Democrats need to escape identity politics | The Seattle Times
by David Horsey
Just as Republicans find their most loyal voters among conservative Christians, militant gun owners and billionaires who want to hoard their fortunes, the Democratic Party has long depended on Black, Latino and Asian voters to give them an edge. But that may be changing.
Latinos, in particular, are shifting in significant numbers toward the GOP. A large share of these voters are working class folks and, like white working class voters, many have bought into the very dubious notion that Republicans have their best interests in mind.
There is the fact, too, that this overwhelmingly Catholic ethnic group is much more socially conservative than the progressive activists who are monopolizing the Democratic Party agenda. Among Black voters, as well, one finds far more churchgoers than in the Left Coast cities and university faculty lounges, and many are not buying what the activists are selling.
What about Asians? There is no group as negatively impacted — at least in their own perception — as Asians when it comes to affirmative action programs and efforts to open up more university slots to underrepresented students. They fear their own high-achieving kids will be bumped out to make way for someone else.
Small business owners and entrepreneurs in the South Asian communities may well take offense at the anti-capitalist rhetoric of the Left. And the new dogma in the academic world that divides everyone into two antagonistic groups — colonialist oppressors versus the virtuous oppressed — also may not ring true for a big share of non-white voters who see the world in more nuanced ways.
Which is all to say that Democrats need to escape from the social theorists, the activists and one-dimensional identity politics. Democratic politicians should not think they can continue to stand up at a national convention and rattle off a list of groups — Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Indigenous, gay, lesbian, trans, yadda, yadda, yadda. — and think they have given a speech that says anything at all to these very distinct human beings.
The more diverse this nation becomes, the more complex it will be. Political campaigners will not find it easy to categorize people and superficially assume they know what those people care about. The biggest surging cohort in our citizenry is mixed race individuals. Will they be Democrats or Republicans? The answer is both and neither. They will be what they will be and they are quite unlikely to find common cause with each other as a predictable voting bloc.
Those who want to box Americans into tidy, monolithic racial or ethnic groups are swimming against the tide. Democrats should stop listening to the shrill voices of activists and start listening to the actual voters themselves.
Horsey’s ‘toon illustrating his op ed:
your daily colbert night before
An alarming number of Americans believe violence can solve our political divisions, the oldest man in the world has passed away, and a man in Oregon has a near miss with a giant runaway saw blade.
and kimmel singing some of the same songs:
Donald Trump has had not one but three different judges rule against him in three different cases, April 15th is the first time in history a former president will be held accountable for cheating on his taxes and his wife on the same day, Trump reportedly kept classified documents everywhere, he has been shamelessly trying to exploit the murder of a young woman in Michigan, Roseanne Barr headlined a star-studded fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago, Republicans are complaining about crazy stuff, there was a ceremony to mark the official opening of the Olympic pool, the Fox 59 team in Indianapolis won this week’s award for “Excellence in Reporting,” one of the biggest heists in history happened in Los Angeles over Easter weekend and we have the perpetrator in our studio, and we ask young people on Hollywood Blvd to complete a simple task – send a letter to Mom.
but seriously, folks, back to reaching out to the voters out there and what’s resonating with some who usually vote on the other side:
An American sniper in Ukraine said GOP moves to block vital aid are making him rethink supporting the party (msn.com)
No need to complicate things:
Republicans want to turn teenagers into mothers and mothers into criminals, support unfettered gun access for every psychopath, refuse to pass a border bill, and would hand “the nuclear codes” to an unhinged madman
vote blue, bring a friend
Too many people approved the carnage he brought and want more of it.
Succinct Bink
Israeli military fires two senior officers as report finds strike on aid workers was in ‘serious violation of commands’ (msn.com)
Although slippage with non-white voters is concerning for Democrats, don’t sacrifice the reason Biden succeeds: Joe from Scranton does better among white working class than most Dems. He doesn’t win them, but you don’t have to. Just a few points better in key states makes the difference. Also, more older voters are trending toward Biden since 2020, and his numbers are up with college educated voters.
