Sort of tangential, but the straw that broke the camel's back for Hispanic voters (and to an extent black men) was the post-Floyd BLM mania. The non-stop black deification only appealed at a broad level to black women (and even with that segment, wealthier academic or activist types) and urban white liberals. BLM also had such sneering, smarmy, narcissistic female HR manager energy behind it that it wound up alienating a lot of black men. Excuse me for noticing, but my impression is that many black men really really do not like being talked down to by women. I personally think the moment Michelle Obama lectured black men about their voting habits was equivalent to Hillary's deplorables moment.
Ultimately, BLM was Democrats shooting off both feet with one bullet.
We live an hour and a half from Portland, which is in a downward spiral that began before their 100 straight days of riots after Floyd died 2,000 miles away. Between those riots and the "progressive" hostility to business and law enforcement, the center of economic activity has moved to Portland's suburbs. Shoppers have turned their backs on downtown Portland because it's unsafe, and businesses have moved offices away.
Portland now boasts the nation's highest office vacancy rate. Transactions for office building sales show roughly a 50% haircut compared to a decade ago. Assessments are dropping, and hundreds of businesses have left. The streets downtown are a maze of junkies, yet the city council just voted to cut the budget for its police force, which is critically understaffed.
This is but one example of how "progressives" have been busy destroying cities around the country. I cannot think of a single "progressive" run major city that hasn't declined, most of them quite severely.
The national level polarization is enhanced by the Democrats standing for nothing except bashing Trump and his supporters. If there were more discussion about (non-crazy) issues and policies, the temperature would be lower and local issues would be more prominent. But The Groups won't allow that. Trump is provoking them and they are responding by letting their freak flag fly.
I have to say, you guys are fearless. Virtually no other Democrats are admitting these realities. This was the key takeaway "it can’t be fixed by better messaging or more concerted outreach."
This is as close as I have seen to a kind of national repentance statement.
One caveat, though: As I always do, I have to point out that voter registration stats have CHANGED since the Catallyst data and with a single dimming exception, NOT in the Democrats' direction. It has gotten WORSE since Catalyst. The exception was PA, which rallied for a little voter registration gain over the Rs during the big primaries there. But last week the net gain was a paltry 100---but still it was the only place I can find in the whole U.S. that isn't moving to Rs. My guess is that this will go negative for Democrats next week, or the week after, then we're back to 100% one-direction movement.
Blue-collar-supporting Democrats missed a golden opportunity to get on board the Trump tariffs, immigration policy, and reject woke nonsense. I think it is way too late now.
A whole lot of this stuff, and more, has been on my mind for the past decade. The Democrats have always had tension between the working middle class and the "progressives," but in more recent times the "progressives" have taken over and run the party into the left side of the ditch.
At least the worker part of the party could be persuaded, and the old-school liberals recognized (usually) the restraints on their part that were required to keep the coalition together. No more. It's approaching tragedy, and maybe it already is. We'll see.
Another long post. This will start out disjointed but will come together.
My maternal grandparents were Austrian immigrants, refugees of the great German inflation of 1923. They were paid twice a day, because the value of the currency would drop that fast. You knew it was bad, grandpa said, when the paper money weighed more than the bread it bought. He got here, and lunch with beer cost a nickel. He ate so much in his first week that he was sick for his second week.
About a decade ago, we went to a rodeo in Oregon and one of the spectators was a tall, handsome black guy in a crisp white shirt and a cowboy hat, the blackest skin I've ever seen, looking like the sheriff in Blazing Saddles. And our landscaper is a Mexican with a green card, married to an American citizen, who started and owns a successful business.
I am constantly urging the landscaper to become a citizen. "You are already a great American, exactly the kind we want here. The only difference between you and my grandfather is the country you came from." He's worried about the English language requirement. When we met the guy at the rodeo, he told us that his father had brought he and his sister to Portland, Oregon from Sri Lanka when he was six years old.
His father would drive them out to ranches in Eastern Oregon and ask this or that rancher if there was any work his young kids could do, because he wanted them to learn the value of hard work. It always went well. The son made a list of 10 things he had to do to become a real American, and by the time he was in his mid-20s, working in high tech, he'd done 9 of them. Number 10 was to ride in a rodeo.
He convinced his employer to let him off, unpaid, to go rodeo school in Texas. In his first year, he was immediately hooked by the energy of the animals but was often thrown, and the others laughed. The second summer, he got better. The third summer, he was the best cowboy at the school, and decided to go on the circuit. Hardly any blacks in rodeos -- some Brazilians of mixed race and they do well, but they aren't common.
The other cowboys nicknamed him "the bronco from Sri Lanko." I asked if the cowboys try to psych each other out like athletes in baseball, basketball, and football do. Other way around, he said. They commonly give each other tips about the horse they'll be riding. When he'd win a buckle, the other cowboys would make side bets on whether he be able to stay on the horse for a victory lap. Eight seconds, yes. All the way around the track? Not necessarily.
His father learned English to pass the citizenship test back in Sri Lanka. He'd somehow accumulated a shelf full of Louis L'Amour Westerns. I told our Mexican landscaper about it and had Amazon send a set of 7 to his house. I have read Louis L'Amour and he was a very good writer, I said. The English in his books is simple and straightforward, but not stupid, and it's a great way to become confident with the language.
