Also weird how it’s only the candidates on the left who are supposed to tack center no matter the situation, Republicans can literally court Nazis and nobody ever frets that they are risking alienating those mythical all-important swing voters, so strange, so strange.
How is it that this will never get written as the sort of divisive thing that could "drive away the middle" for Trump, yet any Democratic candidate, real or imaginary, is in constant danger of "driving away the middle" with the slightest misstep?
Honestly I don't know who this "middle" is that can immediately metabolize any cruelty, any malice, any corruption, any stupidity, but who cannot accept a sensible policy proposal that helps everyone.
If they exist they can go to hell, quite frankly. I'd rather do without them.
If they exist they can go to hell, quite frankly. I'd rather do without them.
I think anybody who claims they don't like Trump and would really like to vote against him, but the idea of a 70% marginal rate on income over $1m just drove them away, are lying, possibly even to themselves.
They always intended to vote for Trump. They found their excuse.
They always intended to vote for Trump. They found their excuse.
If it hadn't been that excuse, it would have been something else, some other sensible policy that solves a needed problem that helps everybody.
Or, if not a policy, some undefinable thing.
"I just don't trust her, you know?"
"Don't like his voice."
I think it's a scam.
Or, if not a policy, some undefinable thing.
"I just don't trust her, you know?"
"Don't like his voice."
I think it's a scam.
I think everybody on the left should start doing the same thing.
Just say you're a center-left voter who would REALLY like to go GOP, but goshdangit every single time any Republican suggests a conservative policy they're just driving you away.
In danger of losing your vote.
Just say you're a center-left voter who would REALLY like to go GOP, but goshdangit every single time any Republican suggests a conservative policy they're just driving you away.
In danger of losing your vote.
Here's the thing: I actually DO think there are large masses of persuadable voters. I just don't think it's these "swing voters" we hear about.
There's low-information voters who just go with the current.
And people on the fringe who don't think either party represents them.
There's low-information voters who just go with the current.
And people on the fringe who don't think either party represents them.
Low-info voters are just going to listen to the conversation with half an ear and accept whatever the framing is fairly uncritically, and decide based on that—which is why the right keeps moving the conversation ever further right by pretending to be this mythical center.
If they truly were voters "in the middle," we'd reach some sort of tipping point, wouldn't we, where the right was in danger of losing them, and they needed to tack left to reach the center.
That never happens. That's how you know.
That never happens. That's how you know.
Then you have the fringes. You have marginalized people, who see Party A trying to destroy them, and Party B mostly trying to get Party A to like them, so they figure "why bother?"
Then you have far-right. White supremacists and Nazis. Trump got them—not by tacking center.
Then you have far-right. White supremacists and Nazis. Trump got them—not by tacking center.
Trump did it by running an *overtly* white supremacist campaign.
And Clinton—running what would be considered a pretty conservative platform in other parts of the world—was still somehow the one being admonished to tack right to avoid turning away the "center."
It's a scam.
And Clinton—running what would be considered a pretty conservative platform in other parts of the world—was still somehow the one being admonished to tack right to avoid turning away the "center."
It's a scam.
The truth is that the actual persuadable people in the center don't know about policy and don't think about it much at all, because they're privileged enough to not have to. They just take the existing framing. We should change that framing—by moving LEFT.
On the left, we're going to find millions pushed to the fringes, who don't want to vote for a party that's actively trying to destroy them, but also don't want to vote for anybody who's currying that party's approval.
A party that actually fights for them? That might play.
A party that actually fights for them? That might play.
And this is going to be the narrative no matter who the candidate or what the platform. But tacking center tacitly validates the narrative.
So why not stand for something rather than running in fear of what our opponents say? And change the narrative?
So why not stand for something rather than running in fear of what our opponents say? And change the narrative?
Wow, I think Trump had better tack left, he's really in danger of losing the centrist votes of "UFC dad," a term I just coined and will repeat until it's the only thing you ever hear about on NPR.
Ooooh, he'd better tack to the left or he'll lose the midwestern center-left voters like me that you absolutely need if you're going to win a national election.
