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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow can we reach out to Trump voters?
As I see it, the main issue is that many Trump voters fell for his fantasy of making America great again. That fantasy is based on a vision of the US that never really existed, except, perhaps, in country music videos and revisionist history, but it is an appealing one for conservatives who long for that imagined, but imaginary, past.
And many of these voters know, on a certain level, that they are not doing well, and that their children will do even worse. So when the con man came along with his vision of that perfect past, and promised to bring it back, they believed because they needed to believe.
My view is that Biden and the Democrats must go big. Spend trillions on the Green New Deal, and extended unemployment, and job training, and child tax credits, and student loan forgiveness, and watch the productive economy grow.
The GOP opposed the original New Deal, and the result was Democratic control for many years.
And as we also know, many voted for Trump because he is a racist. Reaching those people might be impossible.
Thoughts?
PS Happy Valentine Day.
Edited to add: Pass a voting rights act to prevent vote suppression.
Mattgoetznolovefromm
(2,961 posts)guillaumeb
(42,649 posts)I feel that some are reachable.
I feel that many, but not all, are racists.
I feel that if we reach them with an economic message of inclusion, and real prosperity, we can keep them. The GOP has nothing to offer except for tax cuts for the rich and austerity for the rest. Thus the GOP must use racism and fear to motivate.
MOMFUDSKI
(7,080 posts)95% racist as their main idealogy and 5% anti-abortion. And I believe the racist crap might have stayed much further underground but for the Obama election. That is what drove them out from under their rocks. My friend of 30 years just lost it over Obama and that is how I discovered her racism and hatred of blacks. Then she hung up on me and we didn't speak for 5 years. After Obama was gone she called and I was kind enough to take up the friendship again. But she is super pro trump and will forever hate the blacks. And there are 72 million of those folks walking amongst us.
Claire Oh Nette
(2,636 posts)They don't care how many Black or Latinas abort their unintended pregnancies. They only care how many white women might be aborting...male white embryos.
It's about racism, too.
NoRethugFriends
(2,961 posts)for 30 years, I can sat un-categorically your statement is not true
soothsayer
(38,601 posts)Just let Biden keep delivering the goods. Ensure election security and voting rights. Stop/ fix gerrymandering.
guillaumeb
(42,649 posts)And those actions will reach some of these Trump voters. Not the cultists, or the Q segment.
Walleye
(35,108 posts)Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(114,772 posts)NameAlreadyTaken
(1,456 posts)They have been hopelessly brainwashed for decades by right-wing news media, radio, Fox news and now internet groups and sites. How can you reach out to a cult? Can you reach out to Scientologists? It's hopeless. We can only move om without them.
Autumn
(46,045 posts)I cut off 3 family members, my sisters, and no longer have any contact with them, don't miss them or their bullshit. Fuck Trump and fuck his supporters.
brush
(57,250 posts)as to attract however few of them we get, we have to move right and thus lose way more of our base of Blacks, other POCs, progressive whites and LGBTQ base.
We don't need them. We just won the Senate and WH, and with our Blue Wave 2018 takeover of the House, we now have a Dem-dominated government. And we did it without them.
StarfishSaver
(18,486 posts)accusations of "playing identity politics" - yet we're supposed to go out of our way to try appealing to white supremacists and that's just "reaching out."
melm00se
(5,045 posts)treat them like a skittish animal. Say the wrong thing, in the wrong way and they are gone.
Find other common ground and discuss those.
Avoid using words/phrases like:
Cheetoh man
The orange bastard
Drumpenfurher
and the like.
Then, realize that there are certain members who you will never reach. It happens.
StarfishSaver
(18,486 posts)No. They are not skittish animals. They are people who have made choices.
I'm fine with them staying right where they are. We don't need them.
melm00se
(5,045 posts)They came a hell of lot closer than anyone cares to think in putting him back in the White House. It would not have taken too much to tip the scales in Trump's favor. There were not that many votes that separated Biden from Trump in AZ, GA, WI, PA and MI. It could have just as easily gone for Trump.
