So this is a response to Markos’ post What’s in store for Daily Kos in 2025. Submitted respectfully, by a progressive Democrat who feels lost in the wilderness and very much short on hope and optimism, and wishing Markos’ post had done something to fix that, but finding that it actually did just the opposite.
In his diary, Markos lays out a strategy for the site’s response to the impending return of DJT to the White House that’s summed up by this quote:
It’s time Trump voters get a dose of accountability for their choices. There are no Democrats to bail them out this time. There are no guardrails. If people want to fuck around, great! Now they get to find out.
Yes, I know our own people will feel the pain of a Trump administration, and I don’t want to ignore that reality. But our people voted the correct way. Trump voters voted to harm themselves.
The harsh reality is that Democratic voters will be less affected by Trump’s policies. Yes, it’s generalizing, but Democrats are generally more educated, earn higher incomes, and live in places with strong local Democratic government, infrastructure, and support.
OK, so why am I saying Kos is in denial? Well, let me count the ways:
Working class voters have been consistently and increasingly voting against their own interests since the 1960s. Why would you expect that to change now?
It takes a remarkable lack of self-awareness to deride, sneer at, and generally condescend on a group of voters and then expect them to vote for your party in the near future because they have FAFOed and as a result now suddenly their eyes have been opened to the error of their ways.
And no, I’m not excusing MAGA for anything — least of all their racism, misogyny, and heteronormativity. But Democrats lost in November because too many of the voters they needed stayed home or pulled the lever for the Orange Menace. Unless and until that changes, I don’t see how Democrats propose to win federal elections again.
In fact, the very framing in terms of “Trump voters” vs. “Democrats” underscores what people like Senator Sanders and former Secretary Reich have been saying not just since the election: A Democratic Party that downplays or ignores the economic situation of working class voters cannot expect them to vote Democratic.
Most importantly, though, Markos ignores that we now live in an oligarchy and managed democracy. 14 years after Citizens United, Musk, Bezos, and their fellow oligarchs (with DJT as their frontman) have fulfilled the devastating promise of that ruling. No, elections won’t be cancelled, and most likely, the oligarchs won’t have to steal any votes or stuff any ballot boxes or hack any voting machines — nothing so crude will be necessary. Not if the oligarchs have complete control over the information large swaths of voters will receive.
Which is already largely the case. Take a look at this map from the Economist Democracy Index. Yes, the U.S. is already categorized as a ‘flawed’ democracy in this survey. Voter suppression efforts in red states, no constraints on election spending by special interests, and large media markets controlled by a single point of view (and not one given to diversity of voices at that, or even factual accuracy) will do that to you. We are headed for joining countries like Russia and (increasingly) India in which elections and the information surrounding them are so thoroughly controlled by the government and the corporations that have captured it that they offer a mere illusion of democracy.
Are Trump voters really able to “find out” if their information is entirely controlled by Fox, Sinclair, etc.? It seems rather doubtful. And it is most depressing and disheartening that Markos fails to even mention this reality. That, more than anything else, is what I’m calling denial here.
As far as I’m concerned, Democrats have one option, and one option only, for turning things around: progressive populism. Go after the oligarchs hard. Convince the people that you’re on their side and the oligarchs are their enemies.
But to do that, Democrats will have to first extract themselves from those very oligarchs’ hip pockets. I’m not holding my breath.
(*For those wondering about the weird title, try searching the archives for ErrinF ;-))
