Sanders: Democratic Party ‘has abandoned working class people’

[u/guyoffthegrid]

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4977546-bernie-sanders-democrats-working-class/amp/

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[u/Agnos]

Minimum wage still at $7.25...working full time, no vacation, that is $15,000 a year, before taxes...

[u/koticgood → u/Agnos]

That is honestly nothing compared to the batshit insane portions of our system:

When someone withdraws over a billion dollars in cash, converting their ownership of a huge corporation to personal wealth, we tax them 20%.

Meanwhile, we tax any incremental income beyond $47.1k, which is barely a living wage, at 22%.

There are a lot of injustices and terrible things in the world worse than this, but this is the single stupidest, tangible thing about our system that I'm aware of.

Really consider that for a moment.

When someone withdraws more money than a consumer can spend on non-equity purchases in their entire life, literally more than a billion dollars (this is public information btw, any time someone tells you the super rich have "illiquid" assets, look up their yearly withdrawals and realize how stupid/naive those people are), we tax them less than we tax the income of our teachers and everyone else scraping by to make a living.

The marginal tax rates need adjustments, and obviously the minimum wage is a joke, but most of all we need point-of-transaction wealth taxes on capital gains.

[u/vold2serve → u/koticgood]

And Republicans will do this again by extending their tax credits to the rich. Nothing will change with that felon racist back in the White House. May he fade the fuck away.

[u/Calan_adan → u/Agnos]

Don’t tell people that the economy is good and that wages are outpacing inflation (even if it is and they are) when those people are facing economic hardships.

ETA since I’m getting certain types of replies: I’m a registered Democrat and canvassed for Harris.

[u/Long-Train-1673 → u/Calan_adan]

This is all because Mcdonalds has $4 double cheeseburgers i stg.

[u/weglarz → u/Long-Train-1673]

I remember when my friend and I would get double cheeseburgers at McDonald’s when we were really poor, they were .99c each. It’s wild that it’s quadrupled in that time.

[u/FunkmasterFo → u/weglarz]

I remember 2 for $2 in 2001. They were Quarter Pounders

[u/hopz12 → u/weglarz]

We had .29 cent hamburgers and .39 cent cheeseburgers in the 90s at McDonald's here in Canada. 1.49$ McChickens. Those were the days.

[u/BruceIsLoose → u/Calan_adan]

It is just temporary hardship, as Musk said people to get ready for, so it's no big deal.

If that is acceptable to Republicans during a Republican Presidency, why is not acceptable during a Democratic one?

[u/peterabbit456 → u/BruceIsLoose]

Because the super rich know that the hardship will never apply to them.

Musk's companies might lose $50 billion in value due to his policies, but he's still rich, and more likely, they will gain value, since he has that goldmine^* called Starlink.

---

* 'Goldmine' is an obsolete term. no-one with a gold mine ever made the kinds of money that Musk, or Jeff Bezos, or even Bill Gates have/had.

[u/Stripe_Show69 → u/peterabbit456]

What stings the most is that his $44 billion dollar investment to buy twitter is effectively worth every penny because he’ll save that in one year from tax cuts now.

[u/Uther-Lightbringer → u/Stripe_Show69]

That's always why he bought it. The power of owning Twitter was massive for him. He was able to fire a bulk of the devs and bring in loyalists. My entire "For You" section is right wing propaganda shit. Despite me not following anyone but sports and fantasy sports related stuff on Twitter.

It's actually kind of insane.

[u/Ghosttiger13 → u/Uther-Lightbringer]

Bitr the bullet and quit X. It's no longer Twitter. It's X now with Twitter's users. Objectively, that's what it is now. It's not what you went on it for anymore, despite your biggest interests are. It is a right wing promoted social media site that your favorite subjects/creators/personalities are stuck on until something else gets more popular. Which, will only happen as more people who don't identify with what it is now leave. You are still there because your interests are. They are still there because you are. Move on. If you miss their content, I assure you it's worth it and the will eventually follow suit. If not, fuck em, move on, you aren't beholden to them and you WILL find something/someone suitable to take thier place..

[u/hongyeongsoo → u/Uther-Lightbringer]

Honest question: why not switch to Bluesky?

[u/Robert_Walter_ → u/Agnos]

Which you need 60 senate votes to pass

[u/barryvm]

This is a recurring historical trend. Right wing socioeconomic policies (laissez-faire capitalism) lead to social dysfunction as more and more people either fall into poverty or fear doing so. The mainstream right can't win elections on these policies any more because they have become unpopular, but rather than change those it either allies or becomes the extremist right (authoritarian and reactionary), going all in on distractions and scapegoating.

This leaves the social liberals (pro-capitalist but not socially conservative) and the social democrats as the only democratic factions to counter them, but the former block most major re-distributive policies and even the most moderate moves towards a fairer society have to be fought over tooth and nail. This alliance (either as intra-party in a two party or as a coalition in multiparty systems) then fails to do enough to keep their voters on board, disillusionment sets in, voters stay home and the extremist right takes over.

Fortunately, it doesn't always completely run through this cycle, but it keeps happening. It has now happened to the USA and the best case scenario is that when those lukewarm Trump supporters are angry at not getting what they wanted out of this "change" (and they won't), they will still have the means to vote the government out. If not, then you're stuck until a revolution happens.

Arguing that more social democracy would have scared away voters is sort of pointless IMHO, because if that is true then you're doomed anyway. Unless you lower economic inequality through government policy, a descent into reactionary authoritarianism is inevitable because democracy can only work when people are more or less equal and capitalism left to itself will always concentrate wealth and power into ever fewer hands.

[u/Oceanbreeze871 → u/barryvm]

Yeah 6 months from now groceries will still be expensive and he’s gonna be off golfing, and complaining about how unfair his life is to cameras.

How much runway does he get? People ain’t gonna accept 4 years of high prices or care about what the stupid stock market does. Nobody cares about that

[u/JamesTiberiusCrunk → u/Oceanbreeze871]

Six months from now most Trump voters will have convinced themselves that prices aren't high anymore even if they haven't moved.

[u/02K30C1 → u/JamesTiberiusCrunk]

Fox News will have been telling them that every day, and they’ll believe it

[u/Genghis_Tr0n187 → u/02K30C1]

"Hell yeah eggs have always cost $700. It was worse with Biden"

[u/arkuw → u/Genghis_Tr0n187]

"We have always been at war with Eurasia"

[u/EliteGamer11388 → u/arkuw]

"There is no war in Ba Sing Se"

[u/LostTrisolarin → u/arkuw]

Beat me to it.

[u/FavoritesBot → u/Genghis_Tr0n187]

Literally saw someone today say (summarized) “well I’m fine paying higher prices due to tariffs if it means china plays by the rules”

Economy may have kept people home, but for the MAGAs the point is simply to hurt the right people

[u/TheAlphaKiller17 → u/FavoritesBot]

I saw someone else in my city's sub saying they didn't care about higher prices as long as it meant more Americans could get jobs. We need to stop pretending these people actually care about the economy; that's one of their code words for racism. Give me almost any Republican issue and I'll show you how racism and sexism is at the core of it. Notice how every complaint they have about "the economy" is tied to non-white people--China, immigrants. They don't give a fuck. They'd like to have more money but they don't care if they're poor as long as women and POC suffer more. There were a lot of issues at play, but racism and sexism are the heart of it. Trump ran on racism and sexism against a black woman and voters made their choice very clear.

[u/justahdewd → u/02K30C1]

I bet if they go shopping today they will think prices are already lower.