Now, I am not saying that you aim at the hardcore extreme right MAGATs. You will never move them more than a couple of steps to the left but seeing they are several hundred steps away from reality even those small steps wouldn't have matter (and would never stick).
But the more centrist Republicans? (yes Virginia, they do exist). I would go after them because shifting them from the center-right to the center-left is a lot more likely.
I doubt that this will happen because so many Democrats (including many here) are so likely to just outright insult them (like they do with Christians). Then all that happens is they get driven into the arms of Republicans.
brush
(57,250 posts)The rest we don't want.
StarfishSaver
(18,486 posts)SlogginThroughIt
(1,977 posts)Kid gloves my arse!
StarfishSaver
(18,486 posts)That train has left the station.
Anyone who is still supporting Trump at this point in time isn't worth the effort and I don't want them in my party.
Now, if they come around on their own and are willing to get with our program, fine - they're welcome to come in the tent as long as they behave themselves and don't expect anyone else in the tent to take a backseat to them.
But I don't think we need to waste any more time, resources or effort on trying to "reach" these people. We need to devote every ounce of effort to building up and supporting and enfranchising other voters who don't have to be convinced not to support or engage in white supremacy.
guillaumeb
(42,649 posts)And dialogue can follow.
StarfishSaver
(18,486 posts)We do what we're going to do and if they want to come along, fine.
But I'm tired of hearing about how we "reach out" to these people. They've been reached out to constantly for years and they still are where they are. I'm not interested in having "dialogue" with people who have consistently and knowingly supported people who want me and my people marginalized, disenfranchised and, in some cases, destroyed. These people aren't innocent victims. They know what they're voting for and they're doing it because agree with it.
Leave them there and focus on people who deserve the effort. We don't need them.
GoCubsGo
(32,937 posts)they slapped it away, or spit on it, or deposited their shit on it. Enough already.
maxrandb
(15,830 posts)guillaumeb
(42,649 posts)Irish_Dem
(56,047 posts)On the issues you list.
I would add to the list, free junior college for all.
The poorly educated would benefit.
guillaumeb
(42,649 posts)imanamerican63
(14,406 posts)Last edited Sun Feb 14, 2021, 01:00 PM - Edit history (1)
This goes for my GOPer family members! Although Biden has been in office for less than a month! They are now blaming Biden for things that Trump, the Bushes and Reagan did!
guillaumeb
(42,649 posts)Not for all, for a variety of reasons.
Response to imanamerican63 (Reply #15)
brush This message was self-deleted by its author.
brush
(57,250 posts)and with the disgrace of the republican senators letting trump go unpunished yet again after being impeached, he can get on with getting his agenda passed in the Senate.
lastlib
(24,799 posts)As I've said several times here: "Never extend your hand to a rabid dog unless you are prepared to club it into submission." Substitute "republiQan" for "rabid dog," and it still works. It is proven beyond question that if you could reason with AnusMouth supporters, they wouldn't be AnusMouth supporters. So just forget about bringing them into the non-fascist fold, and run over them.
brush
(57,250 posts)andym
(5,642 posts)Perhaps they can be reached. Most of the others are unreachable-- they have bought into the Trump club of social grievances and victimhood-- which the GOP has fostered.
guillaumeb
(42,649 posts)Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)He traveled all over and just listened to people. He never trashed them for being republican. He then tried to appeal to their sense of pride. For instance if they said they needed better schools, he would mention that TX ranked low in education, we can do better, right?
I would love to hear a reporter drill down to ask trump supporters what they don't like or what they want, beyond the overcharged rhetoric. Goal - a specific list of policies they want to see happen.
Someone said that they complained Obama would take their guns away, but in 8 years he didn't
guillaumeb
(42,649 posts)And we all know it will not work with all of them, but it might help with the reachable ones.
Do not ask me what percent are reachable, but I feel that the Q types are unreachable.
brush
(57,250 posts)We lost a few in 2020 because of the foolish "defund the police" slogan and our two, resident socialists. We don't want the magat/white supremacists and Q idiots that are left.
