Mega-Thread: 2020 United States General Election

[Machismo]

The Democrats would be wise to use the GOP playbook over the past 10-15 years, pander to the swing states, so they can push a "bend, but don't break" strategy. Focus on Georgia, see what Pennsylvanians truly want... and promise them the fucking world. Do the same to Arizonans, Michigan, Wisconsin, and hell... even North Carolina and Texas. Play "small ball," and start at the local and state levels. It doesn't matter if you actually follow through on those promises, simply being there to listen will be enough for most voters.

And yes, that even means having local Democrats explain that if the farmers in Nebraska don't want socialism, then promise to get rid of all their farm subsidies and welfare. Do the same for all the old people, whenever they are called to move from socialism, agree with them, and say you will fight to end their Medicare and Social Security (sarcastically, of course). It will alienate the ultra-conservatives, by highlighting their hypocrisy, but it will soften the sane people to the Democratic Party's message.

Oh, and fuck Florida. Never rely on them.

[Felya]

Sooner than that

While high-risk groups like health care workers and the elderly could get the vaccine later this year, experts have widely said the general public is not expected to get a vaccine until sometime several months into 2021.

Alejandro Cané, a vaccine official at Pfizer, said in an interview Monday that under a previously announced $1.95 billion deal with the U.S. government, the company will produce 100 million doses of vaccine between December and March. Those doses would then be available at no cost to the patient. The first people to be vaccinated could therefore get the shots in December.

I took it as 6 months before general public gets it, which seems to be at least close to your post. Regardless, hopium is real...

Edit: What an entry into 2021 this might be... let the memes of 2020 end, ushering in hope begin!!! Cyberpunk 2077 wil not be delayed again!!! sorry...

[kaelleria]

This election has show us something:

Progressive ideas won out they either took moderate democrat seats and won or they won their reelections.

Meanwhile... where are those moderate democrats those "anti m4a" democrats? those Trumpocrats? Losing.... that's where

Yet people blame AOC and such for house losses when moderates who ran against something supported by 70%+ of the nation lost. This bullshit about compromise and unity is just that... fucking bullshit and I fear all those does is push away the left to court the Right who doesn't give a fuck. This will demoralise the lgbt and minority voters thereby suppressing their votes leading to another Trump era but probably with someone smarter.

That's false.

Connor Lamb won reelection in an R+3 district, Spanzberger won in a traditionally R+6 district. Kara Eastman lost her election in a D+10 district.

The list people are throwing around paints a very misleading picture as the winners are all in safe blue districts that have been blue for ages where the losers are in traditional republican districts.

There may be some merit to the digital organizing portion of what AOC was trying to say, but trying to force M4A will result in more lost elections. Every district is different and members need to run to the district. Running to the NYT to bash fellow democrats is the opposite of good strategy for actually maintaining your majority.

[Milchshake]

It will really blow peoples' minds if the new administration prioritizes early vaccines for healthcare and food service workers. Then other essentials and at risk groups.

[Mormolyce]

So moderate Democrats who lost are just straight up lying now lol

I mean it's just astonishing. The establishment Democrat lack of spine is legendary, but do they lack a brain too? The data is right in front of their fucking faces, there's no denying it this time.

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There may be some merit to the digital organizing portion of what AOC was trying to say, but trying to force M4A will result in more lost elections. Every district is different and members need to run to the district. Running to the NYT to bash fellow democrats is the opposite of good strategy for actually maintaining your majority.

Let me ask you a question: if you don't even get universal healthcare out of it, which is literally just America catching up to where the rest of the civilised world was 60 years ago, why the fuck would anyone want the Democrats in power?

Medicare for All polls at 69% for fuck's sake, once upon a time a number like that would have BOTH parties falling over each other to support it. There shouldn't even be a question about it being the Democrats' main platform. Somehow corporate donors have cut your balls off, fed them to you and brainwashed you into liking the taste.

[Grapemask]

Already see it happening:

Yeah, that shit was all over my social media even on the day of the election. Almost exclusively posted by Trump supporters who could smell the blood in the water.

