To the best of my knowledge, it was Rachel Maddow on MSNBC that originally coined the phrase that is now in common use. In an A-Block she opined that we are now living in a parallel universe politically. As she said, the majority of us are living on Earth One, where we deal with real life events like inflation, Covid, global warming, and racial injustice. And on Earth Two reside Donald Trump and the FUX News bubble sphere, obsessing over nonsense like white grievance, critical race theory, and the confederate flag.
And she was right then, and she’s right today. Trump, the malignant cancer on the body politic continues to run around ranting and screaming the same tired, disproven platitudes, while his faithful Trombies shamble around like the parking lot scene in Dawn of the Dead. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Except for the fact that things have changed.
For instance, since Traitor Tot was inaugurated, the base of the moderate GOP has shrunk to almost non existence. Starting with his first two years, Trump’s political toxicity turned the moderate GOP voters, low turnout GOP voters, disgruntled Democrats looking for a change, and independents against him. The GOP shed 40 seats in the House in 2018, and the Trump GOP losing margin has basically doubled every two years. What now passes for the GOP is the Trump party.
Which presents opportunities that weren’t available before. For more than a decade now, Democratic strategists and activists have been screaming at the Democratic party to please stop chasing after the ever elusive blue collar voter. They were once a Democratic stronghold, but poor messaging and tactics had driven them right into the arms of the GOP. Forget about chasing that dream, man!
Really? Look, I get the logic. After the Democrats went all west coast wine-and-cheese searching for contributions, sending the blue collar workers fleeing to the GOP, which welcomed them with open arms, the Democrats mucked it up even worse. They made all kinds of moo-moo noises of being pro worker, and pro union while jobs fled, but did nothing to actually make things demonstrably better for blue collar workers. Why change?
Here’s why. This is the GOP or Trump. During the reign of King Donald, the US economy actually lost manufacturing jobs, despite Trump’s bullsh*t about saving manufacturing jobs every time he let a major manufacturer sign a bogus agreement, only to outsource the jobs. And union workers screamed bloody murder as the jobs moved offshore.
But this is the era of Bidenomics. And every Democrat running for office should be using that phrase every chance they get. Because Biden is using the term as a foil for the 40 wasted years of Reaganomics, with the trickle down theory. And there’s no comparison between the two, and every Democratic House member needs to keep pounding that every time they go home.
Because there’s a solid story to tell. Under Biden, for the first time in recent, or even not-so-recent memory, manufacturing jobs are returning to the United States. Some of them are coming from offshore. More of them are coming from foreign investment in the United States to invest in our infrastructure with new factories and facilities. And a sh*tload of them are purely homegrown acts like the Infrastructure bill, the CHIPS bill, and the Clean Energy bill, home grown jobs that can’t be outsourced overseas. Manufacturing jobs are returning, big time, and Biden and the Democrats are the reason. And they need to tout it.
It pains me to say this, but this is one time when congressional Democrats need to start sounding like congressional Republicans. As we speak, there are GOP Senators ands representatives going home every weekend and basking in the praise of their constituents for the praise of the money flooding into their districts and states from the Infrastructure Act, even though every last one of them voted against the f*cking thing! It’s time for the Democrats to regain the control of that narrative. After all, they’re our accomplishments. Let those blue collar workers in the rust belt states know it.
Because right now the only thing that GOP candidates and incumbents in those states are offering their voters is a rollback of voting rights, equal rights, and reproductive rights. There isn’t a Democratic candidate or incumbent who shouldn’t be loaded for bear going into a debate against a GOP opponent. If they have the balls to show up.
So let’s get it together Democrats. Traitor Tot has left a virtual treasure trove of made for TV attack ads touting his bogus agreements that sent US jobs overseas. Do yourselves a favor. Forget Biden’s age! In a head-on match, sanity and positive performance will choose sanity and performance over chaos and destruction every time. Don’t rum from from Biden, wrap both arms around him and rejoice. Because if every Democratic trumpets Biden’s solid list of accomplishments to the voters who matter, the GOP is going to be chaff that blows away in the November wind. Just look at their primaries so far.
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Strong Democrats should come forward, come together and Lead. Lead us right past, or right over, Trump and his ugly mug, which is still the most common image that most people see. There seems to be no one and no plan to get ahold of this narrative. It’s time to show some strength.
Agree. trumpism seems to be natural culmination of what Reagan started 40-some years ago. We end up with a lop-sided economy run by oligarchs and a government that serves them. That’s what’s changing under Biden. He’s rebuilding infrastructure and industrial capacity much like Roosevelt did during the Depression, with the twist that it’s being designed to transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. That’s good news for the planet and good news for workers.
Reaganomics wasn’t just about deregulation and trickle-down. It was about dumbing-down the population by starving the education system. During a period when other countries, especially those in Asia, were emphasizing and up-grading their schools and universities with better teachers and facilities, America was doing the opposite. Is it any wonder high-tech jobs fled because home-grown talent was getting thin on the ground?
To correct this mistake, all levels of government are going to have to work together to strengthen the education system, paying teachers what they deserve and challenging not just kids, but adults too, to develop their abilities throughout their lives with the best available tools. We need to side-step the nonsense of MAGA and QAnon and focus on the realities of Earth 1. With the Internet and new information resources, AI included, the opportunities are limitless.
I’m an optimist. I believe that the good angels of humanity are stronger than the devils, and that given the choice, people will vote for leaders who can chart a course through the real world we live in. The challenge is to communicate the plan clearly and to avoid being dragged into the mud by people who cling to Earth 2.
one universe will live on…the other will die.
The young and blacks seem to be the largest group of the coalition that we need to focus on. They seem to latch on to some idiotic meme from the fascists or latch onto some perceived failing of the Biden administration. But to hear the Democrats on TV you would think this group is all sewed up. As to the blue-collar obsession, they are racists for the most part and they are fed a steady diet of black crime on their local TV every day. I am basing my opinion on anecdotal information. There seems to be some statistical information supporting this from what I have seen on cable.
We are having to try and dry off our dog in the middle of a rain storm without being able to take him inside. If this group will only vote if they have a young or black candidate we have a weak coalition. My former congressional district in Memphis, the 9th had black representation for years then Cohen got elected and has kept the seat now for over a decade. There are exceptions. Maybe we should look at them a little closer.