I just deleted a whole comment that I wrote, so I’m not going to do the whole thing over again but this line is concerning…”, ‘protect’ ” trans kids (or asylum seekers, or abortion access, or the environment, or affordable health care, etc.) if you’re losing elections.” I have been listening to you guys for the last seven years and I have moved farther to the right than I thought I would ever go and yet all of those things are extremely concerning to me and if we were to move to get rid of those things, I don’t know if we’re any better than the gang that runs the show now. If there are specific ideas that would move Democrats more to the middle. I’m all ears and I hope I will hear a lot of that on the Bulwark in the coming year.
Voters do not see moderation in itself as an asset. Voters see authenticity and making hard calls because they are the right thing to do as a very scarce asset. Egan quotes Yglesias "Talking about an assault weapons ban does not help Democratic candidates win steep uphill Senate battles in Texas. Really? Check the February 2025 Univ. of Houston poll on Texan's gun control views: 70% support banning the sale of AR-15-style assault rifles, 83% support raising the age to purchase any firearm from 18 to 21. The problem is not that Democrats are not Moderate, the problem is that the public sees Democrats as spineless.
Sherrod Brown ran as far away from the national party as he possibly could. I'm still too sad to even say more than that. But I wish he would run for governor. And that Mark Cuban would help him. We cannot have Vivek. Ohio will die. It's already a sesspool of MAGA and actual Nazis. I see both at my local gas station every day.
1. Apologize to every Democrat for covering up for Biden's OBVIOUS condition.
2. Apologize to Harris for not letting her criticize Biden's OBVIOUS FAILURE on the border. Vow to control the borders!
3. Rewrite the platform, this time ignoring the elitist ACLU and stop thinking that America is ready to pass a Sociology test OR that you can FORCE the electorate.
4. Most Americans want abortion to be legal, 80% of those Americans want limits on abortion, why not respect them? Put a 12 week limit unless there are extenuating circumstances.
5. Reform and restructure student loans instead of screaming FREE TUITION.
6. Most Americans do not want trans boys competing in girl's sports. Why not be realistic and fair about this?
7. $25,000 for a down payment? Do you not know that it would only pour gas on the inflationary fire? Build more Senior housing, older people are tired of homeownership and upkeep. There are waiting lists everywhere. They pay for themselves.
8. Start wanting to WIN instead of being high and mighty and self righteously right.
8. Have a convention and speak to all of this... Promise honesty
We need a new vision that paints a picture of a revitalized American dream. A dream of a future for everyone where upward mobility and a path to the middle class is achievable. Where we look at the true source of stratification. Economic oppression. We must get away from protectionist nostalgia and trek into a scary future with bravery.
United we Stand. Divided We Fall! I don’t know about you but I’m ready to fight for our right to party.
I am more of a Democrat, and I am female, so I loved Hilary and adored Harris/Walz! But we must accept the fact that the rest of the country is NOT that way, and campaign/ vote that way. As much as we hate it, we aren’t ready for a female
president and much less a female vice again. We just aren’t, and must accept that fact. Maybe a female Republican, but not yet a female Democrat. I hate that, but we must accept that.
What's not "nice" is your erasure of transgender Americans. You call trans women "men", mouth the MAGAidiot buzzwords "trans ideology" without having the faintest idea of what "ideology" is or means, reference a foreign country's erroneous and counter-factual court opinion as if it had a shred of relevance here, and demean and diminish the existence of these American citizens as "genderwoo" (!), a word as odious and obnoxious as the ABUSIVE person who wrote it! Elon and his fellow cesspool-dwellers would love to have you, and I for one would rejoice to see the door hitting you in the rear as you leave here. See ya.
