MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
![]() |
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
Ignoring targeted voter suppression really is one of the scandals. Argument: "Why didn't you win? 97% of your voters were allowed to vote"
Other takeaways are the overreliance on TV ads still, and this:
When presidential candidate Donald Trump says, ” You know we are going to take back our country. Yes, we absolutely are going to take back our country, believe that,” he is having a racial conversation. Our response to that conversation can’t be, “We are going to raise your minimum wage.”
and this:
Talking to those young folks, what is the No. 1 issue? The No. 1 issue, of course, is criminal justice reform. I showed them a platform for criminal justice reform. They responded that this is exactly what we need; this is exactly what we’ve been demanding. Who put this out? Is it this Black Lives Matter? No. This is Hillary Clinton’s platform. They had no idea.
Comments
I agree with Cornell's analysis. Searching for Trump voters to convert is a wasted effort. The hardcore Trump voter will double down on backing Trump. Those who support Trump at some level want to see minorities put back in their place. They will ignore Trump's corruption. incompetence and ties to Russia, as long as they can see minorities punished be they Muslim, Latino, or black.
by rmrd0000 on Tue, 02/21/2017 - 8:50am
Trump is a racist who put Jeff Sessions at the DOJ. Deportations are ramping up. National Stop and Frisk is in the wings. Voter suppression is active. Minority communities are under seize. It is really disheartening to see discussions about how Trump's infrastructure plan will help or how Trump may still be open to protecting the environment when the assault on minorities is going full throttle. Democratic Presidential and Congressional candidates get the majority of the minority vote, and yet Democratic voters ignore the assault on their community and want to have a Kumbaya moment with Trump. Minority voters are ready to be energized and active and Democrats are not paying attention to what minorities are saying. F**k working with Trump.
by rmrd0000 on Tue, 02/21/2017 - 9:18am
That's largely why I posted this - you may agree, as I expected you to, but the prevailing wisdom is we should be hunting down those disaffected middle Earth lesser-educated white folks and offering them higher minimum wages. My suspicion is that many would simply spit in our faces. As Cornell notes, there's a racial discussion posing as an economic one, though I'd possibly augment it to include a cultural question as well. We all live in bubbles and inherit the values of those bubbles - maybe not completely, but after a short while the bubble is the new normal.
Now, what do we do to win? (aside from better GOTV, whatever that specifically means...) How to get the Democratic message to cut through the extreme noise & distraction and misrepresentation?
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 02/21/2017 - 9:43am
Race trumps economics. Race Trumps gender. Wealthy black people can give you chapter and verse on the racial bias they experience at work, during travels, and at the hand of police. When blacks are told that economic cures will address their issues, they are offended,A segment of white Democrats don't understand this truth. They are as out of touch as Trump supporters when it comes to things important to the black community. Race is a hard issue to confront, but people have to expend as much effort on race as they do on jobs, the military, the environment, etc. There was a recent post about how the racism in the GOP created a program to erase the Presidency of Barack Obama. It was largely ignored.
Democrats can't win without minorities. They need to realize that blacks were targeted in the housing crash due to a racist banking structure. Blacks do not believe that Trump has any interest in creating jobs in the black community with infrastructure programs. Trump still believes that the Central Park Five are guilty and the crime is increasing. He believes blacks live in Hell. He is ready to incarcerate black bodies because he is disconnected from reality. White Democrats are going to have to address concerns in the black community. Blacks will still be at the bottom of the barrel even with infrastructure projects. Democrats have to be aware of that truth.
by rmrd0000 on Tue, 02/21/2017 - 10:10am
Yes, but this is white race trumping white economics. It's all being led by the whites' chapter-and-verse, feeling of being marginalized, losing their country? or just freaking out? White men can't jump but they can trump? (sorry). Again, Cornell says it can't be won by offering them higher minimum wage, and we're not going to out-racist them...them...
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 02/21/2017 - 11:23am
Enough white voters are willing to cast votes for Republicans to give them majorities in legislatures,. I don't know how to solve that. Obama saved jobs in the auto industry. Republicans wanted the industry sold off for pennies on the dollar. Blacks see that reality, many whites don't. I think this time around Trump and the Republicans have scared enough people to ensure people come out for the midterms. Great attention will have to paid to voter suppression. I don't trust Trump to do anything to benefit working people. Our only hope is to muster enough votes to change the Senate and make the House less Republican. Make the GOP be on defense.
by rmrd0000 on Tue, 02/21/2017 - 11:35am
Yes, I don't know how to solve it either. More skullcap time.
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 02/21/2017 - 2:13pm
Hopefully, Trump has forced whites, blacks, Latinos, and Asians to come out to vote in 2018. It would be especially helpful if young voters show up despite the suppression barriers they face.
by rmrd0000 on Tue, 02/21/2017 - 2:42pm
Trump made an inept attempt to ban Muslims. His minions work to reword the law. ICE feels empowered to deport any undocumented person.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dhs-deport-any-undocumented-person_u...
Blacks are next on the agenda. Democrats have to be at the forefront of these battles. Trump does not care about environmental issues, universal healthcare, or infrastructure that does not benefit his cronies. Communities feel under siege. Those concerns have to be addressed.
by rmrd0000 on Tue, 02/21/2017 - 3:51pm
I was rather disheartened to see the various police abuse successfully turned into a "blue lives matter" movement and Kaepernick's kneeling became somehow an "insult to the troops".
"have to be addressed" doesn't address why sane & logical addressing these things doesn't work, just like pointing out that most gun deaths are family and a huge amount are children - it goes in 1 deaf ear and either lodges in the inner skull or comes out the other.
Joking aside, maybe our messaging isn't horrible, but it's simply overridden by the over-the-top take-no-prisoners howlathon on the other side - they can say the stupidest things, but their fan club walks away high-fiving.
by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 02/22/2017 - 6:43am
There is no message that will get through to the hardcore Trump supporter. We need to focus on those willing to listen. Looking at the protests at GOP legislators offices, we have whites willing to fight Trumpism. They are frightened by his immaturity. Trump supporters see him doing what he promised to do and are ignoring ties to Russia and the lies told by his cabinet members.
by rmrd0000 on Wed, 02/22/2017 - 7:50am
Yesterday's FT carried a sobering article by Patti Waldemeir I think. She's spent a few days revisiting Wisconsin. And found middle class Hillary voters who now are glad she lost. And the white working class pretty much where they were in November.
There may be illuminating sociological theories about Joe Lunchpail's voting patterns. I prefer numbers.Looking at who controlled the state houses in during the Obama years , it was:
State Representatives Governors
Republican Democrats Reps Dem
2009 2334 3058 2010 2353 3026 16 33 2011 2917 2498 2012 2939 2441 2013 2791 2592 29 18 2014 2802 2572 2015 3024 2342 2016 3053 2340
Some of the above may be incorrect but they're close enough to show the major trend . There was a swing away from the dems in the 2010 election as a result of which in 2011 the Republicans had 2917 state reps and the dems dropped to 2498.
I tried -but failed- to line the columns up but anyway you get the idea.
by Flavius on Thu, 02/23/2017 - 12:48am