What happens to the Democratic Party now? (4 Viewers)

[Heathen]

I’m sure much of us are having 2016 flashbacks this morning with a sick feeling to our stomachs..

2 of the last 3 elections Democrats have lost to a far right demagogue

Harris didn’t get close in many states to even Biden’s performance. We could very well lose the Presidency, Senate AND House depending on results the next few days…..

What went wrong?
What could’ve been done better?
What can we change in the future to ensure voters are motivated like they were when Obama was elected?

Democrats have no choice but to admit there’s a huge problem with some aspect of their platform— and to do a deep introspection of what’s going wrong..

 

[bird]

Chances are low that Joe Rogan will save your soul—or your party. Since Donald Trump’s election victory, countless Democrats have lamented their party’s losses among men, and young men, in particular. One refrain has been a yearning for a “Rogan of the left” who might woo back all the dudes who have migrated to MAGA. If the wishfulness is misplaced, the underlying problem is real: Trump carried men by roughly 12 points in November, including 57 percent of men under 30.

I recently spoke with Democrats across different levels of leadership to see how they were trying to address this electorally lethal gender gap. Two theories for how to win back men, I found, are bubbling up. One is to improve the party’s cultural appeal to men, embracing rather than scolding masculinity. The other is to focus on more traditional messaging about the economy, on the assumption that if Democrats build an agenda for blue-collar America, the guys will follow.

These approaches are not necessarily in conflict, but they each present a challenge for the modern Democratic Party. And as pundits and consultants peddle their rival solutions, they highlight another risk: Even if Democrats can settle on a message, will voters believe they really mean it?

Representative Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts is one of many Democrats who believe that the party has to make a serious, sustained outreach effort to connect with men. What Democrats should not say or do seems more obvious than what they should proactively offer. “No one wants to hear men talk about masculinity,” Auchincloss, a former Marine, told me. “We’re not going to orient society’s decision making to the cognitive worldview of a 16-year-old male.”

Even as he disavowed the idea that solving the guy problem should involve some promotion of testosterone-laced pandering, Auchincloss suggested that the party ought to find its way to a more positive, inspirational message. “We need to embrace a culture of heroism, not a culture of victimhood. Young men need models for their ambition,” he said.

Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut also notes liberal squeamishness about masculine themes; he says the party is losing male voters in part because even talking about the need to improve the lives of men could run afoul of what he calls the “word police” on the left. Murphy told me, “There’s a worry that when you start talking about gender differences and masculinity, that you’re going to very quickly get in trouble.” The Democratic Party, he thinks, has not been purposeful enough in opening up a conversation with men in general and young men specifically. “There is a reluctance inside the progressive movement to squarely acknowledge gender differences, and that has really put us on the back foot.”

For Murphy, the right message might come from an earlier era—a notion that could seem antithetical to the very idea of progressivism. “We cannot and shouldn’t abandon some of the traditional ways that men find value and meaning: in providing protection, in taking high levels of risk, in taking pride in physical work,” he told me. “There’s a lot of worry that all of those traditional male characteristics are somehow illegitimate.”

So far, the GOP seems to be doing a far more effective job of engaging male voters in ways that reflect the reality of today’s popular culture. Trump has embraced UFC’s Dana White, and has made grand entrances at MMA fights. (Years before he ran for president, Trump would appear at pro-wrestling events, and he is a member of the WWE hall of fame.) “We have to go where people are consuming culture and sports and entertainment,” Auchincloss told me, “and talk about issues of the day in a way that is coded for political orientation but that is more broadly accessible and interesting.”

Last fall, Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona tried this Go where the men are concept. “We should do anything to reach out to voters,” he told me. “And that means men.” Gallego argues that Democrats have been too hesitant to directly address men’s everyday reality, and that this is a grave mistake. “Black, Latino, and white men are not doing well in this country. They’re not obtaining college degrees,” Gallego said. “If we were to look at the numbers and just take out the gender, we would say, Wow, that group of Americans needs some attention. But all of a sudden, if you add the little m next to that, it’s somehow something that we shouldn’t be worried about—and I reject that.”

Gallego’s Senate-campaign stops included boxing gyms, soccer watch parties, and Mexican rodeos. Trump won the state at the presidential level by more than five percentage points, but Gallego defeated his Republican challenger, Kari Lake, in the Senate battle with a 2.4 percent margin. “I think the voters, the male voters, understood that I understood them and what they were going through,” he said...............

Democrats Have a Man Problem​

Democrats Have a Man Problem

The quest to win back the men lost to MAGA opens a rift over class and gender that party leaders are struggling to close.

www.theatlantic.com

While not disagreeing with the Dems I would say something else. First, men aren’t victims of anything. This particularly applies to White men. Second, men have a “man” problem. Much like demographic change driving MAGA nuts, the expectations of males to be more than macho azzhats is driving men nuts. This society is toxic.

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

Honestly, the Democrats as a party are just kind of useless. They really aren't meeting the moment. They need to just let the party fight it out openly for the best ideas instead of trying to control everything

 

[longtime lurker]

I’ve stopped donating to the Party….its time for a complete overhaul on leadership and direction….what is their message!?

 

[samiam5211]

We are so fractured as a society, "divide and conquer" is our kryptonite.

I think "split and pit" is what we should adopt as the modern term from this.

He's added to the traditional groups with Federal employees and Remote workers as scapegoats and pitted them against the much larger groups non federal workers, and non remote workers.

He's trying to pit our allies against each other in the same way.

Us getting caught up in stupid nonsense like today's court case, or what Grandma Schumer said, is fine by Elon. They don't care about any of that. None of that shirt is going to matter.

Plan is proceeding with more effectiveness than any of them imagined.

 

[coldseat]

I'm tired of all the "messaging" debates. That goes towards any group. We need people to lead who are authentic, willing to fight and effective. Doesn't matter who they forking are. Everything else is useless right now. We're past the point of messaging mattering. The messaging with result from actions. Be forking bold and get on the attack before we lost it all.

 

[samiam5211]

We have to stop fighting with each other.

I don’t mean democrats when I say “us”.

I mean all of us.

This is happening to all of us. If we could shut the fork up for a minute maybe we’d all notice.

None of the shirt we normally care about mattes right now.

All of that stuff is the trap they’ve set.