I Want My Party Back

[Hound of Heaven]

Labeling a significant portion of the population with terms like Nazis, racist, stupid, and brain dead, along with numerous other insults, has resulted in losing the White House, Senate, and likely Congress as well.

You have your sentence backward. Trump's standard procedure of "labeling a significant portion of the population" with numerous insults and slurs has resulted in Trump winning.

Despite the name-calling and insults exchanged between Democrats and Republicans, I believe Biden likely had a better chance of defeating Trump than Kamala. Andrew Yang or Pete Buttigieg could have defeated Trump. Kamala was not an ideal choice to succeed Biden. I might be mistaken, but I believe neither Yang nor Buttigieg would have permitted their campaign to engage in a dirty fight against the Trump campaign.

[Res Ipsa]

Some things I think could help.

- Republicans could vote for someone that wasn't the first major party candidate ever endorsed by the leader of the American Nazi Party.
- Republicans could vote for someone that doesn't dine with avowed Nazis and Hitler sympathizers.
- Republicans could disavow popular movements within their ranks that approvingly quote Hitler in their newsletters.
- Republicans could vote for someone that doesn't have people flying Nazi flags at Republican events.
- Republicans could stop having people give Nazi salutes and yell "Heil Hitler" at Republican events.
- Republicans could vote for someone who doesn't release campaign videos celebrating a "unified Reich."
- Republicans could vote for someone that doesn't quote Mein Kampf, and then double-down when called out on it.

As a lifelong registered Republican that has never been accused of being a Nazi, I've found that the best way to avoid it is to not do and say things that make Nazis think I'm one of them. When Nazis themselves think you're one of them, can you really blame some people for being confused and thinking Nazis are capable of spotting their own?

The apocryphal Mike Masnick post seems relevant here. Link.

In 2020, Biden garnered 81 million votes. In 2024, Kamala received 68 million. One of the primary reasons Kamala performed significantly worse than Biden is that the American public does not perceive half the nation as a group of Nazis. Making such an absurd assertion during an election only undermines the trust of those who are prepared to cast their votes. Obama inspired hope and change, and people admired him for it. Kamala inspired with vote for me because the other candidate and your neighbors are Nazis. It was unsuccessful! She struggled to persuade them, but her words fell on deaf ears. Pew Research Center identifies merely 6 percent of Americans and 12 percent of Democrats as belonging to the "progressive left." If a moderate democrat like Joe Manchin, Jacky Rosen, Bob Casey, or Governor Shapiro had run for president, they would likely be president-elect today instead of the current situation. Kamala was likely the least favorable candidate to run, and the final national vote tally supports this conclusion.

No, If any of the above ran for President, they’d be cast as leftist extremists because that’s the tactic the right has used for decades. Well maybe not Manchin, because he’s right of center.

Harris never called Americans Nazis. Are you getting your talking points from Fox? C’mon.

[Doctor Steuss]

In 2020, Biden garnered 81 million votes. In 2024, Kamala received 68 million. One of the primary reasons Kamala performed significantly worse than Biden is that the American public does not perceive half the nation as a group of Nazis. Making such an absurd assertion during an election only undermines the trust of those who are prepared to cast their votes. Obama inspired hope and change, and people admired him for it. Kamala inspired with vote for me because the other candidate and your neighbors are Nazis. It was unsuccessful! She struggled to persuade them, but her words fell on deaf ears. Pew Research Center identifies merely 6 percent of Americans and 12 percent of Democrats as belonging to the "progressive left." If a moderate democrat like Joe Manchin, Jacky Rosen, Bob Casey, or Governor Shapiro had run for president, they would likely be president-elect today instead of the current situation. Kamala was likely the least favorable candidate to run, and the final national vote tally supports this conclusion.

I'm not sure what any of that has to do with Nazis thinking they have a home within MAGA.

As for "primary" reasons that Harris performed so badly, I'm sure there will be a lot of post-mortems over the coming months. My own personal thoughts, particularly given one of the primary demographic shifts being a group negatively targeted by Trump, is that misogyny played a roll. We certainly saw it in the vile Republican attacks claiming that Harris was only where she was because of granted sexual favors. There's also no shortage of videos on social media of MAGA Republicans (men and women) talking about "what happens if she's on her period when an important decision has to be made," and the sophomoric name of "Tampon Tim" for her running mate because somehow boys having access to tampons for their female friends means they'll magically grow vaginas or something.