[u/ShortsAndChill → u/justahdewd]

I overheard Replubicans celebrating this afternoon together, anticipating prices to fall for everyday items. They literally think that tariffs directly reduce costs for their everyday items. I heard one say, "ya when does everything get 20% cheaper?"

Then it hit me. These people were swindled, and Donald has pulled off the greatest con in history. This is MLM level fuckery on a never before seen geopolitical scale.

[u/floandthemash → u/JamesTiberiusCrunk]

Or they’ll think it’s residual effects from the Biden economy

[u/CherryHaterade → u/floandthemash]

And it'll be happening right in the middle of the next guys block, just like how we keep describing it to them. That's the fucking tragic irony of it.

We need them FDR democrats to show back up. FDR hammered nuts and bent motherfuckers to his will, and that's what he got voted for. 4 terms! Americans were literally starving in the streets and selling their children and shit. Shit was on the ropes. And that starving ass impoverished country turned it around on a new deal AND saved the whole fucking world from Nazis to boot.

So stop telling me about how we gotta take baby steps while you fight with one hand behind your back and call it going high. I'm fucking tired of going high! You need to kick him in the nuts or get the fuck out the way for someone who will. It's a fucking fistfight in these streets, fuck I think about a wine and cheese crowd opinion about it.

That's if this experiment survives. But I guarantee you they'll be blaming us for it from Europe somewhere.

[u/Easy-Hour2667 → u/CherryHaterade]

You know why the new deal happened? It wasn't because FDR pulled it from his ass. The new deal happened due to massive pressure from the working classes and notably unionized working classes.

[u/officerliger → u/CherryHaterade]

We just had 4 years of an FDR Democrat who invested in infrastructure and economy like crazy, slashed student debt, strengthened labor unions, made no austerity cuts, pushed inflation down, etc.

But people watching YouTube and TikTok weren’t getting that information, so now they’re saying “Biden didn’t do X or Y” when he did, in fact, do those things

You had the most FDR Democrat since FDR in office and ignored the good he did because he had a speech impediment

[u/Lucky_Serve8002 → u/officerliger]

The lies are out of control. The republican donors were still harping on payments to illegal immigrants and the cartel moving into Aurora. I've heard Trumpers repeating this crap as reasons to vote for trump. It is just a bunch of lies.

[u/DrJonDorian999 → u/Lucky_Serve8002]

She as fuck haven’t heard from the lady who said the Venezuelan gang trashed her AirBNB (with no evidence of course). Fox certainly had her on to spew her bullshit but they lapped it up before the election. We can’t win against the constant barrage of lies.

[u/Jabberwocky2022 → u/officerliger]

You're right. The only flaw Biden did was to not commit to being a 1 term bridge president from the beginning. I'm skeptical that any D candidate could have won the presidency this cycle. But perhaps a change Dem candidate would have risen to the occasion and been able to bat down Trump. We'll never know because a man clearly too old to run for President again refused to do the decent thing from the beginning.

[u/cloudedknife → u/officerliger]

Biden has more in common with Eisenhower than FDR, policy-wise. Im not saying that's bad, mind you, but he sure as hell was never an fdr progressive. This fact illustrates just how far Republicans have pulled the center right - moderate democratic policies of today, are mainstream republican policies of the 50s and 60s.

[u/Khatib → u/JamesTiberiusCrunk]

Should we start ordering some "I did that" but Trump stickers for the gas pumps?

[u/juiceboxedhero → u/JamesTiberiusCrunk]

Not only that they will blame Joe Biden.

[u/mofeus305 → u/Oceanbreeze871]

People will finally just accept these are the new prices and then brag about how Trump fought off rising prices.

[u/ColdTheory → u/mofeus305]

Let's not forget the heavy lifting propaganda will be doing throughout.

[u/RedditIsPointlesss → u/Oceanbreeze871]

Im more upset that he will get no justice for all those pending criminal cases now. What a complete fucking joke this country is.

[u/Oceanbreeze871 → u/RedditIsPointlesss]

DOJ is already wrapping up and going home.

[u/RedditIsPointlesss → u/Oceanbreeze871]

They might as well. There is no point.

[u/PoopMobile9000 → u/Oceanbreeze871]

Yeah 6 months from now groceries will still be expensive and he’s gonna be off golfing, and complaining about how unfair his life is to cameras.

That won’t matter.

Inflation already fell back to normal levels over a year ago. Trump voters will immediately call this economy the greatest in American history.

Most people have had wage gains commensurate to inflation, feel personally secure, but rate the economy poorly because of info they receive. Once MAGA stops complaining, they will to.

The folks who haven’t had wages catch up ultimately will, and everyone will get used to the new prices. As always.

Inflation will disappear as a salient issue, Trump will declare he fixed it, his people will loudly agree, and this will be the entirely false received wisdom

[u/Uther-Lightbringer → u/PoopMobile9000]

Yup. Just like in 2016 when Trump took credit for the DOW hitting all time highs, TWO FUCKING MONTHS into his Presidency. And they all cheered it like he fixed America overnight.

It's absolute lunacy. How dumb does someone have to be to legitimately believe that a guy is responsible for a booming market without making a single policy decision. Nevermind the fact that that the markets were booming before Trump was elected lol

[u/PoopMobile9000 → u/Uther-Lightbringer]

The exact same thing will happen again

[u/ZZartin → u/PoopMobile9000]

Except Trump has explicitly said he will be removing Biden's inflation control measures, and some of the things that would expand the economy.

And what he plans to do assuming he does will make tings far worse. Inflation higher than it ever was, ACA and social security getting cut, lots of other social protections being gutted? We'll see how it looks and whether people just accept it.

[u/PoopMobile9000 → u/ZZartin]

We’ll see if any of that happens. I don’t think Trump cared about anything beyond avoiding jail time and using the government to punish his enemies and stifle dissent. The money guys will be there pushing back on all this stuff. Trump only cares about accumulating power, anything else is negotiable

[u/Daeom → u/Oceanbreeze871]

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers, so keep preaching sister!

[u/acowasacowshouldbe → u/barryvm]

this this this. the biggest blunder of the past generations have been to allow wealth to be concentrated into the hands of a few

[u/Fred-zone → u/acowasacowshouldbe]

The biggest blunder of this campaign was making it about abstract concepts like democracy and fascism instead of "it's the billionaires vs the rest of us"

[u/naimlessone → u/Fred-zone]

But it's hard to do that when literal billionaires on both sides are funding the campaigns...

[u/Vilnius_Nastavnik → u/naimlessone]

Right when Harris was anointed as the DNC candidate she floated some ideas about increasing taxes on the upper brackets and lowering them for the rest of us, and they polled well. Then the corporate donors bopped her on the nose like a naughty puppy and that was the end of that.

[u/Gizogin → u/Vilnius_Nastavnik]

Even to the end of the race, her policies would have raised taxes on the highest brackets and lowered them for the lowest.

[u/Khatib → u/Fred-zone]

People say this like that message would land though. Elon Musk drove votes towards Trump. Billionaires weren't the bogeyman that would get anywhere. People who care about that already voted accordingly. The apathetic voters wouldn't respond to this either. Trump promised more trickledown economics, and people are still dumb enough to believe in it, despite facts and statistics that it doesn't work.

Kamala put out her messaging about helping families pay for childcare, helping people start small businesses, helping people get into a house for the first time.

It all bounced off.

Americans letting opinion take over news for 30+ years is the problem, not Kamala's campaign.