There is definitely some realignment going on, but it’s not all bad for Dems.
O’ Berman plays with polls.
A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: On January 15th the Biden Campaign let loose the results of its internal polling. They insisted, at what was for them the nadir of the campaign, that there would be an O.S.M.… an oh-spit-moment… only they didn’t say spit… at which point the undecideds who had convinced themselves that Trump would NOT be the Republican nominee and thus they would have a different alternative, would realize Trump HAD GOTTEN the Republican nomination and… oh spit. And all the undecideds would break to Biden.
New Marquette Law School Poll, among likely voters: Biden 52 Trump 48. Likely Voters. The Marquette Law School Poll, February 15? Marquette Law School Poll: Likely Voters, TRUMP 52 Biden 48.
An eight point swing in 43 days. Oh spit!
Ditto what Bink said.
Add to that the talk of taking away a woman’s right to vote…and a new candidate for men to vote for all until Adolf clutches his chest and tips over, and then hand-picked ~candidates~ who will to the white nationalist line.
ps – I had a dream about the trail last night. Craig had us hand write something about the nature of others, in pencil, and read it aloud.
Craig left while we were writing, and came back in a small, square-ish, champagne-colored convertible, slowly leading a horse which we fed magnolia-sized anemones (like poppies, but a washed out pink and beige) that were growing on a tree.
Then everyone was to read their work aloud, and everyone had written so much more than I. Mine was mostly drawings and a few words about how humans are inherently hoarders. Greed is a survival mechanism gone rogue.
Hohoho….i remember dropping out of a philosophy class one time because I didn’t want to read a paper aloud. It was that and also that I didn’t like the prof…an ex-baptist minister. I figured once a Baptist minister always a Baptist minister. I think I was right about that part, and I had already read way past what he was dishing out. But basically, I chickened out on the reading part. lol
So, Dumbass got 3 NOs from 3 different judges yesterday, Joe got some movement out of Bibi yesterday, IDF admitted they fucked up with the WCK attack, and Dumbass continues to swindle the flock – in Nasdaq (down another 7% thus far today – down 40% since IPO) and in his Green Bay rally (Dana Milbank).
Texas Panhandle. Not much here.
Sturg, what’s with former Baptist ministers teaching philosophy? I had one of those in college – guy named Bill McMinn – and at least in his case unless borderline alcoholism (one of the Chukker’s best customers) and vocal sacrilege (“Dog is just god spelled backward”) are Baptist minister traits, he didn’t fall into the ‘once one, always one’ basket. And he was without a doubt one of the most intelligent profs I ever had. I think you’d have liked Bill.
Longhorns
Earthquake reported outside New York City; tremors felt in multiple states – The Washington Post
new from the atlantic
How Trump Is Fracturing Minority Communities (msn.com)
The most succinct explanation for how Republicans expect Donald Trump to win in November may have come from, of all people, the firebrand Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida.
“What I can tell you,” Gaetz said earlier this year, “is for every Karen we lose, there’s a Julio and Jamal ready to sign up for the MAGA movement.”
What Gaetz is saying, in his somewhat stereotypical racial shorthand, is that even if Trump alienates a growing number of well-educated white women (“Karen”), he can overcome those losses by attracting more blue-collar, nonwhite men (“Julio and Jamal”).
Even most Democrats agree that Trump appears positioned to gain ground this year among Black and Latino men without a college degree—groups that already moved in his direction from 2016 to 2020, according to studies of the vote such as the analysis of the results released by Catalist, a Democratic voter-targeting firm. And even many Republicans acknowledge that Trump in 2024 could face an even bigger deficit among college-educated white women, who already voted against him in larger numbers in 2020 than in 2016, according to those same studies.
Those offsetting movements among white women with a college degree and nonwhite men without one point toward the shifting demographic dynamics that could settle the rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden.
