Things Clinton Democrats don't seem to get

[Beet]

-- The Democrats are never going to win on racial issues alone because minorities are still a minority of the electorate.

-- The Democrats' base is the working class, and the vast majority of that is working class whites. That has never changed, nor should it ever change, given the positions of the parties.

-- Trump has made a strong red meat appeal to working class whites on immigration and trade. He positions himself as making a business proposition (which he certainly understands): their vote in exchange for promising to look out for their 'interests'.

-- The Democrats have traditionally made this exact same kind of appeal on economic issues, but are letting themselves get outflanked.

-- There are a lot of people out there who aren't thrilled about Trump, but all they're hearing from the Democrats is, "shame on you for being a racist". Human nature suggests this doesn't work.

[Trapsy]

I understand the sentiment against trade agreements but we should tolerate the racism of the white working class?

[Pandaguineapig]

I think you still have a lot of denial in this forum and at the dnc convincing themselves that Hillary is somehow a strong candidate

[Beet]

I understand the sentiment against trade agreements but we should tolerate the racism of the white working class?

You can [not] "tolerate" it all the way to the graveyard. The white working class doesn't want to be racist, or at least enough of them who we need don't want to be. But you've got to offer them something besides "don't be racist" lecturing. That was easy to do against Bain Capital Romney, or John "Suspend my campaign to bailout the banks" McCain, harder to do against a guy like Trump who's making an explicit appeal to them. Especially with Clinton's own weaknesses which she has done surprisingly little (to me) to address.

We're about to see a crpto-fascist Putin stooge who will divide this country on race and will divide the Western alliance, and probably be horrible as president, because of moral righteousness like yours that blinkers people who have it to reality.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I understand the sentiment against trade agreements but we should tolerate the racism of the white working class?

Nothing like a wealthy white Atlas liberal teenager's #analysis

[JerryArkansas]

I understand the sentiment against trade agreements but we should tolerate the racism of the white working class?

Nothing like a wealthy white Atlas liberal teenager's #analysis

Or yours as well.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I understand the sentiment against trade agreements but we should tolerate the racism of the white working class?

Nothing like a wealthy white Atlas liberal teenager's #analysis

Or yours as well.

I mean, I actually know how working class whites feel about people like Clinton: hint-it's similar to how they feel about Trapsy.

Also you're trying way to hard to be part of the Atlas Democratic Cool Clique.

[White Trash]

Most Democrats seem to be under the thinking that the current demographics changes are going to last forever. That America is going to get less and less white forever, and that ethnic minorities are always going to vote Democratic. These are two very dangerous lines of thinking to get caught in, and are currently being used by the Democratic leadership as the basis for their strategies.

The current Democratic coalition of ethnic minorities and urban progressives is simply not enough to win elections cycle after cycle. And given the fact that working class whites and union workers are now leaving the party in droves, the Democratic party has to do something fast to fill in that gap. Either by making itself more palatable to working class whites (that doesn't mean becoming the GOP, mind you) or crossing its fingers and hoping that Latinos will start reproducing like rabbits.

[Trapsy]

I understand the sentiment against trade agreements but we should tolerate the racism of the white working class?

Nothing like a wealthy white Atlas liberal teenager's #analysis

why are you making assumptions that I am white? lmao

[HagridOfTheDeep]

I understand the sentiment against trade agreements but we should tolerate the racism of the white working class?

Nothing like a wealthy white Atlas liberal teenager's #analysis

Or yours as well.

I mean, I actually know how working class whites feel about people like Clinton: hint-it's similar to how they feel about Trapsy.

Also you're trying way to hard to be part of the Atlas Democratic Cool Clique.

And you've basically devolved into scum, actually taking pride in the way you've backflipped through ridiculous hoops to exonerate a man who is objectively the most race-baiting major party candidate the US has had in generations.

So I'd say it's a wash.

To the OP: Don't care. Hillary is offering more and is not accusing average Americans of racism. I, however, am free to do so.

[JerryArkansas]

I understand the sentiment against trade agreements but we should tolerate the racism of the white working class?

Nothing like a wealthy white Atlas liberal teenager's #analysis

Or yours as well.

I mean, I actually know how working class whites feel about people like Clinton: hint-it's similar to how they feel about Trapsy.

Also you're trying way to hard to be part of the Atlas Democratic Cool Clique.

I don't want to be part of any Clique.  I just enjoy calling out all of the sh**t that Conservatives and some liberal post all over this forum.  Sorry not sorry.

[White Trash]

I like how this thread has devolved into "No you're a white teenager!". And by like, I mean seriously annoyed by.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

A lot of Democratic voters (emphasis on "voters" - I'm not knocking Hillary Clinton on this) have shown a lot of disdain toward religious, white, and rural voters for many years.  I think that's a big elephant in the room that people are either too afraid or apathetic to talk about.

