How to Survive the Next Four Years
Jessica Tarlov, a panelist on Fox’s The Five and my Raging Moderates co-host, has emerged as an important voice in American politics. This week I asked her what big lessons we should take from the election, and — more important — what options Democrats have going forward. I’ll be back next week.
In November, the sane middle, Democrats and Republicans, went to an appointment with the electorate and got a harsh diagnosis. We don’t want to accept it or talk about it. But … we can’t stop thinking about it.
We’re asking ourselves: How do we survive the next four years? And is there any way to make them less bad than we have every reason to expect they will be? We’re obsessing about some very unpleasant facts. Among them: The GOP won one-third of minority voters and registered a six-point gain among voters without a college degree. Kamala Harris got 7 million fewer votes than Biden did in 2020. Dismal.
The time for grieving, though, is coming to an end. The key to moving forward, I believe, is to combine good governance energy with pragmatism. (And maybe a side order of ruthlessness. As the Bulwark’s Tim Miller recently told me and Scott, “Less agreeableness would be helpful to Democrats in Washington.”)
That means … deep breath … working with Trump and the GOP on issues where we can find common ground — while holding the line on our principles.
The Gentle Art of Political Death Cleaning
In the spirit of “new year, new you,” I propose a Marie-Kondo-style mental housecleaning for Democrats. As MK reminds us, the first step on the road to tidiness is throwing stuff away: “To truly cherish the things that are important to you, you must first discard those that have outlived their purpose.”
The main thing to get rid of is wasting resources, energy, and credibility reflexively opposing Trump on everything and reacting to every trollish thing he says. “Resistance” may have been useful last time, but it won’t work now. We’ll just hurt ourselves, politically and mentally. We should also stop trying to remind voters what a sleaze Trump is. They know, and they don’t care.
Americans, by and large, didn’t elect people in November because of their party affiliation; they voted for people they believed were authentic and who would really fight for them. If you’re splitting your ticket for AOC and Trump, it’s clearly not about blue vs. red.
Democrats must face certain progressive failures, especially in our big cities, and change course. If we want any shot at reclaiming the House in two years, we have to start proving now that we are the real fighters for the middle class, the commonsense party that’s serious about governing and providing better outcomes.
Fortunately, on the biggest domestic issues — immigration, the economy, health care, and reproductive rights — Americans are broadly in agreement. That gives us an opportunity if we’re smart enough to take it.
I’m not proposing surrender. I’m proposing principled resilience. I’m also just being practical. I can’t afford enough Botox to rage the way I really want to for the next four years.
Immigration: Give Them the Criminals
For years, Democrats have been minimizing the immigration crisis in Eagle Pass, Texas, and other places on the southern border. Republican governors grabbed the chance to stick it in our faces by shipping people up north. Along with many many liberals, I dismissed this as a cruel stunt. Which it was. But it was also genius politics.
Here’s the reality we face: There is now majority support for building a wall along the border with Mexico. Incoming border czar Tom Homan is saying we should get ready for roundups, and Texas is offering land for “deportation facilities.” Trump is talking about revoking birthright citizenship. At the same time, a majority of Americans still believe there should be a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented and protections for Dreamers.
What nobody wants, however, is more criminals in the U.S. Instead of terrorizing undocumented immigrants en masse — an approach certain to cost huge amounts of money and create social disruption and backlash — we should concentrate on kicking out crooks who are here illegally.
The sanctuary city, which was originally supported by tough-talking Republicans including Rudy Giuliani, was conceived to encourage undocumented immigrants to participate in American society, in part so they’d feel safe working with police to catch the bad guys among them. That was a good idea and local authorities should continue to work with ICE on those kinds of cases — but not participate in mass deportations.
Congressional Democrats seem to have gotten the memo. Earlier this week, Senators Ruben Gallego and John Fetterman said they would sign on to the Laken Riley Act, named for the Georgia nursing student murdered by an undocumented immigrant last February. The legislation, which passed in the House, requires federal authorities to detain any undocumented immigrant found guilty of a theft-related crime. It’s far from perfect, but it is good policy and politics.
