Somehow I don’t think that a public “there there now, you have reasonable concerns” will do the trick. Validation may be a good starting point but it only goes so far. Got any other ideas? — praxis
Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society.
Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict—a false conflict—between the military and civilian society. It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and of which they themselves are a part.
I don’t follow, there really are no Trump supporters on this forum of the sort you describe. — praxis
The fact that there are no Trump voters here does not stop us from considering how we might productively engage them when we do encounter them. — Nuke
It's a matter of realistically appreciating that little of significance can be accomplished without them. — Nuke
Nobody has said that Trump is incapable of getting himself into the media limelight. Where his inability lies in having the ability to lead a myriad of people and organizations that compromise the federal state. — ssu
Trump is President because the Democratic Party has not only ignored it's traditional base, it seems to often enjoy insulting them. There is a regrettable passion among we lefties for snotty superiority poses which are often directed at the very people we need to be winning over. Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" comes to mind as a quick example. — Nuke
1) Immigration - The population of the United States has doubled in my lifetime. Over the same period the population of Florida (where I live) has grown from 3 million to over 21 million, a seven fold increase. It's certainly reasonable for any citizen to question how much farther we wish to travel in that direction. Politicians on all sides have generally ignored such questions for decades and so, no surprise, large segments of the population are attracted to any national figure who won't ignore them. — Nuke
2) Abortion - Many religious people held their nose and voted for Trump due to their concern about abortion. It's not unreasonable for them to have serious concerns about the mass killing of babies. Who's next, inconvenient old people like me? — Nuke
Let's see how the elections will go. Biden has a lead.I completely agree. But saying it over and over and over again is unlikely to accomplish anything. The fact that we already know that, and keep doing it anyway, illustrates where Trump is smart. He knows we're not serious people, even if we don't. Trump is a realist, that's his gift. — Nuke
What is the democrats traditional base at this point? Studies suggest it's college-educated people, young people, women and minorities. — Echarmion
Many former democrats and independents who voted for Obama have voted for Trump, myself included. This isn’t because we abandoned the left, but because the left abandoned us. Once our former political allies trended towards the illiberal and globalist, there was no home for us in that space. — NOS4A2
I don't think it's strategically viable for Democrats to appeal to the religious right. But even if it were, a more fundamental questions occurs: is politics about doing what is right, or doing what people want? To what extent is building a broader coalition worth encroaching on your principles? — Echarmion
Also, I am pretty sure the democratic party employs strategists who know what voters to target better than we do. — Echarmion
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