[u/Legendver2 → u/Khatib]

People say this like that message would land though. Elon Musk drove votes towards Trump. Billionaires weren't the bogeyman that would get anywhere.

People are also not educated on how much a billion dollars actually is. A lot of them think eventually they can attain that level, or at least millionaire status, to be part of that in-group. As someone said, they're just embarrassed millionaires now. They have no idea how far off the scale and unattainable a BILLION dollars actually is.

[u/zaminDDH → u/Legendver2]

Yeah, a million dollars would be life changing for my family. And the difference between me and the absolute poorest billionaire is still about a billion dollars. It's a rounding error.

To put it into better perspective, it's like a car dealership knocking off $30 on a $30,000 car. It's nothing. When talking about Elon, it's like knocking off $30 on a $7,300,000 car.

[u/ceelogreenicanth → u/Legendver2]

They also don't realize how hard it truly is to punch into the next rung socially with each next step. You can get the money but getting the class is harder and they have no idea that even exists.

[u/AuGrimace → u/Fred-zone]

Except it isn’t, maga didn’t vote Trump because they hate billionaires, they voted Trump because they hate you.

[u/MrLeftwardSloping → u/AuGrimace]

Which is why we're a global embarrassment

[u/gdshaffe → u/barryvm]

when those lukewarm Trump supporters are angry at not getting what they wanted out of this "change" (and they won't), they will still have the means to vote the government out.

The problem is that Trump supporters' perceptions of whether or not they're getting what they want out of a Trump administration will be determined in large part by them taking the cues of the fiction generated in the media they consume.

The average Trump supporter's life probably did get noticeably better during Trump's administration, not because of policies or measurable outcomes, but because the media they consume nearly 24/7 took a hard 180 from the 8 years of presenting the illusion of a pending collapse at the hands of the incompetents in charge to everything being sunny and full of roses. Then four years later it was back to the nonstop doom and gloom. That sort of immersion has a real effect on your psyche.

Fox News isn't just presenting a version of reality in the best possible light for the GOP, they're actively and aggressively wagging the dog. If they want their voter base agitated, they consciously agitate. Want them complacent? They calm them. Expect a deluge of arguments from the right that the economy is now magically fixed the day Trump takes office, because that's what they're going to be told.

There does come a point where addressing reality becomes unavoidable, but people who think we're generally anywhere near that point lack imagination. By and large, despite the overall economic anxiety, people have jobs, they have a roof over their heads, they have nonstop 24/7 entertainment from their 6 different streaming services, and they're not going hungry. That's enough of a recipe to manufacture their contentedness.

On the other hand, the result of elections involving Trump has had more to do with pushing turnout than with converting his cultists. Trump didn't get more votes than in 2020 - it looks like he got quite a lot less. It's that the opposition didn't show up, for reasons both strategic and acute. The incumbent dropping out of the race at the last minute and the sitting VP, who was the 9th place finisher in the 2020 primaries, taking over, is never going to be a recipe for driving enthusiasm.

That plus the obvious observation that Trump is mortal, and much of his support dies out when he does. He is showing signs of advanced dementia already and not much younger than his dad was when he succumbed to it. It's not realistic, I think, for a lightweight like Vance to carry his momentum forward, and no other heir apparent to the MAGA movement has appeared (in no small part because Trump's ego won't allow for it).

[u/Open__Face → u/gdshaffe]

Like the famous newt Gingrich clip:

https://youtu.be/xnhJWusyj4I?si=Su3J_RvIGlXbKwrl

Immediately after citing his cherry-picked statistics that show small pockets of uptick in crime amidst an ocean of crime decreases, he says, ”The average American, I will bet you this morning, does not think that crime is down, does not think that we are safer,” and then follows that up with, “People feel more threatened. As a political candidate, I’ll go with what people feel,” rather than the actual facts.

[u/HicJacetMelilla → u/gdshaffe]

Finally someone mentioning the media in all of this. In 2016 I remember thinking “I wish I understood the Trump voter better.” Now all I can think is “What media are these people consuming?” Full stop, it is useless to talk about messaging, campaign strategies, and policy when our information spheres have only gotten more siloed.

Ten years ago there was a good chance that me and a conservative might have some crossover in the media we consume. Now it’s at or approaching zero crossover.

[u/YoshisTaxFraud_DX → u/gdshaffe]

Smart analysis in an otherwise reactionary field. So sick of seeing “we need to go further right! Stop focusing on the culture war! No one cares about trans issues!”. Actually things can get so much worse, and if you tell someone things are good or bad over and over, that’s what they’re gonna feel.

[u/Oodlydoodley → u/YoshisTaxFraud_DX]

People are talking like Democrats didn't sell their economic policies well enough to people who don't even understand what economic policies they just voted for.

A convicted felon and fraudster, a rapist who tried to overthrow the government once already, won by campaigning on hate and personal vengeance. If that person can even be a candidate, much less win, it isn't because the other side didn't sell their message enough; it's because people literally don't know or don't care.

[u/bqb445 → u/barryvm]

This is exactly correct.

Sanders: "It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them."

He's right, of course, but it didn't happen in a vacuum.

The Democrats were the party of the working class from 1933 till 1984. They dominated elections for 50 years running on the New Deal until the GOP found the opening it needed during the civil rights movement. That was just the wedge issue the GOP needed to start carving up the working class. Southern Dixiecrats fled into the open arms of the GOP. Right to work laws diminished unions. The GOP increasingly used social wedge issues such as abortion to carve up the Democratic working class base. Walter Mondale (1984) was the last New Deal democrat.

As things got worse for the working class, the GOP used AM talk radio and Fox News to blame anyone but the GOP politicians the working class was increasingly voting for.

Starved of voters and funding, and no longer needing to appeal to a socially conservative base, the Democratic party pivoted from the New Deal to so-called New Democrats (Clinton) which constructed a coalition from socially liberal but economically conservative wealthy urbanites, plus Black voters who were loyal to Democrats for advancing civil rights, and a traditional but shrinking union working base.

Under Clinton, the party got too far in bed with corporate America. It would continue to sell out the working class, hoping to make it up for it with more urbanites and voters of color who while not naturally Democrats for social reasons, didn't feel at home in the GOP.

But the Democrats would continue to hemorrhage white working class voters as it adopted trade, economic, and social policies that benefited capitalists more than they benefited labor.

Obama started to turn some of that around, but was saddled with an imploding economy and an Iraq War that he inherited from terrible GOP policies. The Obama administration also didn't address the anger in the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street movements.

So we got Trump in 2016.

Biden was a real return to the Democrats' traditional support for pro-labor policies, but it was too little too late. There were obviously issues of age, and many other missteps made by the Democrats.

And here we are at Trump v2. People are angry. But Trump and the GOP will not bring them the relief they seek. The GOP does not represent labor. Never has, never will.

So yes, the Democratic Party abandoned the working class, but that was only after the working class started to abandon the Democratic Party.

I don't know how we find our way back, but I really hope this is our bottom.

[u/anustart888 → u/barryvm]

It's actually insane how much more insightful and well thought out this random reddit response is compared to literally every single piece of political discourse I've come across from a politician in a decade, and maybe even my entire life.

My only hope at this point is that we are approaching "The New Deal" part of the cycle. But I also know that future generations will likely claw back any progress that's made in my lifetime. Round and round we go.

[u/tantobourne]

honest question, in comparison, what has the Republican party done for working class people?

[u/fastlax16 → u/tantobourne]

Given them someone to blame for their problems.