Economy: It’s About the Middle Class, Stupid
It is impossible for the incumbent party to win when two-thirds of voters believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. Inflation and the lack of affordable housing drove millions of Democrats to vote GOP, and kept even more of them on the couch.
Democratic messaging on the economy was, not to put too fine a point on it, really shitty. We kept telling people that all the economic indicators were pointing the right way. Those numbers, though, meant nothing to people struggling to feed their families. What we must do now is save them from the economic disaster headed their way if Trump’s fiscal plan is implemented.
First, tariffs. The vast majority of economists (and anyone else who knows how trade works) recognize that Trump’s tariffs — anywhere from 10% to 60% on goods from China and 25% on goods from Canada and Mexico – mean things are going to get more expensive for already stretched American consumers and businesses. Higher prices for produce, higher prices for building supplies, higher prices for cars, etc., etc.
But while sweeping tariffs are a terrible idea, some targeted ones make sense. President Biden, for instance, quietly kept the vast majority of Trump’s tariffs on China and even expanded some. That tells me there is fertile ground here for a middle position: opposing big dumb tariffs on our friends while supporting those that actually protect American workers from our rivals’ unfair trade practices.
Second, taxes. Trump wants to make his first-term tax cuts permanent through a massive reconciliation bill to be passed in the first half of 2025. How will those tax cuts be financed? By cutting programs that help the average American, of course. At the same time, Trump’s plan to lock in tax cuts for rich people will add $4.6 trillion to the deficit. The deficit is an abstraction nobody talks about except during an election year. We need to do a better job telling voters that big deficits contribute to higher costs now and only swell the huge collective debt our kids will be on the hook for later. The deficit is an enormous tax hike on our children.
How should Democrats respond to Trump on taxes? In a targeted way. Catchy Trump policies along the lines of “no tax on tips,” which opens the door to tax abuse by the wealthy, should be nonstarters. And his proposal to cut the 21% corporate tax rate to 15% is lunacy which we should fight. But we should consider permitting deductions for auto loan interest and other moves that would support the middle class. Everybody thinks they are overtaxed; some of us actually are.
On regulation, we need to show we know the difference between cutting red tape and tossing out necessary protections for citizens and the environment. The Supreme Court’s recent Chevron decision limits the power of regulators.This should force us to take a closer look at the regulatory state and pare it back where that makes sense. At the same time, we have to hold the line where it doesn’t: For instance, Trump’s plan to let companies willing to invest a billion dollars in the U.S. breeze through environmental permitting. (Forget about any meaningful cuts coming from DOGE, BTW; it has no practical power, and Musk is already admitting he’ll fall short of his stated goals.)
Trump’s stated goal is to cut 10 regulations for every new one — let’s come up with our own cut first. Burdensome regulations on small businesses and housing development should be our focus. Check out what’s being done about housing in Austin, or NYC Mayor Adams’s City of Yes proposal as examples of empowering economic policy.
Republicans have the slimmest House majority since 1917, and GOP budget hawks on the far right such as Thomas Massie and Chip Roy are raising hell about spending. That creates a middle way where moderate Democrats and Republicans can make sensible budget, tax, and regulatory cuts while still protecting key entitlements.
Health Care and Reproductive Rights: Create a National Baseline
Some places offer more room to compromise than others. This election cycle put the threats to our health care and reproductive rights into scary focus. We made a big deal out of these issues during the campaign, and we need to make a bigger deal out of them now: Over 60% of Americans approve of the Affordable Care Act (a historic high), and 70% of Americans support abortion rights in the first trimester.
JD Vance’s vague “deregulating ACA” idea of putting sicker people into higher-risk pools is terrible. The anti-vax, anti-science movement embodied by RFK Jr. is frightening and could go far beyond slashing access to Covid vaccines. Dr. Mehmet Oz’s support for Medicare Advantage for All would imperil Medicare as we know it. The movement in many red states to chip away at reproductive rights or cancel all access to abortion outright is intolerable. We need to fight these people and things as hard as we can.