He still hasn't taken the test. Working too hard to study, and lacks self confidence. Just take it, I tell him. If you don't pass the first time, take it again. By the way, he is a refugee from one of the areas in Mexico controlled by the narcos. He would build Trump's wall twice as high.
American white "progressives" have been incredibly racist. They thought that Mexican-Americans would be liberal Democrats and would support illegal immigration, when the opposite is true. Not only do illegals compete for jobs, but they bring crime and drugs to Mexican-American neighborhoods. And there is great resentment at illegals getting various welfare benefits that working Mexican-American citizens do not get.
Oh, and remember "Latinx?" When I asked my landscaper about it, he tilted his head like a confused German Shepherd. I explained the idea behind it, and he laughed. All Spanish nouns are gendered, and so are the articles and pronouns. "Progressives," you racist idiots! Really, way to go: Tell millions of Mexican-American citizens that their mother tongue is inferior and must be reformed. You deserve the scorn you have gotten.
One more thing. That Bronco from Sri Lanko? He laughed about the white liberals of Portland and their tendency to condescend to him. In Eastern Oregon, "you can see me from far away," which is fine by him. People there take him as he comes, and being black has never once been an issue in any direction, pro or con.
"Progressives," you are worthless and hopeless. You destroyed my Democratic Party. I don't hate you because you are not worthy of hatred, but I do despise you.
The English test, unless it has changed, is, can you communicate with the interviewer. It's extremely easy. If you have been talking about this with your landscaper in English, he is far beyond what is required.
Eastern Oregon is cowboy country, and they have of necessity learned to take people as they are, open minded about how they judge people. They look more at what you do, than anything else.
I have sometimes kicked myself for pushing too hard to the point of telling someone how to run his life. But yes you are right, and I will pass it along sometime. I have already told him that his language skills are just fine. He is an outstanding businessman with a solid reputation in our rural area, and I need to keep building his confidence on the rest. I just don't want to make him uncomfortable.
Once again a good article that Progressive should take seriously (but won't).
We live in an Hispanic area in Arizona. I gotta tell you--they are REAL Americans. They work hard, they are family oriented, they are friendly, and they are grateful for what they have here.
Ruy does the most extensive and important research, by far. Mass migration, inflation spurred by Climate spending and Progressive theory foisted on kids, cost Dems the election every bit as much as Biden, if not more. Others polling reaches the same conclusion. The issues were especially important in the loss of Hispanic voters.
Dems have identified the problems, but none seem in a hurry to even tweak the polices that put Trump back in the WH. On the contrary, Dems have been fighting the deportation of an El Salvadorian citizen, inadvertently deported back to El Salvador, who appears to have been a gang member and a people trafficker. He was also the subject of 2 Orders of Protection by his wife, who likely has photos and/or video of her husband's handiwork.
Dems didn't just write a strongly worded letter. They chartered a private jet so an entire delegation of Dem Congressional members could check on our "Maryland father". Perhaps I just missed it , but I do not recall an entire Dem delegation checking on the children of a Maryland mother, raped and murdered by a Biden new arrival, in broad daylight. The political ads write themselves. If Dems thought the "they ,them" ad hurt them in 2024, wait until they see the Maryland Mom/ Maryland Dad version.
Ditto for Climate spending and Progressive child theory. No one has even dared mention, maybe Dems went too far. Until they do, further research will be of limited value.
Biden's IRA, which contained unprecedented amounts of money designed to save future generation from climate change, passed in Aug 2022. CPI inflation PEAKED in June 2022 ( 2 months before). Explain that sequence of events. It looks to me like the Inflation Reduction Act did what it said it would do.
This is in contrast to the GOP Big Budget Bomb which is projected to blow up the national debt "The budget bill passed by the House on May 22 would add $2.4 trillion to the debt over the 2025-2034 window and $10.8 trillion from 2025-2055."
By all means Dems should continue to deny trillions in wasteful and needless Green spending spurred spur inflation. It was all Covid's fault.
Just as Dems should keep pushing puberty blockers, that do no harm. Preferably in schools without informing Mom and Dad who may not honor their child's wish to transition with appropriate enthusiasm.
The piece de resistance should be the Dem promise to once again dissolve the Southern border for 4 more years. "If 10 million were good, 20 Million more, will be Better " is a catchy slogan perfect for Tshirts or bumper stickers.
Yeah, don't bother explaining how a bill passed in Aug 2022 caused inflation that peaked in June 2022. Just spew your hate and your economic illiteracy. Where is that link to the Supreme Court case I asked you for previously
Those with differing opinions are not spewing hate. Under Biden, US life became $1100 a month, more expensive, in a country where 40% of the population lives on less than $60K a year. The fact Left wing think tanks absolve Dems, seems unlikely to carry much sway.
Inflation, however, was hardly the worst of it. Dem treatment of migrant children was something straight out of a bad movie. Under Trump those who appeared at the border with children were DNA tested.
Biden ended DNA testing because it slowed the flow. Anyone claiming a toddler or infant was their child, walked away with them. Moreover, 300K unaccompanied minors disappeared into the ether, after being handed to unvetted people. Congressional testimony of NGO employees described a process, that could never be slowed, for any reason.
Consequently, 300K migrant kids are still missing. If they were in school, they would be easy to find. Each US public school student arrives with both a state and federal check attached. For that reason, schools keep very good track of students. They are not in school, so where are they? The lucky ones are on freezing factory floors all night. The unlucky ones are chained to beds in mobile brothels visiting every US city with professional sports. And Dems have no interest in finding any of them, because it would not be good for the midterms.