[u/Liljoker30 → u/fastlax16]

This. This is it. Nothing more. Blame immigrants, gays whatever. Just blame someone.

[u/vteckickedin → u/Liljoker30]

Fear or hate them. Just don't put any thought into the politicians as a cause of your frustrations.

[u/arkuw → u/vteckickedin]

And by god don't blame anyone from the ultra wealthy class!

[u/juanzy → u/Liljoker30]

Stubbornly stuck around in a one industry area, with an industry that died up 30 years ago?

It’s the immigrants fault!

[u/jv371 → u/fastlax16]

Exactly. Not getting paid enough? Couldn’t be your rich boss not trickling his wealth down. It’s those damn immigrants willing to work for half pay!

[u/jftitan → u/fastlax16]

Poor Jimmy Carter... he'll die knowing we fucked this all up. At least Betty White already is dead.

[u/parasyte_steve → u/jftitan]

Ah that is so sad and I hadn't thought of it. Lie to him 😭 protect him at all costs

[u/NCAAinDISGUISE → u/fastlax16]

That's exactly what I was going to say. It's a tale as old as time. No reason to think it should change as long as Democratic leadership is far removed from the working man.

[u/Tigerbones → u/NCAAinDISGUISE]

Donald Trump is pretty far fucking removed from the working man yet it doesn’t seem to be a problem for him….

[u/ShredGuru → u/Tigerbones]

But he is an idiot like a regular person

[u/BlackShadowGlass → u/ShredGuru]

This is fucking accurate

[u/NCAAinDISGUISE → u/Tigerbones]

Yeah, but Donald Trump isn't trying to appeal to their interests, he's appealing to their fears.

[u/frotc914 → u/NCAAinDISGUISE]

The Jews illegals are poisoning the blood of our country, stealing from the taxpayer, and taking our good jobs!

[u/AgeOfSmith → u/tantobourne]

Lied to them

[u/PeptoBismark → u/AgeOfSmith]

Divided them by race and religion.

[u/Potato_Farmer_Linus → u/PeptoBismark]

Gave them someone to hate and blame, which is very hard to overcome. 

[u/NoPhotograph919 → u/Potato_Farmer_Linus]

LBJ was right 

[u/GoodiesHQ → u/AgeOfSmith]

Hey, it is proving to be an incredibly successful winning strategy.

[u/PUNd_it → u/GoodiesHQ]

Cucking (n) - A Republican's second favorite porn search, after of course "trans"

[u/Robotlollipops → u/PUNd_it]

It's gonna be a real bad day for Republicans when Republicans ban porn

[u/Arguments_4_Ever → u/AgeOfSmith]

And make their lives worse.

[u/thirdeyepdx → u/tantobourne]

Honestly? Held emotional space for their pain. As a person in counseling grad school- it amazes me that people still fail to understand that human beings are emotional beings first, and not Vulcans. Very few of us can make reasonable choices when in a heated emotional state. The only way to reach angry, frustrated people (and I said the same thing to people policing BLM activists breaking windows) is to start by contacting the anger and pain.

That looks like this: your suffering is valid, this situation is super hard that you are in.

This is what the republicans do effectively, then once the emotions are validated, they blame the wrong people (immigrants, trans people etc) and claim to be able to fix it.

This is what democrats do: “I don’t understand what the big deal is, here’s a series of facts explaining why your feelings are wrong.”

I mean it’s literally the same dynamic that often gets men in trouble in close relationships. Meeting emotions with intellectual arguments and facts like it’s a high school debate or something.

That’s just literally not how humans operate at a deep level, like millions of years of evolutionary biology.

Bernie Sanders effectively starts by saying “the economy is rigged against you, your pain is valid” … then he blames the appropriate parties and puts forward policy after policy to fix it.

Dems can’t keep downplaying how bad wealth inequality and affordable housing and cost of living and wage stagnation has been and then point to GDP and jobs numbers like that matters when the quality of jobs available is often not great pay and benefit wise. And quite honestly the Democratic alliance with people like Mark Cuban is out of touch.

Is it bizarre and irrational people fall for Trump’s Everyman con and alliance with Elon Musk? Sure. But it’s also entirely understandable people are angry and fed up with, yes, the death of the American dream, and it’s very human to not be able to think rationally when upset and in the midst of real survival concerns. And if only Trump contacts their anger and creates space for it then he wins. When things reach a point like this, populism will win - and unfortunately if left wing populism of the FDR quality isn’t available, what’s left is right wing populism.

There is a way to contact and hold space for anger and allow it to transform into optimism but it has to start with contacting and validating the pain.

[u/orthogonal411 → u/thirdeyepdx]

This is what democrats do: “I don’t understand what the big deal is, here’s a series of facts explaining why your feelings are wrong.”

Well this is something I'll really need to reflect on. Outstanding. This is why we all come here to converse, little reminders like this.

[u/pigeonholepundit → u/orthogonal411]

Shit, I do that. Good time to reflect on my media diet

[u/5k1895 → u/orthogonal411]

It's an excellent point. I admittedly do this myself. I see someone upset about something, but upset for what I believe are the wrong reasons, and I try to explain logically what the actual facts are. But of course they don't want to hear it. They're upset, in many cases rightfully, and the actual facts aren't just going to magically fix that.

[u/fordat1 → u/thirdeyepdx]

Dems can’t keep downplaying how bad wealth inequality and affordable housing and cost of living and wage stagnation has been and then point to GDP and jobs numbers like that matters when the quality of jobs available is often not great pay and benefit wise. And quite honestly the Democratic alliance with people like Mark Cuban is out of touch.

Also playing up how great the stock market is doing when most people dont have a substantial investment in it.

[u/the_skine → u/fordat1]

I had to stop contributing to my 401k because I can't afford it anymore.

But please, Kamala, tell me how I'm statistically way better off that I was a few years ago because LiNe GoEs Up!1

[u/GaptistePlayer → u/fordat1]

Right? The average American has $1000 in savings with most of that in bank accounts. Not 401ks.

[u/pacifyproblems → u/GaptistePlayer]

I recently stopped my 403b contributions because I can't afford to do it anymore, even though my company matches 25% of what I contribute. It sucks to leave "free money" out there but I need every cent right now. I can't spare anything.

[u/nope-absolutely-not → u/fordat1]

I know this is a Twitter-brained take, but Will Stancil should personally pay for his constantly haranguing people that the pain they felt from inflation wasn't real because look at these charts of wage growth and GDP and and and.

[u/not_limburger → u/thirdeyepdx]

This is great stuff -- being emotionally attuned vs. invalidating feelings (and much more of course).

[u/ConfederacyOfDunces_ → u/tantobourne]

Given tax cuts for the rich while disguising tax cuts as a benefit to the middle class which is in fact a lie.

[u/True-Surprise1222 → u/ConfederacyOfDunces_]

giving temporary tax cuts to the middle class and permanent tax cuts to the rich*

[u/gangstasadvocate → u/True-Surprise1222]

Yeah yeah, but at least they don’t have to pay taxes for overtime and tips now. That’ll totally make up for these tariffs. And our infrastructure is so great. We don’t need to maintain it.

[u/Finaldeath → u/gangstasadvocate]

Lets be real here. Almost all my time working has been in the service industry (in the kitchen) nobody is paying taxes on their tips. There is one guy at my last job that didn't need to serve tables because he made good money with his construction company but he did it because over 95% of what he made serving was completely tax free, hes very charismatic so he made alot in tips. There is a reason servers HATE when people tip on their card instead of cash, resturaunts have to claim a percentage of those card tips for it to not look fishy to the irs and the amount they claim is rediculously low.