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)there are different types of them. Being in finance, I know there are many decent people who lean liberal socially but are driven by low taxes because it helps their business and vote accordingly.
So if you translate that to "how do we appeal to them" - it's gotta be low business taxes right? Not something we typically support right?
My only point it that you have to boil it all down to policy. And be willing to somehow provide that if we want to expand our base.
calguy
(5,752 posts)We can only outnumber them.
StarfishSaver
(18,486 posts)This kind of attitude is one of the reasons the insurrection occurred. Law enforcement didn't see those people as a threat - they just thought they were confused, but harmless people who looked like their family and neighbors who just wanted to get a few things off their chests, when, in reality, they were a dangerous mob of white supremacist criminals.
Continuing to treat Trump supporters like they're just misguided but ultimately reachable fellow Americans who only need understanding and support to come around is maddening to me and deeply insulting. Anyone who is still supporting Trump now knows EXACTLY what they're supporting and it's not about economic anxiety or just a little feeling of marginalization. These are white supremacists and white supremacist sympathizers. Period.
I want them to stay their asses away from my party.
LaMouffette
(2,236 posts)Social Security monthly payments and raise the federal minimum wage and empower the labor unions and make it a national goal to manufacture THE best electric cars, trucks, vans, motorcycles, ATVs, and snowmobiles in the world with ALL parts crafted at USA factories with union labor.
Just a few that came to mind!
guillaumeb
(42,649 posts)And they benefit the bottom 90%.
brush
(57,250 posts)Last edited Sun Feb 14, 2021, 01:21 PM - Edit history (1)
most magats. They'll surely take the benefits of a more robust social safety net but most will still vote republican because that's who they are and always will be. We might pull a few but it's not worth the effort if we move right and lose our Black and POC base.
llmart
(16,328 posts)So true. Just see how they mail those stimulus checks back to Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden when they get them. Trump supporters wanted to murder her - tried to murder her. If anyone thinks they'll be grateful to the Dems for getting them financial assistance during the pandemic, they're delusional.
I won't be reaching out to any of them. In fact, I won't have any of them in my life.
brush
(57,250 posts)LaMouffette
(2,236 posts)We need to find a way to make them see that by voting Republican, they are voting against their own self-interest. I honestly don't know how they can be so blind to this fact. Oh, wait, I do know: Fox News and other right-wing messaging convincing them that government is bad, Democrats are socialists, etc.
DemocratSinceBirth
(100,097 posts)Ever see the movie Malcolm X when the well- intentioned white young woman asks what she can do to help the movement and Malcolm says nothing. Of course he moved past that stance but there is nothing we can do to attract Trump voters because they hate the same people he does, i.e. assertive people of color, lgtbbq people, and liberals.
guillaumeb
(42,649 posts)My hope is that the cult members are simply a loud fringe.
StarfishSaver
(18,486 posts)At this point in time, anyone who is supporting Trump is perfectly happy with white supremacists in power. And the reason they're perfectly happy with that is that they support it.
Please stop treating them like innocent victims. They are not. Or at least please stop trying to foist these people on us, especially us black and brown people who are their primary victims and targets. It's insulting.
brush
(57,250 posts)who might just chose to stay home and not voting because we sure wouldn't be switching to the republican party.
DemocratSinceBirth
(100,097 posts)How many people convert? Not a lot.
DemocratSinceBirth
(100,097 posts)...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/24/us/politics/trump-economic-anxiety.html
Mr.Bill
(24,753 posts)a "taco truck on every corner." We would love that.
llashram
(6,269 posts)my hands too much to reach toward lethal venomous snakes. I do respect your OP. Proper politics and civil discourse is a necessary tool. Peace and goodwill one day. Maybe but probably not before I die of old age maladies.
Ferrets are Cool
(21,946 posts)roamer65
(37,093 posts)Fuck them.
Moostache
(10,135 posts)He was an ugly mirror. 75 million pigs looked into it and said, "Yup...more please"....82 million (+ those who did not vote) looked into it and recoiled in horror.