My brother and I have been in an on-and-off argument all week because he keeps trying to make me the bad guy for not offering sympathy and understanding to Trump's crowd. The real bigots are the ones who won't forgive and forget my bigotry!

[Omega10]

This election has show us something:

Progressive ideas won out they either took moderate democrat seats and won or they won their reelections.

Meanwhile... where are those moderate democrats those "anti m4a" democrats? those Trumpocrats? Losing.... that's where

Yet people blame AOC and such for house losses when moderates who ran against something supported by 70%+ of the nation lost. This bullshit about compromise and unity is just that... fucking bullshit and I fear all those does is push away the left to court the Right who doesn't give a fuck. This will demoralise the lgbt and minority voters thereby suppressing their votes leading to another Trump era but probably with someone smarter.

It's discouraging that the DNC part of the democratic party went so anti-left so quickly. Apparently their goal is to snuff out any signs of leftness as soon as possible and with as much energy as possible. Apparently AOC has been getting a LOT of hostility from DNC democrats.

With 70 million people voting for Trump, I'm a bit at a loss as to what to do about it though.

[Felya]

There may be some merit to the digital organizing portion of what AOC was trying to say, but trying to force M4A will result in more lost elections. Every district is different and members need to run to the district. Running to the NYT to bash fellow democrats is the opposite of good strategy for actually maintaining your majority.

Any healthcare care plan that can be challenged in Supreme Court, will fail. The current political landscape demands incrementalism, that cannot reach the top court. While fighting against the conservative narrative of M4A being the door way to Lenin and Trotsky. Until people make M4A so universally supported, that denying it in Supreme Court would destroy a political party, it simply can’t pass because of what happened the last 4 years.

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With 70 million people voting for Trump, I'm a bit at a loss as to what to do about it though.

Embrace populism... they didn’t vote Trump, they voted for a populist that raised the stakes, beyond even the red scare.

[Milchshake]

That's false.

Connor Lamb won reelection in an R+3 district, Spanzberger won in a traditionally R+6 district. Kara Eastman lost her election in a D+10 district.

The list people are throwing around paints a very misleading picture as the winners are all in safe blue districts that have been blue for ages where the losers are in traditional republican districts.

There may be some merit to the digital organizing portion of what AOC was trying to say, but trying to force M4A will result in more lost elections. Every district is different and members need to run to the district. Running to the NYT to bash fellow democrats is the opposite of good strategy for actually maintaining your majority.

One of the most misleading aspect of the “moderates vs. progressives” debate is that people are restricting the sample to incumbents instead of the entire pool of Democratic candidates.

Here are the most cited tweets all restricting their sample to just Democratic incumbents.





But just looking at this list, non-incumbent Justice Democrat-endorsed candidates went 2/4 in their elections.
For candidates who did not primary an incumbent, they went 0/2.

Two points;

1. Their methodologies use tricky sample selection and identification strategies to advance an ideological claim.
2. There's a reason that AoC had to dump Waleed from her campaign and why no other campaign has picked him up since... #meetoo

[Grapemask]

It's discouraging that the DNC part of the democratic party went so anti-left so quickly. Apparently their goal is to snuff out any signs of leftness as soon as possible and with as much energy as possible. Apparently AOC has been getting a LOT of hostility from DNC democrats.

With 70 million people voting for Trump, I'm a bit at a loss as to what to do about it though.

70 million people voted Trump because of ignorance and being swayed by ridiculous arguments of "everything I don't like is socialism." The DNC seems to think that instead of educating and fighting back against bad arguments, it's better to just give up and let everyone die to shitty healthcare and shitty climate policies. This is what happens when power structures are more interested in keeping power than in actually doing good.

They need to be reminded that it's not the policies people are afraid of. It's the messaging. The candidate who offered universal healthcare that would cover everyone, and that would be paid for by the government, was not the radical left wing candidate. It was Donald Trump in 2016.

