Its about shaping the narrative and how people are cast more than about specifics. And its probably a non-factor in 2020 because you can't unframe his public image now, I think its a bell you can't unring. I've always talked about it as a retrospective on what Clinton should have done, and where she went wrong. If she had spent 2016 trying to give Donald Trump the public image of Charles Koch instead of Charlie Sheen.

I don't doubt there's still room for democrats to attack Trump at a policy level and seek to erode his support by undermining his economic successes in particular. Coronavirus has completely changed the field, we were on track for Trump heading into 2020 with what seemed like an indestructible edge, now its at a minimum chaotic and unpredictable where we'll land. Its plausible he'll regain his ground and champion himself as the leader who successfully defeated the Coronavirus threat and build that as his message, its also possible it will be his catastrophe that sinks him as a failure. The media is looking for every chance to hang it on him, that's for sure.

Imho, on a policy level, the GOP push to repeal Obamacare is still the most damage thing they have done during Trump's presidency. An underrated part of Trump's appeal with the working-class in 2016 was that he broke with Republican orthodoxy on big government issues. He broke with the libertarian, Koch brothers agenda not just on immigration, but also on benefits and entitlements. "You can keep your medicare" was one of Trump's key campaign statements, even if it ended up flying under the radar.

It should be fairly easy to point out how these things were a lie: when time came to shove, Trump did support attempts at taking healthcare away from people, he did support tax cuts which blew up the deficit and disproportionately went to the top 20%, he did spearhead a push to dismantle as many government agencies as possible. He did promise to drain the swamp, instead, he just replaced the old swamp with a new swamp made up by his own cronies.



One important thing to understand is that populist voters are not generally opposed to redistribution or big government policies - they just dont like it when the benefits go to someone else (minorities, immigrants, foreign countries) or when the big government machine tries to nudge and reeducate them according to some elite or bureaucrat vision.

It's been said a lot about Trump's first term in office: his decision-making was often a chaotic trainwreck, and the messaging was norm-breaking and nutty all the way - but on the substance, he has governed like a fairly conventional Republican. And that is absolutely not what Obama-Trump voters were hoping for. Hammering home this point to the voters who turned on Democrats because they thought Trump was different would imho yield the best shot at winning back Obama-Trump voters, and with them the Midwest.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Apr 24 2020 03:24pm

Kamala called Biden a racist then endorsed him and begged to be his VP. Dems ignored the Asians and punted the Hispanics offstage ASAP. They all got in line behind the oldest palest longest-serving political candidate when told to by the $15 a pint ice cream eater. What a shithow! Even Cruz or Rubio didnt stoop to that level

but hey you’re a racist privileged lefty who wouldnt dare venture out the suburbs, so you only view the world through one lens: my team versus them, and those who work hard don’t belong in your “my team” group

This post was edited by excellence on Apr 24 2020 04:23pm

pretty sure the crowning moment of the democratic primaries was either everyone raising their hand to give free healthcare to illegal aliens, or the 9 year old transgender kid

I would put it like this: the Democratic primaries were a shitshow on a policy level, while the 2016 Republican primaries were a shitshow on a personal attacks/antics level.



Trump insinuated that Cruz' dad was an accomplice in JFK's assassination, and now Cruz is a close ally and sucking up to him on a daily basis.
Gotta agree with the rest of your post!

It's funny how the right-wing mind works. The former VP of the first black president recovered in his campaign because he met a state with black people in it, and then other moderate candidates dropped out to support him, and he's garnered the support of literally every primary opponent. But it's supposed to be comparable to Trump's takeover of the Republican party in 2016?

I know you play the stupid troll on PaRD, but this is just an epic level of moronic.



Maybe the norm shattering on one side of the political aisle isn't completely isolated. Democrats aren't driven by a personality cult, but once expressed extreme positions and gaffes aren't as relevant as they used to be.

This post was edited by IceMage on Apr 24 2020 05:08pm

Serious question: were there similarly extreme policy positions taken during the 2016 GOP primaries as during the 2020 Dem primaries?

I think it's normal and to be expected that personal attacks from the primaries dont stick. Not so sure about ideologically extreme policy positions.

It’s funny how the left-wing loser mind like yours works. Pres Obama (who you resisted and wanted to fail like a racist for 8 years) interfered in the 2020 primaries and everyone else except Barnie and the token spoiler Warren dropped out within 3 days, even the Nyt and Wapo acknowledge this but racist privileged lefties like you are consistent election-deniers


icepeon stood and clapped then like the walrus he is


Cruz never endorsed Trump during the primary nor did he beg for the VP spot or even a cabinet position



“America first” is extreme to anti-Americans like icepeon

The clip:





This post was edited by IceMage on Apr 25 2020 01:48am

seems like pretty solid evidence she told people at the time...