elect has told us clearly that he will remake this nation...and I am fearful that he will.

The pieces that you added miss one very important result: The remaking of courts. He and his allies have managed to mold the Supreme Court into a rubber stamp for his policies. I'm appalled at the blatant politicization of the Court and disregard for conflicts of interest that is now extant. Thankfully, the 3 liberal Justices are young enough to last 4 years. But the lower federal courts, the first line of check and balance are next up. The Federalist Society will be first on the scene to erode any line of defense at the District and Circuit Court levels. The Senate will confirm them en masse.

I'm not given to hyperbole nor do I get depressed easily. I am truly depressed, not so much for me, but for my kids and grandkids...and everyone else's.

Tom

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Thank you, Tom. You are right about the courts, of course. I will be one of the most enduring and damaging Trump legacies. I only had a few paragraphs to comment on the national security implications. I couldn't even begin to describe the catastrophe he will inflict on the American people domestically -- beginning, as you rightly point out, with wrenching mass deportations.

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Now that Trumps is back and more unfettered the half of the country that didnt vote for him needs to be ever vilgilent and oppose his attempts to undermine the Constitution and the rule of law. I believe one of the first issues that will need to be fought tooth and nail is his promise to sign an executive order to remove birthright citizenship of children born to undocume ted immigrants. This runs counter to the 14th amendment and subsequent court cases. This will certainly end up at the Supreme Court. How they rule will be a strong indication of whether or not norms will hold. Associated with this may be a move to convene a constitutional convention to amend the Constitution. That terrifies me as with the current direction of the country all sorts of threats to civil liberties may ensue.

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I am firmly with those who believe the Democratic Party and the progressive movement have emphasized identity politics over the needs of the working class.

Absolutely right. Ben Rhodes definitely nailed it.

We aren't going to reach the racists and misogynists who wouldn't have voted for her in any condition. But she lost a uniform 3 percent - even where she won - of voters who voted for Biden in 2020 and didn't vote in 2024. Those people are reachable.

But we won't do that if you don't punch the next over-educated, under-intelligent, otherwise-unemployable low-achieving white boy who claims to be a "Democratic Consultant" you run across in his face. Repeatedly. We have to get rid of the DC morons who are the ones whose policies and strategies are why the 3 percent didn't see democracy delivering for them.

Why am I being dunned by the DNC to contribute to pay off their $25 million "deficit" after the campaign raised billion dollars? $25 million sounds suspiciously like the "take" the DC consultants expect for all their effort.

And remember what Timothy snider says: “Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.”

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My fellow Dems, please replace all "Trump is a fascist" claims with this:

1) What specific behaviors of a president qualify as being fascist?

2) If a president engages in such behaviors, what do we intend to do about it?

If we decline to engage in such thoughtful thinking and writing, if we content ourselves with just chanting our tribal slogans on social media, what we're really saying is that either we don't believe that Trump is a fascist, or we don't care.

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Joe,

A few reasons we've now lost to Trump twice.

1) Tribalism - So much of the focus of Democratic Party culture is about pointing the finger of blame elsewhere and declaring ourselves superior. Thus, too little of our focus is on looking in the mirror with a critical eye, and making constructive changes that we actually have control over.

As example...

2) Nuclear Weapons - During a year long election season I'm unable to recall a single Democrat at any level of the Party calling out Democratic Party leaders for barely mentioning the single most important responsibility of the American presidency. WTF???

3) Abortion - Democrats at all levels of our Party seem simply incapable of speaking plainly and honestly about the single biggest source of abortions, sexual irresponsibility. Why did we lose Roe? Because we are content, proud even, to provide a large scale baby killing service to those too lazy to make effective use of contraception. We are full partners with the Republicans in creating a situation where those with truly unavoidable medical emergencies are now at risk.

4) Immigration - How many people do we want to be living in America? How are we supposed to craft a credible immigration policy if we have no idea what our goal is, and no interest in defining it? Has a single Democratic Party leader ever mentioned a target population for America even briefly?

5) Victim Tripping - To illustrate this part of Democratic Party culture with an example, let's observe our reaction to the election.

Note how we endlessly chant that Trump is a fascist, and oh woe is us, the sky is falling, and everything is going to hell, it's so scary, and we are victims, we are victims, we are victims, but...

PLEASE NOTE: We never seem to get around to defining what specific actions would qualify as fascist acts by a president, and more importantly, we never seem interested in discussing what exactly it is that we are going to do if a president commits those acts.

6) The Climate - We are continually told we are racing in to a historic climate crisis, a claim I agree with. But.. Which Democratic leader has DEMANDED that we average citizens make some SPECIFIC change to our resource hog lifestyles? Which Democratic Party politician has passed any law REQUIRING me to make any specific sacrifice?

7) Tobacco - The rich people who run the tobacco companies so they can get even richer are reportedly responsible for 1 in 5 deaths in America every year. Hundreds of thousands of Americans poisoned to death, every year, for decades. The Democratic Party sees victims every where it looks, and yet remains largely silent on this ruthless profit driven holocaust. Did any Democratic Party leaders mention this even once during a year long election season?

8) Ukraine - Why are the people of Ukraine suffering the ongoing assalt of the Russian psychopaths? Because Putin knows that even though the EU is MANY TIMES RICHER than Russia, it has for decades chronically declined to build a credible defense of it's own. The person most likely to solve this longstanding security problem is not a member of the Democratic Party.

Trump's election provides us with an opportunity to get real about our own party's problems and weaknesses, which cause us to be chronically in danger of losing major elections to cartoon characters. There's plenty for us to work on.

Enough already with the self congratulatory tribal dogma chanting!!!

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It was the economic impact of the pandemic plus the usual advantages the Republicans have.

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excellent exposition Darrin! We don't think like them, thank you.

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What to do about those of us who, when someone -- usually white and male -- says "we have to drop identity politics" hear that assertion as meaning "we" have to dump "us" in the garbage? Inconvenient, I know. But real. Just look what happened in Dearborn.

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We must be aware of discrimination and the very real prejudices that exist. We can take actions to address them. But we don't have to lead with them.

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We don't control the framing enough to pull that off. We don't get to decide what they amplify as our positions. So might was well be hung for standing up than to be derided and also come across as wishy-washy.

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Rothkopf is a prime example of the lack of empathy that defined the failed Harris campaign. Admitting he does not understand the grievances of over 50% of Americans, yet confidently believes Harris failed due to "racism and misogyny".

Just stick with the honest truth: you are SO far detached from the reality of average Americans.

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Enjoy the circus. It’s what you wanted.

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Bernie called it...no further navel-gazing required. Sure, Biden's BBB would have been more directly felt than the IRA, but voters don't care about Joe Manchin, Sinema, et al, it's that the Dems failed again to take the lower 80 percentile of voters' concerns seriously by not delivering, regardless of the politics.

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