General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums2026, I simply don't trust the voters to turn over Congress to the Dems.
Too many gerrymandered Red States, too many safe GOP seats in the Senate.
Too many voters who don't connect what Trump is doing and the complicity of Congress in all of this.
Too many voters who will continue to vote because of stopping gun laws or blocking abortion over the future of the country (or their own lives.
And as of yet, I do not see Democratic leaders making a case for the Party.
And before you jump on me about my responsibility to do something to make sure we win, we just got through an election in which nothing I did gave us a victory in the White House or Congress. So maybe I am not the problem. Maybe just me doing more isn't the answer.

Ferrets are Cool
(22,142 posts)

Mr.Bee
(640 posts)We could've had a president with four years experience in an administration!
An experienced prosecutor who could've gone after this dirty rat dictator and his minions.
Instead they vote for the dirty rat dictator and his minions.
BonnieJW
(2,875 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(55,106 posts)edhopper
(35,860 posts)who seem to think sitting back and letting Trump fail is a good strategy.
walkingman
(9,160 posts)it is hard to change nasty white people.
gab13by13
(27,888 posts)Democrats should take notice of the MSNBC town hall last night, it was very effective.
Abstractartist
(230 posts)Stop funding DINO candidates. Bring in candidates that are younger, more progressive and can relate to the growing population of this country. I used to cringe when I heard President Biden say malarkey. Younger generation cant relate to the older candidates. The can relate to AOC and Jasmine ..
WSHazel
(376 posts)And you want those voters to go away? Interesting strategy.
Abstractartist
(230 posts)So there are no young, progressive voters in the suburbs
just old republicans right?
So your idea is to stay with the Schumers and the Pelosis
.
WSHazel
(376 posts)Where did that get us?
Pelosi was a great Speaker and great at protecting her caucus, although still willing to take risks like the ACA. Pelosi was also great at working with the Left to deliver on progressive causes while keeping the moderates on board. I like Hakeem Jefferies, but I truly wish Pelosi was 20 years younger. She was the GOAT.
Democrats are picking up huge ground in the suburbs with college educated professionals. We turn the Detroit, Milwaukee and Philadelphia suburbs just a little more blue, and we will never lose any of those three states again. Or we can slug it out with Trump in Johnstown PA and see where that gets us. Every pander we need to make to squeeze another white working class voter away from Trump costs us 5 votes in the suburbs. Suburban college educated professional voters are liberal on social issues, but don't want to hear "eat the rich". Ironically, the MAGA voters love "eat the rich" even as they vote for billionaires. Good luck coming up with a strategy that will win any meaningful amount of those voters without driving off everyone else.
If there were enough progressives to win on progressives alone, Trump would have never won in the first place.
yorkster
(3,009 posts)Abstractartist
(230 posts)Agree, but an older age group are not going to be the future voters or leaders of our party. Recruit younger voters and leaders now in order to defeat this scourge of right wing zealots ASAP.
yorkster
(3,009 posts)strong, liberal Dems. We will need all the experience and institutional memory we can get to reassemble the administrative state now in a state of ever-increasing ruin.
Of course we want to encourage participation in government from younger,
committed Dems. The "two Justins" from Tennessee come to mind, for example.
Fiendish Thingy
(19,196 posts)While gerrymandering indeed gives republicans a solid floor of seats they can count on, its not enough to give them a majority, as we have seen.
If the predicted recession appears later this year, Dems are certain take back the house.
If there is a catastrophic economic event, such as the collapse of SS or draconian cuts to Medicaid, I think Dems could get a supermajority in the house, and retake the senate as well.
Katinfl
(351 posts)I have always believed that something bad will have to happen to make people care about who is elected. The state of our national security , or lack thereof, will be a big factor. IMO
Tribetime
(6,524 posts)I just don't think we will be able to hold a majority for more than 2 years or so since the real problem is Fox News and such. Somehow we need to win over voters for good so they can see with their own eyes what the problem is. I don't know if that means continuously going on Fox News to make oubr case or something like that
modrepub
(3,829 posts)to put the needs of areas and businesses that put revenue into the country. It's pretty apparent to me that lots of states are takers at the federal level. Need to get commitments to contribute before you receive. If a state incentives business locations with massive tax cuts and payouts, then federal money is deducted. If states/counties/parishes want federal money to pay for things then make them put up some of their funds with a generous match.
Too many people and businesses in this country don't seem to have any idea how their tax money is collected and spent. Make it more public, this is how much federal tax money each state and project receives and this is how your state and local government paid in. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm tired of giving handouts to ungrateful businesses and people. If you want low taxes and small government that's fine, but live with the consequences of your beliefs and keep your hands out of the rest of our pockets.
Johonny
(23,489 posts)And should have. There is no sane explanation for a Trump vote. He was an awful president, a convicted felon, a man that has been proven in court to commit fraud, he is also stupid, vain, and amazingly incompetent.
