saying this is NOT the same thing as saying that the situation is no big deal and everything will be fine - but the truth is, when things look really bad, ceding defeat before you've actually been *defeated* is a completely useless strategy.
I really have lost my former tolerance for "we're doomed/fucked/it's all over/they've won" takes at this point, in that they're the most dangerous attitudes one could possibly have when confronted with a truly existential political threat (which we still DO have levers to address).
If we came together en masse to tell the Democratic Party this, they would still be in their soundproof rooms refreshing the Matt Yglesias substack until he illuminates the possible
There is no vision beyond being able to say that the unprecedented streak of orderly transfer of power did not break on their watch. If nothing else, they will defend that dignity for us
The point is that you can get mad at online posters all want, but the rot within the party did not come from a lack of popular confidence in it. If anything the party believes that people and their uninformed demands need to be managed and tamed if anything is to be done.
I’ll never ever forget Kamala Harris, after being asked if the Democratic Party could do anything for abortion rights after Hobbes, replied “Do what?” That is the vision, that is the imagination. This is the state of things that WE left THEM, after all. What do we expect them to do with our mess?
What we’re seeing and will continue to see is the party closing ranks, because this election is adult business. The worst thing you can do for your child, after all, is allow them input into aspects of life they can’t truly appreciate. They’ll just hurt themselves
The crisis for the Dems is that they really buy into the narrative that people want fascism, and that what’s needed is to weather the tantrum, somehow. It’s not about convincing ppl they don’t want fascism, it’s abt convincing them that getting what they think they want isn’t good for them