Thirty Democrats in the House are over the age of 75. The party leadership is all over 80. These elders need to retire and let a younger, more muscular, more energetic cohort take their place. Generally, Democrats need to stop focusing on policy, and start playing offense against authoritarianism and corruption. This is not a difficult problem. Last, trans people should not be discriminated against and tormented, neither should immigrants, nor people of color, nor women. Now stop talking about it, and win elections on the grounds that Republicans are corrupt fascists who hate Americans and want to wreck our government and steal everything from us. Once Dems win, they can make good policy happen, but the priority must be restoring Constitutional order.
Nope, nope and nope again. In generic polling when the public is asked about where they stand on issues, their views mostly align with the Dems. Gun control? yes Reproductive freedom? yes Taxpayer dollars to religious schools? no Should the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes? yes etc etc
There are a few outliers such as trans care/rights and it's probably true that Dems should backburner those issues for now (without abandoning them I might add).
The problem is that those who voted for Trump in 2024, including those who had not voted for him before, were low information voters and/or those who had bought the lies promoted so very well by the right wing media echo chamber which has been inescapable for a very long time now. Cats and dogs! Invasion! The price of eggs! White discrimination! Antiseminism! DEI! WOKE!!! The list is endless.
The Dems' real problem is that they haven't figured out how to combat the right wing media machine across all platforms. They've been playing defense v offense. Building a strong offense is where they should be heading. They're making some headway but it's a long, hard road.
When we talk about messaging we need to counter the fox-watcher contingent who salivate at any Republican who gets in front of any Fox camera at any time of the day and lie through their fucking teeth, something Dems seem very reluctant to do. Thankfully, I guess. Wrap your head around this:
1) Biden screwed us. (just when I was beginning to forgive him for Clarence Thomas)
2) we need more Chris Murphys and Cory Bookers
3) Move Woke to the back of the bus.
We will never reach my flat-earth son-in-law. but what the hell do I know?
There is a little bit of truth in many comments here, none of course encapsulates the totality what us required at hand but the one thing that is absolutely true us that Biden and his enablers need to basically shut the hell up and sit down. The only thing that needs to be said preferably not by Biden is that good programs and investments in the American people were made. The economy was not perfect but it was on good footing and it was wrecked by Trump.
Anything else really needs to come from the next generation - there are some out there doing a good job.
Last but not least can we PLEASE get our messaging down and present UNIFIED messaging?
The trans issue killed the Dems--especially boys playing girls sports, and proper pronoun shaming. I'm a life long Democrat and unbashed liberal who's not afraid to use the term, like most Democrats are. But the trans issue offended me and most of America. How are we helping trans people by losing elections? Otherwise, forget the Republican lite bullshit. Don't apologize for advocating the policies that will actually improve our lives. Don't let the enemy define you and your policies, Democrats. Go to the people and leave the focus groups and pollsters in D.C,.
It's bigger than Trans. Running around spray painting All Cops are Bastards right before a 3 year Covid inspired crime and un civility spree breaks out didn't help either. In times of fear or economic pinch Americans become instinctively "right wing". The same thing with Civil Rights. A good economy goes a long way to opening opportunities for reversing discrimination whether it was the 50's60's...for minorities or the 90's for Gay and Lesbian. I feel conflicted about Trans people but if you live in the real world you kind of know the difference. It was a huge ask to "center" and issue that effects 1% of the population. I don't want to throw anybody under the bus but boys in competitive sports and kind of radical non reversible medical procedures for people under 18 years old was just to much. On Trans we need to focus on no bullying and civil rights for Adults.