Fortunately, while Trump talks a big game about getting rid of Obamacare, all he really wants and can expect to do is make some trims around the edges. The proof of that is that despite years of sabre rattling, all he has now, he says, are “concepts of a plan” to replace the ACA. Whatever else he is, he’s not stupid. Trump knows better than to try to cancel a profoundly popular program. With this in mind, Democrats should take the lead on improving Obamacare by offering proposals focused on lowering the cost of premiums, fixing the “family glitch,” and reducing cost sharing for new enrollees.
On reproductive freedom, though, we need to hold the line. While some states (Arizona, Nevada) voted both for Trump and for abortion rights, in others (Louisiana, Texas), reproductive rights are under sustained attack.
Here I think we should call Republicans’ bluff. Democrats should propose legislation that sets a federal floor for legal abortion, modeled on the European standard, permitting abortions during the first 15 weeks of gestation nationwide. This approach would codify the national consensus into federal law, ensuring no state can restrict abortion access before 15 weeks. At the same time, liberal-leaning states would remain free to allow abortion access beyond that point if they want.
Putting such a measure to a vote would force moderate Republicans to make a public choice: Will they stand with the majority of Americans, who support abortion in the first trimester, or with anti-reproductive-rights extremists?
One Day at a Time
I haven’t talked here about climate or foreign policy or other issues, not because they’re not important, but because we need to focus specifically on the issues voters just told us were most important to them. Also, Scott asked me to keep this to around 2,000 words.
Those weighty matters are conversations for another day. (For the record, I’m for expanding the Abraham Accords and against invading Greenland and Panama; Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum doesn’t need any help renaming large bodies of water).
I have no illusions that any of this is going to be easy. I also know I’m saying something a lot of Democrats don’t want to hear. (Along those lines, check out the comments sections for recent New York Times op-ed pieces by James Carville and Long Island Democrat Tom Suozzi. Some parts of the Upper West Side are determined not to learn anything from the election.)
If you are searching for signs of hope, look at the electoral success of Democrats who subscribe to the kind of principled pragmatism I’m suggesting: Governors Josh Shapiro, Gretchen Whitmer, and Jared Polis are the top examples. Senator Fetterman gets it. Representatives Jared Golden and Kristen McDonald Rivet get it, too.
Raging against Trump is a powerful (and fun) drug. Many of us have indulged, and we’ll be tempted many times again (insert Serenity Prayer here). I don’t rule out freakouts, but let’s try to save them for special occasions. Getting through the next four years, minimizing the damage while taking the wins we can get, is going to take calm and discipline.
Our best hope of winning back disaffected Democratic and independent voters is to recognize the difference between being right and being effective. We’ve spent most of our efforts on the former; let’s move to the latter. It’s time to forget about the donkey and the elephant for a while.
—Jessica
P.S. On the latest episode of Raging Moderates, Jessica and I considered the long shadow cast by Jan. 6. Listen on Apple or Spotify
P.P.S. Section is hosting an event next Friday: Rethinking Marketing with AI. If you represent your brand in any way, you should be there. It’s free to RSVP.
I recall hearing some time ago an interview with someone elected as part of a Democrat administration. She said something that resonates with this post. She said that when she was elected and appointed to a post of some power, Newt Gingrich came to her office to congratulate her and said something very close to “We are going to make great legislation together.”
In that vein, I think there is potential to work with – gasp – RFK on some of his proposals. In particular I’m thinking of his idea to appoint Joel Salatin to an Agriculture post. From what little I recall of Salatin’s politics they’re generally horrible. But. He runs a highly successful regenerative agriculture farm. Not only do his farming practices need very little in the way of chemical intervention for the animals (as I understand it he uses no chemicals on the soil etc), but the soil improves every year and this provides a carbon sink. All while making more money than his conventional farming practices did. People drive some distance to buy beef, chicken, and eggs from him.
RFK’s constituency is very interested in health. Most of us think they take it a bit far with the anti-vax stuff, but the basic premise is that there are enough people out there to give him a platform who care about their health and the health of nature. Those are good things, and it seems to me there is opportunity to find common ground on those matters.
“That means … deep breath … working with Trump and the GOP on issues where we can find common ground — while holding the line on our principles.”
Well one principle that they revel in together is genocide. Can’t get enough of that. And total destruction of a Euro country because, Putin, bad.
I totally agree that Democrats need to focus on delivering real results instead of just opposing Trump at every turn. The idea of “principled resilience” really nails the balance between sticking to core values and finding practical solutions.