I also think Harris failed so miserably because Democrats have no way of effectively educating the public. Compared to every other wealthy nation, our economy is kicking ass. We curbed the inflation rate spectacularly (although I think the Fed overshot, and we're going to be feeling some pain as they rush to bring the rate back down). We are energy independent and producing more oil than ever in history -- far more than was produced under Trump. More federal permits were granted under Biden than Trump. Not a single Nobel winning economist (conservative or liberal) backed Trump's policies. Even Trump's own alma mater released an analysis showing that Harris' policies were superior for everyone except the 0.01%. Every single current and former President and Executive of the American Political Science Association ranked Trump as the worst President in history. When the average voter is convinced that they know more about Trump's governing abilities and cognitive capacity that his own former cabinet members and chief of staff, and think they know more than every major economist, and think they know more than historians and political scientists... I'm not sure how you breach that wall of self-confident ignorance.

I don't know what the answer is (or else I'd be making a killing as a consultant). I don't know how Democrats combat the ease with which so many Americans believe fake news, and are immune to facts. I don't know how the elitist element, and distrust and distain for experts is somehow overcome. Until they are able to do that, MAGA and the outrage porn will continue to thrive.

I do think one fatal flaw that coincides with the failure to educate on the state of the economy is acknowledging that it needs to be better. I loved Bernie Sanders statement following Trump's win. A huge amount of Americans are still struggling. Democrats managed to wield a sword that cut themselves both ways in failing to educate, and failing to acknowledge how much things need to change.

[Res Ipsa]

You have your sentence backward. Trump's standard procedure of "labeling a significant portion of the population" with numerous insults and slurs has resulted in Trump winning.

Despite the name-calling and insults exchanged between Democrats and Republicans, I believe Biden likely had a better chance of defeating Trump than Kamala. Andrew Yang or Pete Buttigieg could have defeated Trump. Kamala was not an ideal choice to succeed Biden. I might be mistaken, but I believe neither Yang nor Buttigieg would have permitted their campaign to engage in a dirty fight against the Trump campaign.

OK, I guess it’s pee on me and tell me it’s raining day. Trump and his buddy Musk ran $100 million dollars worth of transphobic negative ads against Harris. Musk ran ads calling Harris a “C.” A parade of MAGAS included a black woman in chains — pretty funny, huh. Black woman in chains, get it? It’s funny because it’s like a slave.

And you’re tone policing Harris. Insane.

[yellowstone123]

Thank you for your post, Hound of Heaven. If Trump favored Hitler at any time one might think that his son in-law Jared Kushner, or his daughter Invanka would say something. Here is an article about Jared Kushner’s book about being by Trump's side while he was in office, his daughter’s conversion to Orthodox Judaism, and other thoughts.

https://forward.com/news/512645/kushner-book-judaism-i

If anyone would call out someone who resembles a modern day dictator who was a threat to the Jewish people it would be Jews in the United States and Israel.

[Marcus]

You have your sentence backward. Trump's standard procedure of "labeling a significant portion of the population" with numerous insults and slurs has resulted in Trump winning.

Despite the name-calling and insults exchanged between Democrats and Republicans, I believe Biden likely had a better chance of defeating Trump than Kamala. Andrew Yang or Pete Buttigieg could have defeated Trump. Kamala was not an ideal choice to succeed Biden. I might be mistaken, but I believe neither Yang nor Buttigieg would have permitted their campaign to engage in a dirty fight against the Trump campaign.

You didn't address the issue.
It is Trump's standard procedure to label a significant portion of the population with numerous insults and slurs. It is despicable and an utter embarrassment that we have a president who behaves how he does.

[Some Schmo]

Thank you for your post, Hound of Heaven. If Trump favored Hitler at any time one might think that his son in-law Jared Kushner, or his daughter Invanka would say something. Here is an article about Jared Kushner’s book about being by Trump's side while he was in office, his daughter’s conversion to Orthodox Judaism, and other thoughts.

https://forward.com/news/512645/kushner-book-judaism-i

If anyone would call out someone who resembles a modern day dictator who was a threat to the Jewish people it would be Jews in the United States and Israel.