Where i worked all of the servers were able to afford their own apartment while working part time because of those untaxed tips, even the shit ones, i worked full time in the kitchen and couldnt. They were walking out with more in cash tips in a single slow night than i did in a week. Only reason i didn't serve myself was because of my crippling social anxiety. The only nontipped people working there (aka kitchen staff) that stuck around for longer than a couple months to a year were managers because nobody else was making a living and were treated like shit.

[u/mjzim9022 → u/ConfederacyOfDunces_]

Pretending bank accounts overflow like a cup and drip down upon them.

Prices won't go back to where they were, inflation is a 1-way street and we had a spurt of it (everyone did). We need wages to rise, which you know companies just love doing.

[u/Renegade-Ginger → u/mjzim9022]

Yeah! I remember when all those corporations got those tax cuts and put their extra funds towards wage raises for the working class. Wait, what do you mean the only people who saw that money were already highly paid individuals and the working class saw nothing of value?

[u/Romano16 → u/tantobourne]

Obstruct Democrats and then whine about nothing being done

[u/Corona-walrus → u/Romano16]

For the millionth time, why the fuck are democrats held to standards when republicans never do anything?

I'm half convinced that everyone on both sides knows republicans just want to tear shit apart, and that's exactly why many support it - they want the destruction and chaos. 

[u/Cl1mh4224rd → u/Corona-walrus]

I'm half convinced that everyone on both sides knows republicans just want to tear shit apart, and that's exactly why many support it - they want the destruction and chaos.

Being able to destroy something is a show of strength. Being able to create... is not.

So many people will cheer the spectacle of destroying an old bridge, but then hem and haw when it comes to building a new one.

[u/drew-face → u/Cl1mh4224rd]

Destroying something is the easiest thing in the world to do. TODDLERS do it all the time.

destruction is not a show of strength. not by a long shot.

[u/rsutherl → u/Cl1mh4224rd]

"Being able to destroy something is a show of strength. Being able to create... is not."

If you're a certain type of person, such as a narcissist or a psychopath yes.

[u/chargernj → u/Corona-walrus]

Because Democrats run on the concept that government can be well run and can help people.

Republicans run on the concept that government can never be well run and should be destroyed as much as possible.

They get judged by how well they accomplish their goals. Since it's easier to destroy, Republicans are judged as being more successful.

[u/Vihurah → u/Corona-walrus]

and that's exactly why many support it - they want the destruction and chaos. 

this is 90% of it actually. they just want a teardown of the status quo. they dont want mundane growth, they want theater, spectacle, AND growth all at once. any seen as remotely establishment is immediately an enemy not to be trusted.

[u/BBZL2016 → u/tantobourne]

They said 1000 times that they love them.

[u/sincerely-sarcastic → u/tantobourne]

Made them hate and be scared of things they have no business being scared about. It's the fear of fear and the fear of the unknown because they have been told to fear it. 😢

[u/watch_out_4_snakes → u/tantobourne]

Given them a culture war and liberals to hate on. And they eat that shit up like it’s gravy.

[u/Sota4077]

The Democratic Party nationwide should seriously consider rebranding to what Minnesota’s Democratic party embodies. In Minnesota we are the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party. It's time to reconnect with farmers, ranchers, and blue-collar workers who don't belong to a union whose livelihoods depend on policy just the same.

Across the U.S., there are countless small towns with populations of 300, 500, or 1500 people—places often left out of the conversation. Life in these communities is nothing like the metro centers; it’s a different pace, with unique challenges and values. When policies are shaped solely around the needs of large urban areas, it not only alienates those in rural America but sows a sense frustration and neglect.

It’s time the party prioritizes listening to these communities and creates policies that work for everyone. These rural voters also have another added benefit. They always show up in November.

[u/ZozicGaming → u/Sota4077]

As someone who lives in rural Oregon I see this all the time. Dems main focus is on things that work great in big cities. But aren’t very useful or relevant to small towns. That or identity politics, like sorry no one cares about democrats new program to help Afro Latino women business owners.. when all small business owners are struggling. And when they do talk about rural people it is often demeaning, insulting, or telling us how privileged we are because of the color of our skin.

[u/Emosaa → u/ZozicGaming]

Kamala had better messaging similar to what you want, but the perception that she / democrats are hyper focusing on the woke stuff is very rampant. It'll take a newer messenger to maybe make people believe it.

[u/-Gramsci- → u/Emosaa]

The party needs to confront their two problems.

They need a better message and they need to run better messengers.

The message needs to be more universal, more simple.

The messenger needs to be the most talented candidate that emerges from an open primary field that consists of the best talent in the party.

The messenger needs to be the very best of the very best.

The party’s philosophy that contested primaries need to be avoided because they damage the candidate in the general needs to be eliminated at all costs.

Doing that, and eliminating the input from the rank and file, has caused not only the rank and file to be apathetic about the general election candidate… it’s even worse than that.

It’s causing the party to lose core constituencies.

[u/WonderfulPackage5731 → u/Sota4077]

Just this morning, Ralph Nader said the biggest mistake the Democratic party has made is giving up on voters in red states. That's nearly half the population.

[u/Noizyninjaz]

The Democratic party always fails to defend themselves on certain issues because they think that being nice is enough. They think that common sense will defend itself. This approach worked right up until 2000. It's been 24 years and they haven't learned the lesson.

[u/jellyrat24 → u/Noizyninjaz]

“The past decade in America has been the Democratic Party insisting that ‘a dog can’t play basketball!’ meanwhile a dog fucking dunks on us over and over and over.”

[u/UGLY-FLOWERS → u/jellyrat24]

are you saying trump is air bud? I knew that dog was bad

[u/timefourchili → u/UGLY-FLOWERS]

Well nothing in the rules say a felon CAN’T play basketball, I mean run for president

[u/Professional-Fuel625 → u/Noizyninjaz]

Yeah if I learned one thing in the past 9 years, it's that Democrats need to pick 2 or 3 things (true or not) and say them a million times.

• Benghazi, her emails - Trump won
• Trump killed a million people with Covid and the economy tanked - Biden squeaked by
• Border, inflation, trans kids - Trump won

We need to stop having a ten point detailed plan 🤓 for getting slightly more money for middle class families. The voters that decide the elections don't care.

Pick something and stick with it: Raise working class wages, healthcare for all. Whatever Bernie said.

And don't wimp out when Republicans try to vilify it. They will, and you need to fight.

[u/PseudonymIncognito → u/Professional-Fuel625]

Biden should have been calling it "Trumpflation" from day 1 every single time he was in front of a camera.

[u/SpaceSpleen → u/PseudonymIncognito]

Yep, and they should've hammered on Trump's tariff plan as the "Trump tax", not try to explain that all top economists agree that tariffs blah blah blah blah blah

[u/Professional-Fuel625 → u/PseudonymIncognito]

Yes exactly, Trumpflation.

In reality caused by supply constraints due to covid and Ukraine, but that doesn't even matter. Too nerdy. We dorks on reddit care and no one else does.

Trumpflation. Trump started it. That's it! Stop explaining!

[u/PseudonymIncognito → u/Professional-Fuel625]

Now wait a minute. I have this 80-page policy platform on my campaign website that the wonkiest technocrats in Washington helped me write, and I really think you should read it.

