It is a common assumption of the Trump era that America is undergoing a turbulent and protracted political realignment that could reverberate for decades.
Trump was a revolt against the Great Awokening, with its Orwellian speech codes and forbidden topics.
Like it or not, white people are still the biggest demographic in the US, and since more women than men identify as LGBTQ, straight white men are the biggest demographic in the US. And the Democratic Party's message to them is not welcoming, to put it mildly.
The democrats have a problem with men, and while they are doing yeoman's work getting politically motivated women out to the polls, they have reached the point of diminishing returns outside of solidly blue areas.
I don't think the militant feminist base of the Democratic Party is interested in extending an olive branch to this estranged demographic group, and that will be an obstacle.
Yup, and here in Seattle, a bunch of those women gather all the mail-in ballots in the house, including their husbands and their adult voting children, and they vote for all of them.
John Fetterman frequently reminds me why I used to both identify as and predominantly vote for Democrats. The fact that the modern Democratic Party views him as a heretic rather than a lodestar, is why I now predominantly vote for Republicans.
Not even wordy anti-Trump hit pieces seem likely to do much to raise the fortunes of Democrats.
On the matter of "disengagement," could it be that Americans have -- outside of the far Right and far Left political fringes -- largely just soured on the noise, the inanity and notably the inauthenticity of where our American politics is rapidly descending?
I wouldn't bet the farm on a Democratic midterm comeback, not with most eyes focused during the coming year on a party either hopelessly listless at sea, or anchored by a socialist/Left coalition that may see the real fight an intraparty one that further diminishes any Democratic hopes in 2026.
Americans are restless for change, to be sure, but change for the better, and change that best addresses their central concerns. To date, despite his stumbles, often self-inflicted, it's advantage Trump and, more broadly, the GOP on that score; not Democratic statism, much less socialism.
Trump's erratic, often idiotic policies and repulsive public personality offer Democrats a wide open gate to walk through to win in 2026 and 2028. The rule of thumb for them to start winning: stop damaging the party brand by being crazy. Let go of the extreme DEI nonsense; support secure borders and meaningful enforcement of immigration laws; stop the gratuitous bashing of men; forego all the "white supremacy" talk; stay compassionate toward people who are genuinely transgender without surrendering to transgender mania; support fair and effective policing and banish all defund the police chatter; discard the socialist utopian beliefs that will soon lead to conspicuous failures of government in NYC and Seattle.
A large percentage of Americans is worried about their financial prospects and fear being ruined by medical costs if a family member gets sick or injured. Most people still think America overall is a good but flawed country, not the root of all evil like the far Left of the Democratic party mostly believes. Stay sane and moderately liberal and the Trump coalition will scatter, including many to a revamped Democratic party.
The odds that Democrats will take my advice given who controls Democratic primaries? Nil.
"Trump's erratic, often idiotic policies and repulsive public personality"
One man's chaos is another's progress. biden had more chaos, he just refused to admit it and the people understand that makes him a bad leader. Trump's chaos today is mostly overshadowed by the Dems complete incoherent message or direction. To vote for a Dem now would be voting for even more chaos. However, the Dems chaos would result in nothing being done at all.
The charge against Trump of chaos by the Dems, beaten like a dead horse, didn't stop him from winning. Dems should take a hint from those facts.
biden's projection of order was nothing more than orchestrating a cover up of him and his administrations utter failure to do anything good to help the masses. And then telling you to not believe your lying eyes. Not to mention letting a totally incompetent and ineffective KJP to carry that message that everyone knew was false.
Does not your apt description of all the 'crazy' left policies belie your take on Trump's policies since he has the opposite stance of said 'crazy' left doctrine? I mean I agree with your take of the Dems ditching all that stuff, but like the author, I don't see how you can also conclude that Trump is also doing nothing but crazy things when he is trying to do the opposite of what you describe. Obviously, there are more policies to discuss, but I do find it interesting how hard it is for so many on the left to give any credit. At the very least wouldn't you conclude that it was good 'policy' when on day one Trump made it clear to our youth that there are only 2 sexes, that you cannot change sexes, and men should not be in women's spaces?
Though, I can understand, as I find it very difficult to point to anything Biden did as good for the country, policy wise, though I'm sure there are a few things.
