Thread by @JuliusGoat

This is accurate. The more Democrats show they are willing to fight Republicans, people will understand that they are an actual alternative and will vote for them.

If they won’t, people won’t, so they won’t.

Bipartisanship is death.

theatlantic.com/politics/archi…

This comment misunderstands the problem.

The GOP represents this single greatest threat to human existence on the planet today.

Opposition to them IS the solution to the problem, b/c they ARE the problem. The more zeal, the better. The less, the worse.

Now, to be clear, I am voting for Democrats in this election. I'm not going to be dissuaded by lack of purity.

But a lot of other people aren't looking for anything like purity. They're just looking for someone who will fight. And if they don't get it, they'll despair.

There is a "both sides are the same, maaaan" narrative out there, and it is a lie, and it always favors the worse side. When Democrats work with an existential threat—which is what Republicans are—they play into that narrative.

It makes the lie seem true.

And then you get this.

When I say the Republicans represent a threat to human existence, that's not hyperbole, by the way.

Climate change is increasingly being understood as an existential level threat. Republicans are spitefully dismantling any kind of response in favor of pushing accelerators.

The Republican President is an idle and mean and vainglorious lover of violence who thinks force is strength, who believes only in his own existence, and who likes to muse about the use of nuclear weapons.

The use of nuclear weapons can easily trigger an extinction level event.

So, the Republican Party is also a white supremacist and misogynist organization that represents an existential threat to people of color, women, LGBT people, the disabled, and other vulnerable groups.

But, first, they threaten all human existence.

And, the Republican Party is a fascist organization that favors a cowed press, a militarized police force, the dismantling of free elections, and which represents an existential threat to our democracy.

But first, they threaten all human existence.

This isn't a call for a purity test. It's simply stating the fact that people respond better to those who recognize the problem and fight it.

How did the Republicans gain ground from a minority position w/o compromise?

By presenting an alternative.

Republicans made it very clear to pro-authoritarians, pro-corporatism, religious bigots, and racists, that they were going to fight for them, no matter what.

People who want awful things were very enthusiastic. And they were right to be.

I want to be clear, this is not aspirational. I'm not saying I *want* Democrats to lose voters support and enthusiasm b/c of bipartisanship. I don't.

I'm just saying they will.

That's the equation.

Bipartisanship with an existential threat is electoral death.

Let's go back to this picture.

These people, for whatever reasons, are likely to vote for Democrats in 2018. They are, largely, already captured. But you will want them enthusiastic and engaged and out in numbers.

These people voted for Trump. They will literally prefer a mall-banned molester over any Democrat. Certainly bipartisan compromise will not impress them.

Trying to win them over in any way is foolishness.

These people want an alternative.

An alternative to an existential threat, or to those they perceive as willing to work with an existential threat.

Democrats should, to state the obvious, try to energize them. The more they present an alternative, the more they'll do so.

Put another way: You cannot oppose well from the middle of the teeter-totter.

And we are teetering. We're tottering. We need to fight. So we will need fighters.

The problem is Republicans. The solution is fierce opposition.

It's really that simple.

The good news, though, is that we can be the fighters.

Ultimately we can move the needle, if we work at it.

So, largely ignore the polls. Volunteer. Get involved. Organize. Advocate. Demand change. Demand your reps fight for you. Back candidates who will do so. Win.