Yeah, don't bother explaining how a bill passed in Aug 2022 caused inflation that peaked in June 2022. Just spew your hate and your economic illiteracy. Where is that link to the Supreme Court case I asked you for previously
Believe the science, the "progressives" say, and then they turn around and try to tell us that a man can take hormones and get radical cosmetic surgery and become a woman, something the try to obscure by calling it "gender." Well, guess what? Homo sapiens is a mammal, and mammals are sexually dimorphic and cannot change their sex.
"Progressives" are science denialists on steroids. And when it comes to human-caused global warming, they are just as wrong. It's not science, it's a secular religion. facts be damned.
Hispanics today are where many white “ethnics” were half a century or so ago. Democrats are realizing they can no longer take this important group of voters for granted.
Here's something else. Roughly 55% of Mexican-Americans consider themselves white. That one seems to escape the "progressives" as they imagine Hispanics and blacks to be a single, undifferentiated mass. Wouldn't you think that the "progressives" would know different from observing L.A., Chicago, and Miami? Nope.
The headline, "Hispanic Moderates’ Big Swing Right" is in error as the column points out. Hispanic voters have not swung to the right. The Democrat Party has drifted far to the left in what appears to be an act of ideological suicide.
In Texas, where many Hispanic Texans are descended from those who were here before Texas became a state, the Hispanic vote has always been relatively conservative. I remember reading that Republican Senator Jon Cornyn in his last bid for re-election eeked out a plurality of the Hispanic vote against his Democrat opponent.
Democrats play a good game running for office, but once elected, they act like commies, who are, of course, part of their coalition. The CPUSA semi-endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016 when they urged people on the left to not vote green or write-in Bernie Sanders, but vote against Trump by voting for Clinton. In 2020, Biden got Bernie Sanders' support by promising Sanders he would staff the federal government with all those socialist Bernie Bros and Sissies who were crest-fallen by Sanders defeat and believed Biden had stolen the nomination, which he very likely had. Many intra-party elections Democrats hold these days are either rigged or cancelled out right, which is what eventually happened to Biden, who after all, did win the Democrat nomination for president and then was removed and replaced by someone who was spared the inconvenience of having to win even one primary.
“In the survey, voters were asked to assess their priorities for the government to address in the coming year. Among 18 options, climate change ranked 14th, beating out only global trade, drug addiction, racial issues, and the problems of poor people.”
Pretty damning indictment when at the bottom of your list is “the problems of poor people.”
Leaving aside social/cultural issues for the moment, what does "too far left on economic issues" even mean? What policies are people thinking of? Earned income tax credits? Subsidies for chip factories? Higher minimum wage?
2. Hispanic moderates are hawkish on illegal immigration.
IMHO this was the biggest driver of the election outcome. Moderate voters of all stripes were turned off by the large number of immigrants gaming the system by crossing the border illegally then turning themselves in and claiming asylum, knowing that their case couldn't be heard for years. Biden admin tried to address this too late in the game and was blocked by Trump and MAGA from reaching a deal with the likes of Lankford. We need to curtail low-skill/wage immigration and promote high-skill English-proficient immigrants. As Dean Baker points out, this will put downward pressure on the wages earned by the likes of professors and lawyers, which will increase real wages of everyone else.
3. Hispanic moderates are tough on crime and supportive of law enforcement.
To start, can we all agree that crime rates are FALLING to levels not seen in decades. That being said, low-income neighborhoods need a higher level of policing that is currently being provided (at least in my city)
4.Hispanic moderates are opposed to Democrats’ stance on transgender issues
To start, can we agree that the issue of transwomen in women's sports is small potatoes? 18 transwomen out of 240,000 women athletes in NCAA. That said, excluding transwomen from women's sports is reasonable, given the advantage they have of going through puberty with high levels of testosterone. Let states and localities decide how to handle sports at lower levels. Minors should be allowed to use puberty blockers but not use irreversible measures like surgery. However, Dems need to stand against discrimination against trans folks in the military, housing and employment. (PS the level of transphobia I observe in this comments section shocks me)
5. Hispanic moderates want cheap, reliable energy not a renewables revolution.
Sometimes leaders have to lead. Renewable energy is cost-effective and will be more so as prices for solar panels and batteries continue to drop;
At current costs, we could provide more than 40% of electricity with solar+battery. We have to start decarbonizing our economy, and the sooner we do so, the easier the lives of descendants will be.
Transwomen are small potatoes, says the "progressive," who ignores the push for Title IX in the 1970s and who now is fine with destroying women's sports. The "transphobia" that you think you observe is in your own mind, such as it is.
Your support for "decarbonizing" is ignorance on steroids. In places where natural gas plants have been banned, electric rates have soared. Portland, Oregon's rates have jumped by 50% in this decade, and disconnections have more than tripled. Not that "progressives" care one bit. What a joke.
You must not have read what I actually wrote, which is "excluding transwomen from [collegiate] women's sports is reasonable, given the advantage they have of going through puberty with high levels of testosterone. Let states and localities decide how to handle sports at lower levels". Title IX was instrumental in expanding women's sports, so much that there are now 240,000 NCAA women athletes (vs 260000 men) of which only 18 are trans.
