Will Trump be able to scare enough people into voting for him over "Socialism" fears?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

Attacking the eventual Democratic nominee (whoever it is and whatever their policies actually are) for being "socialist" and raising the specter of AOC and "The Squad" potentially running the country is almost certainly going to be the Trump/GOP M.O. in 2020. Of this I am absolutely certain. My only question is, will that actually work on a lot of people in this country, enough to scare enough people into voting to re-elect him despite being the absolute mess of a human being that he is. Or will most people not care and/or be willing to toss him aside regardless of whether or not they might think that the nominee's policies are too left-wing? I would like to think that people are going to be fed up enough with Trump that they will vote to throw him out of office in 2020 regardless of his Twitter tantrums and that trying to gin up fears of "socialism" (which they tried and failed using against Obama in 2008) won't work against the Democratic nominee. What does everybody else think?

[rampartc]

1. unfortunately, yes

to the evangelicals "socialism" is a generic evil, proved to be impossibly contrary to human nature. i'm not sure trump or his economic advisors know any different.

[Skittles]

2. without Russia and Comey, Trump would have lost

I don't think he has done well enough for the voting public with critical thinking skills to get a "redo"

[Fullduplexxx]

3. Will the voting people let themselves be fooled by trump's lying

[wiggs]

4. Cheating, lying, hacking, bribing, blackmailing. These are the pathways to a Trump win. nt

[empedocles]

5. Socialism, AOC and The Squad are goldmines for the 'cons.

'cons use those goldmines because they work so well at getting votes at Dem expense. Those goldmines keep persistently, ardently producing on their own, - more 'gold' for the 'cons use.

Obama won, not because 'socialism gold' didn't work anymore, it did work. However, the economic disaster of 2008 overwhelmed the socialism tool and a 'con win. However, a stronger Dem win was possible given the economic disaster in which any Dem could have won.

The lesson of 2008 was a stronger win [more downticket Dem wins, would have made the Dem winner more productive].

If economic disaster strikes in 2020, its possible, though unlikely, that even a socialist Dem could win the Presidency - but it's unlikely that person would have enough Congressional Dem support to do much.

[Caliman73]

6. This election will be about motivating the base to get out and vote.

Trump's rhetoric will likely motivate his base to get out to vote. They vote based on fear because they live based on fear. The reality is that Trump's base and Republicans in generally are a smaller number of people in the populace. The GOP will also rely on depressing and suppressing the vote. They will appeal to rhetoric that they think will turn people off to politics. We cannot rely on dissatisfaction about Trump to motivate Democratic voters to turn out. We have more people, but they are harder to motivate. There has to be a distinction in the vision and plans from the Democratic candidate and Democratic politicians in general, about where we want the country to go in the future. We have to fight for an alternative vision and trajectory for the US and cannot rely on the idea that "Trump is really bad" to get out the vote for us.

Socialism is a dirty word still, in the US, but not as dirty as it was in the 50's or even the 70's. What Democrats need to do is talk about Social Security, Healthcare as a right, education (including university and technical training) as something that every person willing to put in the work should have access to without going into massive debt, reforming the immigration system to be humane and consistent not based on prejudice, and working with the rest of the world to make our planet sustainable for us and future generations.

[empedocles]

9. Like the 'blue wave' won in 2018?

[The 20 red trump seats won by Dems were not blue wave at all. Those 20 made Pelosi Speaker and all the subsequent good Dem works possible. The get out the Dem base vote is a persistent hope, not supported by the 2018 reality at all].

[Caliman73]

10. So you are saying that Non Democratic voters helped win the House back?

Those Obama-Trump voters gave Democrats the House? or those undecided voters? Who gave the House back to the Democrats in 2018?

You realize that while the percentage of actual voters was still too small in 2018, that it was the largest non-Presidential election cycle in history?

So what is your plan? Stick to the same strategies as 2016 and hope for a better outcome?

[customerserviceguy]

7. It depends

on who our nominee is. Biden or Buttigieg, not so much. Sanders or Warren, yeah, it will probably stick.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

12. But will it hurt them?

[customerserviceguy]

15. Maybe

The mushy middle (they decide the weekend before an election who to vote for) could well decide that Trump's economy is good enough for them, and won't want to risk messing with it, with a dreaded "Socialist". Yes, the label will hurt us if the economy is strong on Election Day, but if the whole thing is in the crapper, then they might decide to give Bernie or Liz a shot at it.

[mia]

14. Well said.

I agree.

[customerserviceguy]

16. Thank you

As I said above, if the economy is still strong, the mushy middle will reluctantly vote for Trump, but if it's in the toilet, they might be willing to give Bernie or Liz a shot, being as they were willing to take a chance on Trump.

[Trenzalore]

8. Depends how bad things are in November of 2020

I'm of the opinion that his margin of victory has literally died in the swing states that enabled him to win an electoral college victory but I could be wrong. He hasn't added any support.

[abqtommy]

11. Fear mongering didn't help the reTHUGS

with the popular vote in 2016. Remember how Hillary won that by 3 million votes and how the election was otherwise fraudulent? Let's focus on the priorities!

[Joe941]

13. Socialism doesnt have the bad connotation it once did...

Bernie has popularized it and quite frankly its desirable now.

[GulfCoast66]

17. Only if our candidates is an actual socialist.