So I've been seeing a lot of "sorry no fucks to give" sentiment about this story on Twitter and while I am sometimes sympathetic to that viewpoint, I don't think it's the right way to react this time. Lemme 'splain. (1)
2. This isn't the usual NYT profile of Johnny Dumbfuck in Shitburg, Red State saying "yeah Trump ain't been good for us but what else we coulda done." It's a story about Carrier workers who feel betrayed because they were specifically promised protection.
3. And when I say "promised" I mean Trump said, bluntly, that he would personally intervene to keep Carrier from shutting down their plant. People still believe that this sort of promise means something, because it's specific. Hillary didn't make this promise.
4. Of course she didn't make it because she knows she can't do so without radically changing the relationship of business and government in the USA. (If you think that relationship should radically change, sure thing, I'm sympathetic. But the point is: she wasn't willing to lie.)
5. Trump, who gives a shit about nothing and nobody, just said whatever because that's who he is. And this lady who works for Carrier believed him because politicians, in general, don't lie about specifics. That's the entire point of polispeak: vagueness and legalese protect you.
6. And now, the Carrier lady and other former Carrier employees, who voted for him because he made them a specific promise and then fucked them over but hard, are angry at him and calling him to account. These people are potential allies.
Was Donald Trump specifically promising to save your job? Not "make America great again," but rather "I promise that your job, your specific job, will be protected with respect to that specific upcoming shutdown."
That's the difference.
That's the difference.
8. Remember that if you are reading this thread, you are practically by definition a higher information voter than 95 percent of voters, and know things like "the GOP has a lengthy and established track record of just bullshitting about their policies, and Trump is worse."
9. Most people do not pay attention to politics most of the time and adopt a not-unjustified cynicism of the "they're all liars" style, because that belief inherently gives you permission to pay less attention than you should. They really don't know how dishonest the GOP is.
10. The media doesn't help by treating Trump as normal but that's a whole other kettle of fish.
My overall point is: this is the sort of Trump voter who is reachable, and lefties have to be able to recognize reachables from diehards, and willing to make the effort.
My overall point is: this is the sort of Trump voter who is reachable, and lefties have to be able to recognize reachables from diehards, and willing to make the effort.
11. That isn't to say these folks are blameless. They aren't. That type of both-sides cynicism drives me batty. But at the end of the day, you gotta decide whether you'd rather have that public sense of schadenfreude or them voting your way, because those are mutually exclusive.
12. Most people have no idea about how government works in any real sense. It's completely outside of their daily experience.
More to the point: they weren't wrong! The President COULD do something! It would just be very controversial, to say the least.
More to the point: they weren't wrong! The President COULD do something! It would just be very controversial, to say the least.
13. Like, Hillary could've said "if Carrier goes forward with its offshoring, I'll nationalize the fuckers." But of course she didn't, because most people who aren't Carrier employees would not want that. So she talks about retraining and revitalization and shit.
14. It's bloodless and cautious but at least it's sort of honest, in its way.
15. We mock the depiction of voters who were motivated by racism as "economically anxious" but even if you assume 3/4 of Trump voters were in it primarily for the racism, that still leaves ten percent of the general electorate you can reach. That's a landslide waiting to happen.
16. Or, I dunno, you can pat yourself on the back for being smarter than these losers and enjoy being the principled minority, see how that works out for you.