Yet people loved his message of easy solutions and racism. It will take a lot to win the world's trust. For Harris voters, there is no reason to trust these people. They seem completely out of their mind.
rampartd
(1,840 posts)trump will cancel the elections.
if 30% of americans want to enslave and enserf themselves, it seems the rest of us can not stop it.
Shrek
(4,250 posts)rampartd
(1,840 posts)don't count on it.
Katinfl
(351 posts)The US has never had a president like this. He is capable of trying anything. He already has and this is where we are now. Never underestimate.
Silent Type
(9,142 posts)because voters ain't buying our message.
edhopper
(35,860 posts)Right now it seems to be "keep your head down."
Silent Type
(9,142 posts)publicized it. Instead, the best we can do is criticize and yell about trump. As deserved as that is, don't think it attracks voters.
edhopper
(35,860 posts)All Schumer is doing is sending a sternly worded letter.
Silent Type
(9,142 posts)a boring script.
Katinfl
(351 posts)multigraincracker
(35,536 posts)May work out, may not. If only 20,000 others do the same, I'm pretty sure it will happen. If not now, next time.
EdmondDantes_
(437 posts)We may finally get Susan Collins out, but I think there's a good chance Ossoff loses in Georgia, so that will likely even out. I think we hold Michigan, New Hampshire and Minnesota. Even if we pick up North Carolina, that only gets us to 48 Senators.
We need to do more to build the party in states we currently aren't competitive in. And given those states often vote in favor of abortion, of raising the minimum wage, it's not like they are entirely against everything we are. Tester won in Montana, Ossoff and Warnock won in Georgia. It's hard but not impossible. But we need to do more winning in lower races than throwing money at a high profile Senate race like we've done in Kentucky or Texas. If we win in those lower races we will naturally have a growth in our brand that will then help with higher ticket races.
Silent Type
(9,142 posts)enjoy primaries if Marjorie Crazy Greene and Kemp face off.
Escape
(185 posts)what cheating and chicanery will be involved or what new Musk powered vote counting instruments will be in place.
There isn't ANYTHING Trump wouldn't do to keep his Congress and he knows he has the full support of every Republican in the House and Senate to back up whatever corruption and criminality he dictates.
rainy
(6,278 posts)Kamala actually did win!!!!!
Kid Berwyn
(20,181 posts)Friend from PA says two people in his family he knows voted traitor; everybody else voted for Kamela. WTF?
You know who else doesn't like democracy?
"I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people." -- Henry Kissinger on the CIA overthrow of Chilean democracy.
SharonAnn
(14,034 posts)I have Chilean family and visit often. The amount of wealth that was transferred to oligarchs through crony capitalism is staggering.
Kid Berwyn
(20,181 posts)...what an amazing people and nation. Apart from one truck driver on the PAH, they treated me -- a Spanish speaking American -- like family most everywhere I went, from San Pedro de Atacama to Santiago.
When it comes to austere, trickle down thievery of democracy and treasure, economic theory from the University of Chicago bears mention:
Milton Friedman and the Rise of Monetary Fascism
The Dark Age of Money
by JAMES C. KENNEDY
CounterPunch Oct. 24, 2012
EXCERPT...
Monetary Fascism was created and propagated through the Chicago School of Economics. Milton Friedmans collective works constitute the foundation of Monetary Fascism. Knowing that the term Fascism was universally unpopular; Friedman and the Chicago School of Economics masquerade these works as Capitalism and Free Market economics.
SNIP...
The fundamental difference between Adam Smiths free market capitalism and Friedmans free market capitalism is that Friedmans is a hyper extractive model, the kind that creates and maintains Third-World-Countries and Banana-Republics, without geo-political borders.
If you say that this is nothing new, you miss the point. Friedman does not differentiate between some third world country and his own. The ultimate difference is that Friedman has created a model that sanctions and promotes the exploitation of his own country, in fact every country, for the benefit of the investor, money the uber-wealthy. He dressed up this noxious ideology as free market capitalism and then convinced most of the world to embrace it as their economic salvation.
SNIP...
Monetary Fascism, as conceived by Friedman, uses the powers of the state to put the interest of money and the financial class above and beyond all other forms of industry (and other stake holders) and the state itself.
SNIP...
Money has become the state and the traditional state is forced to serve moneys interests. Everywhere the Financial Class is openly lording over sovereign nations. Ireland, Greece and Spain are subject to ultimatums and remember Hank Paulsons $700 billion extortion from the U.S. Congress. The $700 billion was just the wedge. Thanks to unlimited access to the Discount Window, Quantitative Easing and other taxpayer funded debt-swap bailouts the total transfers to the financial industry exceeded $16 trillion as of July 2010 according to a Federal Reserve Audit. All of this was dumped on the taxpayer and it is still growing.