I agree with Trump on opposing DEI nuttiness and transgender mania. I supported the air strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. I commend Trump's support for Israel. I favor a moderately conservative federal judiciary. I agree with sealing the southern border and most ICE activity. I oppose Trump's fiscal recklessness, a flaw shared by almost everyone in D.C. from both major parties.
I emphatically oppose Trump's major role in demeaning American political culture. Yes, there is much blame on the Left for often being as bad or worse (e.g. celebrating the murder of Charlie Kirk). Trump's abrasive personality hurts his ability to influence public opinion because he often proposes worthy policies in ways that repel most decent people, immigration policy being the most notable example when he implied that most illegal immigrants were criminals instead of correctly saying that they are economic refugees.
Dems might have bigger problems than the politics of fear. Trump, at age 80, is term limited by law and life. Lousy Dem policy has no expiration date, and it will not always have Trump to distract from massive failure.
Obscene Government spending spurring historic inflation. Even Bill Gates now admits, Dem near religious reverence for Green policy was mostly mania. Toss in the Border debacle. None were minor policy missteps.
Trillions in federal spending wasted, with little or nothing to show for it. Even Western Europe, long early converts to the Church of Green, are leaving the religion. The notion Trump polarized the electorate over immigration is laughable. Dems purposefully dissolving the Southern Border and ignoring decades of immigration law, polarized the electorate over immigration.
When the US had orderly, limited, vetted immigration, few on either side of the aisle ever gave the topic much thought. Than Dems waved in 10-12 million unvetted people, with no regard for immigration law, and without shelter or healthcare for them. Federal and state costs for migrant care under Biden are estimated to total roughly a 1/2 trillion dollars. A housing shortage became a housing emergency in many cities. Nor is there any reason to believe the next Dem WH will not immediately dissolve the Border again, at their first opportunity.
Trump is undoubtedly the Dem MVP, but Trump is neither eligible for another term, nor young. Dems desperately need a talented Quarterback and a totally new play book. Alas, training camp does not look overly promising.
I'm not sure when it was that orderly limited vetted immigration from the south was happening, certainly not before Saint Ronald's 3,000,000 person amnesty. From then until midway through the Obama years it was the Republicans who supported massive waves of low wage workers up across our southern border. Trump is the first of either party to say "stop". Both parties suck up to the donations of the corporate class.
I suspect the old guard is about to have a lot of turnover, retirements, in the near future.
Once the replacements come forward, predictions will come much easier. Continue to the left at their risk, and a high one at that.
Trump is losing some of his support but the Democrats aren't doing well to pick up those voters. If he adjusts and picks up a win or two, they'll be back quickly. And in any case, he's not running next round.
Many are making a big deal out of the recent election but that wasn't what many think. Those states were leaning Democrat or solid Democrat areas to begin with and planning a future around that result is risky at best.
Watch NYC because once the excitement dies down from his supporters you'll see reality set in. If it's anything but wildly positive (anyone taking bets on that one?), the whole party will get painted with that brush going forward. Also remember, he had no credible Republican opposition and only beat a clearly corrupt and discredited Cuomo, who gathered a losing but significant number of votes.
This is an Interesting.history of how the party got.into the hole in which they now find themselves. A missed point is that the last Democrat administration violated public trust.
The last administration campaigned on a moderate, middle of the road agenda. The majority of voters were horrified by the actual policies and damage that were implemented.. And the big policy initiatives the Biden administration and the Congress passed became the Republicans campaign issues; criminals flooding into the country making neighborhoods unsafe, making inflation the worst is 40 years, and wages not keeping up with the cost of living as “new Americans” flooded the labor market depressing wage rates.
Trust once lost can take decades of honesty to regain. Democrats may want to do great things, but who will vote for that, again, and be disappointed? Stop talking about Trump and start demanding Democrats heal their Achilles Heal, being untrustworthy.
This is an excellent point! But this would require a majority of Democratic primary voters to concede these points, which I see roughly zero indication of occuring anytime soon.
But worse, I don't think most Biden officials nor even most of his acutual supporters (before and up to his last damning debate with Trump that is) see him as having even betrayed public trust. Instead, they actually view him as having governed in a moderate manner and don't see the issue with immigration, -they see him as simply following the law and doing what he could under difficult circumstances. Most Democrats want much more immigration then the law now legally allows anyway, -especially working class immigration from Latin America and parts of Asia, and view this as common sense that all the resonable experts basically agree on, -even when they really don't.