If the Democrats are as selfish as the Republicans with their own absolutism, you don't give voters anything to reach toward. Selfish in particular rhetoric (we must stand up for they/them pronouns!). Selfish in 2A concerns (we must wedge in an assault weapons ban now!). Selfish in national debt and taxes (the debt will be solved when the rich are taxed until they cry!). Selfish in who gets to speak for the team (Joe Biden must shut the hell up!) Selfish in religious matters (all believers are idiots who believe in a sky fairy.) Selfish in causality (everything is awful and it's all the right's fault.) I'm not saying that reason is absent at the heart of these things. But if you atomize the party platform, where all advocates speak up and scream, "I need to get my own way, or I won't show up at the polls," then you give candidates nothing to talk about, really, because they fear you not showing up. Because, the thing is, you didn't show up, and shame on you. We need to get back to the days when the Democrats stood for broad values. We stood for Civil Rights, period, all of them. We need to once again speak about the reality of life as a blue-collar worker and, as it is now, service worker - reality in regard to wages, housing costs, groceries, and the cost of educating their children. Care about families, in other words, but in the broad sense, and explain more clearly how the right has little interest in the well-being of middle- and working-class families, unless of course they belong to the right religion. In the 2024 election, Harris' handlers told her to say "yes" to every progressive mantra, and this gave her little time to simply identify with and talk about the broader things Democrats should stand for. Instead, she talked about paying money to have kids. She laid down her life for the right to transition kids. She couldn't be too Black, or too female, except for abortion rights. There was zero cohesion around the basic ideals the Democrats once held as important truths. So, the question is, do we still hold those ideals? Or do we need to splinter off and attract moderate Republicans, call ourselves something different, and hope that in 40-50 years enough money will show up to help us win an election. Because I agree with Walz, I hear nothing that gives me hope that we'll take the mid-terms. Outrage is not a compelling reason to get to the polls unless it is attached to an understanding of how life really is for the middle, working blue collar, working service classes. People are exhausted.
I don't know what you meant by what '...the comment says about Walz' and speaking as a person who is not familiar with the past inner workings of this Party but only learning as much as I can in the last few years, it sounds exhausting. I will tell you that something I have noticed going about my day and listening or reading various things, I am seeing nothing but love for Tim Walz. It surprised me actually but Suburban Women love him at least over 30 and up, Men think he says it like it is and it seems that way to me. I really am starting to wonder if he's simply cutting though all the noise and is doing what trump managed by talking to regular people. His comments and reactions seem natural and he may not be everyone's cup of tea but I'm glad he's out there. It's exhausting just to read about the angst around which issue or how much attention to pay to something. First, we need to stop letting a really unpopular Prezident dictate what is and isn't important! Let's get out there and tell people the truth about the Trans issue, it's less than 1% of the population and we have nuclear war to worry about! We let them drag us into these stupid Culture Wars and it's a waste of time. How hard is it to just speak frankly and to dispel the phony rage by saying, we can work together with individual communities locally on how they want to handle bathrooms and we can definitely sort out who plays on which team AFTER the more important things are dealt with. Sorry if that offends anyone but we're dealing with huge global issues, and frankly we are not going to win discussing the 'Culture Wars' but FFS, the ppl making headway are the ones who just speak plainly about the important things beginning with getting these Facists and billionaires out! I know this sounds simplistic but maybe it needs to be, because I'm sick of the noise. The other side is losing on their own and we have nothing to be afraid or ashamed of and letting them shout us down abt anything was our first mistake! I think we are on offense already and all this over-analyzing will drag us down. The Yeti did NOT win by a landslide and it doesn't have to be this hard!
The argument over whether Democrats should become more "centrist" or not is always annoying to me because its proponents are always arguing that minority groups should take one for the team and get shafted. (For example, Dearborn voters should be OK with a Harris administration that sends bombs to Israel; Black voters should stop talking about "woke.")
If Democrats REALLY wanted to be centrists, they would quick trying to push gun control. I live in Atlanta and have a lot of family in rural red areas. It's hard to convince people that they should support "reasonable gun restrictions" when:
1) Democrats sound like absolute idiots when they talk about guns and can't get basic terminology right, and
2) these restrictions would likely turn millions of people into criminals seemingly overnight.
With everything in my being, I think Democrats could solve all their problems overnight if they dropped gun control talk. If anything, Kamala should have talked about her guns MORE.
