Democratic Primaries
Related: About this forumWaPo column on the strategic wisdom of Joe Biden separating Trump from the rest of the GOP
I was going to try to post something about this today, but this WaPo column published this evening says it better than I could have.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/05/06/joe-biden-is-wrong-about-gop-right-way/
Whos right? Biden or his critics? Lets weigh the evidence.
Bidens critics are right that Trump is more a symptom of Republican maladies than their cause. Though Trump is radically different from his Republican predecessors in many respects viz., his nonstop stream of insults, his unapologetic criminality (as detailed by the Mueller report), his embrace of dictators, his opposition to free trade in other ways, he is a chip off the old block. And not just because he is delivering on conservative judges and massive tax cuts whose benefits are tilted toward upper-income earners.
-snip-
I dont want to push the continuities between Trump and previous Republicans too far. There are also major discontinuities. He certainly acts in ways that no previous Republican or non-Republican president has ever acted. But Republicans cannot plausibly dissociate him from his actions. Not when 90 percent of GOP voters support him. And not when Republican members of Congress vote with him more than 90 percent of the time.
Yet Biden is smart to pretend otherwise. To win in 2020, a Democratic nominee will need to win back voters in key Midwestern states who supported Trump in 2016. (Nationally, more than 9 percent of Obama voters cast a ballot for Trump.) Demonizing the entire Republican Party will only push these voters deeper into Trump territory and deepen the partisan divide that is tearing our country apart. Trying to pry Trump apart from the GOP, on the other hand, can make it easier to win over the 32 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters who dont want their party to renominate Trump. It will also make it easier after the next election to forge common ground with Republican lawmakers and try to repair the damage Trump has done.
The notion that Trump isnt representative of the Republican Party may not be true, but its a useful fiction that Biden is right to embrace for the good of the Democratic Party and the whole country.
Emphasis added.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
elleng
(130,126 posts)into Trump territory and deepen the partisan divide that is tearing our country apart.
True
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Cha
(295,899 posts)Thank You, highplains
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
NYMinute
(3,256 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
highplainsdem
(48,718 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Cha
(295,899 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
brer cat
(24,401 posts)I think this is a very smart move by Biden.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
CentralMass
(15,265 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Mme. Defarge
(7,981 posts)IMO.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
question everything
(47,263 posts)it will embolden Trump and is loyal supporters.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Bradshaw3
(7,453 posts)We hear a lot about repub congressmen telling their Dem peers what they really think of this disaster. Of course they are too cowardly to come out and say it in public. Whenever rump is gone - whatever fashion, voted out, myocardial infarction - they will toss his memory away like a used condom.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Hekate
(90,189 posts)...in the first place. That whole party structure has gone rotten to the core.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Skya Rhen
(2,701 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Response to highplainsdem (Original post)
sfwriter This message was self-deleted by its author.
peggysue2
(10,811 posts)If accurate it means Biden is playing the long-game with a great deal of political skill and a sense of genuine duty to the country.
And Good Lord, do we ever need that!
A GO4JOE/2020!
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
R B Garr
(16,919 posts)sounded like the long game, too.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Cha
(295,899 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
highplainsdem
(48,718 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Hekate
(90,189 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
R B Garr
(16,919 posts)completely smearing the entire GOP party.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
comradebillyboy
(10,119 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden