bonhoeffer45

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I would be shocked if a boring white guy is out on the trail talking about policy instead of race on the trail for the Dems in 2020. Would be nice to see. Not the white part but the policy part leaving the identity stuff by the wayside.

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It should be pointed out all politics involves identity politics, including Trump's.

Trump plays identity politics everyday. "Are you the type of person that defends kneeling for the National Anthem?" Putting on a hat declaring he is for the coal miners and Bannon defining outsiders the anti-globalists. Even the anti-PC movement is a component of that int he way its played by conservatives: we are the group that thinks it should be accepted by social norms to call Haitians AID's infested hut dwellers that live in a shithole country. Being outraged by that is PC culture threatening our freedom of speech.

What about that isn't identity politics? It's defining a group by how you are different from and supposedly superior to the other people. Collecting a bunch of those norms and anchors to build a group identity.

Right-wing talk radio has built a cottage industry on identity politics. Liberals are all lazy welfare collecting troop hating un-american radical socialists. Meanwhile, conservatives are patriotic, Christian, free market loving, god-fearing patriots that's group identity is positively reinforced to align with the Republican agenda. :usa: :usa:

If your real point is that you hope they put up a candidate that ignores culture war issues like transgender bathroom laws and #METOO mud slinging, I hope its not some anchoring theme either that leaves policy issues by the wayside, same goes for the culture wars the other side plays. But it is all but guaranteed it will play some role in some capacity because that is politics.

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We are not in a good place politically. If they counter with someone closer to full SJW than "classical liberal"

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What is a "classical liberal" in your mind?

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I said “do I have to vote Democrat now because Im not against something they’ve done?” As in if I received money due to stimulus doesn’t mean I’ll vote D.

You said “that’s my point,” as in Democrats won’t vote republican just because they got some extra cash.

I said republicans just won 30 states, they don’t need people who voted D to switch to R. You need people who voted R to go back D

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Nah, mobilization is the name of the game in hyper-partisan era's. Trump implicitly understood that on the campaign and Hillary and the Democrats didn't or couldn't match the same enthusiasm.

You always have a much better shot of trying to convince ten people who stayed home in an election to get out and vote than to try and change the mind of ten established supporters of the other guy/girl

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If you assume the republicans need more votes. Didn’t they just win 30+ states.

You need more votes

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I think you are lost or just floundering, what does this have to do with anything we were just discussing?

The tax bill is unpopular, there is no guarantee that once money hits pockets it will suddenly become much more popular. In fact, if you look at a previous tax cut like the stimulus, it declined in popularity amongst the Republicans as time went on and the money showed up in pockets, and slightly dropped with Democrats as well. You even said it yourself, you weren't going to just vote another party because they did one thing you didn't hate.

And the name of the game in hyper-partisan era's is mobilization, and right now Democrats have been pretty damn energized since the election. Might fall off by the end of the year, but not likely.

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Once money hits pockets it will be

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Did that make you vote Democratic in 2010?

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Working Americans don't like the idea of keeping more of the money they earned?

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It seems like the majority of Americans don't like expensive tax bills that predominately benefit the wealthy. At least thats what the polls seem to say(cue "all polls are fake except Rasmussen polls or the ones that say what we want them to say").

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Not identity politics but real policies.

Trump tax cuts are going to give people more money. Economy is looking better by the day. Consumer confidence is up and American jobs are being created.

What policies do you pimp to combat Trump?
The "he's a racist, bigot, sexual assaulter" scream did not work despite having every advantage on your side.

What do you do? Your party is a national joke at the moment.

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The tax bill is still not very popular FYI.
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And the easy one is healthcare. It was the number one issue cited by voters in the recent Virginia election and it remains the biggest failure of the administration so far policy wise. I expect it will play a fairly heavy role in 2018. As does a referendum on Trump. Which despite what you are saying is not how the collective outcomes of the special elections have played out. Which the trends are not pretty for Republicans right now.

But elections are not monolithic, candidates in different areas will emphasis different things. I would expect Democratic candidates fighting for Republican seats in California for instance to cite the tax bill, health insurance, environmental policy, sexual harassment issues, Trump, Marijuana legalization, a check on Trump cronyism, and Net Neutrality. A person in a safe Democratic seat in Maryland may run on criminal justice reform and Single-Payer.

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I don't think it ends up on NBC and WaPo

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Like when The Atlantic and The Washington Post ran some scathing stories because the Obama Administration's appointee to Ambassador to Norway was a fricking idiot that didn't know anything about the country?
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Screw you and the scum who cannot put America first and feel the need to tattle about what was said behind closed doors.

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America was not founded on the idea of unyielding allegiance and cooperation toward the political agenda and public image of the president.

I think you took a wrong turn and confused us with North Korea.

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Tell us what Trump said. Direct quotes please.

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All we have is the story to go on, there is no evidence of him saying or intending to mean the things you are projecting onto him.

He wants an immigration deal, Norwegians are cool, Haitians and Africans aren't, those upset him, he doesn't think they should be included in any protections or deal. He says nothing about education, only that his perception of an entire continent and Haiti is of a shithole and seemingly that implies every person from there is innately and irreparably tainted in Trump's eyes......But not Norwegians, something about them is pure enough in Trump's eyes to get a blanket pardon.