Thread by @LemieuxLGM

Yes, the obvious problem with the argument that national Democrats should emphasize gun control because liberal voters expect them to show leadership is that Obama came out forcefully for gun control in 2012 -- and Democrats responding by sitting out the 2014 midterms

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1331671582478127104

A successful gun control law might have been more motivating, but any gun control measures were doomed to fail -- nothing was getting 60 votes in the Senate and nothing was passing a Republican House even if you could.

And the Dem non-turnout in 2014 led directly to a Republican hammerlock on the Supreme Court that means any remotely effective gun control measure is doomed anyway.

It's hard to see much point in embracing an issue that doesn't motivate your own voters and definitely mobilizes the opposition when even relatively marginal and incremental reforms are doomed to fail

I should add that it's likely that Dems would have lost the Senate in 2014 anyway. If you could PASS effective gun control legislation I wouldn't worry about the marginal political cost that much. But, at the national level, you can't! slowboring.com/p/national-dem…