We know more or less what the Republican strategy is going to be for the 2022 midterms: they’re going to campaign against woke extremism, defunding the police, the “stolen” 2020 election, and — no doubt — some other crazy stuff that is too weird for me to even be able to anticipate it.
So, let’s not help them with this strategy. Like it or not, just stop using terrible slogans like “defund the police.” I don’t even know what the general feeling is towards that phrase at dailykos, but I do know that I’m certainly not the first person to point out that it's a bad slogan.
And we also need to stop shoveling coal into the fire of potential backlashes with off-the-wall silly and pointless phrases like “birthing people.” To be clear, I’m in favor of trans rights. But you know what else I’m in favor of? Strategy. And winning. I’d really like to win in 2022 — and beyond — so I’d like for everyone on the left to stop needlessly creating headlines like this one. As it so happens, I’m a democrat, but I have no interest in replacing “women” with “birthing people.” So I know that headline is false. But plenty of other people may see it without knowing it’s false. And, honestly, who can blame them?
This is a problem that we have brought on ourselves — and we should deal with it. If you google the comments from Rep. Cori Bush, you will see plenty of right-wing articles calling them out. But you know who else should speak out? Us. The Left/Liberal/Democrat end of the political spectrum should show enough interest in its own political survival to call out the excesses of its own side. And there should be no difficulty with indicating a support for trans rights without adopting a terminology that is — guaranteed — to alienate a vast majority of citizens.
on that note — I wish everyone a happy Mother’s day.
Now let’s win in 2022 — and well beyond. And let’s help protect Biden/Harris from the unforced errors on our own end of the political spectrum.