[Thepersona]

There is no bloody vaccine for the next 6 months.
What you have are trials and even if a vaccine looks "100% promising" that won't be just announced for this year.

Hey, let us inject hopium for a change

[Mormolyce]

I can only guess what this place was like four years ago. I bet trumpers were out in force.

I mean, this place was a hive of looney incel wannabe fascists since Gamergate at the very least. The mods did nothing about it, in fact the extremely idiosyncratic forum policies outright encouraged them. They were posting their conspiracy theories and blatant bigotry for long before the election - I suppose after the election they were more smug about it, but they're such obnoxious douchebags it honestly wasn't much different from usual. When they transitioned from being bad losers to bad winners, they STILL liked to play the victim all the time, so it was basically just the same old shtick.

[kaelleria]

I mean it's just astonishing. The establishment Democrat lack of spine is legendary, but do they lack a brain too? The data is right in front of their fucking faces, there's no denying it this time.

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Let me ask you a question: if you don't even get universal healthcare out of it, which is literally just America catching up to where the rest of the civilised world was 60 years ago, why the fuck would anyone want the Democrats in power?

Medicare for All polls at 69% for fuck's sake, once upon a time a number like that would have BOTH parties falling over each other to support it. There shouldn't even be a question about it being the Democrats' main platform. Somehow corporate donors have cut your balls off, fed them to you and brainwashed you into liking the taste.

I never had balls to begin with so your point about corporate donors cutting off my non-existant balls has no merit.

America is not the rest of the world and the stats you have on M4A is incorrect. You're throwing out 69% from a Hill/HarrisX survey where the question literally was would you support giving Medicare to Every American.

When the question is asked and it's explained that private insurance would be going away, support for M4A drops precipitously.

We saw this in the primary too, where voters overwhelmingly supported Pete and Biden's plans of a public option over Sanders and Warren's plan of eliminating private insurance.

[Thepersona]

It will really blow peoples' minds if the new administration prioritizes early vaccines for healthcare and food service workers. Then other essentials and at risk groups.

I hope any administration on this fucking planet does this. I'd love to see my parents vaccinated months before i am.


Question: Does anyone know what happened in the end in GA, PA, and AZ? What are the current vote counts there? I know that this is a purely academical question at this point, but still.

[Egomaniac]

This election has show us something:

Progressive ideas won out they either took moderate democrat seats and won or they won their reelections.

Meanwhile... where are those moderate democrats those "anti m4a" democrats? those Trumpocrats? Losing.... that's where

Yet people blame AOC and such for house losses when moderates who ran against something supported by 70%+ of the nation lost. This bullshit about compromise and unity is just that... fucking bullshit and I fear all those does is push away the left to court the Right who doesn't give a fuck. This will demoralise the lgbt and minority voters thereby suppressing their votes leading to another Trump era but probably with someone smarter.

Compromise and Unity won Joe Biden the White House. Now, I understand if Joe isn't the Democratic candidate you would have preferred...but he's certainly preferable to the alternative.

If both sides of the democratic party can't learn the value that comes from unity...then 2024 is gonna be another win for Republicans. And this applies to both Moderates and Progressives. Progressives need to learn how to coax moderates over and moderates need to be willing to listen and embrace new ideas. If you try to yank the whole party Left...you'll just end up losing more of the middle.

That being said, I do believe right now it is time that the moderates take the next step to further unify the party and start championing things like M4A.

[downnola]

It's discouraging that the DNC part of the democratic party went so anti-left so quickly. Apparently their goal is to snuff out any signs of leftness as soon as possible and with as much energy as possible. Apparently AOC has been getting a LOT of hostility from DNC democrats.

With 70 million people voting for Trump, I'm a bit at a loss as to what to do about it though.

I'm not convinced that the voters who turned out for Trump have a coherent justification for voting for him. He's a celebrity that appeals to low information voters and people who simply hate Democrats. Substitute Ted Cruz in his place and I don't think the turnout looks the same.

