2020 Dems "go all in on identity politics"

[Technocracy Timmy]

The Democrats shouldn’t be distracted by identity politics. They should instead be focused exclusively on the politics of the working class in the white rural areas of PA, MI, and WI and cater to their needs only. That is the answer.

[Technocracy Timmy]

The Democrats shouldn’t be distracted by identity politics. They should instead be focused exclusively on the politics of the working class in the white rural areas of PA, MI, and WI and cater to their needs only. That is the answer.

Considering that they are the swing states, their needs matter much more than what the Upper East Side or Orange County thinks. 

I fully agree. The Democratic nominee needs to understand that they’re effectively running to be President of MI-WI-PA rural whites. Nobody else should be dealt with during their presidential tenure.

[Technocracy Timmy]

The Democrats shouldn’t be distracted by identity politics. They should instead be focused exclusively on the politics of the working class in the white rural areas of PA, MI, and WI and cater to their needs only. That is the answer.

Considering that they are the swing states, their needs matter much more than what the Upper East Side or Orange County thinks. 

I fully agree. The Democratic nominee needs to understand that they’re effectively running to be President of MI-WI-PA rural whites. Nobody else should be dealt with during their presidential tenure.

That's the nature of the beast. Perhaps, the writers of the Constitution should have thought about that before setting up the Electoral College. Don't blame Midwestern rurals for their power. They never asked for it.

Exactly so. The Founding Fathers intended for the electoral college to benefit midwestern whites of German descent. Not their fault. 

[Technocracy Timmy]

Excellent post, xingkerui.

This is what I fear will be the attitude of working class white men if the Democrats nominate, say, Kamala Harris:

“OMG, the Democrats nominated a minority woman from San Francisco.  They must be practicing the identity politics FOX News warned me of.  I’m not racist or sexist, it’s not fair.  I better vote for Trump, he won’t tolerate the war on folks like me.”

And it won’t matter how solid Harris’s record on economic issues actually is.

And in the real world Obama swept the rust belt twice because voters responded strongly to his populist economic message against McCain and Romney, despite the fact that he was black.

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Really populist there buddy.

[Technocracy Timmy]

Excellent post, xingkerui.

This is what I fear will be the attitude of working class white men if the Democrats nominate, say, Kamala Harris:

“OMG, the Democrats nominated a minority woman from San Francisco.  They must be practicing the identity politics FOX News warned me of.  I’m not racist or sexist, it’s not fair.  I better vote for Trump, he won’t tolerate the war on folks like me.”

And it won’t matter how solid Harris’s record on economic issues actually is.

And in the real world Obama swept the rust belt twice because voters responded strongly to his populist economic message against McCain and Romney, despite the fact that he was black.

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Really populist there buddy.

That literally proves my point. Obama managed to win ordinarily Republican voters with socially conservative views by painting his opponents as out of touch rich guys responsible for the great recession. If Democrats are winning those voters they're getting majorities like the one we saw a couple of weeks ago.

Oh, and this midterm Democrats won 15/21 Obama-Trump House districts, 8 of them pickups, on a swing from R+8 to D+3 over all of them (Obama was D+6 in 2012).

He did not win them over with his economically populist message. They’re opposed to basic healthcare reform via Obamacare. READ the article for God’s sake lol. Trump won these voters over with his immigration rhetoric and promise to repeal and replace Obamacare. The gains in a D+8 midterm do not automatically translate to the next presidential election otherwise Romney would’ve won in 2012, Dole would’ve won in 1996, and Mondale would’ve won in 1984.

[Technocracy Timmy]

For better or worse, the reason Obamacare was so unpopular in 2010 (same with Clintoncare in 1994) was due to it being portrayed as a Rube Goldberg machine that would be highly disruptive to existing health insurance policy holders. I highly Trump's opposition to Obamacare was a primary factor in him flipping Obama/Trump areas given every other Republican candidate was wedded to it. It is where he *distinguished* himself such as immigration, trade, and to a lesser extent, nominally protecting entitlements that enabled him to make the gains that he did.

Exactly right. Americans are fine with economic left wing ideas until the second they start getting implemented in some form then there’s a backlash like we saw with the ACA. A single payer proposal would be no different if there was an attempt to enact one.

I highly doubt Trump’s gains in the Midwest came that much from trade and protecting entitlements. We saw a very progressive Democrat in Feingold fall to a standard right wing Republican in Ron Johnson and another standard right wing Republican in Pat Toomey win re-election all while Trump carried these states (Michigan didn’t have a senate race). Rob Portman won in a landslide as well and he was George W. Bush’s trade rep. The only difference was that these republicans had stronger margins in the suburbs relative to Trump. Did Trump pad the margins in rural areas? Probably. But he did not win the Midwest alone nor did he have some special path that was only his. Toomey, Portman, and Johnson all showed that these voters are more than willing to elect standard right wing Republicans.

They’re not economic populists.

[Technocracy Timmy]

The voters we're talking about are open to voting Democratic and live in extremely important states for the Electoral College. It's insane to push them away for cultural reasons.

If Dems really go all in on identity politics, than i would hope that Trump wins a second term. They'll never learn it.

What’s the point in having a socialist avatar if you only care to discuss issues of economic injustice for white men? Just be honest about the fact that Democrats talking about racial, gender, and lgbt issues makes you too uncomfortable and that you’re not really socialists.

Hell there’s deeply racist people out there who are often more upfront about what they believe than you guys are.