1/ If u wouldn't spend time/energy reaching out to folk who believe Pizzagate BS or that the DNC killed Seth Rich or Obama isn't American, why would you spend time/energy reaching out to those who think Trump 'won in a landslide' but the election was stolen? All are irrational...
2/ Literally every second you waste trying to bring these people to the light of reason is a second you could be spending organizing those who already lean progressive, or at least comprise the current anti-Trump coalition into more progressive formations...
3/ I will never understand the irrational faith in the power of pure reason so common among typical liberals. The idea that if we just show people the facts, the data, or put together the right class analysis, they'll switch and vote their "self interest"...
4/ To begin with, in their minds they ARE voting their interests: their caste interests (as Isabel Wilkerson explains in her brilliant book Caste), which trump (no pun intended) their class interests....
5/ These caste interests include whiteness of course -- and continued white hegemony -- but also "traditional" masculinity, Christianity, heteronormativity, etc. The caste system makes their actions entirely understandable. Caste is property. Caste-ism has broken their brains...
6/ Can some be saved from that? Yes. But not by some massive effort expended for that purpose. Some will wake up because of personal crisis, a "come to Jesus" moment that happens when they least expect it...but not likely bc of any deliberate planned effort by progressives...
7/ And even if such efforts could work, the question is, is THAT the way to spend our time? Conversion narratives? How about mobilization narratives, for the already progressive-minded? Innoculation narratives for the uninitiated?...
8/ Fact is, the anti-Trump forces outnumber the pro-Trump forces. Granted, not all the anti-Trump forces are progressive. But THAT'S the place to start working on developing a sustainable progressive base. Not fishing in some toxic pond hoping to reel in a few un-poisoned fish...
9/ Sadly we on the left romanticize reason so much that we think anyone can be brought to it. And we romanticize the white working class historically so we think they're some nascent liberatory force for good. Neither are true...
10/ Irrationality is as common as rationality, perhaps more. And what's rational to some (class interest) pales in comparison to caste interest for others. And white workers have been ODing on the white part so long they mostly cleave to that, rather than class solidarity...
11/ Bottom line: dance with the ones that brung ya...right now, that's 80 million+...from there, build a progressive narrative using a race/class equity combination frame to attract some of the millions of people still not voting at all...
12/ Building upon a narrative of the collective and civic good (an inherently progressive frame that can attract, for different reasons, leftists, progressives, liberals, and even many moderate/centrist folks), we can establish a true base on lasting justice-oriented politics...
13/ As for Trumpers: those who are capable of changing will do so w/o our help. We needn't expend time and energy chasing them or fetishizing their involvement in our coalitions. We just need to be out here pushing for things that would benefit the collective, including them...
14/ And they'll either come to see those things as good or not. They'll either join that movement or not. They'll either vote that way or not. But we sure as shit shouldn't be planning our strategic moves and narratives around what will attract this bunch...
15/ In addition to their irrationality, they're a falling % of the electorate (white folk 35+ and/or w/o college degrees, and/or iving in rural/exurban areas or small towns). We should speak to their needs bc their needs are collective needs. Not bc it will likely flip them...
16/ Govern on behalf of all, including them. But don't pander to them as a strategic choice. It won't work, and doing so would require some core compromising of a commitment to Black and brown folks, a commitment to religious pluralism, gender and sexual equity, etc...END
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