You’re spot on about addressing middle-class struggles—telling people the economy is “doing great” while they’re struggling with inflation was a huge messaging failure. I also like your take on tariffs and immigration—both are smart, balanced approaches that appeal to voters without creating more division.
The idea of a federal baseline for abortion access is bold and exactly the kind of move that puts Republicans on the defensive. And shifting from being “right” to being “effective”? That’s the wake-up call Democrats need. Leaders like Whitmer and Polis show it’s possible to focus on results and still stay true to your values.
Thanks for laying out such a practical and thoughtful roadmap—this is exactly what Democrats need right now.
I expect EVERY elected official to go to work EVERY day with the goal of combining “…good governance energy with pragmatism.” There are zero exceptions to this. It should be the #1 responsibility, and qualification, for every elected official from Dog Catcher to POTUS.
We, as a society, have allowed politics to devolve into winners and losers. I am not worldly enough to be able to point to a smoking gun or inciting incident(s) but we are there. The stakes are now so high that the political machines spare no expense hiring the best and brightest to compete against the other party so they can win (and the other party loses).
This has led to a good chunk of our best and brightest focusing on beating the other guy versus engineering a better bridge, further mapping the human genome and/or addressing other societal ills and opportunities. I am not worldly enough to know how to change this but perhaps the best and brightest, like Jessica and Scott, can spend some time on that.
The party that addresses the housing shortage will make the most significant gains in the next 4 years. Most of our elected officials are too old to understand the pain of first-time home buyers or young families needing more bedrooms. It’s an impossible equation for the ever-shrinking middle class. Congress and every wealthy politician paid off their mortgages decades ago, so they do not understand how dire things have become. There is no American dream without home ownership. We are in a housing crisis. Start acting like it! We need a revolutionary plan to add at least 4.5 Million more homes, and some estimates say we may need 7 million more.
Jessica, your call for ‘principled pragmatism’ strikes a powerful chord. The key pain point here is the balance between ideological purity and actionable governance, something the electorate is increasingly demanding😳. By shifting from resistance to resilience, and from outrage to outcomes, Democrats can reclaim authenticity and middle-class trust. Focus less on being right, more on delivering real solutions. That’s how we survive, and hoped lead, the next four years.”
Kamala just needed $2 billion and she could have won 🤣
Sad: Candidate Who Bankrupted Campaign Will Never Have Opportunity To Fix Nation’s Economy
I love in Baltimore and drive through DC a lot, always thinking, what a grift.
This sounds to me like how the Germans might have hoped to “live with” Hitler…until they realized they were being played. It’s scary to realize that you still don’t get it. There is no working with Trump and his sycophants, although they may play us for suckers and make us feel like there is until we realize we’ve lost our democracy. Go ahead and pay for more Botox if you need to; it’s better than the price of denial.
The Democrats are the party of Weak Men and Miserable Women.
Is there ANYTHING in the Lib platform you disagree with? I think not.
…and you call Trump supporters lemmings!
Saying that two thirds of the citizenry thinks the country is going in the wrong direction seems useless. I think that MAGA and the Trumpcult followers are the wrong direction. They think the liberals are pushing in the wrong direction. Why not try to find out what the right direction 1/3 believes and build on that?
Bahahaha! I’d wager you were one of those saying “our democracy is in danger if Trump is elected” yet you now proclaim the 1/3 should have their way over the majority. You had your turn. Let’s reconvene in 3.5yrs and see if the world is better off.
Republican voters have started winning elections by ignoring the pundits like say Bill Kristol or Ross Douthat, politicians like Job Bush and Dick Chany and mainstream media like Fox News. Fox changed colors quickly and got on board. The others became irrelevant. Democratic voters will again start to win by doing the same. NYT, WaPo, CNN and MSNBC push an agenda that America hates, politicians like Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden have produced nothing for Democrats and are hated by most Americans. Democrats will start winning elections when they start voting for leaders that are opposed by main stream democratic power brokers. That means leaders like AOC and Sanders and even Gavin Newsom. Getting away from the mainstream in both parties is the path to victory moving forward.
