We are two years into the Trump era of politics. Make no mistake. This is not normal. None of this is normal. The president questioned a member of the US House of Representatives about her patriotism and understanding of the country. Facts no longer seem to matter in the battle against the Mango Mussolini.
But there is a way through the bullshit. And it doesn’t go through big rallies or appearances on Fox News Town Halls. It goes through the hard work of trying to save our institutions one by one. Are there a million things wrong with the system? Hell yes. But we have a chance to lay the blame entirely on the other side of the political aisle in 2020.
Follow me. Mad King Donald can’t help but inflate the rhetoric. Let him whip up rally after rally for Hannity and Crew to gush over. I don’t care about Tucker Carlson’s tie, whatever happens on Fox and Friends, or what Laura was ever a doctor of. Forget Fox. They’re going to do what they’re going to do. There’s only one answer.
Ignore the Fox electoral bloc.
I agree with kos that the road to the White House doesn’t go through FoxLand. And we can win by appealing to, basically, the not-Fox viewing electorate. Let Don be The Don to his heart’s content. That approval rating and his best shot in the popular vote lie somewhere below 46%. What we need to do is make sure that the Democrat wins in strategic states.
This is going to be a turnout election.
I understand that this is why we like the ones who can draw crowds with inspiring rhetoric. Beto made me feel better about myself too. I like the Midwestern optimism of Pete Buttegieg. Bernie rocks a crowd like no one else can. And then there’s Biden.
And then there is the other thing you have to do to win early elections, retail politics. I’ve never lived in Iowa through a presidential election cycle. No kidding. Presidential candidates are everywhere. You can spend a whole week just going to appearances to meet presidential candidates. Each time a Democrat goes into a room to make our case we have a chance to win over votes in the general. If the candidates can remain civil through the process, they can still stump for the eventual nominee.
Think about this. Beto climbing a bar to hype up Elizabeth Warren. Buttegieg touring the Midwest with Kirsten Gillibrand. Bernie and Biden talking about Kamala Harris on the East Coast. These are just a few of the chances we might have. And, yes, I made all of my examples men stumping for women on purpose. It’s just a thought experiment.
The task ahead is monumental.
The truth is that we will need to build a big conference table through the debates and the primaries. Every one of us can find several candidates that fit different parts of Democratic Voltron. My hope for the process is that we win by building each other up instead of running a gauntlet just to lose the general by sheer exhaustion.
We need anger and excitement. We need optimism and pessimism. We need thinkers and we need fighters. This needs to be a team game. And we need to pay attention to the adults in the room.