When you premise that these people were duped or mislead, I believe you give them too much credit. Those who stormed the Capitol and broke windows, doors and shattered our collective image of reverence for the building and the institution. That was not a group of dupes, they would not be swayed by reason or facts, they do not want co-citizenship and democratic representation. They want the return of the Confederacy and the Antebellum South in tone and rhetoric if not in fact.
They want to be free of consequences in their 'free speech'. They want to say the N-word loudly, in public and free of the repercussions of doing so (including ostracization for such thoughts and words or a well deserved punch in the mouth).
They want to jail MORE families, separate and torture them in cages, as a perverse "message" to the desperate and downtrodden that they are no longer welcomed as huddled masses yearning to breathe free, but rather as slandered invaders by people afraid of their own shadows and the loss of white power in general.
They want Charlottesville.
They want Pittsburgh.
They want Dylan Roof.
They want McDonalds for them and bullets in the back for any one of darker than pasty complexion.
They want Donald Trump, their empty vessel of hate.
They want January 6th. Every day.
I have no idea how to compromise with the people who rather see people here killed or jailed than compromise on anything.
brush
(57,250 posts)guillaumeb
(42,649 posts)My hope is that the percent of Q cultists is lower than Trump might hope.
hatrack
(60,708 posts)Any of those approaches paid off yet?
No, because when Owning Teh Libtards is your reason for being, along with generous daily applications of Butthurt Cream, none of these things matter.
I'd suggest reaching out to them with stick-figure cartoons in primary colors, combined with a pounding techno soundtrack.
brush
(57,250 posts)Last edited Sun Feb 14, 2021, 11:04 PM - Edit history (1)
We lost some back in 2020 because of the foolish "defund the police" slogan as well as because of our two very prominent, resident socialists.
The rest of the trump voters who remain loyal to him, the magats/white supremacists and Q idiots, we definitely do not want. WTF could we possibly advocate to appeal to white fucking supremacists that's not going to totally alienate our base of Black voters and other POC? Black voters have saved our asses so many times IMO it's disgraceful to even contemplate going after the trump voters who remain. Sanders has pushed this in two losing presidential runs, going after white, working class voterswhich translates as the very people we just saw in the attempted putsch on Jan. 6
Are you kidding me?
We don't want those voters. They are anathema to the Democratic Party.
Don't even try it. Getting out potential voters in our communities is a continual and necessary effort because the voters you're advocating going after are the very ones who are continually trying to suppress the Black and POC votes.
No. Absolutely not. I can't think of a worse non-starter than that.
Get Stacey Abrams on the job. She'll show you how to get our voters out and it won't be going after magats.
Clearly fogged in
(1,914 posts)CTyankee
(64,884 posts)reach the salvable republicans. Let me explain, my neighbor is probably salvageble. He is extremely kind and helpful, as is his whole family, to my husband and me. But here is what is just plain weird: he "saw things" that weren't happening i.e. videos purporting that, he said, Dems were cheating at the polls, changing votes from R to D, and other chicanery. A couple of his friends on Facebook said things like "Gary, we need to talk, please call me, I don't think you saw what you said you did. Please call me..." That took me aback. Some of his friends were actually saying he might be hallucinating.
He and his family continue to be helpful to us as we're elderly. I feel so badly for them. They are good people in other ways."
guillaumeb
(42,649 posts)The cultists? No.
CTyankee
(64,884 posts)But Dallas became modern and, as a banking and mercantile base, had to be welcome to Yankees from NYC and other northern cities. We had Neiman-Marcus and were proud of it. The old Texas, as least as far as Dallas-Ft Worth was concerned, was a thing of the past. I saw that transition.
I'm not saying racial issues didn't exist, just that Dallas avoided a lot of it. I don't think the JFK assassination didn't hurt Dallas's reputation, just that it was a very different thing from the old segregation thing.
