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Marie Kennedy's avatar

The Baileys are my neighbors (not literally, but I live in a suburb of a midsized midwestern city and yards had a 50/50 mix of Biden and Trump signs) and this is exactly right. They are concerned with inflation, their kids’ schooling, maybe how the hell they will pay for college or if it’s even worth it, spooked by CRT and put off by accusations of white privilege, but also spooked by J6-ers. They liked Obama’s positivity and wonder Why Can’t We All Just Get Along. They don’t like talking about politics with their friends and family because it just leads to fighting. They don’t watch Fox or MSNBC because it stresses them out, they like CSI and Yellowstone.

If any Democratic staffers would like to study abroad, they can come visit my ‘burb.

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John from FL's avatar

I've read many articles and think pieces about how the Republican leadership in the 80's-90's crafted their messaging to make sure their most right-leaning, often racist, flank stayed inside the party. The coalition among the Chamber of Commerce types, the libertarians and the blood-and-soil types was held together with rhetoric and messaging far more strident than where the middle of the party resided. The problem is the blood and soil types believed the rhetoric. After years of losses (in their view) that group was agitated, frustrated with 'sell outs', and thought they'd been lied to by the Bushes and Romneys, so enter Drain-The-Swamp Trump.

The Democrats seem to me, have a similar problem. The rhetoric used by Schumer, Reid, et al, has always been more strident and more left wing than their actual governing. So their most vocal left-wing activists internalized the messaging, grew frustrated (remember Occupy Wall Street?), organized into strong Progressive organizations and have effectively taken over the party. Biden embraces the "are you on the side of Democracy or Bull Connor" messaging around the voting rights bill; this article describes Schumer. So now we have both parties seemingly taken over by their most radical fringes.

The first party that moves away from those fringes without losing them altogether will win for a long time. Trump won't do it. DeSantis probably won't either. Biden said he would, but hasn't. Which party will find the person who will do so first?

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