You obviously didn't read the construction physics article which talks about how some form of on-demand generation (ie natural gas plants) is going to be necessary to keep costs down.
The transphobia in this comment section is so thick you can cut it with a knife
Not good enough. Not even close! No state should allow biological males into girls or women's taxpayer-funded school sports. Have you noticed that this goes only in one direction, that you don't see ANY biological females on boys' or men's teams? Why do you think that is? I'll tell you: biology. You are a science denier. If you weren't serious, it would be fodder for a Monty Python sketch.
Only 18 trans, so you dismiss it, but you go all out for ONE, count 'em ONE, gang banger who rightly was renditioned to El Salvador. Bottom line: "Progressives" hate women and hate this country's guts. They want access to schoolchildren to feed them trans-"gender" propaganda that scientific b.s., along with dangerous drugs that interfere with biological maturation.
YOU and your "progressive" friends are completely out to lunch. You are totally full of it. No wonder most Americans look at the "progressives" and want to puke. If some adult wants to binge on estrogen and get his gonads removed, I don't care as long as he doesn't get that paid for by insurance. Stay away from the kiddos, and stay away from school sports. Why do you want access to children? What's wrong with you? Is it a fetish or something?
And don't bleat "states rights." The federal government has a very long history of withholding federal money to force states to adhere to its priorities.
The key to that article is "autogynephilia," the desire of (mostly) a man to see himself as a woman. In times gone by, they would join an organization of transvestites.
I view it as a kink, and I'm okay with adult kinks. Where my sympathy ends is a) when it becomes a "civil right" b) when sex becomes "gender," which I consider a dodge, and c) when it involves children, and especially when they are giving drugs and performing surgery on minors.
There are two kinds of transvestites, again, most of whom (but not all) are heterosexual men. You see this among those who "transition" with hormones and surgery. They retain their sexual attraction to women, and as faux women they have caused havoc among lesbians, abusing the majority of lesbians who have no interest in these "transitioned" men.
Some of them wind up in relationships with those lesbians who are okay with it, but they have pretty much ruined what had always been a lesbian community that was much smaller than the gay male community, by vociferously demanding that they be seen as women when in fact they are not.
A side note: When Kinsey did his groundbreaking work on human sexuality starting in 1948, he observed that lesbians were half as numerous as homosexual men, which was borne out by the relative scarcity of lesbian organization and meeting places.
The other, and smaller, "trans" group consists of effeminate gay males. Along with classic female "tomboys," something that's much more common among girls, the "supportive" types will convince some of those feminine boys that they are "really" girls, which is one of the oldest anti-gay tropes in the book, and persuade some of those tomboys that that they are male.
This happens during adolescence, a confusing time for many if not most young people who are dealing with the normal challenges of sexual maturation. The "tomboys" are taught to be ashamed of themselves and their bodies, and the feminine boys are taught that they are defective and cannot be men because they don't conform to archetypal sex roles.
It's Orwellian, and deeply anti-gay, and is presented as somehow "compassionate," when in fact it is exactly the opposite. The "progressives" cannot listen to facts, reason, and real tolerance and compassion, and steer those kids into lives that don't fit and never did.
The worst of all, is that these new "identities" will be frozen in place by the drugs, which can be hazardous, and especially by actual surgery.
It is not "transphobic" to point all of this out, regardless of the abuse hurled at those who tell the truth. It is very complicated, and the "progressives" take advantage of the reluctance of most people to dive into the details.
If adults want to go through all of this, and if they pay for it out of pocket, I say it's a free country and they should be able to do it. But that doesn't mean that everyone else has to be silent and go along.
Below is a link to an article about the trans phenomenon and what it has done to lesbians, and how is it generally anti-gay. It ought to be half as long as it is, but it deserves to be read. It was originally published on Medium, before the "progressives" censored it.
Agreed. Great article. The LGB groups have been phenomenal in their pushback. I have so much respect for them and the great efforts of the women of Scotland,including JKR. Our vigilance must not waver.
Sort of tangential, but the straw that broke the camel's back for Hispanic voters (and to an extent black men) was the post-Floyd BLM mania. The non-stop black deification only appealed at a broad level to black women (and even with that segment, wealthier academic or activist types) and urban white liberals. BLM also had such sneering, smarmy, narcissistic female HR manager energy behind it that it wound up alienating a lot of black men. Excuse me for noticing, but my impression is that many black men really really do not like being talked down to by women. I personally think the moment Michelle Obama lectured black men about their voting habits was equivalent to Hillary's deplorables moment.
Ultimately, BLM was Democrats shooting off both feet with one bullet.
We live an hour and a half from Portland, which is in a downward spiral that began before their 100 straight days of riots after Floyd died 2,000 miles away. Between those riots and the "progressive" hostility to business and law enforcement, the center of economic activity has moved to Portland's suburbs. Shoppers have turned their backs on downtown Portland because it's unsafe, and businesses have moved offices away.
Portland now boasts the nation's highest office vacancy rate. Transactions for office building sales show roughly a 50% haircut compared to a decade ago. Assessments are dropping, and hundreds of businesses have left. The streets downtown are a maze of junkies, yet the city council just voted to cut the budget for its police force, which is critically understaffed.
This is but one example of how "progressives" have been busy destroying cities around the country. I cannot think of a single "progressive" run major city that hasn't declined, most of them quite severely.