I just deleted a whole comment that I wrote, so I’m not going to do the whole thing over again but this line is concerning…”, ‘protect’ ” trans kids (or asylum seekers, or abortion access, or the environment, or affordable health care, etc.) if you’re losing elections.” I have been listening to you guys for the last seven years and I have moved farther to the right than I thought I would ever go and yet all of those things are extremely concerning to me and if we were to move to get rid of those things, I don’t know if we’re any better than the gang that runs the show now. If there are specific ideas that would move Democrats more to the middle. I’m all ears and I hope I will hear a lot of that on the Bulwark in the coming year.
Voters do not see moderation in itself as an asset. Voters see authenticity and making hard calls because they are the right thing to do as a very scarce asset. Egan quotes Yglesias "Talking about an assault weapons ban does not help Democratic candidates win steep uphill Senate battles in Texas. Really? Check the February 2025 Univ. of Houston poll on Texan's gun control views: 70% support banning the sale of AR-15-style assault rifles, 83% support raising the age to purchase any firearm from 18 to 21. The problem is not that Democrats are not Moderate, the problem is that the public sees Democrats as spineless.
Sherrod Brown ran as far away from the national party as he possibly could. I'm still too sad to even say more than that. But I wish he would run for governor. And that Mark Cuban would help him. We cannot have Vivek. Ohio will die. It's already a sesspool of MAGA and actual Nazis. I see both at my local gas station every day.
____________________
The DNC - here's a plan.
1. Apologize to every Democrat for covering up for Biden's OBVIOUS condition.
2. Apologize to Harris for not letting her criticize Biden's OBVIOUS FAILURE on the border. Vow to control the borders!
3. Rewrite the platform, this time ignoring the elitist ACLU and stop thinking that America is ready to pass a Sociology test OR that you can FORCE the electorate.
4. Most Americans want abortion to be legal, 80% of those Americans want limits on abortion, why not respect them? Put a 12 week limit unless there are extenuating circumstances.
5. Reform and restructure student loans instead of screaming FREE TUITION.
6. Most Americans do not want trans boys competing in girl's sports. Why not be realistic and fair about this?
7. $25,000 for a down payment? Do you not know that it would only pour gas on the inflationary fire? Build more Senior housing, older people are tired of homeownership and upkeep. There are waiting lists everywhere. They pay for themselves.
8. Start wanting to WIN instead of being high and mighty and self righteously right.
8. Have a convention and speak to all of this... Promise honesty
REBRAND the Party.
_____________________
Your #6 proves you have no clue of what you're talking about. Trans boys (Trans men) are female to male. Trans women are male to female.
We need a new vision that paints a picture of a revitalized American dream. A dream of a future for everyone where upward mobility and a path to the middle class is achievable. Where we look at the true source of stratification. Economic oppression. We must get away from protectionist nostalgia and trek into a scary future with bravery.
United we Stand. Divided We Fall! I don’t know about you but I’m ready to fight for our right to party.
I am more of a Democrat, and I am female, so I loved Hilary and adored Harris/Walz! But we must accept the fact that the rest of the country is NOT that way, and campaign/ vote that way. As much as we hate it, we aren’t ready for a female
president and much less a female vice again. We just aren’t, and must accept that fact. Maybe a female Republican, but not yet a female Democrat. I hate that, but we must accept that.
What's not "nice" is your erasure of transgender Americans. You call trans women "men", mouth the MAGAidiot buzzwords "trans ideology" without having the faintest idea of what "ideology" is or means, reference a foreign country's erroneous and counter-factual court opinion as if it had a shred of relevance here, and demean and diminish the existence of these American citizens as "genderwoo" (!), a word as odious and obnoxious as the ABUSIVE person who wrote it! Elon and his fellow cesspool-dwellers would love to have you, and I for one would rejoice to see the door hitting you in the rear as you leave here. See ya.
All human beings deserve dignity and protection and a path forward to realizing their dreams.