I favor justice democrats more than the centrist dems, but if justice dems want more influence they have to build a broader base and win state seats, governorships, and house/senate seats. The DNC goes where the votes lead them and so far the votes are with Biden (the 2020 primary result should make this point quite clear).

[Felya]

70 million people voted Trump because of ignorance and being swayed by ridiculous arguments of "everything I don't like is socialism." The DNC seems to think that instead of educating and fighting back against bad arguments, it's better to just give up and let everyone die to shitty healthcare and shitty climate policies. This is what happens when power structures are more interested in keeping power than in actually doing good.

They need to be reminded that it's not the policies people are afraid of. It's the messaging. The candidate who offered universal healthcare that would cover everyone, and that would be paid for by the government, was not the radical left wing candidate. It was Donald Trump in 2016.

I think you skipped a step in your initial statement. There is a step before ‘everything I don’t like is socialism’, that defines socialism as an elitist coastal extreme left ideology aimed at distorting American values. You have to convince them that socialism is a populist economic policy, before convincing them that healthcare and enviornment is important. Defending individual policy, before socialism it self is no longer demonized, is puting the cart before the horse.

[Omega10]

That's false.

Connor Lamb won reelection in an R+3 district, Spanzberger won in a traditionally R+6 district. Kara Eastman lost her election in a D+10 district.

The list people are throwing around paints a very misleading picture as the winners are all in safe blue districts that have been blue for ages where the losers are in traditional republican districts.

There may be some merit to the digital organizing portion of what AOC was trying to say, but trying to force M4A will result in more lost elections. Every district is different and members need to run to the district. Running to the NYT to bash fellow democrats is the opposite of good strategy for actually maintaining your majority.

This is exactly what DNC democrats did as soon as the election was called. Not just the NYT either as I read several articles in several places that democrats put out blaming liberals for how close the election was. It's been a full court press that DNC democrats have waged against liberals.

Right now enjoy your victories. You have all the cards at this time. We supported you, and you stabbed us hard in the back. And you'll get to gloat repeatedly as liberal democrats have to vote for DNC democratic proposals one after another. Already Biden forces are projecting a skinny stimulus package as their initial negotiating tactic vs McConnell.

I guess your strategy will be to try to absolutely minimize the amount of federal money supporting middle class and working class people. Presumably just to stick it to the libs?

[kaelleria]

One of the most misleading aspect of the “moderates vs. progressives” debate is that people are restricting the sample to incumbents instead of the entire pool of Democratic candidates.

Here are the most cited tweets all restricting their sample to just Democratic incumbents.





But just looking at this list, non-incumbent Justice Democrat-endorsed candidates went 2/4 in their elections.
For candidates who did not primary an incumbent, they went 0/2.

Two points;

1. Their methodologies use tricky sample selection and identification strategies to advance an ideological claim.
2. There's a reason that AoC had to dump Waleed from her campaign and why no other campaign has picked him up since... #meetoo

That's why I like this graphic much better. It shows more of a story of the district.

[Underverse]

This election has show us something:

Progressive ideas won out they either took moderate democrat seats and won or they won their reelections.

Meanwhile... where are those moderate democrats those "anti m4a" democrats? those Trumpocrats? Losing.... that's where

Yet people blame AOC and such for house losses when moderates who ran against something supported by 70%+ of the nation lost. This bullshit about compromise and unity is just that... fucking bullshit and I fear all those does is push away the left to court the Right who doesn't give a fuck. This will demoralise the lgbt and minority voters thereby suppressing their votes leading to another Trump era but probably with someone smarter.

Moderate seats are often more tenuous because they're in swing areas. Progressive seats are generally safe because they can only be elected in strongly Democrat leaning districts. Progressive rhetoric probably is affected moderates that hold swing seats, and it makes sense that progressives themselves would be safe even with this consideration.

My guess is that 'defund the police' is the primary piece of rhetoric that lost moderate seats. M4A - maybe it's my own bias, but I feel that this is less contentious (I'm a full supporter).