OMG... your argument is that because Trump isn't specifically calling for Jews to be rounded up and deported, he's not similar to Hitler?

Jesus damned Christ. No wonder Trump was elected. The level of delusional rationalization is off the damned charts.

[Hound of Heaven]

You lost me at the notion of “reasonable and compassionate alternative” having something to do with Donald Trump.

After democrats have put up with 40 year campaign of hate and demonization starting with Rush Limbaugh, continuing with hundreds and hundreds of hate radio Rush wannabes, through Fox News, Brietbart, and the whole current fetid right wing media ecosystem, your tone policing comes off as a little silly.

Those “compassionate” people you are describing have called me “libtard,” “demon rat,” “communist,” “Marxist,” “pedophile,” “vermin,” “demon,” and other flavors of “not human.” So, this notion that language used by democrats drove Musk, Rogan, Kennedy, or anyone else to Donald Trump is absurd.

And this idea that all Ds are running around calling all Relief Society Nazis is just false. What is true is that Trump and the Republicans ran a campaign straight out of the same playbook that Hitler and the Nazi party used to scapegoat and dehumanize Jews, homosexuals, Romanis and others. They just did it to people here without permission and trans folks instead of the Third Reich’s targets. If that’s your idea of compassion, then I’d say you are well outside the core values of the Democratic Party.

There is no going back 60 years. It’s easy to be nostalgic for the 60s, until you remember that John Kennedy was murdered, Robert Kennedy was murdered, Martin Luther King was jailed and murdered, and black folks fighting for their civil rights were beaten and murdered.

There is no going back. There is only where are and how we go forward.

81 million votes in 2020 compared to 68 million votes in 2024. In 2020 Biden won against Trump by a margin of 7 million votes. Biden's victory in 2020 can be attributed to his perception as a moderate Democrat, supported by his history as such, which enabled him to attract voters with diverse perspectives. I am confident that he would have defeated Trump in this election. However, due to the concerns of George Clooney and a select group of affluent elites following a single debate, a choice was made to support a Harris who performed notably worse than any other contender in the 2020 primary. Big mistake.

[Hound of Heaven]

Despite the name-calling and insults exchanged between Democrats and Republicans, I believe Biden likely had a better chance of defeating Trump than Kamala. Andrew Yang or Pete Buttigieg could have defeated Trump. Kamala was not an ideal choice to succeed Biden. I might be mistaken, but I believe neither Yang nor Buttigieg would have permitted their campaign to engage in a dirty fight against the Trump campaign.

You didn't address the issue.
It is Trump's standard procedure to label a significant portion of the population with numerous insults and slurs. It is despicable and an utter embarrassment that we have a president who behaves how he does.

I completely concur with you that Trump is an unpleasant individual. However, his unpleasant nature does not imply that those who support him are Nazis. We need to develop a new strategy for 2026 because the approach of labeling the Republicans as Nazis and fascists did not yield any results. In reality, it likely motivated Republicans to head to the polls.

[Doctor Steuss]

81 million votes in 2020 compared to 68 million votes in 2024. In 2020 Biden won against Trump by a margin of 7 million votes. Biden's victory in 2020 can be attributed to his perception as a moderate Democrat [...]

In addition to my brain fart ramblings above (which are just as probable being wrong as right at this point)...

I think it is just as likely (if not more-so) that it's because America has a short political/economic memory. The multiple American industries that Trump decimated, the tens of billions in socialist bailouts because of it, and the unending chaos were still fresh on everyone's minds. And that's stuff that happened before he spectacularly fumbled COVID.

When Biden ran, the memory of what a Trump presidency was like was fresh on people's minds. Now, I think everyone has this weird nostalgic halo effect that has created a myth. They've forgotten the chaos, irrational impulses, world leaders literally laughing out loud at our President's lies and idiocy to his face, and the perpetual economic turmoil. When you have distance from something, it's easy to just not care or convince yourself that it was better than it was.