"If you think Nov 3 is about electing ... your "favorite" candidate, you are not paying attention"

[hlthe2b]

Steven Beschloss (Brother to Michael)
@StevenBeschloss
If you still think Nov. 3 is about electing the next president, your “favorite” candidate, you are not paying attention. This is about voting for someone who can drive Trump from office in order to save America from accelerating despotism.

Link to tweet

[BlueJac]

1. K&R

[Sherman A1]

2. Agreed

It is most certainly about removing The “Esteemed” Mr Trump in November.

However, I am growing tired 💤 of “the lesser of two” scenario, that too often gets dumped on us.

[Kurt V.]

3. the huge problem with this tweet is there are many legitimate opinions on

who *can drive trump from office* .

[Pacifist Patriot]

5. Thank you

There is no one miracle savior out there. And whoever does beat Trump is going to have to count on every one else pitching in to help clean up the mess. It's going to take a long time to sort through this mess and even longer to enact the measures to prevent it happening again.

[Dustlawyer]

31. +1! THIS!!!

[empedocles]

6. 'Many' ?

[druidity33]

7. On Nov 3, it will be...

whoever is the nominee.

[Kurt V.]

9. Exactly

[Laura PourMeADrink]

21. Very true. Would love to see some more analysis on that.

Though. Now that the field on top is more crowded. What is one's electoral path against trump.

I saw the detail on a poll, maybe 5-6 months ago?, that said we were almost evenly divided on (1) selecting a nominee based on policies vs. (2) selecting exclusively on who can beat trump.

The demographics were interesting. The (1) group tended to consider themselves more liberal, tended to be more diverse, and had fewer college graduates. Group (2) tended to consider themselves more moderate, tended to be white, and had more college grads.

[Kurt V.]

34. i think this is the right track. a dive into the electorate of the swing states that now could

include arizona and florida

[honest.abe]

30. Sure, but the point is we should choose our nominee based on who we think can win...

not who we would like to win. And you need to try to remove any personal bias when doing that evaluation.

[Kurt V.]

33. What's the metric(s) for that? a deep dive into the electorate i suppose but any data pre 2016

is practically useless.

[UniteFightBack]

44. Who is the person that folks in the swing states would most likely vote for. Who is that. nt

[Kurt V.]

46. Unknown. the primary in those states should be a good indicator

[NurseJackie]

4. For me, it's about DEFEATING the candidate that I despise the most...

... and I'll just leave it at that and say no more.

[Amimnoch]

12. +100. exactly.

[Duppers]

8. Yes, this ⬆⬆⬆

+100

[Mike 03]

10. Thank you hitthe2b!

[Voltaire2]

11. The butthurt when your favorite is not doing well.

Is expressed succinctly in this tweet.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

43. And in this thread.

[FailureToCommunicate]

13. It will be a REAL case of "the lesser of two evils": One will be lesser. One is EVIL.

But will "Yeah, I despise the jerk in the White House" a strong enough motivator to get folks to the polls on election day?

Feeling very discouraged.

[jmg257]

14. I say, why can't we do both?

I think so, so bite me.

[mysteryowl]

15. Theory, regarding voting for Bernie...

More votes in the general election will be lost if the nominee is a moderate, for the base could potentially vote elsewhere or sit it out.

If Bernie is the nominee, moderates will NOT sit it out or vote elsewhere. There is a better chance for more democratic votes with Bernie (or Elizabeth).

[KSNY]

18. YES! ...and the Senate!

Without a huge outpouring of Democratic voters, the Senate is out of reach.

[wnylib]

32. Why sre you so sure that moderates will

not sit it out? Dem moderates won't, but what about the general election, Independents, and R's who don't like Trump?

Dems are dividing now. Moderates are concerned about Biden's strength as a candidate, but are not turning to Bernie. They see Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and even Bloomberg as an alternative. Don't assume that current Dem divisions would give Bernie an advantage in the general, which is a whole different electorate made up of Independents, moderates, and R's who do not like Trump. Those people are not drawn to a candidacy that tags itself with a term that most Americans automatically associate -- rightly or wrongly -- with negatives like Cuba, China, and loss of personal freedoms.

I know the difference, but Sanders would need to explain it every day of his campaign while R's would stoke the ingrained American fear of the word socialism.

Those downticket candidates that you believe would benefit from a Sanders turnout are not likely to share Bernie's views, so how would he govern with them? A divided term would not clean up the Trump mess. It would tag Dems as socialists, which R's have feared all along.