What it comes down to, is that the majority of Dems are now pretty much either commited to throwing at least a third to half of the American public under the bus as irredeemable, and/or simply view that same number as ignorants to either shift to their point of view or else simply to disenfranchise, perhaps by way of new voters to their own side as well as their own gerrymandering, court packing etc etc. Thus both the authoritarian turn within the party but even more so to do everything they can to try to delagitamise and dismiss their GOP apponants along with everyone else outside their own nerrow world-view.
Yet many now finally are realizing that their own views on many issues may not be the majority after all (many others are STILL in denial/delusional about this however),and so are often deeply unsure of what to do about it..
Thus the tendency towards catastrophic thinking, but also that if they can just use Trump's and the GOP's deep flaws and internal conflicts against them, that they might actually soon vanquash MAGA for good even without majority support for their own program, and then can quickly take over for good, -irregardless of what any unhappy voters might think. And no, it likely would not remain a Democratic means of maintaining power for long... Then, they can have their own internal war or might even need to do themselves whatever their worst fears of Trump are with martial law, etc. to remain in power since after all, their IS no lagitimate alternative anymore, according to many of them in their own words....
And I say this as someone who has never voted for Trump and who does not wish I had. I also didn't vote for Biden or Harris either.
All this might seem conspiratorial, but based on the evidence Iv'e seen in recent years, I see good reason to believe that this is an existential danger we now face as a country. (Eddited for typos and to add an additional point)
As usual there are so many topics covered in a Vassallo essay that by the time I finish reading I'm wanting to comment on things far removed from the question in the title. The title however does corral all those errant political deviations into a theme.
The realignment is here, and it will be hard to budge. There's a mixing and a sorting, and many of both parties are feeling unanchored. Listen to the pro free trade and open border libertarians on the right, they win on taxes but for how long, and what of health care. Absorbing the working class can lead to indigestion.
On the political tribes quiz over the weekend I placed almost exactly as TLP did, except my dot was red. The quiz called me a Republican Populist. The color perhaps determined more by my vote than any difference in perspective from the Labor Party where TLP landed.
Hear, hear Ban nock! Mr. Vassallo hits you with much to think about it, I'll give him that. But, then he says something like this, "Trump’s steady disengagement from any positive ideas resembling “America First” gives Democrats a fresh opportunity to reframe the terrain of conflict."
To Mr. Vassallo, apparently, it's not positive or putting America first when you try to reverse so many inherently, grossly, IMO, unfair Dem policies (An immigration policy that was unfair to those that came here legally; A student loan forgiveness policy that was unfair to those that paid off their obligations; A mandatory C-19 shot policy to the armed forces that was unfair to those that lost their jobs for simply questioning an experimental shot that had and still has so many red flags; A trans policy that was incredibly unfair to girls and women who simply wanted to compete on a fair playing field and not have to feel uncomfortable in their locker rooms; An 'authoritarian' social media policy unfair to anyone without the 'correct' political views (see Google's admission of censorship at the behest of the last administration), and there is more. . .)
I think the covid vaccine was one of Trump's biggest accomplishments of his first term. He didn't develop it himself but he pulled out all the stops to get it done. I tell my kids electricity is only a theory but germ theory is pretty firmly established.
If I had to list the places Trump has left the US behind I guess it would be in large reductions of funding for research and discouraging foreign students from coming here. The important research far outweighed the studies of nutty things. A lot of those foreign students stay and make great contributions to our country.
For many government agencies he's thrown the baby out with the bathwater. Some oversight is good.
Doing nothing about the debt other than increase it. Someone needs to tell people there might be free lunch for school kids but there is no free lunch with the debt.
Tariffs seem haphazard and arbitrary but this administration knows a lot more about it than I do. So far the downsides have seemed very minimal. Trump still has 3 years, he can get a lot done though it seems the media is pulling out all the stops in vilifying him and his policies.
I'm hoping that Trump and congress pass legislation. Trump gets his policies on firmer footing and congress can get some moderation. I try not to second guess things like immigration. Too often it turns out Trump's folks did have a plan and things worked out. I worry that corporate America will put a lot of pressure to import low wage workers if wages do go up. Rents are down across the country, 8% in my metro.