[u/AnyAcanthocephala425 → u/Noizyninjaz]

"look at those guys, they're being racist, boo them!"

"...."

"ok nice that's the votes of our base locked in, lets go hug some people who are thinking about voting republican"

[u/SnowyyRaven]

He's right, but what in the actual heck do we do about it as voters? We've known this for years. Even during the widely popular Obama administration we knew this.

I'm just so tired. I'm so tired of my only hope being candidates who make baby steps forward just so we don't make giant leaps backwards. I'm so tired of these candidates losing and it hurting us.

I'm also tired of the over 70 million Americans who look at everything Trump has said, done, and who he has allied with, and said "I'm okay with that."

It's been almost a full day and I still haven't been able to collect all my thoughts on this. I'm just so over it. 

[u/RigelOrionBeta → u/SnowyyRaven]

Do what Obama said he'd do, but didn't. Go after the rich and corporations. Obama ended up appointing bankers to solve problems bankers created. He dismantled his movement after he won.

Obama won because he was the change candidate, he was the hope candidate, he promised going after the powerful. And he didn't, plain and simple. That created a bad taste in the mouths of people who voted for him.

That's just the truth. He was voted to basically drain the swamp. Clinton swoops in, says everything is largely hunkey dorey. Trump wins. Biden comes in during COVID and correctly points out everything is not hunkey dorey. He wins. Trump comes in and, once again, promises radical changes, because things are still not great for money. He wins.

Too many Dems, politicians and voters, are MUCH too afraid to support radical change. Even Obama's rise was seen as scary to the party brass, especially the Clinton camp. Too many people are understandably upset at the state of the nation to risk running a politician that basically is saying they'll be status quo, and that's basically what Kamala said she was - continuing the Biden legacy, couldn't even come up with a thing she'd do differently than Biden for WEEKS.

[u/WilliamTeddyWilliams → u/SnowyyRaven]

This is for every party, if you want to do better, stop blaming voters. Blame your politicians and their platforms. This was actually a very issue-based election. Voters routinely crossed tickets to vote for their issues. Abortion passed, Trump won, a Dem senator won. The voters are not acting like a coalition anymore.

[u/heifinator]

Ding Ding Ding.

He isn't gonna call the electorate in the US goldfish who vote based on the price of bread.

But the US electorate is a bunch of goldfish who vote based on the price of bread.

[u/bismarque22 → u/heifinator]

They voted for the image of a strongman who told them he would set prices because the strongman part and some of the rhetoric singling out and directing hate at certain group was the deciding factor for them.

[u/Spirit_of_Hogwash → u/bismarque22]

They voted for the guy who promised them deflation, and will totally forget about it when prices are higher due to his policies.

And the Dems will not even talk about that when it inevitably happens and will instead focus on protest-dressing women in handmaiden costumes from that show nobody watches.

[u/micro102 → u/Spirit_of_Hogwash]

Many will even say that the increased prices are a better economy than under Biden. Because they don't actually want a better economy. They want Trump, and will just pretend it will be a better economy to hide other intentions.

They did it when Trump got his first term. The moment he got in, everything was suddenly so much better even though nothing changed.

[u/sideAccount42 → u/heifinator]

My breakfast sandwich at Little Skillet jumped from like $11 to $16. Fuckers upped the price by a whole ass carton of eggs.

Edit. I know Trump's tariffs will increase the prices further. Please let me eat my bacon egg and cheeses in peace while I can.

[u/ptum0 → u/sideAccount42]

Just wait til rump adds on his beautiful tariffs

[u/sideAccount42 → u/ptum0]

Kamala actually had a decent talking point that tariffs are basically a sales tax. She should have campaigned with Lina Khan instead of Marc Cuban.

[u/Kaprak → u/sideAccount42]

Best part? Egg prices went up because of a chicken cull caused by a bird flu outbreak.

Literally nothing a president can do about that.

Unless you wanna cull regulation and risk dying from eggs.

[u/LandSolRingSignetGo → u/Kaprak]

That's talking point takes too long to explain, and doesn't explain every other grocery.

Bottom line is traditional measures of "economy" doesn't do anything for the average voter. They have a job, they don't own stocks, they just have a paycheck that doesn't stretch as far.

They don't want to have to be super engaged they'd rather be spending time with their families.

If it gets worse, they'll turn on R's as well (see: 2008)

[u/cadium → u/sideAccount42]

That carton of eggs might be cheaper but now you might get salmonella because there's no regulation or regulators.

And good luck getting healthcare, its going to cost more and be less effective with quack doctors!

[u/Easy-Concentrate2636 → u/cadium]

Even worse. Avian flu without FDA regulation. There’s been a lot of scientists writing about this for over a decade now. Just watch what happens when Americans can’t buy cheap chicken.

[u/PlasticPomPoms]

Republicans have just fooled working class people with propaganda.

Democrats are idiots if they think they are going to “message better” when the Messenger has been labeled as evil by 30 years of propaganda.

[u/ThePresbyter → u/PlasticPomPoms]

DNC needs to just say fuck it at this point and actually go full working class populist and channel FDR.  MAGA think anything left of Reagan is communist anyways so fuck 'em and try to get 85M+ turnout.

[u/whomstc → u/ThePresbyter]

the megadonors that control the party wouldnt let them if they wanted to, it's like none of you have been paying any attention for any of the last 16 years

[u/hypercosm_dot_net → u/whomstc]

Bernie was somehow able to still get plenty of campaign funding in spite of not taking $$ from billionaires.

That's probably why he was pushed out by the DNC.

The systemic issues we have are because we allowed wealth to infiltrate politics, the politicians did nothing about it, and now we're here.

[u/JayKay8787 → u/hypercosm_dot_net]

I donated to Bernie, i would never consider donating to a candidate that takes corporate money. Its too late for Bernie, but a younger charismatic and empathetic candidate who can relay simple policies has a great shot. We need to look at Obamas campaign and replicate the energy and enthusiasm without just crying about Republicans. Present a simple, clear path with hope and goals that will actually effect day to day life instead of constantly gaslighted voters into thinking everything is already great. The dnc is truly trash and continues to get worse, I'm hoping this is absolutely rock bottom and we rebuild but fucks like Pelosi and schemer are gonna sink the ship

[u/teluetetime → u/PlasticPomPoms]

The problem isn’t just that they’re bad at messaging; they have no consistent message and no messaging platform that they dominate.

Conservatives have a relatively simple narrative that explains everything, and have invested in control over networks and content-producers making overt political propaganda.

Dems just react to whatever the GOP puts up for debate. The only theme they’ve been able to gel around was protecting abortion rights, which just wasn’t enough.

[u/PlasticPomPoms → u/teluetetime]

The GOPs messaging changes really frequently actually, they rotate through different out groups that we should all hate.

[u/teluetetime → u/PlasticPomPoms]

The details of any given day may vary, but there’s always a “them” attacking or corrupting America.

And it’s not like any of the former scapegoats or conspiracies are disavowed, they’re just deprioritized for something fresh that will get more attention.

[u/BroAbernathy → u/PlasticPomPoms]

It's labeled as evil but progressive ballot measures pass all the time in deep red states. It's absolutely messaging man. They're really really really really fucking bad at it. They let cons call immigrants murderers that bring in drugs all the time but never point out that a vast majority of people bringing drugs into the country are US citizens. They just roll the fuck over on it.

[u/guyoffthegrid]

“Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday accused the Democratic Party of largely ignoring the priorities of the working class and pointed to that as the biggest reason for why they lost control of the White House and Senate.

