General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDemocrats Need to Tell Americans How Dangerous the GOP Really Is
https://www.thedailybeast.com/democrats-need-to-tell-americans-how-dangerous-the-gop-really-is?ref=homeDemocrats Need to Tell Americans How Dangerous the GOP Really Is
IT CAN HAPPEN HERE
The Jan. 6 hearings show just how much the extreme right works with Trump and the GOP. So why are Democrats still acting as if there are still two rational political parties?
Danielle Moodie
Published Jun. 14, 2022 4:48AM ET
snip//
If you still believeas President Joe Biden claimed the other day when he said that rational republicans still existthen you arent paying attention.
If Democrats want to win in November they need to showcase to the public that we are no longer living in a rational two-party democratic system. Instead, one of the major political parties no longer believes in the rule of law. It believes in violence, it believes in denying a free and fair election, and it believes in (at best) looking the other way when its own members engage in rank racismwhen it isnt blatantly encouraging bigotry itself.
To win elections you have to distinguish yourself and your platform from the other side.
And these dots arent hard to connect. But not making these very clear links between white supremacist domestic terrorism and the Republican Party is a choice, and its a bad one.
This shouldnt be so hard. Republicans are working overtime at the state level to create a neo-apartheid state in America where women, people of color, LGBTQ people and Black people have limited rights. Democrats, if they can claim to stand for anything, should be very clear about what theyre against. And they should make that claim over and over again to the American people, who will make the ultimate decision as to whether this remains a free country.
OneGrassRoot
(22,917 posts)BeyondGeography
(39,284 posts)no_hypocrisy
(45,774 posts)I remember how Hitler and his NAZI party rose to power by being brutish and underhanded in democratically run elections and toppled a democratic Weimar Republic. It happened overnight.
Scrivener7
(50,774 posts)effective target.
In the past there were republiQans who were "worthy opponents." They were not crazy. They simply disagreed with us. As their party went farther and farther off the rails, they didn't see it happening. Some of them followed along, a small percentage did not like the Lincoln Project people.
But there is another group. They are not as well informed as we are. They think the party is the same as it always was. They vote R out of habit, but are beginning to get a whiff of something bad.
The 1/6 Committee - and we have to stress that this is not Democrats, it's the Committee, is aiming at that slim percentage. That is why all the witnesses have been republiQans. That is why Liz Cheney has such a prominent role in the hearings - and thank God for that.
Right now, our federal political makeup is a balanced se- saw. We need to weight the "non crazy" side. Not D or R, just "Not batshit. Not willing to blow America up."
I think they are taking care to aim everything at convincing that slim percentage. Because they are all that is available, but they are also all we need.
wnylib
(21,146 posts)KPN
(15,587 posts)but cant say for sure on which broadcast and by who (I switch stations quite a bit) to that effect. I think you are right. It makes good sense from the election standpoint.
callous taoboy
(4,582 posts)Jim__
(14,045 posts)Binkie The Clown
(7,911 posts)We need more compelling messaging.
CrackityJones75
(2,403 posts)The general public needs to start listening to Democrats when we tell them how dangerous the GOP is for decades.
Honestly I became a democrat precisely because I learned how evil the GOP is. Now dont get me wrong I am not saying that we dont need to ramp it up, but I listened to a democratic pundit the other day in one rant say that republican voters will vote for a republica even of they maim their child in front of them and then they went on to complain about the Democrats messaging. What is really at fault here?
At some point it hurts us to constantly complain about our messaging. Especially when we do it on natl tv. We need to forget the baby boomer maga red hat voter. They are gone. And will be permanently before long. The people we need to get (as always) is the non-voter and they have always been elusive.
Edited to update where I used the word democrat instead of democratic.
wnylib
(21,146 posts)instead of "Democrat pundit"?
CrackityJones75
(2,403 posts)Thank you! Editing immediately.