The differences in political allegiance across racial groups has long been one of the central divides in American elections, and it will remain crucial in 2024. But the differences within each racial group along the lines of education and gender may prove at least as important this year.
For Trump, the most likely path to victory in 2024 is maximizing his support among voters without a college degree, especially men, in every racial group. Victory for Biden will likely require him to maximize his backing among voters with a four-year degree or more, especially women, in each racial group.
Early polling about the 2024 presidential race mostly shows a continuation of the complex interplay between race, education, and gender that has reshaped the two parties’ coalitions over the past generation.
[…]
Biden’s support is drooping in these surveys among nonwhite voters of almost every description. But detailed results from the most recent New York Times/Siena College poll show that, among minority voters, Biden now faces the greatest vulnerability with the same group that is toughest for him among white people: men without a college degree. That survey, released early in March, found Trump, stunningly, running even with Biden among those blue-collar nonwhite men, according to the results provided by Don Levy, the director of the Siena Research Institute, which conducts the poll.
In that same poll, only one in seven nonwhite men without a degree said that Biden’s policies had helped them personally, while more than one in three said his policies had hurt them. For Trump, the proportions were reversed: More than one in three of those men said his policies had helped them, while only about one in seven said they had been hurt by his agenda.
Like many Democratic strategists, the longtime party consultant Chuck Rocha believes that Biden risks losing ground among blue-collar, nonwhite men, especially those who are younger to early middle age. “I’ve never seen more of a disconnect when I do focus groups of people who don’t give him credit for any of that shit he’s done,” Rocha told me. “He gets no credit with nobody.”
If Biden can hold his losses among nonwhite voters primarily to men without a college degree, Democrats would likely breathe a sigh of relief. That’s because those men cast less than 9 percent of all votes in 2020, according to calculations from census data by William Frey, a demographer at Brookings Metro, shared exclusively with The Atlantic. Partly because their turnout is so low, they are not a rapidly growing group in the electorate: Frey projects that only about 500,000 more of those noncollege, nonwhite men will vote in 2024 than 2020.
Biden will face much greater risk if Trump can extend his gains to other segments of the nonwhite community. Polls now suggest that’s possible.
[longish article continues]
Just figured out how Fox will blame Biden for the earthquake. The influx of migrants changed the weight balance.
Trump tanking again on Wall ST
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trumps-stock-price-plunge-has-cost-him-this-much-money-1887357
“On Tuesday a petition was launched on the Care2 website calling for authorities to “investigate whether Trump should be charged with securities fraud for the Truth Social stock crash.”
Remember, all of this ~money~ of tRUMPsky’s is on paper only. Like everything with him, it’s a fiction.
I love this Biden campaign response today to Trump’s blustering for a debate:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/05/media/elon-musk-blue-checkmarks-x-reversal/index.html
“Elon Musk has given up, restoring the “lords and peasants” blue checkmark system he once admonished and assailed as elitism.”
“After insisting that journalists, celebrities and other notable users pay him $8 a month for Twitter’s once-coveted blue checkmark, the erratic billionaire has thrown in the towel, widely restoring blue badges to prominent accounts on the imperiled social media platform.”
“The move is a major reversal by Musk, who made user payments for the blue checkmark a central tenet of his plan to build a subscription business on X and reduce the platform’s heavy dependency on advertiser dollars. “Trash me all day, but it’ll cost $8,” Musk insisted, endlessly repeating a version of that message to the vocal and constant complaints of users.”
He should try selling Bibles.
This is an old Pat Robertson routine
Well she won’t have to worry about eclipses for much longer. (WaPo)
And she could start the repentance trip by shutting the hell up and stop with the lies.
My god what a stupid woman.
To be a grown up and still think there’s ANYONE who will believe hat kind of crap.
Besides her ignorant snake-handling base, that is.
Real people here in Texas are still good of heart.