Trump vs Sanders would, in the American mind, be fascism vs. socialism. That could make people stay home. It could deepen divisions in the country, not just between R's and Dems, but between Dems and Dems.

Also, it is hard to sell socialism in a good economy.

The last time the US was divided between fascism and socialism was the 1930's, in the Great Depression. FDR was viewed as a moderate alternative between the two. He did not align with the word socialism. His programs were progressive and borrowed some aspects of socialism. But that is a fine distinction lost on the vast majority of Americans today.

As Senators, both Sanders and Warren can promote and win reforms under a Dem president. As candidates in the general, I fear they would divide the nation further.

[pinkstarburst]

35. We're going to face this issue

No matter who the nominee is.

Moderates want a moderate nominee. Some of them will sit out if we nominate a progressive.

Progressives want a progressive nominee. Some of them will sit out if we nominate a moderate.

The idea that the damage is going to be greater one way or the other is wishful thinking.

Vote for the person who shares your values in the primary. And then do the right thing in November and vote for the candidate, whomever wins the nomination.

[wnylib]

40. In the general, with Sanders or Warren

as the nominee, and some moderate Dems (but not DUers) sitting it out, where will the winning votes come from? Republicans? Even those who dislike Trump would vote for him over the labels that Trump would give to Sanders and Warren as he stomes fears in Americans about something they already fear.

Would their votes come from Independents, who are split between conservatives, moderates, and progressives?

In a fascist vs socialist choice, the passionate supporters on each side will turn out. People who find neither end of the spectrum desireable will stay home.

Sanders chose to use a controversial label for his campaign. I think he is on an ego trip and enjoying the attention of the controversy. I also think he is closer to a true socialist than he says. Warren has expertise in economics that Sanders lacks. I really like her and agree with her on many things. I agree with Sanders on some things, but his delivery and attitudes turn me off. He is a divider; Warren is a unifier. If Warren had taken a more incremental approach to health care, she'd be in a better position today to draw both progressive and moderate votes.

I will vote Dem in the general, of course, no matter who our nominee is. But I am a dedicated Dem. Not all of the country is. Not even all Dems are.

[Amimnoch]

16. We're not selecting a "spouse" We're picking the right "bus" to hop on.

It's not about finding that right person that you want to spend the rest of your life with and dedicate your life to..

It's about finding the right bus that will get you the closest point from the destination you want to get to.

[ecstatic]

17. This. I am really scared!

There's no doubt in my mind that my very existence will be threatened if trump remains in office. Some of us really need to wake up, and fast! They haven't specifically targeted people like me... yet. trump is still pretending to care about black people, and I've seen how agitated the nationalists have become with the ungrateful blacks who, in their minds, trump is bending over backwards to please.

Meanwhile, kids are still separated and/or in cages. That's only a glimpse of what's in store. The nation is becoming numb to the cruelty and atrocities of trump and the GOP.

We're talking life or death here. Step back for a moment and ask yourself how you'd fare in a far right wing authoritarian government that only caters to rich white men.

[wnylib]

19. Trump's replacement will need the ability

to form coalitions and agreement with members of Congress, career civil servants, the diplomatic core of people in foreign service, financial institutions, the judiciary, and many more facets of government.

Cleaning up the Trump mess is not a one person job.

Who has the personal skills and qualities to not just win the election, but to bring in down ticket supporters to government and have support, not division, in the cleanup process?

[Joinfortmill]

20. Retweet this. It's important.

[AllaN01Bear]

22. im a plain speaking engine , i speak as i find ,

my job is to choose the best candidtate during the pri and support them during the ge . i did this for the hillary last go round.

[Grokenstein]

23. Until we have a nominee, it's GOOD to fight.

That's how we get the info out there to make an informed decision. For better or worse, it IS a contest, not some crown Candidate X is entitled to because their dance card has been punched so many times.

But once we have a candidate chosen, the "contest" is then between that candidate and the Trump regime. Writing in Purity B. Potogold, or just staying home on Election Day and curling up on your bed, lower lip all a-quiver, because your idol didn't win the nomination? That's your right, of course, but it's effectively a vote for the Republicans. And if you spend every day up to Election Day screaming and bawling about how the Democratic candidate isn't absolutely perfect and therefore unworthy of your (or anyone else's) vote, you're campaigning for Trump--even if you DO "hold your nose" and vote for the Dem at the last second anyway.

Do not collaborate with the enemy.