The national level polarization is enhanced by the Democrats standing for nothing except bashing Trump and his supporters. If there were more discussion about (non-crazy) issues and policies, the temperature would be lower and local issues would be more prominent. But The Groups won't allow that. Trump is provoking them and they are responding by letting their freak flag fly.
Here's an idea. Impeach Trump. (and reinforce the Einstein theory of insanity)
Or as Einstein also allegedly said "Only two things are infinite-the universe and human stupidity and I am not sure about the universe."
I have to say, you guys are fearless. Virtually no other Democrats are admitting these realities. This was the key takeaway "it can’t be fixed by better messaging or more concerted outreach."
This is as close as I have seen to a kind of national repentance statement.
One caveat, though: As I always do, I have to point out that voter registration stats have CHANGED since the Catallyst data and with a single dimming exception, NOT in the Democrats' direction. It has gotten WORSE since Catalyst. The exception was PA, which rallied for a little voter registration gain over the Rs during the big primaries there. But last week the net gain was a paltry 100---but still it was the only place I can find in the whole U.S. that isn't moving to Rs. My guess is that this will go negative for Democrats next week, or the week after, then we're back to 100% one-direction movement.
Blue-collar-supporting Democrats missed a golden opportunity to get on board the Trump tariffs, immigration policy, and reject woke nonsense. I think it is way too late now.
A whole lot of this stuff, and more, has been on my mind for the past decade. The Democrats have always had tension between the working middle class and the "progressives," but in more recent times the "progressives" have taken over and run the party into the left side of the ditch.
At least the worker part of the party could be persuaded, and the old-school liberals recognized (usually) the restraints on their part that were required to keep the coalition together. No more. It's approaching tragedy, and maybe it already is. We'll see.
Another long post. This will start out disjointed but will come together.
My maternal grandparents were Austrian immigrants, refugees of the great German inflation of 1923. They were paid twice a day, because the value of the currency would drop that fast. You knew it was bad, grandpa said, when the paper money weighed more than the bread it bought. He got here, and lunch with beer cost a nickel. He ate so much in his first week that he was sick for his second week.
About a decade ago, we went to a rodeo in Oregon and one of the spectators was a tall, handsome black guy in a crisp white shirt and a cowboy hat, the blackest skin I've ever seen, looking like the sheriff in Blazing Saddles. And our landscaper is a Mexican with a green card, married to an American citizen, who started and owns a successful business.
I am constantly urging the landscaper to become a citizen. "You are already a great American, exactly the kind we want here. The only difference between you and my grandfather is the country you came from." He's worried about the English language requirement. When we met the guy at the rodeo, he told us that his father had brought he and his sister to Portland, Oregon from Sri Lanka when he was six years old.
His father would drive them out to ranches in Eastern Oregon and ask this or that rancher if there was any work his young kids could do, because he wanted them to learn the value of hard work. It always went well. The son made a list of 10 things he had to do to become a real American, and by the time he was in his mid-20s, working in high tech, he'd done 9 of them. Number 10 was to ride in a rodeo.
He convinced his employer to let him off, unpaid, to go rodeo school in Texas. In his first year, he was immediately hooked by the energy of the animals but was often thrown, and the others laughed. The second summer, he got better. The third summer, he was the best cowboy at the school, and decided to go on the circuit. Hardly any blacks in rodeos -- some Brazilians of mixed race and they do well, but they aren't common.
The other cowboys nicknamed him "the bronco from Sri Lanko." I asked if the cowboys try to psych each other out like athletes in baseball, basketball, and football do. Other way around, he said. They commonly give each other tips about the horse they'll be riding. When he'd win a buckle, the other cowboys would make side bets on whether he be able to stay on the horse for a victory lap. Eight seconds, yes. All the way around the track? Not necessarily.
His father learned English to pass the citizenship test back in Sri Lanka. He'd somehow accumulated a shelf full of Louis L'Amour Westerns. I told our Mexican landscaper about it and had Amazon send a set of 7 to his house. I have read Louis L'Amour and he was a very good writer, I said. The English in his books is simple and straightforward, but not stupid, and it's a great way to become confident with the language.
He still hasn't taken the test. Working too hard to study, and lacks self confidence. Just take it, I tell him. If you don't pass the first time, take it again. By the way, he is a refugee from one of the areas in Mexico controlled by the narcos. He would build Trump's wall twice as high.
American white "progressives" have been incredibly racist. They thought that Mexican-Americans would be liberal Democrats and would support illegal immigration, when the opposite is true. Not only do illegals compete for jobs, but they bring crime and drugs to Mexican-American neighborhoods. And there is great resentment at illegals getting various welfare benefits that working Mexican-American citizens do not get.
Oh, and remember "Latinx?" When I asked my landscaper about it, he tilted his head like a confused German Shepherd. I explained the idea behind it, and he laughed. All Spanish nouns are gendered, and so are the articles and pronouns. "Progressives," you racist idiots! Really, way to go: Tell millions of Mexican-American citizens that their mother tongue is inferior and must be reformed. You deserve the scorn you have gotten.
One more thing. That Bronco from Sri Lanko? He laughed about the white liberals of Portland and their tendency to condescend to him. In Eastern Oregon, "you can see me from far away," which is fine by him. People there take him as he comes, and being black has never once been an issue in any direction, pro or con.
"Progressives," you are worthless and hopeless. You destroyed my Democratic Party. I don't hate you because you are not worthy of hatred, but I do despise you.
