,
6 tweets,
1 min read
Read on Twitter
I'm really glad to see that the old median voter theory and arguments for centrist electability (always dubious and more so as politics polarizes) are increasingly rejected BUT
it seems like a lot of folks on the left have swung waaayy over to the other direction, in which there is literally no trade off between whatever the most progressive policy is and what is politically advantageous. That seems...plainly wrong.
Trump is often held up as an example of how progressive politicians don't need to tack towards the center in order to win, but a key aspect of Trump's 2016 campaign was openly rejected many of the most unpopular GOP positions:
He endorsed universal healthcare, lower druge prices and not cutting SS, Medicare and Medicaid. He railed against the Iraq war. It was all absolutely a disingenuous con, of course, but I think there was tangible political benefit to it!
Huge parts of the Republican orthodoxy that Romney/Ryan ran on (call it Paul Ryanism) was *explicitly* rejected by Trump, I think because he sensed it was not broadly popular.
It seems important, to me anyway, for people for people who work in or write about politics to keep this in mind.
