I considered that possibility, of course, but I really think something beyond ordinary bad faith, lying, and confusion is involved here. Ordinary bad faith and lying are goal-directed -- people use them to try to achieve something -- and ordinary confusion is usually amenable to the repeated impacts of reality, e.g., "Something must be wrong, I keep getting whacked upside the head."
The really odd thing about the state of mind I've discussed here is that it's so self-defeating. The Democrats could have neutralized Trump easily, and would be headed for a landslide victory this year; all they had to do is listen to the voters and figure out why so many people who voted for Obama in 2008 turned around and voted for Trump in 2016, and then craft an appeal to them. Instead, their behavior has been the single most important incentive driving people into Trump's arms. For four years now I've watched former liberals look at what the Democrats have been doing and decide that, as little as they like Trump, he's better than what the other side has to offer. "Vote Republican -- They've Got Their Problems But The Other Side Is Insane" is a sentiment I've been hearing over and over again.
The other point that I tried to make here, which I don't think you caught, is that the problem isn't party-based, it's class-based. Just at the moment, a very large sector of the well-to-do are backing the Democrats, because the Republicans no longer support what used to be the bipartisan consensus that benefited the middle class at the expense of the working class. I suspect working-class Democrats are much more in touch with what's actually happening.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2020-08-20 08:56 pm (UTC)The really odd thing about the state of mind I've discussed here is that it's so self-defeating. The Democrats could have neutralized Trump easily, and would be headed for a landslide victory this year; all they had to do is listen to the voters and figure out why so many people who voted for Obama in 2008 turned around and voted for Trump in 2016, and then craft an appeal to them. Instead, their behavior has been the single most important incentive driving people into Trump's arms. For four years now I've watched former liberals look at what the Democrats have been doing and decide that, as little as they like Trump, he's better than what the other side has to offer. "Vote Republican -- They've Got Their Problems But The Other Side Is Insane" is a sentiment I've been hearing over and over again.
The other point that I tried to make here, which I don't think you caught, is that the problem isn't party-based, it's class-based. Just at the moment, a very large sector of the well-to-do are backing the Democrats, because the Republicans no longer support what used to be the bipartisan consensus that benefited the middle class at the expense of the working class. I suspect working-class Democrats are much more in touch with what's actually happening.