The English test, unless it has changed, is, can you communicate with the interviewer. It's extremely easy. If you have been talking about this with your landscaper in English, he is far beyond what is required.
Eastern Oregon is cowboy country, and they have of necessity learned to take people as they are, open minded about how they judge people. They look more at what you do, than anything else.
I have sometimes kicked myself for pushing too hard to the point of telling someone how to run his life. But yes you are right, and I will pass it along sometime. I have already told him that his language skills are just fine. He is an outstanding businessman with a solid reputation in our rural area, and I need to keep building his confidence on the rest. I just don't want to make him uncomfortable.
Once again a good article that Progressive should take seriously (but won't).
We live in an Hispanic area in Arizona. I gotta tell you--they are REAL Americans. They work hard, they are family oriented, they are friendly, and they are grateful for what they have here.
They are conservative. They are religious.
They are not progressives.
They are voters you WANT on your side. We do.
I couldn't possibly agree more strongly. Our Mexican-American citizen population here is chock full of great people.
Ruy does the most extensive and important research, by far. Mass migration, inflation spurred by Climate spending and Progressive theory foisted on kids, cost Dems the election every bit as much as Biden, if not more. Others polling reaches the same conclusion. The issues were especially important in the loss of Hispanic voters.
Dems have identified the problems, but none seem in a hurry to even tweak the polices that put Trump back in the WH. On the contrary, Dems have been fighting the deportation of an El Salvadorian citizen, inadvertently deported back to El Salvador, who appears to have been a gang member and a people trafficker. He was also the subject of 2 Orders of Protection by his wife, who likely has photos and/or video of her husband's handiwork.
Dems didn't just write a strongly worded letter. They chartered a private jet so an entire delegation of Dem Congressional members could check on our "Maryland father". Perhaps I just missed it , but I do not recall an entire Dem delegation checking on the children of a Maryland mother, raped and murdered by a Biden new arrival, in broad daylight. The political ads write themselves. If Dems thought the "they ,them" ad hurt them in 2024, wait until they see the Maryland Mom/ Maryland Dad version.
Ditto for Climate spending and Progressive child theory. No one has even dared mention, maybe Dems went too far. Until they do, further research will be of limited value.
Mrs
Replying to a single one of your egregious misconceptions:
Inflation was a post-COVID worldwide phenomenon caused by a supply-side shock
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/covid-19-inflation-was-a-supply-shock/
Biden's IRA, which contained unprecedented amounts of money designed to save future generation from climate change, passed in Aug 2022. CPI inflation PEAKED in June 2022 ( 2 months before). Explain that sequence of events. It looks to me like the Inflation Reduction Act did what it said it would do.
IRA spending on climate and other things was paid for increased IRS enforcement (among other things) and actually reduced the budget deficit and was projected to have no impact on inflation, according to CBO and Penn Wharton: https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2022/8/5/inflation-reduction-act-comparing-cbo-and-pwbm-estimates
This is in contrast to the GOP Big Budget Bomb which is projected to blow up the national debt "The budget bill passed by the House on May 22 would add $2.4 trillion to the debt over the 2025-2034 window and $10.8 trillion from 2025-2055."
https://budgetlab.yale.edu/research/financial-cost-house-passed-budget-bill
https://www.crfb.org/blogs/cbos-first-score-house-reconciliation-bill#:~:text=The%20Congressional%20Budget%20Office%20(CBO,to%20the%20debt%20as%20written.
All that increased debt just to give tax cuts to the rich and take medical insurance and food stamps away from poor people
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2025-05/61422-Reconciliation-Distributional-Analysis.pdf
If your "facts" are wrong, you are likely to make poor diagnosis and treatment
By all means Dems should continue to deny trillions in wasteful and needless Green spending spurred spur inflation. It was all Covid's fault.
Just as Dems should keep pushing puberty blockers, that do no harm. Preferably in schools without informing Mom and Dad who may not honor their child's wish to transition with appropriate enthusiasm.
The piece de resistance should be the Dem promise to once again dissolve the Southern border for 4 more years. "If 10 million were good, 20 Million more, will be Better " is a catchy slogan perfect for Tshirts or bumper stickers.
Yeah, don't bother explaining how a bill passed in Aug 2022 caused inflation that peaked in June 2022. Just spew your hate and your economic illiteracy. Where is that link to the Supreme Court case I asked you for previously
Those with differing opinions are not spewing hate. Under Biden, US life became $1100 a month, more expensive, in a country where 40% of the population lives on less than $60K a year. The fact Left wing think tanks absolve Dems, seems unlikely to carry much sway.
Inflation, however, was hardly the worst of it. Dem treatment of migrant children was something straight out of a bad movie. Under Trump those who appeared at the border with children were DNA tested.
Biden ended DNA testing because it slowed the flow. Anyone claiming a toddler or infant was their child, walked away with them. Moreover, 300K unaccompanied minors disappeared into the ether, after being handed to unvetted people. Congressional testimony of NGO employees described a process, that could never be slowed, for any reason.
Consequently, 300K migrant kids are still missing. If they were in school, they would be easy to find. Each US public school student arrives with both a state and federal check attached. For that reason, schools keep very good track of students. They are not in school, so where are they? The lucky ones are on freezing factory floors all night. The unlucky ones are chained to beds in mobile brothels visiting every US city with professional sports. And Dems have no interest in finding any of them, because it would not be good for the midterms.