Gavin “French Laundry” Newsom is as mainstream DNC as they come. What are you smoking?
The bad policies of Joe Biden and AOC will not survive. Cancelling student debt of students fully capable of repaying their loans. BBB was bad legislation.
Border policy bad.
Somehow we seem to be involved in 2 wars.
Bad border policy.
Allowing illlegals to remain in country even if they commit crimes.
Hunter Biden should not have been on the board of the Ukrainian company.
Education inflation
Inflation in general
Trans athletes in women’s sports.
Using the legal system for political purposes.
General and total insufferability.
Larry i am sorry but you are dead wrong. Americans actually love AOC’s policies. Americans on the left and right, actually. It is donors that hate her policies and those donors fund law makers and the media that forms how a dwindling number of Americans think. If you think AOC’s policies are costing elections then you are as misinformed as the average Fox watcher that still thinks Trump won the 2020 election? There is Blue Maga as well as Red Maga… Both sides are misinformed and refuse to admit it to themselves.
You must not read many publications outside of left wing stuff. AOC is despised by moderates and conservatives.
If Americans love AOC’s policies, then Kamala would have been elected President.
She was smiling a lot (very photogenic) but not answering questions about what brilliant policies she had in mind, which seemed very suspicious.
Scott, are you suggesting that you think Kamala should have been President?
Scott, you write well, but your allegiance to the current Democrats borders on self flagellation. On issues like illegal immigration, the wars in the ME and Ukraine, health care, support for middle classes, ….. You can’t keep supporting them unequivocally while they behave as they, otherwise they will never be accountable. At the moment, they are hostages to outside interests and otherwise admirable people like you encourage this behavior.
I totally agree with you Dolphin. The question is why? Why does Scott have to bow to the parties power structure rather than to his audience. Maybe that is why i am drifting away from his content.
Scott didn’t write this piece – Jessica Tarlov did. But he does write very well.
Dear Scott,
No. I can’t hate Trump. It’s stupid to think of raging against him. No, it’s the GOP. It’s the GOP representatives and senators from Texas, Florida, and Southern and mid-Western states that did us in. I voted with the rest of the well-heeled Californians to get Kamala elected. So, I have no sympathy for the lower and middle class that voted for Trump. They deserve him. Let’s not sugarcoat this anymore: a racist, conservative, religious and misogynistic electorate did us in. Bring on the tariffs. Destroy the climate and watch the neighborhoods burn or be flooded. We deserve this catastrophe. Period. And, I will enjoy the benefits that the top 1%ers of this country’s economic might will definitely accrue. I’m wealthy enough to get any kind of medical or other assistance.
// Best regards
I was a lifelong Democrat, or so I thought (think the 80s version). But when you look at the legacy left by Dems just these last 25 years (DEI, Woke ideology, blatant power greed declaring how “sharp as a tack Joe was”, dishonest on how they scr–ed over Bernie, evil control psychopathic behaviors during COVID {closing beaches}, the $24B Newsome lost, now the apocalyptic fires…which were entirely manageable), let me tell you, friend…It’s going to take a much longer time for people to vote these clowns back…in fact, here is my prediction: California will turn Red! I like you, Scott, but you and Kara are living in your bubble and have 0 (zero) understanding of the consequences of the dems’ rotting ideology.
Fred – you are so right on –
It’s been a few years since I started reading prof galloways no malice, and I’ve told plenty of my friends about it, meaning that I liked what he wrote.
But over the last year or so, I have seen a side of him that I can’t even comprehend. He is an entrepreneurial person, has created and built businesses, and I can’t understand how he is such a liberal Democrat… and how he hates Trump so much. I actually thought that Scott was very intelligent, but his head is so buried in the sand, or he is so bought and paid for…
Not seeing the consequences of the horrible policies of the current administration and Newsome in California, is unfathomable to me for someone that’s supposed to be of his intelligence…
Fred – Newsome wont get blamed for the wildfires in California any more than DeSantis was blamed for the hurricanes in Florida. Only someone myopically consuming right wing propaganda can’t see that.