Vassallo thinks that in order for Democrats "to do great things" they must connect with "left-behind communities." The overarching goal "to do great things" is the real issues concerning today's version of liberalism, since it embodies the conceit that government is the instrument through which cultural and economic advances and prosperity are to be achieved. Mamdani reflected this ideology perfectly in his acceptance speech, when his said "there is no problem too large for government to solve." The obvious problem with this political philosophy is that unbridled government does the opposite - it burdens the economy and economic growth through wide-ranging regulations, bureaucratic red tape, taxation, and subsidies, just as it burdens community life and individual liberty via top-down commands. This is the argument we should have. Today's liberal ideology (focused on government intervention and solutions and group rights and equity) and today's conservatism (centered largely around free market solutions, deregulation, individual liberty, and community safety) offer two very different visions for the American public. Let's dispense with who appeals to which group of Americans. Let's have an up-front debate between progressivism and conservatism. Progressives should select their champion in 2028, who should present an honest, full-throated argument in support of progressivism (avoiding the tactical temptation to appear "moderate"). Conservatives should do the same and select someone who unapologetically advances conservative economic and governing principles. All the discourse about appealing to the working class, or young voters, or men, or single women are simply tactical debates. Let's get to the real ideological debate.
"We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about." The 'no concern too small' is scary to me.
Good comments, and I would add, let these two candidates from both sides loudly and Boldy proclaim if they follow in the footsteps of our 'God fearing' founders with their faith or if they do not believe in our Creator. It would be my sincere hope, that like many, many elections in the past, both sides followed the former.
Ironically the writer writes about one potential candidate for 2028 when Trump is gone.
The second issue being, this is just another article that can't fathom the true thought process of those of us who voted for Trump, also known as voting against biden and the Dems socialists base running the party.
I'll admit I didn't read much of the article, suffice it to say, the Republican bench of contenders is deep. The Dems took their bench out of the ball park since they couldn't find any reasonably electable leaders in the ballpark.
The issues the Dems face have nothing to do with anything outside the party. The two problems, seeming insurmountable, barriers at this time, policies and leaders. Solve the problems without factoring in Trump, but factoring in Independents and the minorities they ran out of the party, because those are the voters who can solve the Dem's problem of becoming perpetual losers.
Trump was a revolt against the Great Awokening, with its Orwellian speech codes and forbidden topics.
Like it or not, white people are still the biggest demographic in the US, and since more women than men identify as LGBTQ, straight white men are the biggest demographic in the US. And the Democratic Party's message to them is not welcoming, to put it mildly.
The democrats have a problem with men, and while they are doing yeoman's work getting politically motivated women out to the polls, they have reached the point of diminishing returns outside of solidly blue areas.
I don't think the militant feminist base of the Democratic Party is interested in extending an olive branch to this estranged demographic group, and that will be an obstacle.
The Democrats should seriously consider changing their mascot from the donkey to the Karen.
If I had to condense the entire left into one image, it would be Jennifer Welch.
Yup, and here in Seattle, a bunch of those women gather all the mail-in ballots in the house, including their husbands and their adult voting children, and they vote for all of them.
John Fetterman frequently reminds me why I used to both identify as and predominantly vote for Democrats. The fact that the modern Democratic Party views him as a heretic rather than a lodestar, is why I now predominantly vote for Republicans.
Not even wordy anti-Trump hit pieces seem likely to do much to raise the fortunes of Democrats.
On the matter of "disengagement," could it be that Americans have -- outside of the far Right and far Left political fringes -- largely just soured on the noise, the inanity and notably the inauthenticity of where our American politics is rapidly descending?
I wouldn't bet the farm on a Democratic midterm comeback, not with most eyes focused during the coming year on a party either hopelessly listless at sea, or anchored by a socialist/Left coalition that may see the real fight an intraparty one that further diminishes any Democratic hopes in 2026.
Americans are restless for change, to be sure, but change for the better, and change that best addresses their central concerns. To date, despite his stumbles, often self-inflicted, it's advantage Trump and, more broadly, the GOP on that score; not Democratic statism, much less socialism.
Trump's erratic, often idiotic policies and repulsive public personality offer Democrats a wide open gate to walk through to win in 2026 and 2028. The rule of thumb for them to start winning: stop damaging the party brand by being crazy. Let go of the extreme DEI nonsense; support secure borders and meaningful enforcement of immigration laws; stop the gratuitous bashing of men; forego all the "white supremacy" talk; stay compassionate toward people who are genuinely transgender without surrendering to transgender mania; support fair and effective policing and banish all defund the police chatter; discard the socialist utopian beliefs that will soon lead to conspicuous failures of government in NYC and Seattle.