Yeah, don't bother explaining how a bill passed in Aug 2022 caused inflation that peaked in June 2022. Just spew your hate and your economic illiteracy. Where is that link to the Supreme Court case I asked you for previously
Seems the self-proclaimed "party of science" didn't see this one coming.
Believe the science, the "progressives" say, and then they turn around and try to tell us that a man can take hormones and get radical cosmetic surgery and become a woman, something the try to obscure by calling it "gender." Well, guess what? Homo sapiens is a mammal, and mammals are sexually dimorphic and cannot change their sex.
"Progressives" are science denialists on steroids. And when it comes to human-caused global warming, they are just as wrong. It's not science, it's a secular religion. facts be damned.
https://www.ssb.no/en/natur-og-miljo/forurensning-og-klima/artikler/to-what-extent-are-temperature-levels-changing-due-to-greenhouse-gas-emissions
"Critical thinking," they preach. What a laugh. No wonder they are held in such low regard by everyone but themselves.
For a complete debunking of the bogus study you cite, see
https://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2023/11/a-distraction-due-to-errors-misunderstanding-and-misguided-norwegian-statistics/
Gee transphobia and climate-denialism in one place!
So they don't like the paper. A "complete debunking?" Not at all.
Did you even bother to read it? Real Climate- "Climate science from climate scientists" What do your authors do?
Yes, I did read it, and I laughed.
really, what part was so laughable, specifically?
Hispanics today are where many white “ethnics” were half a century or so ago. Democrats are realizing they can no longer take this important group of voters for granted.
Here's something else. Roughly 55% of Mexican-Americans consider themselves white. That one seems to escape the "progressives" as they imagine Hispanics and blacks to be a single, undifferentiated mass. Wouldn't you think that the "progressives" would know different from observing L.A., Chicago, and Miami? Nope.
The headline, "Hispanic Moderates’ Big Swing Right" is in error as the column points out. Hispanic voters have not swung to the right. The Democrat Party has drifted far to the left in what appears to be an act of ideological suicide.
In Texas, where many Hispanic Texans are descended from those who were here before Texas became a state, the Hispanic vote has always been relatively conservative. I remember reading that Republican Senator Jon Cornyn in his last bid for re-election eeked out a plurality of the Hispanic vote against his Democrat opponent.
Democrats play a good game running for office, but once elected, they act like commies, who are, of course, part of their coalition. The CPUSA semi-endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016 when they urged people on the left to not vote green or write-in Bernie Sanders, but vote against Trump by voting for Clinton. In 2020, Biden got Bernie Sanders' support by promising Sanders he would staff the federal government with all those socialist Bernie Bros and Sissies who were crest-fallen by Sanders defeat and believed Biden had stolen the nomination, which he very likely had. Many intra-party elections Democrats hold these days are either rigged or cancelled out right, which is what eventually happened to Biden, who after all, did win the Democrat nomination for president and then was removed and replaced by someone who was spared the inconvenience of having to win even one primary.
“In the survey, voters were asked to assess their priorities for the government to address in the coming year. Among 18 options, climate change ranked 14th, beating out only global trade, drug addiction, racial issues, and the problems of poor people.”
Pretty damning indictment when at the bottom of your list is “the problems of poor people.”
Thanks for this thoughtful piece. Taking your main points in order
1. Hispanic moderates think the Democrats have moved too far left
To start, can we all agree that the US economy coming out of COVID outperformed all of it's peers?
https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/why-is-the-u-s-gdp-recovering-faster-than-other-advanced-economies-20240517.html#:~:text=Taking%20a%20purely%20accounting%20perspective,shocks%20throughout%20the%20recent%20crisis.
Can we all agree that inflation was a worldwide phenomenon?
https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2024/05/is-the-recent-inflationary-spike-a-global-phenomenon/
Leaving aside social/cultural issues for the moment, what does "too far left on economic issues" even mean? What policies are people thinking of? Earned income tax credits? Subsidies for chip factories? Higher minimum wage?
2. Hispanic moderates are hawkish on illegal immigration.
IMHO this was the biggest driver of the election outcome. Moderate voters of all stripes were turned off by the large number of immigrants gaming the system by crossing the border illegally then turning themselves in and claiming asylum, knowing that their case couldn't be heard for years. Biden admin tried to address this too late in the game and was blocked by Trump and MAGA from reaching a deal with the likes of Lankford. We need to curtail low-skill/wage immigration and promote high-skill English-proficient immigrants. As Dean Baker points out, this will put downward pressure on the wages earned by the likes of professors and lawyers, which will increase real wages of everyone else.
3. Hispanic moderates are tough on crime and supportive of law enforcement.
To start, can we all agree that crime rates are FALLING to levels not seen in decades. That being said, low-income neighborhoods need a higher level of policing that is currently being provided (at least in my city)
4.Hispanic moderates are opposed to Democrats’ stance on transgender issues
To start, can we agree that the issue of transwomen in women's sports is small potatoes? 18 transwomen out of 240,000 women athletes in NCAA. That said, excluding transwomen from women's sports is reasonable, given the advantage they have of going through puberty with high levels of testosterone. Let states and localities decide how to handle sports at lower levels. Minors should be allowed to use puberty blockers but not use irreversible measures like surgery. However, Dems need to stand against discrimination against trans folks in the military, housing and employment. (PS the level of transphobia I observe in this comments section shocks me)
5. Hispanic moderates want cheap, reliable energy not a renewables revolution.
Sometimes leaders have to lead. Renewable energy is cost-effective and will be more so as prices for solar panels and batteries continue to drop;
https://www.construction-physics.com/p/can-we-afford-large-scale-solar-pv?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=r85xt&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
At current costs, we could provide more than 40% of electricity with solar+battery. We have to start decarbonizing our economy, and the sooner we do so, the easier the lives of descendants will be.