Still…
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dulles-airport-donald-trump-house-bill/
“House Republicans launch longshot effort to rename Dulles Airport to honor Donald Trump”
Dullard’s Airport
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/democratic-congressmen-unveil-bill-rename-federal-prison-trump-rcna146588
“Democratic congressmen unveil bill to rename a federal prison after Trump”
Mar-A-Lockup
Hitch-hiking is no way to escape inmates.
Speaking of eclipses, Monday viewing location is going to be a snap decision based upon how far east the next front making its way across the country gets by then. Dayton is looking pretty good presently. We’re presently getting a sleet shower. Spring in East Bumfuck very predictable – predict anything and wait long enough and you will have been right.
If those naming bills have to go through the Senate you’ll still be flying into and out of Dulles and Federal prisoners in Miami may be housed in DJTFCI.
MTG should feel right at home if it starts raining frogs. They can compare webbed feet.
I hope they have a towel and the Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy. One must avoid Volgon poetry at all costs.
Oh, is it towel day?
Alexandra Petri on MTG and omens of things to come.
Towel Day is Saturday, May 25 this year.
Gather fellow fans and throw an epic party inspired by “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” Decorate with petunias (because they’re the only flower that can say “I’m sorry” in several languages) and signs that remind people not to panic. Serve Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters (the most potent drink in the universe), lots of fish (because dolphins are wise), and tea (because it’s always tea time). And don’t forget to regale your guests with some delightfully bad poetry—hopefully not as bad as Vogon poetry!
i gave a copy of Hitchhiker’s to a Gen Z person and they “couldn’t get through it”. Needed a towel into which to cry
Bink
They probably an answer along the lines of 42
Someone needs to keep Reschethaler’s liquor cabinet locked.
Jamie: Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy! My Millennial-aged kid loved that book. Best third grade book report ever. Never had more fun for an A, but not sure the teacher got the gist of it.
That is a real sign in Middle-of-Nowhere, Texas between Dalhart and Abilene.
(Long walk in red-striped shirt and pants.)
Holy ——, that is the shittiest stock performance i’ve ever seen, NASDAQ is going to have to delist it, bringing down the whole index 😆
Whose wheels were greased to even get it listed in the first place???
A pillar of American economic strength is reliable and transparent securities industry, they’re letting this doofus undermine trillions of dollars of wealth, won’t end well
My favorite news person has her take on the supernatural as seen by magats (she does not say it, I do)
Space-laser Barbie is pandering to evangelicals. I think she knows that this eclipse was on the schedule for a loooooong time, and that anything happening in the world that she disagrees with is not what will cause the moon to briefly block the sun.
It’s looking cloudier and rainier with each day’s weather forecast.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-media-stock-price-truth-social-djt/
“For the week, Trump Media shares slid more than 32%. The company, which operates Trump’s Truth Social platform, has lost roughly $4 billion in market value over that stretch.”
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/05/texas-supreme-court-justice-john-devine-2024-election/
“Texas Supreme Court justice implies Democrats will cheat in 2024 election”
“Do you really think the Democrats are going to roll over and let Trump be president again?” Devine asked in a keynote speech at the Texas Tea Party Republican Women’s 2023 Christmas event. “You think they’re just going to go away, all of a sudden find Jesus and [there will] be an honest election? I don’t think so.”
“Devine is a former anti-abortion activist who claims that church-state separation is a myth and, as a state district judge in Harris County in the 1990s, fought to have a copy of the Ten Commandments posted in his courtroom. In his successful 2012 campaign for the Texas Supreme Court, he claimed to have been arrested 37 times at anti-abortion protests in the 1980s, and has since been a reliable ally of conservative, Christian voters in the state.”
“Devine narrowly survived a GOP primary challenge last month that centered around his ethics, and now faces state district court Judge Christine Vinh Weems, a Democrat, in the November general election.”
