10 years ago, gay Americans could not get married and have it count in all 50 states
20 years ago, you could be made uninsurable because you got sick once
30 years ago, HIV was a death sentence
40 years ago, acid rain was still a problem
Dedicated public servants keep pushing good things forward
This is very true. They want a revolution & how can you justify a revolution if the United States isn't irredeemable (even if it's imperfect). I saw a post today implying the US was imploding (which just is not the case). Yes, Trumpism happened but so did the backlash to Trumpism.
Even if Trump loses, Trumpism won't go away. I am skeptical of the idea that this movement won't find another avatar once the orange guy croaks. And I worry it'll be a more electorally palatable one.
The problem with Trumpism is you win elections by winning people over. Sure, Trumpism may continue to exist but every year less & less people will find Trumpism appealing because they can't govern/their shared reality has alienated everyone under 50.
I mean, if you believe polling, Trump *isn't* alienating everyone under 50. And far-right movements around the world are often driven by young people; I don't see why America would be immune to that. (I'm skeptical of polls, but I at least need to acknowledge that they *could* be correct.)
I don't believe polling because we recently learned that several polling organizations are filling in for folks who don't have landlines/answer their phones by training LLMs on older data, then creating "AI" respondents that supposedly represent what people would say.
Which ones? There was an article speculating this as a possible use for AI. But that was it. Siena, Marist, Marquette, Emerson, etc., certainly do not.
Polling is indeed flawed. I think it's a mistake courting disaster to say that there's *nothing* there to say that Trump is making inroads with younger voters, particularly politically disengaged ones.
I am aware. I hope the polls are wrong this time, too! But it seems like a mistake to take it for granted that young people will just keep moving left, especially since subsequent generations of young people will have different formative experiences.
What we see in the primary elections is that 1: Democrats keep overpreforming polls. One of the reasons that is is because Trump attacked voting by mail in 2020 (so most Republicans vote ONLY on election day). 2: Trump LOST more of his base to a lady that dropped out than Biden did to uncommitted.
That's one theory that could turn out to be correct, and I hope it is. But as I said, I think you should at least consider that young people moving right is within the realm of possibility.
The biggest mistake Trumpism made was not adapting after Trump lost in 2020 & it was within the power of the Republican party to do so by convicting Trump in the Senate. Glen Younglin at one time was the face of what I call fascism lite but thankfully Republicans are cowards.
I'm not so sure, he gives off "haunted My Buddy doll" vibes that I don't think play outside a place like Ohio, where he significantly underperformed Trump.
Let’s hope so. His national rehabilitation has begun in his think piece interview with Ross Douthat in the Times yesterday. (I think Ron DeSantis gave off Chucky from Child’s Play vibes as well. What is it with these guys and evil toys.)
