Beet
Atlas Star
Posts: 28,967
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« on: November 21, 2016, 12:51:20 PM » |
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It doesn't matter if the jobs return or not. If anything, continued decline only entrenches the bitterness of the region and their receptivity to populist messages. If voters perceive Trump as giving more respect and attention to the concerns of blue collar workers in the region, he is in good shape. The Dems don't have any high profile candidates who can really challenge this at the moment. And Trump is no fool, the man has political instincts. Right now he has a huge reservoir of trust with these people, because he took on the whole political establishment of both parties, defeated them, and got everyone to sit up and notice them. Notice, this is post-election. He has more political capital than he did on Nov. 8, when he won PA, MI, OH, IA and WI. He will be very, very tough to beat.
The Democrats think they can win back WWC by going populist in 2020. That indeed, would help them relative to 2016. However, going against them will be the fact that Trump will have incumbency advantage. The argument that he lacks the temperament to be CIC won't be available any more. Hence, even if Democrats do everything right (big if), the net result is a wash.
We got whupped this year and a little humility will be in order.
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