Of course the "chamber of commerce" type of Republicans is just as guilty. I never claimed otherwise. In fact, I despise the "old" GOP establishment.



Trump spurred or accelerated a voter realignment which brought (even more) rural and working-class voters into the GOP column. The party will of course try to keep these voters, which means that it will have to adjust its platform at least somewhat to accomodate the priorities and interests of these voters.

On top of that, Trump did his best to break up the neoliberal mantra that unregulated and unmitigated outsourcing, globalization and free trade are inevitable and should be wholeheartedly embraced. This line of thinking had dominated politics in both parties for over 25 years, if not longer. We cannot expect him to single-handedly achieve a complete paradigm shift on this issue in just 4 years, particularly since he had to fight against vested business interest and institutional resistance all the way.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Dec 1 2020 11:35am

Just more "Trump can't fail, he can only be failed"

Trump didn't push for anything that impacted the material well being of these workers. He pandered and made promises that he could never in a million years keep, and then pushed for policies that actively harmed those people.

Sure, so long as "moving away" is reality, and not just more pandering.

so far we've gotten deregulation but the jobs market in rust belt areas hasnt come back, in fact trade policy attempting to rein in china have at best stagnated progress. deeply economically depressed areas like Detroit, the UP of michigan, central wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, these arent returning to glory days of blue collar employment being a long term strategy for people.



im located in wisconsin, mining here and especially in the UP is the same, highly skilled automated work closer to a CNC operator than a hard hat miner of the 1960s.

the only thing i'd add is that i dont think that the 1/3rd of mines and operations shut down over Obama mean that the other 2/3 are doomed in short order. the demand is still there, regardless of what a potential EPA under biden tries to do to end around congress. i just dont think the reality is that we can move that fast, and the EPA knows this. ending coal in a 4 year span is closer to the pandering green new deal than reality, Biden and his team seem like realists thusfar who are not going to bend to far left fringe policy. especially on something with such wide reaching consequences. i'd expect to see a renewal of the coal ash policies and a resuming of the emissions policies. which may cause a downturn in the industry but not a cliff.

This post was edited by thesnipa on Dec 1 2020 12:12pm

You're right, we can't move away from fossil fuels. They are just too effective. So many BTUs.

The way to move forward is to try to increase efficiency at the turbine of the internal and external combustion engine. So much energy is lost there. If we can make turbines more effective it would be an energy revolution.

agreed!



nuc nuc nuc nuclear post detected

I simply don’t have any disagreement with that.

Nuclear energy is the best.

Backstory:
https://www.politico.eu/article/police-arrests-20-people-including-eu-officials-at-lockdown-party-in-brussels/
He is József Szájer a Member of European Parliament from Hungary's ruling ultra conservative anti LBGTPQRS, anti same sex marriage far righty Fidesz party.
"A senior MEP from Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party admitted Tuesday that he took part in a “lockdown party” — described by local media as “an orgy” — that was broken up by Brussels police.

József Szájer said in a statement that he was “present” at the “private party” — at which, according to the Belgian press, police found 25 naked men, including an MEP and a number of diplomats.

According to a press release from the public prosecutor’s office, “A passer-by reported to the police that he had seen a man fleeing along the gutter; he was able to identify the man. The man’s hands were bloody. It is possible that he may have been injured while fleeing. Narcotics were found in his backpack. The man was unable to produce any identity documents. He was escorted to his place of residence, where he identified himself as S. J. (1961) by means of a diplomatic passport.”

This post was edited by Thomas Cross on Dec 2 2020 04:18am