A large percentage of Americans is worried about their financial prospects and fear being ruined by medical costs if a family member gets sick or injured. Most people still think America overall is a good but flawed country, not the root of all evil like the far Left of the Democratic party mostly believes. Stay sane and moderately liberal and the Trump coalition will scatter, including many to a revamped Democratic party.
The odds that Democrats will take my advice given who controls Democratic primaries? Nil.
"Trump's erratic, often idiotic policies and repulsive public personality"
One man's chaos is another's progress. biden had more chaos, he just refused to admit it and the people understand that makes him a bad leader. Trump's chaos today is mostly overshadowed by the Dems complete incoherent message or direction. To vote for a Dem now would be voting for even more chaos. However, the Dems chaos would result in nothing being done at all.
The charge against Trump of chaos by the Dems, beaten like a dead horse, didn't stop him from winning. Dems should take a hint from those facts.
biden's projection of order was nothing more than orchestrating a cover up of him and his administrations utter failure to do anything good to help the masses. And then telling you to not believe your lying eyes. Not to mention letting a totally incompetent and ineffective KJP to carry that message that everyone knew was false.
Does not your apt description of all the 'crazy' left policies belie your take on Trump's policies since he has the opposite stance of said 'crazy' left doctrine? I mean I agree with your take of the Dems ditching all that stuff, but like the author, I don't see how you can also conclude that Trump is also doing nothing but crazy things when he is trying to do the opposite of what you describe. Obviously, there are more policies to discuss, but I do find it interesting how hard it is for so many on the left to give any credit. At the very least wouldn't you conclude that it was good 'policy' when on day one Trump made it clear to our youth that there are only 2 sexes, that you cannot change sexes, and men should not be in women's spaces?
Though, I can understand, as I find it very difficult to point to anything Biden did as good for the country, policy wise, though I'm sure there are a few things.
I agree with Trump on opposing DEI nuttiness and transgender mania. I supported the air strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. I commend Trump's support for Israel. I favor a moderately conservative federal judiciary. I agree with sealing the southern border and most ICE activity. I oppose Trump's fiscal recklessness, a flaw shared by almost everyone in D.C. from both major parties.
I emphatically oppose Trump's major role in demeaning American political culture. Yes, there is much blame on the Left for often being as bad or worse (e.g. celebrating the murder of Charlie Kirk). Trump's abrasive personality hurts his ability to influence public opinion because he often proposes worthy policies in ways that repel most decent people, immigration policy being the most notable example when he implied that most illegal immigrants were criminals instead of correctly saying that they are economic refugees.
Dems might have bigger problems than the politics of fear. Trump, at age 80, is term limited by law and life. Lousy Dem policy has no expiration date, and it will not always have Trump to distract from massive failure.
Obscene Government spending spurring historic inflation. Even Bill Gates now admits, Dem near religious reverence for Green policy was mostly mania. Toss in the Border debacle. None were minor policy missteps.
Trillions in federal spending wasted, with little or nothing to show for it. Even Western Europe, long early converts to the Church of Green, are leaving the religion. The notion Trump polarized the electorate over immigration is laughable. Dems purposefully dissolving the Southern Border and ignoring decades of immigration law, polarized the electorate over immigration.
When the US had orderly, limited, vetted immigration, few on either side of the aisle ever gave the topic much thought. Than Dems waved in 10-12 million unvetted people, with no regard for immigration law, and without shelter or healthcare for them. Federal and state costs for migrant care under Biden are estimated to total roughly a 1/2 trillion dollars. A housing shortage became a housing emergency in many cities. Nor is there any reason to believe the next Dem WH will not immediately dissolve the Border again, at their first opportunity.
Trump is undoubtedly the Dem MVP, but Trump is neither eligible for another term, nor young. Dems desperately need a talented Quarterback and a totally new play book. Alas, training camp does not look overly promising.
I'm not sure when it was that orderly limited vetted immigration from the south was happening, certainly not before Saint Ronald's 3,000,000 person amnesty. From then until midway through the Obama years it was the Republicans who supported massive waves of low wage workers up across our southern border. Trump is the first of either party to say "stop". Both parties suck up to the donations of the corporate class.