Democrats don't need to embrace anti-LGBT or pro-life policies or anything like that to appeal to those people (and when they try pandering in that way, they usually end up getting their butts kicked anyway).  But let's not kid ourselves that the cultural elitism of the left is any less destructive and alienating as the cultural elitism of the right.  Institutionalized racism needs to be acknowledged, as does homophobia and sexism - and yes, progressives should do everything they can to bury these things while promoting their economic agenda, but we don't need to alienate and paint people with a broad brush when that is exactly the kind of thing we should be taking a stand against.  I think the Sanders campaign serves as a great example of this.

Most working-class whites are not like Santander.  I refuse to believe that or accept it as part of left-wing orthodoxy.

[Taco Truck 🚚]

Most Democrats seem to be under the thinking that the current demographics changes are going to last forever. That America is going to get less and less white forever, and that ethnic minorities are always going to vote Democratic. These are two very dangerous lines of thinking to get caught in, and are currently being used by the Democratic leadership as the basis for their strategies.

Whoa.  Take a Xanax cowboy.  Winning the White House for two more cycles is all we need to clean up the mess that is the supreme court and the federal benches.  Who in their right mind hopes to hold the White House for 100 years?

I mean 50 years from now gay rights is not going to be a campaign issue.  If intermarrying continues African Americans as we currently know them won't even exist at some point in the future.  Hispanics are already a diverse ethnic and racial block.  After a couple of generations of assimilation and intermarrying I can see tons of white Hispanics not really even identifying as "Hispanic".

In the late 1970s Jimmy Carter was the choice for evangelical Christians.  For crying out loud Michele Bachmann and her husband worked on his campaign.  Let that sink in for a minute.

Rick Perry endorsed Al Gore.

Trying to do politics today based on what is going to be going on 20 years from now is ridiculous.  Depending on what type of mess is left after two years of Clinton's I shudder to think what the next Democratic candidate is going to have to do to win the White House.

[GMantis]

I understand the sentiment against trade agreements but we should tolerate the racism of the white working class?

No, but it would be wise to tolerate their opposition to unlimited immigration. Unless that has now been decreed to be racist.

[afleitch]

We're about to see a crpto-fascist Putin stooge who will divide this country on race and will divide the Western alliance, and probably be horrible as president

That will be because of (some of) the white working class voting for him. And it's a conscious choice; people know what they are doing and know what they are thinking. And you have to accept the implications of that.

[DrScholl]

Imitating Trump and trying to run a white supremacist campaign would not be successful. Democrats have a base that is mostly minority and they have to keep that base.

White people with no education who think that six figure jobs have been stolen from them by minorities are never going to vote Democratic.

[ag]

The fact that some politicians have been able to persuade parts of white working class that they want to have lower real incomes and, in general, eat less, is not grounds for the Democratic part to adopt policies that would most directly harm this part of the society.

[White Trash]

Most Democrats seem to be under the thinking that the current demographics changes are going to last forever. That America is going to get less and less white forever, and that ethnic minorities are always going to vote Democratic. These are two very dangerous lines of thinking to get caught in, and are currently being used by the Democratic leadership as the basis for their strategies.

Whoa.  Take a Xanax cowboy.  Winning the White House for two more cycles is all we need to clean up the mess that is the supreme court and the federal benches.  Who in their right mind hopes to hold the White House for 100 years?

I mean 50 years from now gay rights is not going to be a campaign issue.  If intermarrying continues African Americans as we currently know them won't even exist at some point in the future.  Hispanics are already a diverse ethnic and racial block.  After a couple of generations of assimilation and intermarrying I can see tons of white Hispanics not really even identifying as "Hispanic".

In the late 1970s Jimmy Carter was the choice for evangelical Christians.  For crying out loud Michele Bachmann and her husband worked on his campaign.  Let that sink in for a minute.

Rick Perry endorsed Al Gore.

Trying to do politics today based on what is going to be going on 20 years from now is ridiculous.  Depending on what type of mess is left after two years of Clinton's I shudder to think what the next Democratic candidate is going to have to do to win the White House.

It just seems like a lot of those within the Democratic Party are thinking that this is how things are always going to be. The DNC seems to be a very nearsighted organization that is building a proverbial Tower of Babel that is being touted as permanent and built to last. I'm well aware that things are constantly changing, but it seems people in the party leadership are much less aware of that.

[Erc]

Here's what I don't understand about this election.

Repeated polls have shown Trump losing white college-educated voters, and his campaign seems to only be alienating them more.

Repeated polls have shown Trump getting demolished among Hispanic voters, for obvious reasons.

Given these, regardless of turnout, how does Trump win without winning 80% of white non-college-educated voters?

[Virginiá]

The current Democratic coalition of ethnic minorities and urban progressives is simply not enough to win elections cycle after cycle. And given the fact that working class whites and union workers are now leaving the party in droves, the Democratic party has to do something fast to fill in that gap. Either by making itself more palatable to working class whites (that doesn't mean becoming the GOP, mind you) or crossing its fingers and hoping that Latinos will start reproducing like rabbits.

