General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Bernie To Dems: Stop Neglecting Trump Voters! [View all]JHan
(10,173 posts)to claim it was a strawman completely dismisses Trump's divisive bigoted message and why it resonated with people.
Stop gaslighting what happened last year. It's annoying to see efforts to downplay the dogwhistles and disgusting shit Donald Trump engaged in and WHY It was appealing to many voters. Of course there are ignorant voters who haven't a clue about shit, but there are as many voters who knew damn well what they wanted in the White House and endorsed it 100%, continue to endorse it 100% because they're damned ignorant.
There is NOTHING cute or innocent about people who cling to zero-sum solutions.
Therefore the point should not be to reach out to "Trump voters" but to reach out to people who are suffering. whether they're white working class, black working class whoever. We don't need a whole new language to reach out to the WWC, which was the narrative immediately after the election. This is insulting as fuck.
So there's a distinction, a pretty important one. You reach out based on principles and ideas, not who they voted for or chasing a particular demographic that voted in ways diametrically opposed to party principles.
To do so , in this context, IS farcical given Trump's divisive rhetoric which many are trying to pretend wasn't much of a motivating factor - people voted for it. I've never found it difficult understanding economic hardship, but I refuse to "empathize" with a voter that believes Manuelo is the reason they lost their job so they gotta vote Trump. There's no point to empathizing with people who are ok with voting for a guy who will give the wealthy tax cuts, demonize immigrants and repeal regulations that ensure we enjoy clean water and clean air.
The only thing I'm gonna tell a Trump voter is "Sorry, but you got duped by a con man" - I don't need to empathize with the world perspective many of them believe in which is a fucked up form of authoritarianism on a global scale.