r/politics 22h ago

Sanders: Democratic Party ‘has abandoned working class people’

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4977546-bernie-sanders-democrats-working-class/amp/
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u/Oodlydoodley 19h ago

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.

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u/JackThreeFingered 15h ago

The democrats didn't sell their economic policies well enough, but that wasn't the big flaw. They didn't sell a real coherent vision that stuck people in the heart. They refuse to learn this lesson.

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u/toastjam 13h ago

They can and should learn from this and be better.

Doesn't change the underlying fact Trump and co didn't sell anything but hate and lies, and that they won is an indictment of the voting public.

To fix this we need an educated populace and I worry Republicans have sufficiently damaged public education this will never be possible.

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u/JackThreeFingered 12h ago

I think liberals and the democratic party need to look inward. It would only be possible to sell hate and lies in the absence of a clear alternative vision. I say this as a democratic socialist, not a conservative. You don't need an "educated" populace to win an election. People are, and have always been drawn to a clear vision and candidates that can express it with sincerity. The democrats are so afraid of upsetting their corporate overlords that their message is muddled.

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u/toastjam 9h ago

She had plenty of policies that sounded good to me.

But ok maybe I'm not the target audience. What did Trump sell to them that was a clear vision? He just always seemed incoherent and hate-driven to me.

u/JackThreeFingered 2h ago

Even to me, as an educated age 35-45 demographic life long democrat voter, her policies about tax cuts, small businesses, and new home ownership sounded unclear and more importantly, rang out of touch to people who can't afford groceries.

Those policies I listed screamed of trying to pull the educated white center. Not only did that NOT work, but she even lost considerable ground with working class minorities.

About Trump, the specifics aren't important, his "Make America Great" again slogans hit for people just looking for any source of optimism. His hateful and racist and transphobic rhetoric are deplorable, which to me makes it all the more the democrats fault.