I resisted the urge to compose another “Here’s what went wrong and how to fix it” entry because, hey, what do I know? How, as it is said, a guy who shits in gold toilets can be seen as a man of the people? Must be collective madness. Get the behind me, crazy people…
Except.
Today I was working at home, as I do, and waiting for an overdue call to finish a project. To I turned on MSNBC. To my abject horror, it was the visage of Chuck Todd, three feet high, on the screen. Apparently he has an afternoon show now. Who knew? I squelched my initial impulse, to scream and throw my mug of tea at the screen, and decided to give it one minute. There was a panel of Ohioans — you know, the voters that matter, not those Californians and their crazy Prius-sprout-nudism loving — and those Real Americans all voted for T***p. Twelve of them. Seven out of twelve said they had voted for Obama and/or Bill Clinton in the past. Why did they vote for Trump? Was it his glad-handing of vaginas? Not really. It was about, the moderator said:
1. JOBS
2. Repealing Obamacare
Building the wall? Not so much. Fighting Terra(TM)? Not so much. It was JOBS and REPEALING OBAMACARE.
They were also asked about the 1,389 deplorable things T***p has done in the past 30-some days. They didn’t care. U.S. becoming a satellite of Russia? Huh, whut? “Conflicts of interest?” No, T***p is rich, he has businesses, duh. Conflicts of interest that could put national security at risk? Huh? No, T***p is rich, so he can’t be bought. Everything else that would have disqualified anyone else? No, we trust T***p with everything, with our very lives, he knows what he’s doing, it will all work out…
AS LONG AS WE GET OUR JOBS AND HE REPEALS OBAMACARE.
They don't care. They should care. Because WE care. Because all those things are important. But they don’t care. As long as T***p delivers. Which he won’t, at least on jobs. He and the GOP may repeal Obamacare, but it will be up to the Dems to replace that. More on that in a bit. We can shout and try to make them care, and that will work on a few, maybe. Otherwise, it’s time to deliver a platform that these people will want to vote for.
I live in Los Angeles. I don’t need to be here, but I choose to be, I guess, because I’m here. I grew up in Ohio. And I happened to spend this election season back there. For two months the nonstop Clinton TV ads were using T***p’s deplorable words against him. It was clear then, though I tried mightily to deny it, that she could lose. Because EVERYONE KNEW what a complete flaming a**hole he is. People like me bleed from our eyes and ears when we see him. Others, agree that he’s a complete cretin, BUT…
“T***P WILL GIVE US JOBS AND REPEAL OBAMACARE. We don’t care if he humps the Statue of Liberty with his little button and drowns a sack of kittens. Sad for the kittens and the Statue of Liberty, AS LONG AS I GET MY JOB.”
I know, I know. We could, as is my knee-jerk reaction, to reach through the screen and pummel these people about the head and scream, “you people are dumber than a basket of unsalted dicks!” And some may be. But the majority of them voted for Obama and Bill Clinton. So what’s that about?
1. Jobs. Better jobs.
Hillary Clinton’s approach to the election was, look how great Obama did, I’m going to continue this, only better and go to hillaryclinton.com, and oh, did you hear what an awful thing T***p said? Again.
THEY. DID. NOT. CARE.
These voters reacted with either abject hatred of Hillary, be it from misogyny (a problem but Democrats aren’t going to solve this), 30 years of Hillary-bashing, (ditto) and a desire for “change” (HRC was at a disadvantage here, anyway). HRC’s messages were all white noise to them. That Obama pulled us from the brink of a depression? So what? That unemployment is lower than before the Great Recession? So what? WHERE’S MY GOOD JOB. Not just any job. A good one.
Consider this. Assuming, and this is a big assumption, that someone is not actually dumber than a basket of dicks, and assuming this person voted rationally — again, a big assumption — how much pain do you think this person must be in to think that T***p is the answer to his/her problems? Quite a lot.
So what do Democrats do? What can their two- and four-year plan for picking up the pieces of our shattered nation, and actually, y’know, get elected, and DESERVE to get elected by these Ohioans? I don’t agree with, as kos said, that the coal miners voted for what they want. They are deluded, maybe militantly ignorant, but not completely crazy. People vote for their own interests. Those who voted for Republicans, even more so. So...