Hotler
(11,353 posts)with the word republican. They need labeled as the enemy of democracy.
appalachiablue
(41,055 posts)andym
(5,441 posts)Last edited Tue Jun 14, 2022, 02:17 PM - Edit history (1)
"The new Republican Party has been hijacked by a group of powerful individuals, bent on using propaganda and lies to take power and end Democracy as we know it in the USA: these men include Trump, who puts his own ego ahead of the US, Rupert Murdoch who own Fox News and a large network of conservative media, etc. While we often disagreed politically with the old Republican Party, we respected our differences as participants in the American system of government-- the new GOP is simply dangerous because they are untethered by the truth--lying is their bread and butter, power for its own sake is what they seek, and lying leads to manipulation and potentially authoritarianism. The so-called culture wars are one of their tools to trick people into supporting them."
LiberalLovinLug
(14,154 posts)One problem is we have already allowed the GOP to circumvent that narrative. Theyve been using the tried and true Nazi method of accusing your opponents of what you are guilty of after, during, even before a crime is committed. When Democratic leaders finally gather the courage to speak out this way, the reaction will be: derision and exclamations on how that is what Democrats have been doing all along!!! And theyve set up their base to readily accept that
wnylib
(21,146 posts)make the general public aware of what the Republican party is doing that subverts democracy.
But, if it comes only from Democrats, it can and will be easily dismissed as partisan politics. That's why the composition and message from the J6 committee is so important. It includes both Democrats and the few rational Republicans that still exist. A very conservative Republican has a leading role on the committee.
As for Democrats taking a strong stand on what we are against, it is important that we make it clear that we oppose the Republican subversion of democracy and the bigotry and lies that they promote.
But, it is also VERY important to say what we are for. Give people something to work FOR as a means of uniting all of us as a nation and to redirect us away from hatred of "the other." Bring all of us together in the common cause of democracy, both liberal and (genuine) conservative.
Martin68
(22,671 posts)The problem is that Trumpers assume any criticism of Trump is due to hatred or politics (because that's how they feel about liberals).
theophilus
(3,750 posts)It won't be the "Bob Dole or John McCain" types. It won't be the "Mitt Romney or Susan Collins" types. It will be the Steve Bannon/Proud Boy/Oath Keeper types. They will threaten local Republicans and higher ups. They will cave and let them do whatever they please.
Another major message needs to be "If you think the economy is bad now wait until these folks (show footage of the capitol carnage) take over. We will have a total collapse in time. Such chaos will disrupt so much. People don't think about what a mess we could become when law and order truly go out the window. Bad for freedom? Bad for democracy? Bad for the economy. Lead with that. That is what people seem to react to most viscerally.
Grins
(7,134 posts)They don't. Anywhere!
This is the same shit from the Obama years, the lesson he and Biden never learned.
Barack Obama spent eight years patiently begging the GOP to help him save the nation which they had left a smoking hole. For eight years he asked for compromise and civility. And for eight years they smiled - and then gave him the back of their hand, told him to pound sand, and then turned and elected a vile man defined by his cruelty, consumed with grievance and revenge, and a majority in both houses of Congress.
Did they ever compromise with Democrats? "Reach across the aisle"? Really? You have to ask?
aocommunalpunch
(4,223 posts)Stop doing the messaging of your opponents. Grind them into dust and name them as monsters. Stop playing fucking nice.
ShepKat
(376 posts)While dems were supposed to be 'not like that', being the bigger man - the repugs pounced like a pedophile covering their tracks. There has been quiet, some not so quiet lies repeatedly said to undermine the integrity. There's quite a bit of work to do to come back from this. Too many people think these lies are facts. Some will never believe the truth. Focus on the ones on the fence. please.
rant over
IngridsLittleAngel
(1,962 posts)They're engaging in Stochastic terrorism right before our eyes in 2022. They're openly and actively trying to rile up their base into committing acts of violence against LGBTQ's. They're doing all of this in the name of getting us killed by their second amendment gun fuckers.
As I've been saying here all year: We no longer have a two party system. We have one party, and one domestic terrorist organization. And the latter has gone out of their way to terrorize an entire community and turn us into targets.
The QOP stands for bigotry, terrorism, and death.
MichMan
(11,790 posts)for supporting terrorism.
Behind the Aegis
(53,833 posts)"Here's what the Democrats have DONE/will DO for you! Here's what the Republicans HAVE DONE/WILL DO to you!"
I would like to see the democrats or an activist group buy ad space to follow EVERY SINGLE republican ad in which guns are featured with the faces of those murdered by gun violence in the past year!
LogicFirst
(571 posts)No one can make a believer out of a non-believer.