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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAmerica, what are you becoming?
We must defeat Donald Trump, but it must be more than just an ordinary defeat. We have to totally destroy him and what he represents. What he represents is an American version of fascism. It is still a baby, but it is starting to grow really frightening.
In Wisconsin, Michigan, and North Carolina you see the rejection of the results of a democratic election. Now add that to:
Threatening to lock up political opponents;
A concentration camp constructed in the desert for innocent children;
Babies ripped from the arms of their nursing mothers because of their ethnicity;
Children and their mothers being terrorized by a poisonous gas;
Torchlight marches based on racism, bigotry, and hate;
Calling the news media the enemy of the people;
Not punishing the murder of a journalist because it interferes with business;
A leader, who at rallies, glorifies himself while spreading hate and fear;
America, what are you becoming? This must be ended !!!
We may wonder what kind of people could sit by and let Trump do the things he does? We may self-righteously think and dismiss them as only "deplorables" who are racist, bigots, haters, and nazis. But sadly that is not correct. In many cases they are plain, ordinary, average people, just like we all interact with every day. They see changes in society they do not understand and are frightened. They wonder what kind of life they are leaving their children. They only know that given the cost of living, they have not had a real wage increase in years. Their wife cannot stay home and raise the kids, as their mom did, she has to work to make ends meet. Life is tough, there is no American Dream for them, and certainly not their children, especially with an army of migrants invading their country to take all the jobs. They think the government ignores them and acts like they don't exist. All they want is a return to economic prosperity and people to take pride in their country. Pride is important to them, which is why they do not like government handouts or being told what they have to do. They want a leader who will not be pushed around for he will make America great again. They are not bad people, but they do view things differently from most of us.
It is vital we win the 2020 election. We must not only win, but we must also decimate Trump and his party. It must be a rebuke so great that Trumpism never again rears its ugly head. Every vote we take away from Donald Trump brings us two votes closer to victory. We gain one vote and he loses one. Therefore, it makes sense to go after his voters, as long as we are true to our values. I would like to pose the following questions which may lead to ways to attract his voters and I invite you to use this thread to make your own proposals:
When was the last time we ran a candidate from a northern red state? When have we made the permanent replacement of striking workers an issue? Is it any wonder that real wages have not gone up since PATCO in 1981? What have we done to protect the small family farm from corporate industrial farms? What kind of program have we introduced to undercut the need for abortions?
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LBM20
(1,580 posts)Trump Must Go
(32 posts)certainot
(9,090 posts)important issues the last 30 years - like global warming
americans have to go on the offensive but democratic party and the progressive groups keep ignoring talk radio - the right's only real advantage
Trump Must Go
(32 posts)certainot
(9,090 posts)
LuvLoogie
(8,652 posts)Yet, I did not vote for trump and his bigoted nihilism.
That these people inflicted us with that bigot grifter and his white supremacist cabinet for a tax cut and some coal jobs is unforgivable.
THEY must change. I have no need to understand their woes.
Trump Must Go
(32 posts)For too long we have not reached out to them based on what we have in common. We do not know them or do we talk to them, but we both want the same thing - economic security and the pursuit of happiness. They were mad as hell and decided not to take it anymore, so they throw a bomb and elected Trump who promised to change things, end the dominance of the Establishment, and make their lives better. They just did not realize he was the greatest liar in history. We must reach out to them, and unite in our common goals and only in that way we we progress together. Remember, many of them twice voted for Obama.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)The rest will never budge. We should just leave them alone and let them benefit like the rest of us.
PatSeg
(52,637 posts)Excellent post! 
Trump Must Go
(32 posts)
SammyWinstonJack
(44,315 posts)They ARE bigots, racists, haters and Nazis. They want a better life for themselves and their children, then stop voting for republicans. 
An army of migrants invading the country to take their jobs? 
Trump Must Go
(32 posts)and I make no excuses for them. But there were also people who voted for Trump who also voted for Obama twice. They are the ones we must reach out to. Trump won more Independence's then Hillary did because he represented change while she did not.
Brawndo
(535 posts)tRump supporters seem to be a lost cause, a clear majority of them are motivated by the exact dark impulses that you laid out originally. The fact that they inflicted him upon us is a sign that they view those different from themselves not as a loyal opposition but as their enemy. Their actions show that they view this as greater than an ideological difference of opinion on policy. I say this with his supporters among my immediate family.
