Quote (bogie160 @ May 8 2021 12:50pm)
You are going to have to flesh out what those "viable strategies" are. Trump was a toxic candidate who catastrophically flubbed a very simple crisis, and the Republican party was still more competitive than in either 2008 or 2012. The Republican party needs to do better in the suburbs, and Trump hurts them their, but cutting off their only growing base of support would be a disaster.
Biden has proposed over $6 trillion in net new spending, over and above regular discretionary and non-discretionary spending. His administration is opposed to the Civil Rights Act, and supports discriminating based on race. You can support or oppose one or both of these things, but in what universe are they not radical?
Yes, the GOP is a mess and many of their candidates are terrible. The same can be said for the Democrats, but at least the Democrats put pen to paper with their terrible ideas. The Republican party is hamstrung by their inability to seriously consider any form of revenue generation. The government is not getting smaller, and discretionary spending increases are probably needed. We need to figure out what to do with non-discretionary spending, but of course it's politically toxic to even talk about it.
Uneducated whites are a dying demographic in this country and I don't think they bring much value to society. They've been given so many opportunities and they refuse to help themselves. Here are a couple strategies that could help the GOP:
1. Win back the suburbs. This could be done quite easily with minimal changes to actual policy. Focus on education and childcare and you're 80% there.
2. Become the pro-immigrant party. Immigrants tend to be socially conservative but are voting with the Democrats more and more. For every piece of white trash that dies of a heroin overdose, we could import someone from Iran, Taiwan, etc. Their work ethic is unmatched and we could learn a thing or two from them.
3. Chip away at the Hispanic demographic. They aren't a monolith but if you can get half of them, that's enough to win in a landslide. Trump's economic message definitely appealed to a large portion of them and you can continue down that path without appealing to white grievance.
As it stands, the GOP is doubling down on white grievance and they are praying that they can keep Trump's levels of the Hispanic vote. Perhaps you can win in 2024 with the current model but it's becoming more difficult. I really don't want to have to rely on institutional advantages that are becoming increasingly undemocratic.
Outside of the COVID relief bill, how is it 6 trillion in NET spending? I find it hard to believe that the Democrats won't raise taxes. That's their MO. I'm not sure why you think Biden's policies are against the Civil Rights Act. I think it was Earl Warren who said that the government needs to try just as hard to reverse the effects of institutional racism as they did when they implemented them. Obviously that's a liberal interpretation from a very liberal judge, but I think it matches with the spirit of the Civil Rights Act. All of these policies are well within the Overton window of the early 2000s.
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