CONTINUED...
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/10/24/the-dark-age-of-money/
That's what they're rolling out here, with orange al capone skimming off the top.

From the beach at Punta de Choros.
Dan
(4,646 posts)rainy
(6,278 posts)in every single swing state!!!!
Dan
(4,646 posts)Silent Type
(9,142 posts)of that unless one is a devotee of Greg Palast and similar BS artists trying to make a buck off podcasts.
We lost at polls to the most beatable candidate in history, and better shape future campaigns with that in mind.
Nigrum Cattus
(494 posts)I will fight the repugs every inch of the way.
Not giving up or giving in
Better dead than red (repug)
the_liberal_grandpa
(192 posts)Americans can no longer be trusted to make smart poitical decisions and are in no hurry to rush back in to our untrustworthy arms.
I am concerned about even having an election in 2026 or what the country might look like by then.
And democrats cannot expect to win solely because the other party is unpopular. They have to have a vision that resonates with enough voters to accomplish that. Most dems seem to not understand that.
I am also concerned that the repubs don't seem overly worrried about it either. I wonder that they know that we don't about how future elections.
Either way, if things get as bad as predicted (or worse) I think the kettle will boil over long before any future elections would even matter.
Martin68
(25,614 posts)edhopper
(35,860 posts)What more should we do than last election?
Martin68
(25,614 posts)edhopper
(35,860 posts)AllyCat
(17,861 posts)NNadir
(35,704 posts)...obvious consequences.
In a time of chaos nothing will be predictable.
Who would have imagined four years ago the United States committing suicide?
Yet here we are.
sop
(13,932 posts)Flipping the House is probable, the Senate seems almost impossible.
WSHazel
(376 posts)I think we can flip the Senate. Historical trends are historical trends, until they aren't. South Dakota was reliably blue for decades, and now it is one of the most red states on the map. Things can change.
Democrats will pick up NC and ME in a fair election. KS, IA, MT, AK and maybe a couple of others are in play if the Democrats find a good candidate and voters in those states finally realize that 20+ years of absolute loyalty to the Republican Party has not improved their lives one iota.
AllyCat
(17,861 posts)I support Democrats usually, but all they talk about is
(insert woke issue here)
Dems need to get back to kitchen table issues! as if maintaining our democracy wasnt kitchen table enough.
I also dont trust republicans. They are not serious about democracy, only MAGA.
edhopper
(35,860 posts)it was the Repukes who only talked about "woke" issues. And Harris ran a campaign on kitchen table issues.
But in interviews, when she talked about first time home buyers, they asked her about trans operations in prisons.
AllyCat
(17,861 posts)But the media ran with this message and they will do it again.
they have done nothing but normalize what Trump is doing.
Haru
(47 posts)We are making progress with the wins in Wisconsin after Musk pour in millions in the Supreme Court there and some other notable wins in state houses, we are getting there. Even in Canada, the liberals won due to the hatred to Trump and his policies.
Our road to victory will be a slow but steady effort.
Don't give up the efforts and protests we have going.
The Dems may not be at the top of the game but it's the only horse we have to ride.
We need to continue to press Dems to be bold and raise the level of the fight.
This is something we cannot sit on our hands and hope for the best.
There are many ways we can fight for OUR DEMOCRACY, please take time and choose a method that suits you and join the fight.
Please, Please don't give up
it is more about my complete disdain and lack of trust in half the voters.
Ping Tung
(2,261 posts)My oldest sister voted for JFK because he was good looking. My other oles sister voted for Nixon because of his little dog gave his wife an ordinary coat. Many others don't vote at all because they don't want to miss their favorite program on TV.
uponit7771
(92,789 posts)AverageOldGuy
(2,556 posts)But watch Virginia in Nov 2025 when we elect Gov, LtGov, AG, and both houses of the General Assembly.
We Democrats are poised to knock off Republican top three as well as increasing our hold on General Assembly.
VA Republicans are full-on MAGA.
lees1975
(6,468 posts)and who is working to stop it from being stolen right out from underneath us, without opposition, with Democrats who win retreating to their office and government check, and the others left to stand, smile and concede?
We've talked until we are all talked out.
I am doing more. I am now contributing to Bernie and AOC, and to David Hogg's Leaders We Deserve.
BannonsLiver
(19,064 posts)Martin Eden
(14,203 posts)Do not underestimate what Republicans and their POtuS will do to maintain their grip on power.
Trump has no intention to relinquish the White House in January 2029 (if he's still alive). In his first time he wanted to use the military to shoot unruly crowds at the George Floyd protests. Heading into next year the organized protests will likely escalate, and rightwing hate groups will spark violence. Trump will not hesitate to declare martial law. If his grip on the military his secure, kiss democracy goodbye.
WarGamer
(17,003 posts)PhilosopherKing
(396 posts)Hopeless