If you were a Democrat in the 80’s the party is better off without you today. Cutting taxes to the rich has never trickled down and never will. Universal Health Care costs HALF of what the US pays today and the US does not need to spend HALF of what we spend today on defense. Until the Democratic party leaders accept that that is how voters vote today they will keep losing elections to Republicans who are more concerned with Woke Professors in the Ivy League than Oligarchs that buy law makers and thus make the laws.
Please, don’t re-join the party we are better off without you. Right?
kamala didn’t even have a plan, yet we are up in arms with a Trump victory. lol. remember folks, trump already served a term, and things were really good until covid hit. why wouldn’t we expect the same thriving economy in his second term?
yes, he trolls and talks to much, but we didn’t vote for his person or personality, we voted for his stance and action on the things that most matter to us. we don’t care much for DEI bs, illegal immigration, $12 dollar flats of eggs, and billions going to Ukraine while Americans suffer. it’s our tax dollars, it should stay right here.
tariffs won’t hurt as much if tax cuts to American citizens are made simultaneously. remember the us was built and ran for centuries on tariffs. I can’t understand how people think they won’t work now.
our drug and food industries are a mess and its evident that they are trying to kill us. drug industries treat the effect, not the cause. The vaccine is seemingly killing people and it’s just the elephant in the room nobody wants to address. we should be happy we have a champion fighting for better health, healthcare and better food. yet so many, without reading their food labels or the side effects of drugs or looking at how sick Americans are, just want it to stay the same. we talk about corporate greed then think that doesn’t apply to the food and drug industry. think critically please.
Adam –
Another great post like Fred’s above.
Professor Galloway definitely understands that tariffs work, and definitely knows that Trump is smart enough to know where and when and how to use them.
He is definitely speaking to the average person that doesn’t quite understand economics or money, when he is trying to say that tariffs hurt everybody in higher prices- that’s just the dumbed down version of it on the surface…
Just read — ONE HOUR!- and LAUGH the entire time to understand trump. The Anti-Wellness Diet– or why trump won– on Amazon and free
Lifelong republican that could not vote for Trump either time.
Something has to be done about the deficit in the next four years. We might be able to affect other issues like climate change, but without meaningful debt reduction, the world we turn over to our kids is deeply in question. And no one wants to talk about it!
If you are serious about wanting to reduce the deficit then it is rather easy. The difficult part, and I would say impossible part, is that cutting the deficit would harm donors and as such wont happen.
A. Tax the rich the way they were in 2000 the last time we had a balanced budget.(donor class wont let you do it) B. Cut military spending by HALF over the next 10yrs and boost spending on diplomacy (Military lobbyists wont let it happen) C. Migrate to a single payer health care system like every other OECD nation, it costs HALF of what we pay today. Put in place a 10yr plan for phasing in Medicare for All (Health Care, Pharma and Corpoorate donors wont let it happen).
Balancing the budget is easy. The one common problem is donors and corporations that profit from the deficit. Know thy enemy….. Government bureaucrats have no lobbyists. Slashing them wont reduce the deficit any more than tax cuts to the rich were ever going to trickle down. Wake up.
Still in denial, Jessica? The dramatic shift from Blue to Red has nothing to do with DJT. It’s the policies and outcomes. The shift was despite the vilified and hated person. Try a strategy that doesn’t mention the “T” word and you’ll be on the right path. Put the “Mod” back in Moderate and make the “middle” cool again.
She totally lost me when she wrote that Americans “voted for people they believed were authentic.” That’s a meaningless label in today’s phony social media-driven world. Trump and Co are the opposite of “authentic” – they are caricaturishly self-dealing narcissists who lie constantly. The people who voted for them either chose to ignore that fact, or are too tone-deaf in today’s world to even discern it. To a large degree the strategy laid out is what lawmakers will likely do. As far as not calling out each MAGA lie, how did that work out in 1930s Germany. That would be essentially rolling over and taking it as democracy dies.
Yes, Jessica. Yes.
I disagree. Not with the need to recognize how some elements of the Democratic Party have become too liberal for mainstream Americans, but with the notion that Dems should do anything that suggests agreement with the Trump agenda.
The way I see it, Trump is as out of touch with mainstream America as is the “woke” (whatever that means) left, but his rhetoric had appeal to enough people to get him elected because folks just don’t realize how bad his ideas are.