Thirty Democrats in the House are over the age of 75. The party leadership is all over 80. These elders need to retire and let a younger, more muscular, more energetic cohort take their place. Generally, Democrats need to stop focusing on policy, and start playing offense against authoritarianism and corruption. This is not a difficult problem. Last, trans people should not be discriminated against and tormented, neither should immigrants, nor people of color, nor women. Now stop talking about it, and win elections on the grounds that Republicans are corrupt fascists who hate Americans and want to wreck our government and steal everything from us. Once Dems win, they can make good policy happen, but the priority must be restoring Constitutional order.
Nope, nope and nope again. In generic polling when the public is asked about where they stand on issues, their views mostly align with the Dems. Gun control? yes Reproductive freedom? yes Taxpayer dollars to religious schools? no Should the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes? yes etc etc
There are a few outliers such as trans care/rights and it's probably true that Dems should backburner those issues for now (without abandoning them I might add).
The problem is that those who voted for Trump in 2024, including those who had not voted for him before, were low information voters and/or those who had bought the lies promoted so very well by the right wing media echo chamber which has been inescapable for a very long time now. Cats and dogs! Invasion! The price of eggs! White discrimination! Antiseminism! DEI! WOKE!!! The list is endless.
The Dems' real problem is that they haven't figured out how to combat the right wing media machine across all platforms. They've been playing defense v offense. Building a strong offense is where they should be heading. They're making some headway but it's a long, hard road.
When we talk about messaging we need to counter the fox-watcher contingent who salivate at any Republican who gets in front of any Fox camera at any time of the day and lie through their fucking teeth, something Dems seem very reluctant to do. Thankfully, I guess. Wrap your head around this:
1) Biden screwed us. (just when I was beginning to forgive him for Clarence Thomas)
2) we need more Chris Murphys and Cory Bookers
3) Move Woke to the back of the bus.
We will never reach my flat-earth son-in-law. but what the hell do I know?
There is a little bit of truth in many comments here, none of course encapsulates the totality what us required at hand but the one thing that is absolutely true us that Biden and his enablers need to basically shut the hell up and sit down. The only thing that needs to be said preferably not by Biden is that good programs and investments in the American people were made. The economy was not perfect but it was on good footing and it was wrecked by Trump.
Anything else really needs to come from the next generation - there are some out there doing a good job.
Last but not least can we PLEASE get our messaging down and present UNIFIED messaging?
The trans issue killed the Dems--especially boys playing girls sports, and proper pronoun shaming. I'm a life long Democrat and unbashed liberal who's not afraid to use the term, like most Democrats are. But the trans issue offended me and most of America. How are we helping trans people by losing elections? Otherwise, forget the Republican lite bullshit. Don't apologize for advocating the policies that will actually improve our lives. Don't let the enemy define you and your policies, Democrats. Go to the people and leave the focus groups and pollsters in D.C,.
It's bigger than Trans. Running around spray painting All Cops are Bastards right before a 3 year Covid inspired crime and un civility spree breaks out didn't help either. In times of fear or economic pinch Americans become instinctively "right wing". The same thing with Civil Rights. A good economy goes a long way to opening opportunities for reversing discrimination whether it was the 50's60's...for minorities or the 90's for Gay and Lesbian. I feel conflicted about Trans people but if you live in the real world you kind of know the difference. It was a huge ask to "center" and issue that effects 1% of the population. I don't want to throw anybody under the bus but boys in competitive sports and kind of radical non reversible medical procedures for people under 18 years old was just to much. On Trans we need to focus on no bullying and civil rights for Adults.
What actually is a "moderate" if a "conservative" is not really a conservative?