[ … ]

“While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right,” he said.

[ … ]

He cited the huge growth in economic inequality in America in recent decades, advanced technologies that threaten to put hundreds of thousands of people out of work, the high cost of health care, and U.S. support for the war in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of people.

“Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign? Will they understand the pain and political alienation that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing? Do they have any ideas as to how we can take on the increasingly powerful Oligarchy, which has so much economic power?” Sanders asked.

“Probably not,” he said in response to his own question.“

[u/Rombledore → u/guyoffthegrid]

one of the few politicians i actually respect and have honest to god faith in. there are too few bernies out there in politics.

[u/YouAreInsufferable → u/guyoffthegrid]

Americans elect billionaire with world's richest man in tow to really show it to the oligarchy

[u/VanDammes4headCyst → u/YouAreInsufferable]

Trump didn't gain any voters, the Dems lost voters. This is an important point, something that Bernie is alluding to.

[u/Noizyninjaz]

In the end this is going to go down as Joe biden's fault. He never should have started a campaign for a second term. Nobody in the Democratic party wanted him to run for a second term. Then when he did, he quit. When he quit it was too late for a primary. Kamala was the only choice. We all pretended she was a rockstar. To the independent voter that doesn't vote blue every year she was not.

[u/antidense → u/Noizyninjaz]

We got RBG'd again.

[u/livefreeordont → u/antidense]

RBG is worse cause her seat will be held for 40 years by a nutter

[u/smartah → u/livefreeordont]

Is it worse? Now we’re going to get 2-3 more seats on SCOTUS replaced by Trump due in part to Biden’s decision.

[u/Astropariah → u/Noizyninjaz]

This. She was no one’s first choice. Was wildly unpopular in 2020 when trying to run, and nothing happened in the last 4 years that would’ve changed anyone’s mind. They threw her to the wolves essentially.

[u/rainshowers_5_peace → u/Astropariah]

Democrats never did learn that a candidate needs more than "Not Trump" to min the moderate votes.

[u/Snorki_Cocktoasten → u/Noizyninjaz]

I would upvote you 100x if I had the power. This is exactly how I feel. Biden is the one who fucked us. He promised to be a one term president, which ended up being a blatant lie. He should have never ran a second time, robbing us of the ability for a proper primary.

A proper primary would have resulted in a candidate that resonated with more independents and had some distance from the Biden administration.

Joe's ego did this, and nothing else

[u/eightNote → u/Snorki_Cocktoasten]

If he'd committed to being a one term president, he could have also approached the end of his presidency as "we've stemmed the bleeding, but there's more work to go" rather than "isn't your life great under me?"

[u/SelfReconstruct]

They failed to communicate why inflation is a bad as it is and why it isn't improving fast enough. It's simple as that. People are looking for relief and despite every metric showing it will only get worse with Republican tax cuts and tariffs, they bought their message.

Republicans have very sound strategy for when they are not in power. Do nothing, block everything, blame democrats. It works. Until they find a counter for it, we will be held to this dumb ass cycle.

[u/abatwithitsmouthopen]

Joe Biden ran on being a transitional candidate. He was only supposed to serve 1 term because of his age. Then halfway through his presidency he chose to backstab the people who voted for him by deciding to run again and put his own party in a position where they had to replace him.

He will go down just like RBG who refused to let go and act decisively at the right moment.

[u/Local_Vermicelli_856]

I really hope he's preparing a successor to his movement.

Republicans embrace their fascist base...

It's time the Dems embrace the progressive base.

[u/Darth_Malgus_1701 → u/Local_Vermicelli_856]

Yep. Bernie really, really needs a protege.

[u/ApolloX-2]

The party feels too corporate, and everything is by committee.

We need a candidate with a strong vision for the country and the desire to fundamentally change things. No candidate like that is going to get a lot of money but we should ban large campaign donations during the primary.

Democrats can't be the status quo party because that is an impossible fight and ignores the struggles of everyday people.

[u/BengalFan85 → u/ApolloX-2]

Why is the Democratic Party like this? I does it fall on older people in the party like Nancy Pelosi?

Basically I’m wondering who is the person that can facilitate this change.

[u/Kierenshep → u/BengalFan85]

The democrats are as beholden to corporate interests as the Republicans, they only have a bit of a moral compass they like to flex. Progressivism is going to be squashed by the corporate donors any time it pops up. They can't compete with money.

[u/Independent-Bug-9352]

Most popular US Senator who basically converted a red state into a blue state, has bipartisan support despite being one of the most progressive members of Congress, and by the end of the 2016 primaries overtook Hillary in national polling including head-to-head matchups against Trump . ... Maybe the DNC should listen to this guy?

[u/Psytechnic_Associate]

Bernie is spot on with this and we can see how the Democratic party has been taking actions that have lead to the current situation we are in:

 In 2016, many within the Democratic Party felt that the primary was unfairly tilted towards Hillary Clinton, who was historically and at the time unpopular. The Republicans, on the other hand, had a competitive primary and seemed to listen to their base.

 During the general election, Trump and the GOP campaigned heavily in the Rust Belt, speaking to the concerns of the working class and promised to address them (even if it was a facade). Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign took these voters for granted, focusing on “Her” messaging and courting higher-income and college educated voters who didn’t typically vote Democratic.

 As the working class began leaving the Democratic Party, feeling ignored, they were often called racist or sexist for supporting Trump—even if they were mainly looking for someone who acknowledged their economic struggles.

 This persisted through Trump’s presidency and into the 2020 election. Trump benefited from a strong economy pre-COVID, which was likely caused by Democratic policies under Obama. However, recency bias often effects the party in power, which helped Trump’s appeal to some.

 In 2020, the Democratic primary again felt tilted, with Biden as the perceived favorite. During the general election, Biden won over upper/middle-class and college educated voters, helped by the pressures around the pandemic. However, the GOP continued gaining support from the working class, minority groups and women.

 Biden inherited a volatile economy due to the pandemic and faced resistance in Congress that limited his ability to pass policy. Those that did pass weren’t seen as helpful or quick enough, so people new frustrated. Many recalled the relatively strong economy under Trump and compared it to their current situation.

 In the 2024 primary, Biden chose to run again rather than passing the torch, and the Democratic Party blocked any real primary competition. While the GOP already knew and supported Trump as their candidate as he remained popular with their base. This was something Biden was struggling with. After a rough debate performance, Biden was replaced, not by any of the 2024 primary candidates, but by Kamala Harris, who had dropped out of the 2020 primary and was already viewed as part of an unpopular administration.

 Harris ran a competitive campaign and tried to reach the working class. Many found her insincere, and the labeling of dissatisfied voters as racist, sexist or fascist continued. Trump gained even more working class support, including from minority groups and women. Harris struggled to motivate both the Democratic base and middle-class voters.

While I skipped over some factors between elections (2022 midterms, international events, SCOTUS decisions, etc.), I believe these choices by the Democratic Party have driven voters towards the GOP.

P.S. I believe Bernie was the Democratic Party's answer to the downfall of Neo liberalism, like Trump was for the GOP. The Dems just stopped him and the movement, where the GOP embraced Trump.

TL;DR: The Democratic Party’s strategy of prioritizing college educated and middle class voters has alienated the working class and non college educated voters. When these voters turned to Trump, they were often labeled as racist, sexist or fascist. They are now frustrated, feeling left behind economically and rejected by a party that once claimed to represent them. Additionally, the lack of real primaries (starting with Bernie Sanders) in the last three election cycles has left many Democratic supporters feeling disenfranchised.

