"We see this posture as a bit odd: Putting constituent work over personal slights and irritations arguably speaks well of McBride as a representative. But it’s even odder that more other Democrats aren’t coming to McBride’s defense. The widely shared sentiment that Republicans effectively wielded the trans issue against Democrats in this…
"We see this posture as a bit odd: Putting constituent work over personal slights and irritations arguably speaks well of McBride as a representative. But it’s even odder that more other Democrats aren’t coming to McBride’s defense. The widely shared sentiment that Republicans effectively wielded the trans issue against Democrats in this year’s election likely has something to do with it; Democrats are more apprehensive about engaging than they otherwise would be."
I don't really agree that this has much to do with the election; I think that this is where the Democratic Party has ended up, and that the campaigns they actually ran gave no indication otherwise (even though the campaigns run against them told a different story), and America has bought this caricature of the party. Maybe the Republicans wielded the issue against Democrats effectively, but that doesn't mean they did so honestly or in ways rooted in reality. Donald Trump ran a disgusting far-right blud und boden campaign. Harris did not run some activist far-left campaign, and in fact, I'd wager a lot of the activist far-left crowd just didn't show up to vote because she wasn't nearly woke enough.
I can't make sense of any of this, and when that's the case, I have to conclude there are broader problems at work than the campaign Harris ran, namely, our incredibly warped information and media landscape. The tolerance of lies spread with impunity with vast reach and velocity. The salience of the attention-grabbing untruth over the mundane reality.
Something I've noticed, not with The Bulwark team so much but with others, is a lot of commentators who up until November 4 kept saying repeatedly that Harris ran a good, even great, campaign. Then the unthinkable happened on November 5 and the fascist won, and suddenly these same people had a lot to say about what a bad, mistake-riddled campaign she ran. I'm not having that.
I agree that Democrats would be foolish to take at face value the notion that engaging in trans issues is per se to their detriment. Harris didn’t really engage with it at all. Trump did. Maybe the lesson to learn in this media environment isn’t to ignore the troll but, rather, engage in some riposte a la McBride — she did up a defense: I’m here for my constituents; you’re here for attention.
My theory right now is that some are spooked but I can see wisdom in letting some of the Republicans peacock a bit. I think if you present Americans with the question “Should prisoners get [literally anything]” they will chafe at that. We don’t have, as far as I’m aware, an indication that, without a specific prompt, Americans like their reps to be petty bitches when they were sent there, ostensibly, to make the economy better.*
* Presumably by pushing the “Economy good now mkay” button that Democrats wouldn’t touch because they were too busy fine-tuning the Jewish space lasers.
There is one reason and one reason only why Harris lost. Too many people would rather have an incompetent criminal if he is a man than a very competent woman. Hispanic men and even quite a few black men couldn't make the leap to having a female President. When she was nominated I cried because I knew she would not win.
This is one reason why people are flocking to Bluesky and why MAGA hates it. There are very few algorithms, and from what I understand none at all that affect a user's following feed. You see what you want to see, not what the algorithm feeds you. Combine that with the nuclear block option and MAGA and their ilk are having a really hard time getting anyone to pay attention to them there. As it grows maybe it will change, it for now it is working.
AB Stoddard had a good article talking about Democrat's need to figure out how to navigate the current media reality. Harris ran a great campaign, for the media of 1996. And for people like us who still get at least some of our news from traditional media. But the sad reality is that we are the weirdos, who aren't glued to TikTok and who understand that just because some dude on the internet says it's true, it isn't. MAGA lives and breathes, and creates, the current media reality. Democrats need to figure out how to live in it.
"We see this posture as a bit odd: Putting constituent work over personal slights and irritations arguably speaks well of McBride as a representative. But it’s even odder that more other Democrats aren’t coming to McBride’s defense. The widely shared sentiment that Republicans effectively wielded the trans issue against Democrats in this year’s election likely has something to do with it; Democrats are more apprehensive about engaging than they otherwise would be."
I don't really agree that this has much to do with the election; I think that this is where the Democratic Party has ended up, and that the campaigns they actually ran gave no indication otherwise (even though the campaigns run against them told a different story), and America has bought this caricature of the party. Maybe the Republicans wielded the issue against Democrats effectively, but that doesn't mean they did so honestly or in ways rooted in reality. Donald Trump ran a disgusting far-right blud und boden campaign. Harris did not run some activist far-left campaign, and in fact, I'd wager a lot of the activist far-left crowd just didn't show up to vote because she wasn't nearly woke enough.
I can't make sense of any of this, and when that's the case, I have to conclude there are broader problems at work than the campaign Harris ran, namely, our incredibly warped information and media landscape. The tolerance of lies spread with impunity with vast reach and velocity. The salience of the attention-grabbing untruth over the mundane reality.
Something I've noticed, not with The Bulwark team so much but with others, is a lot of commentators who up until November 4 kept saying repeatedly that Harris ran a good, even great, campaign. Then the unthinkable happened on November 5 and the fascist won, and suddenly these same people had a lot to say about what a bad, mistake-riddled campaign she ran. I'm not having that.
I agree that Democrats would be foolish to take at face value the notion that engaging in trans issues is per se to their detriment. Harris didn’t really engage with it at all. Trump did. Maybe the lesson to learn in this media environment isn’t to ignore the troll but, rather, engage in some riposte a la McBride — she did up a defense: I’m here for my constituents; you’re here for attention.
My theory right now is that some are spooked but I can see wisdom in letting some of the Republicans peacock a bit. I think if you present Americans with the question “Should prisoners get [literally anything]” they will chafe at that. We don’t have, as far as I’m aware, an indication that, without a specific prompt, Americans like their reps to be petty bitches when they were sent there, ostensibly, to make the economy better.*
* Presumably by pushing the “Economy good now mkay” button that Democrats wouldn’t touch because they were too busy fine-tuning the Jewish space lasers.
There is one reason and one reason only why Harris lost. Too many people would rather have an incompetent criminal if he is a man than a very competent woman. Hispanic men and even quite a few black men couldn't make the leap to having a female President. When she was nominated I cried because I knew she would not win.
I have to wonder about the degree of influence by those who control the algorithms.
This is one reason why people are flocking to Bluesky and why MAGA hates it. There are very few algorithms, and from what I understand none at all that affect a user's following feed. You see what you want to see, not what the algorithm feeds you. Combine that with the nuclear block option and MAGA and their ilk are having a really hard time getting anyone to pay attention to them there. As it grows maybe it will change, it for now it is working.
The influence is very high. It's way too high. You put your finger on it: the algorithms are the biggest problem.
AB Stoddard had a good article talking about Democrat's need to figure out how to navigate the current media reality. Harris ran a great campaign, for the media of 1996. And for people like us who still get at least some of our news from traditional media. But the sad reality is that we are the weirdos, who aren't glued to TikTok and who understand that just because some dude on the internet says it's true, it isn't. MAGA lives and breathes, and creates, the current media reality. Democrats need to figure out how to live in it.
Success has a 1000 father’s, failure is an orphan!..:)
Well said!!!