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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMy Experiences in Trump-Land - Lessons learned
Like many here, I woke up the day after the 2016 elections and received one of the most unpleasant, demoralizing surprises of my life. The Traitor had WON???? How was this even possible? My home state of Colorado becomes bluer by the day and voted for Hillary, no problem. Yet Colorado still retains some large pockets of red voters - mainly the highly conservative city of Colorado Springs and various far flung republican strongholds in the rural areas of the state. I live in rural Colorado on what Coloradans refer to as the "Western Slope." My county is poor and relatively isolated. The farmers and ranchers and small business owners here voted Trump with 70% of the county casting their ballots for the orange clown.
I did not want to think that my neighbors and friends were racist or were okay with cutting assistance to the poor in what is one of Colorado's most impoverished counties. I didn't want to accept that I live among such backward and mean-spirited people. I even posted here that I found it hard to believe that every last person who voted for Trump did so at least in part because they were bigots. So, I set out on a quest to try and figure it all out.
I don't like bringing up politics with acquaintances here because I'd much rather get along and hope that they'll eventually see the error of their ways. But that changed after Trump's so-called election. I started talking to people like "Ritchie" - the devout Christian who runs the farm I live on - and "Bud" a lifelong republican who is my landlady's husband. When I first brought up the subject to Ritchie in a sideways comment about the ongoing drought we've been experiencing, made worse by climate change; mild mannered Ritchie just blew up at me, and I beat a hasty retreat. About 6 months into our national nightmare, Bud came over to do some minor repairs on my house. We started out with some polite chit-chat until the subject of government regulation came up. Bud made the typical conservative remark about we Democrats being "Commies" and based our platform on Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto, etc., etc.
I was feeling my oats that day, so I engaged Bud in a political debate. I told him that I had never been interested in the study of Marx and that I prefered to base my political beliefs on the writings of Jefferson and Thomas Paine and that the Democratic Party has used the thinking of the great philosophers of the Enlightenment as their baseline - certainly NOT Marx. Bud was astonished and began to speak in a more personal vein, and ending up telling me that he felt "abandoned" by the republican party and had nowhere to go. Score one for our side!
I had another encounter with Ritchie a few weeks later, and he was shaking his head over Trump's sexual escapades and told me that he didn't see how he as a Christian could continue to support the president*. BTW, had I noticed how low the snowpack in our mountains is this year? Going to be a drought year for sure! Score two for our side!
Other conversations with Trumpers here showed me that many of them are completely brainwashed and when it comes to them, discussion is a waste of time. They are racist, have huge arsenals of guns, and believe that every last person on food stamps uses them to buy lobster and filet mignon. This contingent is unreachable and not worth wasting the time to try.
The Democratic party CAN turn voters like Ritchie and Bud, however. They would vote for a centrist Democrat along the lines of Conor Lamb. It is possible to reach disenchanted moderate republicans as well as independents, especially if we allow our candidates to speak to the concerns of the voters in their district as Lamb did. We don't need to concede the things in our platform that make us Democrats. We most certainly don't need to turn against pro-choice or concede the field to racists and crazed gun nuts. These elements among the electorate have minds that are ossified and their thinking is set in concrete. Forget about them.
Concentrate on voters like Bud and Ritchie, and I'm willing to bet a $1,000 bucks that my currently red district would go blue come November.
Just my humble opinion.
NCTraveler
(30,481 posts)Something lost in the conversation.
We will not be running Lamb on a national ticket.
Of course he is excellent for the area his is in, as well as many other areas.
This whole conversation is a practice in deceptive arguments that often conflate the idea of a national candidate with a local candidate.
Eliot Rosewater
(31,109 posts)votes or miscounted votes, etc.
Not a chance Putin left it to "chance".
Mountain Mule
(1,002 posts)I take things one step at a time. Right now, I'm trying to help we Dems get control of the House, maybe even the Senate come November. That means fielding candidates who can speak to voters on the local level. I want tRumpf OUT before he completely destroys the country if he already hasn't. I have become a yellow dog Dem on the state and local level - as long as the candidate is a Democrat, is not against pro-choice, not a racist, and is open to implementing changes to gun laws, I'm with her.
