Again, they weren’t terrified of Trump, they already had Trump and they didn’t like it, but the known never terrifies like the unknown. They were terrified of an early death. Trump wasn’t running against Biden in 2020, he was running against the concept of the human fear of death. He was running against a virus, not a man. And he still gained votes because he is a strong candidate who unlocked the key to post-modern politics.
Also, Trump’s election in 2016 started a bunch of liberals down the road of leftist radicalization, and 2020 kicked that up a notch BUT the very real fear (not necessarily grounded in reality fear, but the most effective fears AREN’T, as we both know) kept many voting for the (D), even after watching the DNC ratscrew Sanders out yet again.
But then having to live through four years of mealymouthed centrist nonsense where no real progress on “progressive” issues took place and one of the biggest “leftist” victories was rejoining the inadequate-by-its-own-proposed-merits Paris Accords with exactly zero teeth or future-proofing just like last time, support of deeply unpopular (amongst the Left) bombings of children’s hospitals and universities, all while Trump delivered the right’s most longed-for existential victory in half a century while essentially in exile? That alone pushed hundreds of thousands leftward OUT of the Democratic party forever, before you even get into the price of groceries.
Did you not see that Sanders had to make a last minute plea defending his decision to vote for Harris, despite strong public disagreements with her administration’s stance on Gaza? People were excited into voting for anyone with a (D) next to their name in 2020 by true existential dread, reasonable or not, that is what they felt and why they voted the way they did. The Biden administration was the opposite of exciting for the lefter, “progressive” base of the Democratic party, and that was before repeatedly crossing a moral line for them in Gaza. Also, while there was buzz around “You know, this guy was the main whip for Democratic votes for the invasion of Iraq, which we are supposed to be morally opposed to” in 2020 - fear of a gruesome viral death “trumps” petty things like morals. The Gaza stuff made it really hard to shake that, and the last minute switch to the backup member of the administration was far from enough.
Trump figured out years ago that post-modern politics is not about appealing to some mythical middle, but about uber-exciting your base and counting on them to then do the proselytizing for you. Despite what 2008 Obama’s victory should have shown them, the DNC has refused to learn that lesson, and has left their base in the dust to make a compromised and half-hearted attempt to appeal to the middle, which was never gonna work. As 2016 showed, but getting a Beltway Democrat to learn obvious lessons from recent events is like getting a mule to learn how to use a spinning wheel.
Again, they weren’t terrified of Trump, they already had Trump and they didn’t like it, but the known never terrifies like the unknown. They were terrified of an early death. Trump wasn’t running against Biden in 2020, he was running against the concept of the human fear of death. He was running against a virus, not a man. And he still gained votes because he is a strong candidate who unlocked the key to post-modern politics.
Also, Trump’s election in 2016 started a bunch of liberals down the road of leftist radicalization, and 2020 kicked that up a notch BUT the very real fear (not necessarily grounded in reality fear, but the most effective fears AREN’T, as we both know) kept many voting for the (D), even after watching the DNC ratscrew Sanders out yet again.
But then having to live through four years of mealymouthed centrist nonsense where no real progress on “progressive” issues took place and one of the biggest “leftist” victories was rejoining the inadequate-by-its-own-proposed-merits Paris Accords with exactly zero teeth or future-proofing just like last time, support of deeply unpopular (amongst the Left) bombings of children’s hospitals and universities, all while Trump delivered the right’s most longed-for existential victory in half a century while essentially in exile? That alone pushed hundreds of thousands leftward OUT of the Democratic party forever, before you even get into the price of groceries.
Did you not see that Sanders had to make a last minute plea defending his decision to vote for Harris, despite strong public disagreements with her administration’s stance on Gaza? People were excited into voting for anyone with a (D) next to their name in 2020 by true existential dread, reasonable or not, that is what they felt and why they voted the way they did. The Biden administration was the opposite of exciting for the lefter, “progressive” base of the Democratic party, and that was before repeatedly crossing a moral line for them in Gaza. Also, while there was buzz around “You know, this guy was the main whip for Democratic votes for the invasion of Iraq, which we are supposed to be morally opposed to” in 2020 - fear of a gruesome viral death “trumps” petty things like morals. The Gaza stuff made it really hard to shake that, and the last minute switch to the backup member of the administration was far from enough.
Trump figured out years ago that post-modern politics is not about appealing to some mythical middle, but about uber-exciting your base and counting on them to then do the proselytizing for you. Despite what 2008 Obama’s victory should have shown them, the DNC has refused to learn that lesson, and has left their base in the dust to make a compromised and half-hearted attempt to appeal to the middle, which was never gonna work. As 2016 showed, but getting a Beltway Democrat to learn obvious lessons from recent events is like getting a mule to learn how to use a spinning wheel.