I say, “Don’t resist, relate.” Let the GOP follow their leader down the disastrous path he has proposed, and don’t do anything to suggest agreement or complicity. If Dems play along with any of it, sure a heck, Repubs with try to share the blame. Let them follow the grifter down the primrose path to disaster, and be prepared to offer a heaping, healthy helping of “I told you so” when things go the way they likely will. Since the media doesn’t think it’s function is to educate people so they can avoid mistakes, experience may be the only way Americans will learn. We learned from our experience between 2016-2020, and we threw the bum out. But four years of distractions and uncorrected lies caused so many to forget. If the people have spoken, let’s let everyone hear what they’re saying sounds like. And then, let’s raise our voices loudly enough that they remember.
Dear Raging TDS Patients,
You’ll survive. This type of hyperbole is exactly why you lost (very strange to see Obama having a laugh with literal Hitler yesterday!). Voters soundly rejected the democratic party of “experts”, DEI, wokeism, open borders, and declining real wages. We survived four years of a government with a president who wasn’t even aware he was president. Perhaps Scott could donate a few million to Harris to help her out with her campaign debt. Not sure what Fox pays you, Jessica, but maybe you could pitch in!
The only folks I know that suffer from TDS are the rubes who follow him like lemmings. To me, he’s like a pimple on my butt – irritating for awhile, but something that will eventually go away….
The Democratic Party hasn’t cared about the middle class since before Clinton – Bill Clinton. They haven’t figured it out and likely won’t in 2 years, or 4 years for that matter. They would rather talk about issues affecting a small minority of Americans and feel good about themselves. Trans rights and sanctuary cities don’t matter to voters paying $8 for a dozen eggs. Focus on what the real issues are.
The Dems have won 5 of 9 presidential elections since Clinton was first elected. They’ve won Congress many times as well. Let’s not read more into 2024 than we need to. Voters just can’t make up their minds.
Thank you for taking the time to put these thoughts together. I’ll be sharing them with my community.
Superb, a shot of common sense….
After every election, pundits try to explain away the results and make broad proclamations about what it all means. In 2006-08 the GOP was supposed to be toast, and the Dems were supposed to rule for a generation. That got nibbled away at over the next few elections cycles and all but buried in 2016. In 2018-2022 suddenly Trumpism was under fire, and finally left for dead. Now in 2024 it’s the Dems who need to do a bunch of soul-searching and second-guessing.
Here’s what will probably happen — Trump’s anger, incompetence and infantile tantrums will wear everybody out again, and the Dems will retake the House in 2026 to keep him in check. By 2028 everyone but Trump’s brainwashed base will be sick of him again — just like in 2020, and maybe the Dems win the White House again. Then the voters will get impatient and wishy washy again, like they always do, and the tide will turn.
It’s not the economy, it’s not immigration, it’s not wokeness, it’s none of that. Voters just can’t make up their minds what they want, ever. They just chase after the shiny new thing because they’re tired of looking at the old thing. Over the past 40 years the GOP has won the White House 6 times and the Dems have won it 5 times. So tell me again why the Dems all of a sudden need to go into psychoanalysis.
Spot-on. Best analysis yet.
I believe much of the problem was housing costs. Buying a home is out of reach for a lot of folks today. There are so many different reasons why too. Airbnb’s have eliminated housing in so many desirable places which has helped drive up prices along with the crazy low mortgage rates of a few years ago that had people in bidding wars for homes unseen just to get in on the low rates. And don’t get me started on how much it cost to buy a new car!
The Dems need to go into psychoanalysis because the places where they rule unchallenged have degenerated into unmitigated hellholes and they don’t seem to realize that this is what keeps them from building a larger coalition. If people envied the lifestyle of ordinary people living in NYC or SF, that would be a powerful message to voters.
Republicans are less in need of psychoanalysis but more in need of rudimentary math skills. Their descent from the party of fiscal responsibility into the party of tax cuts, regardless of its effects on the deficit and what the post rightly calls out as an unbearable debt for our children, has made them unqualified to govern at the federal level.
This.
“We should also stop trying to remind voters what a sleaze Trump is. They know, and they don’t care.”