2020 is completely different. I'd like to see us field a candidate along the lines of Joe Kennedy III for that one.
Edited to add: Which Democrat on the national level will be coming along to flip voters in local districts? I want tRumpf OUT! The way to do this is to regain control of the house. If I can start "turning" local voters who are NOT CULT members and other Dems around here do the same - again NOT WASTING TIME ON THE CULT - then Montezuma County stands a good chance of going blue come November.
Edited to add: Don't confuse my suggestion with those made by people who think it's possible to change the minds of the deep red crazies.
NCTraveler
(30,481 posts)You clearly defined them as Republican voters. You spent considerable time making that point.
Me can read.
Mountain Mule
(1,002 posts)The Cult members are a disgusting group of human beings who are completely unreachable.
Old school, moderate republicans who have become disgusted by Trump are indeed reachable - especially at the local level.
We Dems need to recognize the difference between these two groups and use it to our advantage in the midterms.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)Thank you for your post. It was heartening.
mopinko
(70,070 posts)Mountain Mule
(1,002 posts)The state of Colorado was once red, but it's my home and I planted my feet and stood my ground. Guess what? Colorado turned blue. I'm doing the best I can to achieve the same outcome for my county of residence.
Dems who run away only loose. Dems who stand their ground have a good chance of winning.
Don't criticize those of us on the frontlines who are fighting the good fight.
mopinko
(70,070 posts)trying to sell reaching out to trumpers, and moving the party to the right doesnt usually go over real well here.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,988 posts)please.
Mountain Mule
(1,002 posts)If anyone wonders why I have a low post count, it's because people see that I have 540 posts or so and automatically decide that I'm a Russian bot or a troll.
It's extremely frustrating to try to start a discussion and just get jumped on. I've been a democrat since before I cast my very first vote for McGovern. I have voted democrat in every election since, and I not only vote, I act. I volunteer to canvass neighborhoods, answer phones and anything else the precinct leaders in my county ask me to do.
Mountain Mule
(1,002 posts)is doing her best to ensure we Dems win the House in the midterms so we can kick twitler out - kick him all the way back to Russia where he will be subject to Putin's tender mercies.
I wrote in my OP:
Other conversations with Trumpers here showed me that many of them are completely brainwashed and when it comes to them, discussion is a waste of time. They are racist, have huge arsenals of guns, and believe that every last person on food stamps uses them to buy lobster and filet mignon. This contingent is unreachable and not worth wasting the time to try.
What part of that didn't you understand?
Ms. Toad
(34,058 posts)(or a couple in your case) to anyone who is unwilling to make blanket assertions about all Trump voters/supporters.
For days I've tried to engage them about the distinction between what I've been saying:
We need every vote and it is political suicide to intentionally alienate potential voters by insisting that everyone who voted for Trump is a racist
And what I've been accused of saying:
We need to aggressively pursue Trump voters (rather than investing our efforts in ensuring our minority/low income voters feel supported and have full access to the polls)
In addition to that knee-jerk response, you also have the low-count knee-jerk response.
Good luck. I've just stopped responding, because it is so disheartening to see so many progressives with otherwise impressive dedication, drive, credentials, etc. who have adopted the binary style thinking of those we oppose - and when a statement doesn't fit in one of the two boxes, and it doesn't align exactly with their message, it gets shoved in the other box. Because there are only two boxes.
Mountain Mule
(1,002 posts)Replies such as yours give me a reason to stick around instead of just quitting DU in disgust.
I guess I'll go post a bunch of "K&R nt" replies to every post I see to help get my post count up. (The things I do in the name of helping rid my Country of the Orange Traitor).
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,710 posts)He wouldn't be good for CA 30.
That being said we need to hold our base and capture what is left of persuadable voters.