If the Democrats are as selfish as the Republicans with their own absolutism, you don't give voters anything to reach toward. Selfish in particular rhetoric (we must stand up for they/them pronouns!). Selfish in 2A concerns (we must wedge in an assault weapons ban now!). Selfish in national debt and taxes (the debt will be solved when the rich are taxed until they cry!). Selfish in who gets to speak for the team (Joe Biden must shut the hell up!) Selfish in religious matters (all believers are idiots who believe in a sky fairy.) Selfish in causality (everything is awful and it's all the right's fault.) I'm not saying that reason is absent at the heart of these things. But if you atomize the party platform, where all advocates speak up and scream, "I need to get my own way, or I won't show up at the polls," then you give candidates nothing to talk about, really, because they fear you not showing up. Because, the thing is, you didn't show up, and shame on you. We need to get back to the days when the Democrats stood for broad values. We stood for Civil Rights, period, all of them. We need to once again speak about the reality of life as a blue-collar worker and, as it is now, service worker - reality in regard to wages, housing costs, groceries, and the cost of educating their children. Care about families, in other words, but in the broad sense, and explain more clearly how the right has little interest in the well-being of middle- and working-class families, unless of course they belong to the right religion. In the 2024 election, Harris' handlers told her to say "yes" to every progressive mantra, and this gave her little time to simply identify with and talk about the broader things Democrats should stand for. Instead, she talked about paying money to have kids. She laid down her life for the right to transition kids. She couldn't be too Black, or too female, except for abortion rights. There was zero cohesion around the basic ideals the Democrats once held as important truths. So, the question is, do we still hold those ideals? Or do we need to splinter off and attract moderate Republicans, call ourselves something different, and hope that in 40-50 years enough money will show up to help us win an election. Because I agree with Walz, I hear nothing that gives me hope that we'll take the mid-terms. Outrage is not a compelling reason to get to the polls unless it is attached to an understanding of how life really is for the middle, working blue collar, working service classes. People are exhausted.
I don't know what you meant by what '...the comment says about Walz' and speaking as a person who is not familiar with the past inner workings of this Party but only learning as much as I can in the last few years, it sounds exhausting. I will tell you that something I have noticed going about my day and listening or reading various things, I am seeing nothing but love for Tim Walz. It surprised me actually but Suburban Women love him at least over 30 and up, Men think he says it like it is and it seems that way to me. I really am starting to wonder if he's simply cutting though all the noise and is doing what trump managed by talking to regular people. His comments and reactions seem natural and he may not be everyone's cup of tea but I'm glad he's out there. It's exhausting just to read about the angst around which issue or how much attention to pay to something. First, we need to stop letting a really unpopular Prezident dictate what is and isn't important! Let's get out there and tell people the truth about the Trans issue, it's less than 1% of the population and we have nuclear war to worry about! We let them drag us into these stupid Culture Wars and it's a waste of time. How hard is it to just speak frankly and to dispel the phony rage by saying, we can work together with individual communities locally on how they want to handle bathrooms and we can definitely sort out who plays on which team AFTER the more important things are dealt with. Sorry if that offends anyone but we're dealing with huge global issues, and frankly we are not going to win discussing the 'Culture Wars' but FFS, the ppl making headway are the ones who just speak plainly about the important things beginning with getting these Facists and billionaires out! I know this sounds simplistic but maybe it needs to be, because I'm sick of the noise. The other side is losing on their own and we have nothing to be afraid or ashamed of and letting them shout us down abt anything was our first mistake! I think we are on offense already and all this over-analyzing will drag us down. The Yeti did NOT win by a landslide and it doesn't have to be this hard!
The argument over whether Democrats should become more "centrist" or not is always annoying to me because its proponents are always arguing that minority groups should take one for the team and get shafted. (For example, Dearborn voters should be OK with a Harris administration that sends bombs to Israel; Black voters should stop talking about "woke.")
If Democrats REALLY wanted to be centrists, they would quick trying to push gun control. I live in Atlanta and have a lot of family in rural red areas. It's hard to convince people that they should support "reasonable gun restrictions" when:
1) Democrats sound like absolute idiots when they talk about guns and can't get basic terminology right, and
2) these restrictions would likely turn millions of people into criminals seemingly overnight.
With everything in my being, I think Democrats could solve all their problems overnight if they dropped gun control talk. If anything, Kamala should have talked about her guns MORE.