Poiuyt
(18,272 posts)The Democrats need to do what's necessary to get the economy going, specifically getting to full employment. This would generate substantial social benefits that would translate to satisfaction with the current administration. Biden's stimulus package should go a long way to reversing Reagan's neoliberal economic philosophy that created the tremendous economic inequality that we have now.
BTW, you'll never reach his cultists.
guillaumeb
(42,649 posts)EndlessWire
(7,194 posts)I am ashamed of you, and I want nothing to do with you.
I am going to engage in the business of the Nation and vaccinate every human that sticks out their arm. If you want to be friends with me, you will wear your masks, wash your hands, and keep 8 feet from me. But, I am never going to eat a meal with you.
If you are hungry, I'll probably hand you a biscuit. But, that's it. You chose the likes of Trump over our Democracy. Get down on your knees somewhere else. You blew it.
KatyMan
(4,275 posts)Torches? Hooks?
Bettie
(16,916 posts)Yes, I suppose we must "try to understand them and their economic anxiety"...isn't that the media line?
The one we heard over and over after he was installed?
Why does NO ONE ever wonder how to reach out to Democrats?
I tire of this right wing talking point.
ETA: We can't reach out to them in any real way because they are largely untethered to this thing we call reality.
DemocratSinceBirth
(100,097 posts)The research indicates the primary source of anxiety for Trump voters is cultural, not economic. They don't want to share power with POC, lgtbq people and, liberals.
guillaumeb
(42,649 posts)But it worked for FDR.
DemocratSinceBirth
(100,097 posts)Trumpism is a reaction to those groups accruing it.
JudyM
(29,509 posts)There are boogeyman stereotypes about what we stand for. Let them see who we are. We need to really shine our light. And we need to prosecute the hell out of the ass who finally left... and investigate the lot of them. Lets shine serious light into the corners they crawl around in.
Happy VDay, guillaumeb!
GOPistheEnemy
(49 posts)One can not reason or compromise with those whose goal is white supremacy and fascism and want you DEAD.
Right now the best one can do is cut every last Republican out of your life, don't be friends with them, don't do business with them, don't even be polite to them. At work make them address you formally, Mr. Ms, etc and only interact with you for work reasons only. Don't even justify their existence in your presence. Boycott Red States and Republican/Conservative owned businesses and ones that donate Republicans or Conservative causes and politicians. Exercise your 2nd Amendment Rights if you so choose, I highly recommend it. They do and are preparing themselves.
They are enemies and traitors of America treat them all as such, that is what you can do.
Mersky
(5,163 posts)Think expanded, 15 page greeting card with recipes at the back. Its not a manifesto, no, its a freakin timesaver. Is to take back the time that republican politicians and rw media are stealing from me. Time is money and they are picking my pockets and needlessly wasting lives.
It would be a full time job if I spent five hours explaining how it is that Im not a communist, why racism is immoral and stupid, and generally whats been happening in my life during the missing COVID year. Feel I should remind some folks how Pa was a proud Democrat and a diabetic who made an excellent, zero-carb red eye gravy.
Its for some family members who might believe that their first cousin narrowly survived COVID due to the grace of their God and not the ventilators and healthcare workers.
Its for the acquaintances that Ill likely run into again, who, without semi-regular exposure to a librul like me must think I spend my time mumbling the orange guys name while eating avocado toast, and mailing illegal ballots.
Its to get rid of some of the shadows on the cave wall. And to make sure that if they continue to follow the fascists that they get real specific in who it is theyre hating. Is just to make sure they despise those liberals making gravy with venison breakfast sausage drippings, strong black coffee, Tabasco, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper.
I put that on my biscuits, yall and they cant stop me.
guillaumeb
(42,649 posts)Sympthsical
(10,036 posts)You can't reason someone out of what they were never reasoned into in the first place.
If we do a good job, people will see their lives improve. When they start realizing, "Hey, my life is a little better or at least a little less worse with this party in charge than the other one." Biden has such an opportunity here with his Covid relief bill and other matters.