If we remain true to our values then how can we compromise with the far Right when to do so would mean making negotiable who shall and who shall not have rights in this country?
That said, I agree it is imperative that we defeat tRump and all that he represents but we don't need his supporters to do so. It is for them to come back to the center, and I sincerely hope that they do.
BlueJac
(7,838 posts)joining the war on Trump!
ananda
(34,612 posts)Sigh
deurbano
(2,984 posts)The sharpest drops in abortion rates in America have been under Democratic presidents
By Neha Thirani BagriDecember 7, 2016
...The reason for the trend is simple: access to contraception is more effective in reducing the number of abortions than regulation that controls access—and under Democratic leadership, access to affordable contraception has increased.
The Democratic Party’s platformhas emphasized the need to protect women’s reproductive rights, including access to no-cost contraception and funding for organizations like Planned Parenthood that offer family planning services. Under the Obama administration, the contraceptive mandate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) became effective in 2012, and most health care plans began to cover birth control without co-pays in January 2013. From 2012 to 2013, the abortion rate dropped 5% from 13.2 to 12.5 abortions per 1,000 women.
On the other hand, George W. Bush pushed for funding abstinence-only sex education, and throughout the Obama administration, the Republican Party has consistently attempted to limit the contraception access provided by the ACA. Fear that the Trump administration would repeal the ACA—and with it, access to free birth control—caused women to rush to buy long-acting birth control in the immediate aftermath of the recent election. Trump’s pick for the head of the Department of Health and Human Services, Tom Price, has actively opposed providing women with free birth control.
The numbers prove the Democratic Party’s policies are more likely to limit abortions than those offered by Republicans. Unintended pregnancies account for over 90% of all abortions, according to a 2012 Brookings Institution report. Reducing that number through access to birth control leads to a sharp drop in abortion: according to research from the Guttmacher Institute, the steep drop in abortion rates between 2008 and 2011 was driven by a fall in unintended pregnancies, most likely driven by better contraceptive use.
This was echoed by the conclusion of a recent CDC report: ”Increasing access to and use of contraception, including the most effective methods, can reduce unintended pregnancies and further reduce the number of abortions performed in the United States.”
Dulcinea
(9,874 posts)...if people have access to contraception, there will be fewer abortions?? Imagine that! 
You'd think fewer abortions would make everyone happy, but it's not about that. It's about power & control over women & their bodies. Period. Always has been, always will be.
elocs
(24,486 posts)What do you propose doing with them, because they aren't going anywhere?
What happens when Democrats and their voters become complacent, again, and just not bother to vote? Because Republicans will play the long game and creep slowly back.
The extreme right wing beliefs are an idea. How do you destroy an idea?
Actually, those beliefs are more than an idea and more like their religion. How do you destroy a religion with tens of millions of followers without making it stronger?
The genesis of much of what has happened and is happening in America is due to too many people on the Left opting out and choosing to self suppress their votes by simply not showing up.
That happened here in Wisconsin in 2010 when the entire state government was controlled by Democrats. So in that midterm election there was no excuse of voter suppression, voter ID, and there was no Russian interference. Republicans voted like it was their duty and too many on the Left stayed home. As a result the entire state flipped to Republican control and we are still dealing with the consequences of that election here today.
elias7
(4,229 posts)This return to prosperity is just one more koolaid ingredient that has been concocted over the last couple of decades. It is illusory. They may not like handouts, but they have sought easement from the pain that previous generations felt by being taught to project their life frustrations onto real people in real pain.
They don’t like change? Well f*ck them. There is only change. Everyone will start to feel nostalgic as they age; they get tired of always adapting to the new. Those people just need to get out of the way.
The propagandish Fox News must be addressed. To equate the hard nose reporting and the fact based discussions that Hayes/Maddow/O’Donnell/Williams engage in with the repetitive and gratuitous liberal bashing invectives spewed by Hannity/Ingraham/Pirro/Waters/Carlson... just no comparison. Very few Ammon Bundys who actually decided to turn his brain on.
What are we becoming indeed. Thanks for the post...and welcome to DU
friend of m and j
(220 posts)I live in Mexico mainly because I live on my SS check and Mexico is a less expensive place to live. I know that my time on this earth is more and more limited I want to move back home to spend more time with my kids a and grand children but I can't find the USA. The country that I see north of the border now is not the USA I knew. I don't know where it went.