1. Short of putting up a charismatic TV personality who will sell snake oil, shouting at volume 11, they need to deliver on jobs. Some of this work may be done for them. When — not if — T***p doesn’t deliver on jobs, many, though probably not all, of his followers will sour on him, looking for change. And Dems, as they often do, will be there to offer an alternative.
But offering a real alternative, and real jobs, that’s a challenge. Saying no to TPP and other trade deals, that will be part of it. But lying to coal miners by saying there is a way to bring the coal jobs back? That’s like promising typewriter manufacturers that this computer thing is just a fad. But they have to offer a bold answer. Double down on renewable energy and bring in the lost coal workers, retraining coal workers for green jobs. You might still lose WV for a few cycles, but eventually they will get the picture. They will have to.
Many T***p voters are hopeful and willfully deluded, but not completely insane.
But green jobs won’t solve everything. At some point a politician is going to have to tell the truth — and be burned in the short term — about how automation, more than any trade deal, has killed manufacturing jobs.
What will replace those jobs? Hell if I know. Hey, I’m just a diarist. You want me to come up with a solution? Someone pay me. But the Democratic party needs a message on this.
2. Obamacare. This has been the triumph of the Obama administration and the downfall of Dems for the past 6 years. It was a kludgy contraption of a law that was a major legislative accomplishment, but subject to a relentless onslaught of lies and spin and misinformation (and some truth) that cost Democrats the house and eventually the senate. And maybe, in part, the White House in 2016. This panel of 12 Ohioans wanted this repealed. It’s not clear whether they were ON Obamacare, or whether their insurance on their jobs was affected by it, or whether their rates went up recently — a big problem, though not necessarily related to Obamacare, though you wouldn’t know that because Democrats can’t deliver that message — but they want the law gone. Short of repealing it with the same thing and calling it “Happy Puppies in a Field For You Care,” Dems can do better than just standing athwart the tide of repeal and say:
“Fine. We should repeal it. And replace it with Single Payer. Here’s why that will be better.” And then have a plan to confront the onslaught of screaming lies from the right about it.
What? You think running on a “Let’s Save Obamacare” platform will work in 2018? People hate it. Doesn’t matter how deluded they are. They hate it and their minds are made up. Don’t say that Republicans have no plan and will take away health insurance. Well, okay, say that, but have A BETTER PLAN OF YOUR OWN.
I have more to say but this is running long, so I’ll wrap.
I do hope that Democrats will block and resist every horrible thing that T***p and the GOP Congress comes up with. They need to. They need to block any SCOTUS nominee. Because the JOBS PEOPLE won’t care. The anti-abortion people who voted for T***p only on abortion will scream. But F**k them.
But aside from blocking the worst — cough, Tillerson — we may have to ride this shit slide all the way to the bottom. The Democratic party damn well better have a jobs plan — a bold one — when these 12 Ohioans stand up, covered with feces, wondering what happened.
Oh, and the Electoral College…? It must go. Though in the very unlikely event that the EC does its job and keeps T***p out of office, I may change my mind.
EDIT: In case the hopeful kernel at the center of this post was not stated clearly, and maybe it wasn’t, I see this as an opportunity for the Dem party to create a clear, coherent, believable and true progressive agenda that includes a jobs plan (what that will be I don’t know), and health care for all (Medicare for all). It’s not pandering. They won’t reach everyone. Single-issue voters (gun fetishists, anti-choice, etc.,) might not ever be reached. That’s fine. Maybe the people on this Ohio panel were all dumb. But 7 out of 10 voted for a Dem president before. They thought they were voting for their interests then, and thought so in 16. They didn’t just fall on their heads suddenly. Call them dumb if you want, but you can’t have a winning coalition in America with only very smart, well-informed people. You need some not so smart people who are willing to vote for their own interests. They all may be so shattered by the next four years that it will be easy to lure them back. But Dems should do better than wait for this regime to implode.