We're never going to reach some critical mass of the ideological. Most people don't stand on their ideology. Most of us here probably do, because we're political types. And there are definitely millions of people out there who define themselves by their race, religion, etc. You can't just tell them, "Hey, that's wrong. Stop that." They've usually spent their whole lives building up those identities. A couple of Twitter posts aren't going to suddenly tear all that down.
But if we say, "Look, I hate what you stand for, but I want your life to be better anyway. So here's how I'm going to do that. We're all Americans and all deserve a better life, so I'm going to bring you along with me even if you hate me."
We talk a lot about a prison system, for example. And I think most liberals will agree that we should strive for the rehabilitative vs the punitive. Right now, our politics are geared towards the punitive. "I hate what you stand for, so I will get you in some way." It's part of our current hyper-partisanship at the moment.
It's just going to harden battle lines. There's no winning here. We're stuck in this country together, like or not. And if you want to win by sheer force, well, that roads leads to authoritarianism no matter how well-intentioned. We can push and we can pull, but we can't pummel. A lot of people are in pummel mode, and I absolutely get why. But it will ultimately make us worse instead of better.
I think Biden instinctively understands this. That's why you never get vitriol out of him. He kills with warmth. He's no squish. He's hard when he needs to be.
But he's not going to start a knife fight when a beer with someone would do just as well.
LizBeth
(10,757 posts)ismnotwasm
(42,433 posts)Thinks not using racist language is interfering with his right to speak, hates our Governor Jay Inslee, but Im not sure why, calls Joe Biden Pedo Joe and Kamala Harris Kamaltoe. Claims Kamala is a wh***
There is no reaching out to him. His wife, who crochets and sews things for charity and volunteers at the food bank, and claims to not care about politics used the word Sand N***** to my husband the other day when referring to another human being. My BIL often volunteers for his community, is generous and good hearted in most areas. His adult kids are the exact same way.
Politically and socially they are not going to change, and mostly I ignore their existence. There is no there there. No focal point to reach out to. They despise the libs, its part of an intrenched persona. All their friends are the same way.
Mersky
(5,163 posts)And Im not messing with them.
Im more concerned with regaining some familiarity with the ones who just tip over to tRump because of abortion, etc. or those that knee-jerk support the pResident no matter what.
And then, theres this huge swath of people who dont follow politics at all, but sometimes vote - I know where to find a couple of them.
ismnotwasm
(42,433 posts)We can have a bit of dialogue.
guillaumeb
(42,649 posts)We all know such people.
But my view is that we must act, and if our actions resonant with some GOP voters, so much the better.
ismnotwasm
(42,433 posts)But there are tons of people who arent as rigid. For instance, I had a patient who voted for Trump the first time, because he was a business man and was absolutely appalled at Trumps behavior. That guy changed his own mind
SlogginThroughIt
(1,977 posts)Sorry I shouldnt promote violence. I have a couple old friends who occasionally text me with abusive messages.
I dont know how we reach out to them anymore than we have. If they arent interested in policy designed to improve their quality of life then what is there for us to do? They WANT to fight with us. The WANT to live the hard life and claim the glory of fighting through the struggle. It is a strange theatric that they engage in and for what?
gulliver
(13,319 posts)Talk is cheap. Biden's on the right track in a big way, imo.
I wouldn't be surprised to see the Trump traumatized McConnell cooperate a lot more than he did with Obama.
guillaumeb
(42,649 posts)It eliminated any real cooperation in politics.
Vinca
(50,932 posts)A few will find there way back to normal. Unfortunately, some will be felons who can't vote. Picture them sitting in their cells for years on end as a result of their Trump adventure. No doubt it will occur to them that their god left them in the lurch staring at metal bars while he's down in Palm Beach sitting around a pool.
Mr.Bill
(24,753 posts)as they stand in the middle of the wreckage he left behind, they are not even worthy of me recognizing their existence.
guillaumeb
(42,649 posts)NNadir
(34,534 posts)Ani Yun Wiya
(797 posts)Last edited Sun Feb 14, 2021, 05:05 PM - Edit history (1)
in a chain mail glove...