I agree that Democrats shouldn't expect minorities to always vote Democratic as they are now, but this is also what I think in general:

1. The non-white share of the electorate is growing at roughly 2% - 3% every 4 years, and this has been consistent for decades. Birthrates do not suggest any halt to this. At this rate, in 20 years, the electorate will be 40% non-white (at 2% growth every 4 years). That is terrible for Republicans any way you spin it.

2. Republicans have not only made no progress on minority outreach, they are literally going even further backwards now and are set to lose the non-white vote by even more than 4 years ago. It's getting to the point where a Democratic presidential candidate can expect almost unanimous support from non-white voters.

3. Republicans have not been able to make any significant inroads with minorities in literally generations. They have only lost more minority groups since the 60s. Not only does Trump not signify a halt to this trend, he signifies an acceleration. Hispanic and Asian Millennials are actually more Democratic than their parents. Only AA Millennials appear to be a tiny bit less Democratic than their elders (by 1% or 2% off the top of my head)

4. I've said it 2180312 times and I'll say it again: Millennials are not going to turn conservative/Republican en masse when they age. They will probably become a little less Democratic, but Democrats already have such huge gaping support from them that even losing support still puts them way over the top. Millennials will most definitely remain a liberal/Democratic generation, just like a majority of silent generation/boomers are Republican.

-

At some point Republicans will find a way in because not doing so means they cease to become a national force. The only future for Republicans is making inroads with minorities. Anyone who thinks Republicans will somehow capture all white voters or even substantially more (15%+) of them is delusional - No data suggests they can do that - Not when Millennial whites are more Democratic than the current older voters giving Republicans their white voter edge.

However, I wouldn't be surprised if minorities give Democrats a huge edge in national politics for at least another generation or more. There is no evidence right now even suggesting a pending migration away from Democrats. It will happen eventually, but to think that it will sharply reverse in the next 20 years is very wishful thinking, imo. It's reasonable for Democrats to bank on this support now, and then they can (and surely will) reevaluate years from now when changes begin to appear.

[JerryArkansas]

Here's what I don't understand about this election.

Repeated polls have shown Trump losing white college-educated voters, and his campaign seems to only be alienating them more.

Repeated polls have shown Trump getting demolished among Hispanic voters, for obvious reasons.

Given these, regardless of turnout, how does Trump win without winning 80% of white non-college-educated voters?

He is getting close.  In the CNN poll, he's at 67 to 23 for Hillary.

[Kevin]

-- The Democrats are never going to win on racial issues alone because minorities are still a minority of the electorate.

-- The Democrats' base is the working class, and the vast majority of that is working class whites. That has never changed, nor should it ever change, given the positions of the parties.

-- Trump has made a strong red meat appeal to working class whites on immigration and trade. He positions himself as making a business proposition (which he certainly understands): their vote in exchange for promising to look out for their 'interests'.

-- The Democrats have traditionally made this exact same kind of appeal on economic issues, but are letting themselves get outflanked.

-- There are a lot of people out there who aren't thrilled about Trump, but all they're hearing from the Democrats is, "shame on you for being a racist". Human nature suggests this doesn't work.

-Not to mention the fact that Hillary is corrupt and incompetent. She wouldn't even had gotten her party's nomination if a FBI investigation and a nominating process wasn't  totally rigged in her favor.

If the GOP had picked anyone but Trump they probably would be winning in November.

[Ljube]

-- The Democrats are never going to win on racial issues alone because minorities are still a minority of the electorate.

-- The Democrats' base is the working class, and the vast majority of that is working class whites. That has never changed, nor should it ever change, given the positions of the parties.

-- Trump has made a strong red meat appeal to working class whites on immigration and trade. He positions himself as making a business proposition (which he certainly understands): their vote in exchange for promising to look out for their 'interests'.

-- The Democrats have traditionally made this exact same kind of appeal on economic issues, but are letting themselves get outflanked.

-- There are a lot of people out there who aren't thrilled about Trump, but all they're hearing from the Democrats is, "shame on you for being a racist". Human nature suggests this doesn't work.

-Not to mention the fact that Hillary is corrupt and incompetent. She wouldn't even had gotten her party's nomination if a FBI investigation and a nominating process wasn't  totally rigged in her favor.

Furthermore right now, if the GOP had picked anyone but Trump they probably would be winning in
November.

No. The others would be losing in November. Trump alone has a chance due to his unique regional appeal not picked up by polls well.

[White Trash]

You make good points Virginia, but I think you're overconfident in the party's ability to maintain a coalition for an entire GENERATION. Millennials will likely continue to be a Democratic voting bloc, but it is entirely unrealistic for the Democratic Party to maintain power for an entire generation simply by continuing to do what they have done for the past eight years.

The issue with the modern Republican party lies in its inability to adapt to changing demographics. I just would hate to see the Democratic Party get so overconfident in their current coalition that they fall into the same trap. The DNC is already in the mindset that as long as they continue to pander to the youth and to minorities, but I'm inclined to believe that the party is pretty close to milking the last few drops out of these groups.