[overleft]

24. I agree with this statement hlthe2b. Pleeeeease vote for the nominee whichever

candidate is selected. We must get this evil mob boss out of the Whitehouse. We need to make all the vulnerable repug senate candidates pay up by voting them out as well.

[McKim]

25. My Vision

My vision is that the two sides of the Democratic Party act democratic and hammer out a platform/agreement/coalition government agreement like they do in Europe. They could forge an agreement that most of us could live with. This would be based on issue and positions on those issues and take it off personality. Personality is how we got to where we are today. Am I crazy to see a team of a moderate democrat and Warren or Sanders together on the ticket?

[Cary]

26. Unfortunately some who should know better disagree.

[PatrickforO]

27. Oh, for goodness sake. Well, I have decided to enter my 1 year old Siamese cat

in the race. He's a centrist. He can beat Trump.

The real truth here is that we on DU represent only a small portion of Democrats, and most of us are well-versed in issues. Out there in the rest of the world, people don't think much about this stuff at all until the week before. The ground games are doing a good job of getting the word out and building grass roots organizations supporting the candidates.

But in the end, after Super Tuesday we will all have a much better idea of who the nominee actually will be.

Then, our mission will be to put aside the divisiveness that prevented Clinton from winning the electoral college by a landslide in 2016.

See, the REAL enemy here is not progressive candidates. The REAL enemy is not centrist candidates.

It is our own divisiveness.

Like that Pogo cartoon caption from so long ago - we have met the enemy and it is us.

[hlthe2b]

28. You miss the entire point of Beschloss's tweet. No, he is not picking a side. The opposite.

He's telling us to remember the need to unify behind a single candidate v Trump by November 3 and that whether or not that is our 'favored' candidate, keep the eye on the big picture. And, yes... setting aside the divisiveness. It is only to all of our benefit that we keep that in mind NOW, even as we have different candidates we support in the primaries. No lingering bitterness can keep Dems from uniting or staying home. Our very future is at stake.

[PatrickforO]

37. So...I said the same thing Beschloss did, yet I missed his point?

I actually was replying more to the people downthread than I was to the OP.

But yeah, getting rid of the divisiveness is vital. I see on the Hill that we're already being ratfucked in open primaries, and that Bernie's supporters are being accused in part. We have to keep that pattern from repeating.

As to a centrist or progressive, I was simply elaborating, because many people really inflate their importance, that to a progressive a centrist might seem 'evil' in terms of the hesitation to make progress as rapid as the progressive thinks should be. By the same token it is natural for a progressive to seem 'evil' in terms of wanting too much to fast, not being realistic, etc. But neither side is evil; we need both to create the balance necessary for real forward progress.

In both a spiritual and material sense, the real evil is Trump and his party.

[hlthe2b]

38. Gotcha. Thanks for your clarification.

[PatrickforO]

39. One last comment about my Siamese cat, though!

He's a sweet little guy. Gregarious, friendly, really soft, just all around fun. When we got him and his sister, they were rescues. There were three cats left in a barn; one froze to death and we got the other two from a young lady who rescued them but could not keep them.

I fell in love with M, the Siamese, on the first day, because when we got them we thought it would be good to give each a gentle bath in case they had fleas or ticks. So my wife filled up the sink with tepid water and got the cat shampoo ready. She decided to start with C, the little female kitten, so she grabbed her and put her in the water. C, of course, hated it and yowled.

M actually climbed up my wife's back to rescue his sister! How can you not love a little animal like that?

I do have to admit that even though he's a fantastic little cat, he's not really presidential material...but I'm still up in the air about starting a super pac.

[Dukkha]

29. Elections are just like Christmas

It starts way too early, gets families fighting with each other, and in the end nobody gets what they wanted and you're in more debt than before.

[central scrutinizer]

36. I'm saving my money to donate to the eventual nominee

I'm deluged every day with dozens of requests for donations NOW. I am sending money now to important swing Senate races but nothing to any of the presidential primary candidates. I don't have the deep pockets of the other side. I figure if I donate X dollars to candidate Y now, yes it does help get the message out but it's just less I can contribute to the most important campaign ever. Sure I'd like to see my favorite candidate win the nomination and I think she can win against Drumpf but I will work strongly for whoever is the nominee.

[Hassler]

41. Fall in Love in the primary and fall in line on November 3

[UniteFightBack]

42. We need to pick the person who the people in the swing states will vote for. THAT'S IT AND WE WIN.

[Cha]

45. Hell yeah!