Democrats are terribly unpopular now. Some of the criticism people level at them seem irrational to me, while others seem just. Thanks to triangualtion, I feel like there's no choice but to vote Democratic. No matter what problems I have with them, they're vastly better than the Republicans.
But most people don't agree with me. Lots of people like the Democrats in an unconflicted way, and lots of people feel that their problems are so bad that staying home or voting for Trump was justified. There is deep hatred of centrist Dems on both the right and the left. Dems tend to believe that the people who don't like them are either stupid and misiunformed or bigots. That attitude makes lots of people hate them even more.
It seems to me that two things are true. First, Democrats are the main vehicle we have that has any chance of defeating or even constraining Trump, and there is no time to tear the party down and rebuild it. And second, there are serious problems with the Democrats that would, in normal times, provide good reasons for people not to support them.
It also seems to me, after reading what I've been able to about why people voted for Trump, that legitimate flaws in the Democratic party played a significant role in the second loss to Trump. Voters reacted badly to bad things in the party, while tuning out vastly worse things in Trump.
I don't know what this means. Should we call out the Democrats on the things we don't like about them? Should we shut up and stay in line? Should people like me try to argue, honestly, there are terrible problems with both parties, but right now the Republicans are far worse?
Technocracy seems like a good thing, and in general, I'm a supporter of technocratic policies. I want to let medical experts manage public health. But there's a problem.
When an expert talks to someone like me about their subject, they have to dumb it down. It's hard to take complex subjects like the economy and present them in a format that works on social media. In a democracy, it's easy for experts to think of the electorate as children with power, children you have to speak to simply, in the right way, so they'll use their power in the right way. Dems do this all the time. Sometimes it can veer off into dishonesty.
Last month, there was a fight among Democratic supporters over whether it made sense to shutdown the government. Professional strategists believed it would be disastrous to take on blame for that. Other experts believed that if the government were shutdown it would give Trump the power to pick and choose what to fund, and so a shutdown would help Trump and DOGE gut the goverment. But the base wanted Dems to fight.
I'm not an expert political strategist, and I don't know who was right. I heard Carville explain the insider position in terms of the Cook Partisan Voting Index, and what he said made a lot of sense. At the same time, I really wanted them to fight. I still want them to fight. I don't know the answer.
Under Schumer's leadership, Dems decided to vote for cloture but against the CR, ensuring that it would pass. Schumer talked about fighting. They figured out who should vote for cloture and who should vote against it, probably based on Cook PVI numbers.
It was dishonest, and it was based on the idea that people don't know or care what cloture is.
Technocratic experts were afraid that the general public didn't need masks, not because it was true but because there weren't enough to go around. The basic position was right, medical workers needed them more than anyone else. Dems told us Biden was OK, because they knew Trump would be worse, not because Biden was actually OK.
In Gaza, Biden clearly made the decision and not to impose any real constraints on them. But he didn't level with the public about that. A lot of people agreed with the real policy, whatever I think of it. But he lied to the public about what he was doing.
The Bulwark's Sarah Longwell does a focus group podcast, where she plays recordings of voters explaining what they think. I know the recordings selected will probably inevitably show some sort of bias. But I've heard recording after recording of voters saying, "I don't trust Democrats." Trump has lied about many things, he continues to lie constantly. But his policies have been very much in line with what he said he'd do.
A lot of people think that Dems have to begin to fight. That might be true, or it might not be. I'm not a political strategist. But for me, personally, I think they have to learn how to be more honest, and how to stop talking down to people.
Published: 2025-04-21
Tagged: blog