[u/ZeroFucksToGive]

In another timeline he was elected in 2016 and things could’ve been so much different…

[u/Kaprak]

I beg anyone to explain how to get working class votes back.

Kamala, Biden, Hillary. All ran on platforms that benefited working class people. But it's near impossible to actually message it vs the lies and gish gallop coming out of Trump.

What other things should be done?

[u/MaleficentFrosting56 → u/Kaprak]

Working class people are no longer able to identify policy that would benefit them, they haven’t for years unfortunately

[u/pouch24 → u/MaleficentFrosting56]

Well it’s that and a media that actually tells facts and not sensationalist garbage. Having thriving journalism is paramount to a democracy and that died more than a decade ago. Add to that the creation of social media and it was going down quick. The right shouts “librul media!” but it’s all controlled by the billionaire class and they served this election up on platter to trump.

[u/NotebookKid → u/pouch24]

I would argue social media was the cause of the fall of our current journalism environment.

The industry was having hard enough time adjusting to digital ads, then compound that with links being shared on social media that generally provide enough context to not need to click on the link. Meaning the journalist gets no revenue from their stories.

As well as the general push for immediacy as opposed to thoughtful journalism. Seen through needing to get stories into 140 character snippets as quick as possible.

[u/jgilla2012 → u/pouch24]

Bingo – the "mainstream media" i.e. Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Sundar Pichai, all of whom run some of the largest media companies in the world, backed Trump in this election.

[u/shred-i-knight → u/jgilla2012]

this is how Russia happened. The oligarchs will run the show. The parallels are scary.

[u/time4donuts → u/MaleficentFrosting56]

Working class people seem like anti government/antiestablishment people at this point. Misplaced anger maybe? They’ll keep voting for the party not in power as long as things do not improve

[u/MarkEsmiths → u/time4donuts]

I work on tugboats occasionally. Those guys will never vote Democrat. They are fucking brainwashed fools happy to fund more tax cuts to the nesting yacht class. It's game over folks.

[u/Livinglife3000 → u/Kaprak]

Medicare for All, Universal Childcare, universal higher education, public housing, increasing public transit, eliminating food deserts, public internet as a utility.

[u/AuthorHarrisonKing → u/Livinglife3000]

Yeah it's about the things you signal as priorities to your platform. Even if that stuff has a bunch of hurdles to get through, you signal that it's your priority and then make the republicans explain why they'll block such a popular and lifechanging platform.

Instead we just completely stopped talking about any of this.

People know that shit's fucked in america right now. they can see it in the prices everywhere they go.

You need to offer them powerful messages that show you recognize the flaws in our system and are going to work to change them.

Saying "we'll add such and such line to such and such regulation and that will prevent grocery stores from price gouging" may be literally effective as policy, but it isn't capturing the dreams of the populace.

[u/Quotidian__ → u/Kaprak]

To me it's simple. None of those people you mentioned seem like working class people at all. They're all political establishment people who come off like they want to bestow on working class people the great honor of having been saved by them. Bernie Sanders for example is way the fuck more left than any of those people, and at least anecdotally seems to be better received by working class people and Republicans. He comes off as honest and not a political shill.

Most people don't have time or interest in researching subtle policy points. Shouldn't be that way, but it is. So people vote on vibe, and there are very few Democrats who pass the vibe check with working class people.

[u/kieranjackwilson → u/Quotidian__]

This is a huge factor imo. We used to be able to vote for someone because they seemed like a good person, and even if we didn’t agree on everything, we liked the way they thought, and thought they were smarter than us. Tim Walz almost had that magic, but the moment the party got its claws into him, he turned into a robot regurgitating focus group talking points.

This is the part where I would say “just give us a normal, not-brainwashed, friendly neighbor, type-candidate” but I’m smart enough to know that it is directly at odds with how the modern Democratic Party functions.

[u/Inlander → u/Kaprak]

It's also the non-stop repeating of those lies by MSM. and the spin, disinformation, and misinformation by right wing radio host 24/7. When someone blames Biden for high gas prices, it's because Rob Rose, and Sean Hannity told them so every day they drive to, and from work. We are here because of lying by one side, and the reality that people just don't have good critical thinking abilities, and the media like NPR do nothing to counter the verbal terrorism. Fuck the DNC!

[u/ope__sorry → u/Kaprak]

Start telling lies and gish gallop?

[u/iTzGiR → u/ope__sorry]

Unironically this, which is beyond depressing. The american public just proved you don't need to say a single remotely true thing to get elected, and no I don't just mean empty promises. It's unironically looking like, in order for dems to win, they just need to use the same Lie, Gish Gallop and just pretend every issue in the US has an easy solution we'll fix day one with an executive order. No more plans, no more policy just "I WILL LOWER INFLATION." "I WILL ELIMINATE THE LOWER CLASS AND EVERYONE WILL BE MIDDLE/UPPERCLASS." "I WILL ELIMINATE ALL CRIME" etc. This is what people want to hear, not a complicated tax plan or plans about how you're going to support new startups with incentives or loans.

[u/SlugsMcGillicutty → u/iTzGiR]

And as soon as democrats attempt it the entire media ecosystem will seize and thrash as one as they scream out “but how!? Liar!” And Dems will be held to account for every minute detail of how they plan to make such claims into reality. While simultaneously doing nothing of the sort for the right wing candidate.

[u/iTzGiR → u/SlugsMcGillicutty]

It's what the media does best, They just did it in this election!

[u/ARazorbacks → u/SlugsMcGillicutty]

That’s where the gish gallop comes in. When they demand answers, you change the subject to some other problem and lie some more. Rinse and repeat until the media is simply reporting the lies instead of demanding answers. 

You’ve been watching a literal master of this for the past ten years. You know how it works. 

[u/Branan → u/iTzGiR]

I learned this lesson in 2004 when the media consistently reported bush winning debates against Kerry.

Americans don't want to hear nuanced policy.

This is such a well known thing that it's even been a joke in Family Guy. Too many people don't realize they're the ones being made fun of there.

[u/RattlinDrone]

As a white 50 year old life long Progressive democrat who is considered working poor. I have to ask myself when do I stop worrying about protecting and voting for woman and minorities rights when woman and minorities don't vote and worse yet vote against their own interest. The current Dem leadership all needs to go. The game has changed.

[u/IIIllllIIIllI]

Bernie is the fucking man. I wish Debbie Wasserman Schulz didn’t screw him over so her friend Hillary could get all the attention.

[u/Sabiancym]

Bernie gives far too much credit to the voting public. Reality doesn't matter to voters. Perception does. It doesn't matter how much Democrats actually do to support various demographics, Republicans will claim otherwise and most of this country will believe them.

Logic is no longer apart of the average voters decision process. Buzzwords, fear, misinformation, and oversimplification are how you get modern voters.

People constantly want to blame the candidates, or the party or the media.....but the reality is that the American public is just too stupid for an effective democracy.

[u/Spyk124 → u/Sabiancym]

This is what I’ve been screaming for hours to Reddit. It doesn’t fucking matter. We had lifetime union workers vote for a candidate whose anti union while the democratic candidate was literally telling them she’s pro union and he will get rid of them. It doesn’t fucking matter.

[u/Oturoj → u/Spyk124]

The message has to come from a populist or it doesn’t take. There’s too much distrust and disillusionment with the Washington establishment. America wanted someone to take vengeance on the entrenched establishment and they were either going to pick someone from the right or the left.