I suspect the old guard is about to have a lot of turnover, retirements, in the near future.
Once the replacements come forward, predictions will come much easier. Continue to the left at their risk, and a high one at that.
Trump is losing some of his support but the Democrats aren't doing well to pick up those voters. If he adjusts and picks up a win or two, they'll be back quickly. And in any case, he's not running next round.
Many are making a big deal out of the recent election but that wasn't what many think. Those states were leaning Democrat or solid Democrat areas to begin with and planning a future around that result is risky at best.
Watch NYC because once the excitement dies down from his supporters you'll see reality set in. If it's anything but wildly positive (anyone taking bets on that one?), the whole party will get painted with that brush going forward. Also remember, he had no credible Republican opposition and only beat a clearly corrupt and discredited Cuomo, who gathered a losing but significant number of votes.
This is an Interesting.history of how the party got.into the hole in which they now find themselves. A missed point is that the last Democrat administration violated public trust.
The last administration campaigned on a moderate, middle of the road agenda. The majority of voters were horrified by the actual policies and damage that were implemented.. And the big policy initiatives the Biden administration and the Congress passed became the Republicans campaign issues; criminals flooding into the country making neighborhoods unsafe, making inflation the worst is 40 years, and wages not keeping up with the cost of living as “new Americans” flooded the labor market depressing wage rates.
Trust once lost can take decades of honesty to regain. Democrats may want to do great things, but who will vote for that, again, and be disappointed? Stop talking about Trump and start demanding Democrats heal their Achilles Heal, being untrustworthy.
This is an excellent point! But this would require a majority of Democratic primary voters to concede these points, which I see roughly zero indication of occuring anytime soon.
But worse, I don't think most Biden officials nor even most of his acutual supporters (before and up to his last damning debate with Trump that is) see him as having even betrayed public trust. Instead, they actually view him as having governed in a moderate manner and don't see the issue with immigration, -they see him as simply following the law and doing what he could under difficult circumstances. Most Democrats want much more immigration then the law now legally allows anyway, -especially working class immigration from Latin America and parts of Asia, and view this as common sense that all the resonable experts basically agree on, -even when they really don't.
What it comes down to, is that the majority of Dems are now pretty much either commited to throwing at least a third to half of the American public under the bus as irredeemable, and/or simply view that same number as ignorants to either shift to their point of view or else simply to disenfranchise, perhaps by way of new voters to their own side as well as their own gerrymandering, court packing etc etc. Thus both the authoritarian turn within the party but even more so to do everything they can to try to delagitamise and dismiss their GOP apponants along with everyone else outside their own nerrow world-view.
Yet many now finally are realizing that their own views on many issues may not be the majority after all (many others are STILL in denial/delusional about this however),and so are often deeply unsure of what to do about it..
Thus the tendency towards catastrophic thinking, but also that if they can just use Trump's and the GOP's deep flaws and internal conflicts against them, that they might actually soon vanquash MAGA for good even without majority support for their own program, and then can quickly take over for good, -irregardless of what any unhappy voters might think. And no, it likely would not remain a Democratic means of maintaining power for long... Then, they can have their own internal war or might even need to do themselves whatever their worst fears of Trump are with martial law, etc. to remain in power since after all, their IS no lagitimate alternative anymore, according to many of them in their own words....
And I say this as someone who has never voted for Trump and who does not wish I had. I also didn't vote for Biden or Harris either.
All this might seem conspiratorial, but based on the evidence Iv'e seen in recent years, I see good reason to believe that this is an existential danger we now face as a country. (Eddited for typos and to add an additional point)
As usual there are so many topics covered in a Vassallo essay that by the time I finish reading I'm wanting to comment on things far removed from the question in the title. The title however does corral all those errant political deviations into a theme.
The realignment is here, and it will be hard to budge. There's a mixing and a sorting, and many of both parties are feeling unanchored. Listen to the pro free trade and open border libertarians on the right, they win on taxes but for how long, and what of health care. Absorbing the working class can lead to indigestion.
On the political tribes quiz over the weekend I placed almost exactly as TLP did, except my dot was red. The quiz called me a Republican Populist. The color perhaps determined more by my vote than any difference in perspective from the Labor Party where TLP landed.
