[bloomingeek]

No offense, and you're not entirely wrong, but this is one of the big reasons we are in this situation politically. Millions of voters stayed home because they thought this way. The result: America is the embarrassment of the world, no longer to be trusted. We all must vote, even if we must hold our noses while doing it. We can't allow known thugs to be in command. (I was a life long GOP voter, to my shame, until 2004. How the American public didn't see the puke of a DJT presidency coming is beyond the pale.)

[pixl97]

>because they thought this way.

Technically, no, they did not come up with this thought on their own. It's been heavily propagandized that 'voting does no good, so just stay home". I just want to point that out as it's an active attack on American voters.

[Sohcahtoa82]

It doesn't help that most Democrat politicians are happy to maintain status quo. Or they're completely feckless, like Chuck Schumer, who is the absolute King of bringing a strongly-worded letter to a gun fight.

People that are actually leftist don't vote because there's nobody that represents them. Most Democrat politicians are centrist.

[bloomingeek]

And this is my point, sometimes you won't have the candidate you need/want. But you don't bury your head in some kind of moral sand and allow a monster to be voted in office. You bite the bullet and vote for what's best at the time.

[fuzzfactor]

Meaningful information shouldn't die just because the medium goes dark :\

Joe Average the Trump voter got to be the way they are from a "grooming" process of some kind.

Who would Trump have ever have picked up something like that from?

[bloomingeek]

Most of the grooming came from Limbaugh, Rove and Gingrich. Then the entertainment "news" Fox network finished the job. At the core, though, was a large segment of the voting population that gave up on knowledge and reason.

[fuzzfactor]

Yep the hate-talk show hosts started so early that really is like the initial grooming period.

By the time Trump's face was on TV every day it was already full-blown abuse.

Also, I think a big element was the rallys.

Once Trump was confirmed as the big loser in 2020, he immediately started his comeback, live and in person.

Constant rallys for 4 years, real slim attendance at first but eventually getting a baseline crowd who would make gatherings seem more popular than they were. Traveling from one rally to another like many Taylor Swift fans do, but all Trump rallied about was hate.

That's the crowd that he grew by testing different targets of hate, running it up the flagpole to see who salutes.

By the time Biden started campaigning in earnest, Trump already had four solid years behind him and his pitch was tested and honed well enough to draw a much more loving and obedient crowd. Of haters. Nothing less would be appropriate.

Giving thousands of disgruntled voters a full "live concert" or "game day" experience like they never had before, making a strong impression that lasted and put him over the top. Across the country.

And the Democrats did nothing like this. Biden was already moving slow and was never an emotion-driven attention-getter, plus he was busy doing the job he was elected to do and nobody dreamed of putting him on the road full-time like Trump.

It might have taken more than 4 years of Democrat rallys to compensate also, so starting early makes a big difference.

By now there's not 4 years remaining and they're still not doing squat.

Success at the midterms is more critical than ever and that's much less than a year away too.

Dems need to bring forward a new personality now that they can rally behind all the way to the top. Get the show on the road and pack those stadiums constantly, similar to "modern" Trump voters, an actual platform is not necessary.

None of the strategists who dropped the ball for Biden and Harris seem to be doing anything different yet.

Why continue with the same failed machine that is proven not to work against built-up MAGA hate?

If Democrats aren't going to hate back they're surely going to need to express their dissatisfaction a lot more strongly.

Every false move that Trump makes would be plenty of new fodder, an unending well of new topics to rouse the crowds' congealment around when they come up. If a nationwide tour were constantly underway, these could be added to the pitch while taken in stride, and the momentum could be made to increase each time Trump makes a new foible which the opposition can focus on to gauge the popularity impact.

That may still not be enough and it may take longer than it should so you've got to start earlier rather than too late.

Ideally a new attractive personality will bypass the failed old Dem machine, and with nothing but positive aspirations from the podium, trigger a natural gut response from the crowd, whatever stadium the tour takes them to.

Could anything be more appropriate than thousands of more patriotic ralliers than ever cheering for the Democrats in unison, spontaneously repeating the rallying call "Lock him up !" ?

[pousada]

What I never understood is this binary system in the US - why wouldn’t you allow some other parties or reform the system in a way that allows more diversity.

But it’s of course a hellishly complex problem

[bloomingeek]

pousada, I've simmered on your response for several days now. As a person in their late sixties, I've seen our political system, at least in my existence, at most of it's worst. Nixon taught us, in modern times, what evil looks like behind closed doors, because of the tapes. Reagan taught us what smiley faced racism looked like by using slogans. W taught us that lying to everyone on camera was no big deal as long as it seemed patriotic. And now here we are with a president who openly breaks the law because of however he feels on any given day.

On the seemingly rare occasions that a democrat gets into the oval office, they spend most of their time on social/environmental issues that extend to all voters, but are fought at every turn. We desperately need a reformed political system. The only way that will happen is if the American voting public will get off their cans and put forth the effort to learn civics and then realize that their opinions must be tempered with reason.