With apologies to our many friends and posters outside the United States... it's time for another one of these! Culture war thread rules apply, and you are permitted to openly advocate for or against an issue or candidate on the ballot (if you clearly identify which ballot, and can do so without knocking down any strawmen along the way). "Small-scale" questions and answers are also permitted if you refrain from shitposting or being otherwise insulting to others here. Please keep the spirit of the law--this is a discussion forum!--carefully in mind.
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Notes -
Sampling early reactions on Reddit, I’ve seen a wide range of opinions about What Went Wrong For Democrats last night. While I’m encouraged by the amount of “what did you people expect when you decided to call everyone Nazis” scolding, I’m very intrigued by one of the counter-narratives I’ve already seen congealing: Kamala ran too far to the right, alienating and demoralizing millions of committed progressives and black voters, causing them not to vote this time around. She courted and crowed about the support of neocons, made noises about securing the border and getting tough on crime, and progressives turned on her by staying home.
Now, how much of this is just a knee-jerk coping mechanism by people desperately attempting to make sense of what just happened while preserving their egos? I have no idea. I sincerely hope that in the fullness of time, at least some of these people attempt some level of soul-searching, however abortive and ultimately futile, about why they have been so comprehensively rebuked by the American people. Presumably they will have ample time and opportunity to do so while imprisoned in crystals
However, I actually hope that this leads to massive finger-pointing, pouting, lashing out, and crybullying by black Democrats. One of the big stories last night is that, despite a very modest shift toward Trump among black men,
Trump[EDIT: Harris] still carried roughly 90% of the black vote. While nearly every other sizeable ethnic group in American shifted heavily toward Trump, blacks - at least, the ones who voted - remained unfailingly loyal to the Democratic Party. My sense is that blacks are going to take this loss extremely personally, and that it will sting them to no end.I watched CNN’s coverage last night, and while nearly every single on-air analyst was refreshingly clear-eyed about the reasons why Kamala was losing and how this should not be some huge surprise to anyone, Van Jones was a maudlin mess, on the verge of sobbing as he lamented how black women, who “dared to dream that they might make up tomorrow and see one of their own get a turn in power”, were hurting. Well, I hope they are! And I hope that they become very obnoxious about it, hurling invective and accusations at their non-black friends and colleagues. I want them to be so overbearing about this that even the most committed “ally” begins to feel the Fatigue™️. Black women are convinced that the rest of America doesn’t want to see a Strong and Aggrieved Black Woman in charge. I hope that they’re right, and that their behavior becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy!
I hope that as racial polarization between various non-black interest groups begins to dissipate, polarization between blacks and everybody else accelerates. And I hope that this alienation leads to a nation-wide reconsideration of delusions about crime, about policing, about affirmative action/DEI/reparations, about “racial justice issues”, and about the profound and long-lasting overreaches of the Civil Rights Revolution. I am in favor of literally any development that could cause the Democratic Party to permanently pivot away from their pandering to the black vote, black issues, black guilt-tripping, etc.
I’m saying all of this, fully aware that it is itself a delirious overreaction. Like probably many of you, I got to sleep very late last night and am still coasting on a political sugar high. I want this to have sweeping, seismic effects on the future of America, and of the Democratic Party. Hell, I want to be able to be happy to vote Democrat again someday! I want the Democrats to offer me even a marginally preferable product, such that I can one day extricate myself from the “multiracial working-class populist coalition” that apparently catapulted Trump to victory last night. If Democrats want me back, somewhere far down the line, I’m going to need to see some hardcore soul-searching alongside tangible results before I can ever consider taking a step back into the fold. In the meantime, I’m daring to believe that over the next four years Trump and his team of consultants genuinely can start Making America Great Again.
The ironic thing about the Democrats accusing everybody they dislike of being "Nazis", "Fascists", and "White-Supremacists", is that the real honest-to-god Nazis and White Supremacists tend to vote Democrat.
I suppose a true fascist recognizes thier own.
Isn't this for accelerationist reasons?
Maybe, but he also endorsed Biden back in 2016, at which point does it matter?
I don't think Richard Spencer's endorsement matters, but I think his motivation may.
It reads to me like the 'Sex traffickers for Harris' yard signs I saw. Mocking.
If his endorsement doesn't matter, why would his motivation?
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