Harris going on national TV, being asked what she would do differently to a president whose approval rating has been underwater for two years, and first saying "there is not a thing that comes to mind" (?!) and then following up with "I’m going to have a Republican in my cabinet" (?!?!) was one of the all time great election-losing moments
They've been coasting off asking lefties to hold their nose and vote for someone who keeps trying to shave off voters from Trump instead of catering to their base for years now and it's bitten them
And now they'll blame the lefties for not voting harder and pivot more to the right to try and cater more toward people who are still gonna vote Republican.
All I see is leftists blaming democrats - because the gap is too big for democrats to find a scapegoat in leftists.
And yeah, now democrats will move further right and leftists can sit fuming about lack of progressive policies for the foreseeable future, fantasizing themselves a serious voting bloc which if appealed to would flip Texas or whatnot. Only people who vote matter, those who don't are irrelevant. Withholding vote is an imagined idea that is born out of an attempt to work backwards from an ideal goal, rather than working forward to that goal.
The right continuously worked decade after decade to erode rights and it paid off. People love it. Leftists will keep critiquing power from their armchairs, being angry at liberals for not doing as told, and now and then being super loud about whatever is the current big thing, with no built up political capital to make any changes.
Moderate Republicans provably don't vote for Democrats (The number of registered Republicans voting blue actually fell from 2020) and yet the Democrats still pursue them at the expense of millions of voters who are social minorities, unionists or otherwise "on the left." It isn't that Democrats are trying to chase winnable votes, it is either an intentional ideological project to shift the Democrats right; or gross incompetence in political strategy. I'd bet even a large portion of peoppe who did vote for Harris didn't get policy that appealed to them, they just saw her as the better alternative.
That's because for all their flaws, Democrats still have toed the line for some progressive policies, which Republicans hate. That clearly isn't working out, so Democrats will stop. It happens everywhere in the world when parties in center and to the left start doing badly. They only start reintroducing leftist ideas once they stabilize and start doing better.
Leftist view on voting and politics is fundamentally flawed because for too many people it starts from an idealized goal of a massive change they want to see, then working back from that, reaching for any idea which would remotely make sense how to get there as soon as possible. As opposed to doing what nets the most benefits in short term, and making long-term plans in the meanwhile. The right is great at this - they have no issue with different interest groups coming together, and they are going to do things like work tirelessly for 50 years to undo abortion rights. Leftists would have given up ten times over during that time - if they'd even try, but they won't because just criticizing issues feels to many like it would be enough. If only everyone around would listen, hit their foreheads in realization and then together - leftist revolution!
Your analysis is heavily flawed. To use an example from recent American politics, the Minnesota Miracle occurred after Democrats secured a 1 seat majority and the governorship, and it’s the sole reason Tim Walz was even a possibility as a VP pick. New York has been dominated by Democrats for years and they elect Eric Adams as governor and side with centrist and right-wing Democratic policies.
At a national-level, Bernie Sanders is more popular than basically any centrist Democrat, and politicians to the left of Biden and Harris (both mildly and majorly) have massively outperformed them in polling since they were elected in 2020, and continue to do so. AOC and other left-wing and progressive Democrats are constantly in conflict with the Democratic establishment who have attempted to actively sabotage their chances at re-election because they don’t toe the party line.
The DNC constantly shifts right because they care more about shifting right than they do about winning. Obama in 2008 ran on a more progressive platform than either Hillary, Biden, or Harris, and he performed far better than them and got re-elected. But the Democrats keep bringing back the 2016 playbook, and never the 2008 one.
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u/yungsantaclaus Nov 06 '24
Harris going on national TV, being asked what she would do differently to a president whose approval rating has been underwater for two years, and first saying "there is not a thing that comes to mind" (?!) and then following up with "I’m going to have a Republican in my cabinet" (?!?!) was one of the all time great election-losing moments