Transwomen are small potatoes, says the "progressive," who ignores the push for Title IX in the 1970s and who now is fine with destroying women's sports. The "transphobia" that you think you observe is in your own mind, such as it is.
Your support for "decarbonizing" is ignorance on steroids. In places where natural gas plants have been banned, electric rates have soared. Portland, Oregon's rates have jumped by 50% in this decade, and disconnections have more than tripled. Not that "progressives" care one bit. What a joke.
You must not have read what I actually wrote, which is "excluding transwomen from [collegiate] women's sports is reasonable, given the advantage they have of going through puberty with high levels of testosterone. Let states and localities decide how to handle sports at lower levels". Title IX was instrumental in expanding women's sports, so much that there are now 240,000 NCAA women athletes (vs 260000 men) of which only 18 are trans.
You obviously didn't read the construction physics article which talks about how some form of on-demand generation (ie natural gas plants) is going to be necessary to keep costs down.
The transphobia in this comment section is so thick you can cut it with a knife
Not good enough. Not even close! No state should allow biological males into girls or women's taxpayer-funded school sports. Have you noticed that this goes only in one direction, that you don't see ANY biological females on boys' or men's teams? Why do you think that is? I'll tell you: biology. You are a science denier. If you weren't serious, it would be fodder for a Monty Python sketch.
Only 18 trans, so you dismiss it, but you go all out for ONE, count 'em ONE, gang banger who rightly was renditioned to El Salvador. Bottom line: "Progressives" hate women and hate this country's guts. They want access to schoolchildren to feed them trans-"gender" propaganda that scientific b.s., along with dangerous drugs that interfere with biological maturation.
YOU and your "progressive" friends are completely out to lunch. You are totally full of it. No wonder most Americans look at the "progressives" and want to puke. If some adult wants to binge on estrogen and get his gonads removed, I don't care as long as he doesn't get that paid for by insurance. Stay away from the kiddos, and stay away from school sports. Why do you want access to children? What's wrong with you? Is it a fetish or something?
And don't bleat "states rights." The federal government has a very long history of withholding federal money to force states to adhere to its priorities.
Well said. Stay away from the kiddos until they are older. Protect female spaces. Period.
The key to that article is "autogynephilia," the desire of (mostly) a man to see himself as a woman. In times gone by, they would join an organization of transvestites.
https://www.triess.org/
I view it as a kink, and I'm okay with adult kinks. Where my sympathy ends is a) when it becomes a "civil right" b) when sex becomes "gender," which I consider a dodge, and c) when it involves children, and especially when they are giving drugs and performing surgery on minors.
There are two kinds of transvestites, again, most of whom (but not all) are heterosexual men. You see this among those who "transition" with hormones and surgery. They retain their sexual attraction to women, and as faux women they have caused havoc among lesbians, abusing the majority of lesbians who have no interest in these "transitioned" men.
Some of them wind up in relationships with those lesbians who are okay with it, but they have pretty much ruined what had always been a lesbian community that was much smaller than the gay male community, by vociferously demanding that they be seen as women when in fact they are not.
A side note: When Kinsey did his groundbreaking work on human sexuality starting in 1948, he observed that lesbians were half as numerous as homosexual men, which was borne out by the relative scarcity of lesbian organization and meeting places.
The other, and smaller, "trans" group consists of effeminate gay males. Along with classic female "tomboys," something that's much more common among girls, the "supportive" types will convince some of those feminine boys that they are "really" girls, which is one of the oldest anti-gay tropes in the book, and persuade some of those tomboys that that they are male.
This happens during adolescence, a confusing time for many if not most young people who are dealing with the normal challenges of sexual maturation. The "tomboys" are taught to be ashamed of themselves and their bodies, and the feminine boys are taught that they are defective and cannot be men because they don't conform to archetypal sex roles.
It's Orwellian, and deeply anti-gay, and is presented as somehow "compassionate," when in fact it is exactly the opposite. The "progressives" cannot listen to facts, reason, and real tolerance and compassion, and steer those kids into lives that don't fit and never did.
The worst of all, is that these new "identities" will be frozen in place by the drugs, which can be hazardous, and especially by actual surgery.
It is not "transphobic" to point all of this out, regardless of the abuse hurled at those who tell the truth. It is very complicated, and the "progressives" take advantage of the reluctance of most people to dive into the details.
If adults want to go through all of this, and if they pay for it out of pocket, I say it's a free country and they should be able to do it. But that doesn't mean that everyone else has to be silent and go along.
Below is a link to an article about the trans phenomenon and what it has done to lesbians, and how is it generally anti-gay. It ought to be half as long as it is, but it deserves to be read. It was originally published on Medium, before the "progressives" censored it.
https://suedonym.substack.com/p/the-elephant-in-the-room
Agreed. Great article. The LGB groups have been phenomenal in their pushback. I have so much respect for them and the great efforts of the women of Scotland,including JKR. Our vigilance must not waver.