Hear, hear Ban nock! Mr. Vassallo hits you with much to think about it, I'll give him that. But, then he says something like this, "Trump’s steady disengagement from any positive ideas resembling “America First” gives Democrats a fresh opportunity to reframe the terrain of conflict."
To Mr. Vassallo, apparently, it's not positive or putting America first when you try to reverse so many inherently, grossly, IMO, unfair Dem policies (An immigration policy that was unfair to those that came here legally; A student loan forgiveness policy that was unfair to those that paid off their obligations; A mandatory C-19 shot policy to the armed forces that was unfair to those that lost their jobs for simply questioning an experimental shot that had and still has so many red flags; A trans policy that was incredibly unfair to girls and women who simply wanted to compete on a fair playing field and not have to feel uncomfortable in their locker rooms; An 'authoritarian' social media policy unfair to anyone without the 'correct' political views (see Google's admission of censorship at the behest of the last administration), and there is more. . .)
I think the covid vaccine was one of Trump's biggest accomplishments of his first term. He didn't develop it himself but he pulled out all the stops to get it done. I tell my kids electricity is only a theory but germ theory is pretty firmly established.
If I had to list the places Trump has left the US behind I guess it would be in large reductions of funding for research and discouraging foreign students from coming here. The important research far outweighed the studies of nutty things. A lot of those foreign students stay and make great contributions to our country.
For many government agencies he's thrown the baby out with the bathwater. Some oversight is good.
Doing nothing about the debt other than increase it. Someone needs to tell people there might be free lunch for school kids but there is no free lunch with the debt.
Tariffs seem haphazard and arbitrary but this administration knows a lot more about it than I do. So far the downsides have seemed very minimal. Trump still has 3 years, he can get a lot done though it seems the media is pulling out all the stops in vilifying him and his policies.
I'm hoping that Trump and congress pass legislation. Trump gets his policies on firmer footing and congress can get some moderation. I try not to second guess things like immigration. Too often it turns out Trump's folks did have a plan and things worked out. I worry that corporate America will put a lot of pressure to import low wage workers if wages do go up. Rents are down across the country, 8% in my metro.
Vassallo thinks that in order for Democrats "to do great things" they must connect with "left-behind communities." The overarching goal "to do great things" is the real issues concerning today's version of liberalism, since it embodies the conceit that government is the instrument through which cultural and economic advances and prosperity are to be achieved. Mamdani reflected this ideology perfectly in his acceptance speech, when his said "there is no problem too large for government to solve." The obvious problem with this political philosophy is that unbridled government does the opposite - it burdens the economy and economic growth through wide-ranging regulations, bureaucratic red tape, taxation, and subsidies, just as it burdens community life and individual liberty via top-down commands. This is the argument we should have. Today's liberal ideology (focused on government intervention and solutions and group rights and equity) and today's conservatism (centered largely around free market solutions, deregulation, individual liberty, and community safety) offer two very different visions for the American public. Let's dispense with who appeals to which group of Americans. Let's have an up-front debate between progressivism and conservatism. Progressives should select their champion in 2028, who should present an honest, full-throated argument in support of progressivism (avoiding the tactical temptation to appear "moderate"). Conservatives should do the same and select someone who unapologetically advances conservative economic and governing principles. All the discourse about appealing to the working class, or young voters, or men, or single women are simply tactical debates. Let's get to the real ideological debate.
"We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about." The 'no concern too small' is scary to me.
Good comments, and I would add, let these two candidates from both sides loudly and Boldy proclaim if they follow in the footsteps of our 'God fearing' founders with their faith or if they do not believe in our Creator. It would be my sincere hope, that like many, many elections in the past, both sides followed the former.
Ironically the writer writes about one potential candidate for 2028 when Trump is gone.
The second issue being, this is just another article that can't fathom the true thought process of those of us who voted for Trump, also known as voting against biden and the Dems socialists base running the party.
I'll admit I didn't read much of the article, suffice it to say, the Republican bench of contenders is deep. The Dems took their bench out of the ball park since they couldn't find any reasonably electable leaders in the ballpark.
The issues the Dems face have nothing to do with anything outside the party. The two problems, seeming insurmountable, barriers at this time, policies and leaders. Solve the problems without factoring in Trump, but factoring in Independents and the minorities they ran out of the party, because those are the voters who can solve the Dem's problem of becoming perpetual losers.