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/04/tim-dunn-joe-straus-christian-texas/
“Former Texas House Speaker Joe Straus said on Thursday that Midland oil magnate Tim Dunn, one of the state’s most powerful and influential GOP megadonors, once told him that only Christians should hold leadership positions in the lower chamber.”
“Straus’ confirmation of the comments comes as Dunn’s political empire continues to face scrutiny for its ties to avowed white supremacists and antisemites. In October, The Texas Tribune reportedthat Jonathan Stickland, the then-leader of Dunn’s most powerful political action committee, hosted prominent white supremacist and Adolf Hitler admirer Nick Fuentes at his office for nearly seven hours. The Tribune subsequently uncovered close tiesbetween numerous other Fuentes associates and Defend Texas Liberty, the PAC that Stickland led until he was quietly replaced last year.”
“The reporting prompted Speaker Dade Phelan and 60 other House Republicans to call for the Texas GOP to cut ties with Defend Texas Liberty and Stickland. Dunn has not publicly commented on the matter, though Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Dunn “told me unequivocally that it was a serious blunder” for Stickland to meet with Fuentes. Patrick added that Dunn had assured him his political action committee and its employees would have no “future contact” with Fuentes.”
Too late.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-spotify-playlist-favourite-songs-b2523868.html
“According to a new report by Axios, Mr Trump likes to play DJ at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida, running his Spotify playlist from his iPad whenever he’s at home and cranking out his favourite anthems at high volume to the delight of his wealthy courtiers.”
Here’s a rundown of some of the key tracks on Mr Trump’s playlist – some of which may surprise while others will definitely not:
Sinead O’Connor – ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’
Metallica – ‘Enter Sandman’
R.E.M. – ‘Losing My Religion’
Elton John – ‘Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding’
‘The Phantom of the Opera’ from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera
‘Superstar’ from Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar
Elvis Presley – ‘Suspicious Minds’
Lionel Ritchie – ‘Hello’
Guns N’ Roses – ‘November Rain’
James Brown and Luciano Pavarotti – ‘It’s a Man’s World – Live’
Frank Sinatra – ‘My Way’
Johnny Cash – ‘Ring of Fire’
The Rolling Stones – ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’
“The above playlist makes an interesting contrast with Mr Trump’s campaign rallies, where he has been reduced to endlessly playing Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” and a choir of January 6 “hostages” singing the national anthem from jail after a host of artists, from The Village People to Neil Young, hit him with cease-and-desist orders over their aversion to being associated with his divisive political brand.”
The narcissist’s cut:
Nothing Compared 2 U
The misogynist’s cut:
It’s A Man’s World
The dictator’s cut:
My Way
I hope Sinead haunts him. Hard.
I hope Sinatra helps her.
Authors of the Day
Everything by
Mary Renault and Edith Hamilton
Everything Ancient Greece, A to Z
And…..since the Greeks are up
THE LANDMARK THUCYDIDES, arguably just about the most important book ever written.
Just bought a book by visual artist and musician, Terry Allen. It’s a biography and it’s about 600 pages, and not as many pictures as you’d think for the size. It’s called Truckload of Art, which is my favorite song of his; I find the song odd, funny, and on point.
He makes me think of C’Bob, because he lived in Texas for a time, and recorded an album called Lubbock On Everything.
I wonder if they ever crossed paths?
https://www.salon.com/2024/04/05/they-had-to-cut-her-off-report-says-server-denied-booze-to-overserved-boebert-at-event/
“Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., was cut off from alcohol at a December fundraiser headlined by former President Donald Trump, according to CNN.”
“[Boebert] was told by a server that “they would not bring her any more alcohol,” multiple witnesses told the outlet. One witness said that the server told Boebert they believed she had been “overserved,” according to the report.
“She also was trying to take pictures with Donald Trump and eventually Donald Trump’s security detail stepped in and asked her to stop doing that, according to those who witnessed it that I spoke to,” CNN reporter Melania Zanaon said Friday.
I have a title for her biography: Boebert On Everything
NEW THREAD