What Will The Dems Do When The Post-MAGA GOP Doesn't Run A Sociopath?
Three days before the 1936 election. FDR addressed a rally at Madison Square Garden.During the speech, he said “We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob. Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me— and I welcome their hatred.”
It was his last public address of the campaign and no one can deny that three days later those last 4 words— “I welcome their hatred”— reverberated at the polls. FDR beat Republican Alf Landon 27,747,636 (60.8%) to 16,679,543 (36.5%). He carried every state but two and won the electoral college 523 to 8. Landon, the sitting governor of Kansas, lost his own state by 8 points. Roosevelt’s coattails resulted in a lopsided Congress.
House
Democrats- 334 seats
Republicans- 88 seats
Senate
Democrats- 75 seats
Republicans- 17 seats
That’s what I call a mandate! Today, the Democrats’ strategy is to win by just a few votes and to do it by tacking right after the convention, towards Republican-lite positions, which they thereby validate, while turning off some of their own base. It’s unimaginable that Franklin Roosevelt would have ever embraced the “lesser of two evils” strategy that motivates today's careerist Democratic Party establishment. Funny, because FDR’s approach locked in adherence to his policy agenda for half a century until Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s!
Today the embodiment of what Roosevelt denounced as the national enemies seeking to control government through oligarchy— “business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism”— is Elon Musk, who announced yesterday he will be attending the MAGA rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Musk, reported Newsweek, has “intensified his criticism, expressing concerns over government policies and their impact on America's future. ‘Unless something is done about the bureaucratic smothering of America, humanity will never reach the stars,’ Musk wrote. He emphasized his belief that re-electing Trump is crucial for preventing ‘continued expansion of oppressive big government, making progress impossible.’” He also passed along an absurd MAGA lie that they all tell each other knowingly: “Kamala's voting track record when she was in the Senate was to the left of Bernie Sanders! She was rated most far left of all 100 senators. Not a moderate at all.”
Musk, who has put hundreds of millions of dollars into the Republican campaigns, couldn’t be more partisan is he was a candidate himself. He repeats every MAGA talking point as though it were the gospel. “He voiced apprehension about immigration policies, suggesting that the Democratic Party aims to legalize undocumented immigrants to secure electoral advantages. ‘The Kamala Dem machine wants to legalize all illegals, which would turn all swing states blue immediately and ensure permanent one-party rule in America!’ Musk said.”
Does Kamala welcome his hatred? The hatred of a comic book villain who is also the world's richest man? Ha! She probably has her brother-in-law, Tony West, working on some kind of back-channel outreach! These days, the Democrats welcome the hatred of Sister Soulja, Naomi Wolf, Jeremiah Wright, Black Lives Matter and Michael Moore, not those who are fighting for “Government by organized money.”
Who is she and her party— Hugo’s Jean Valjean from Les Misérables? Tolkien’s Aragorn battling Sauron in The Lord of The Rings? Don Quixote? King Arthur? Bilbo from The Hobbit?
Despite Trump’s— and Musk’s— lies about her being to the left of Bernie, she sure is spending a lot of time tap dancing around progressive issues and wooing conservatives (and Republicans). I don’t know much about Reed Hastings’ politics, but I can tell you that Reid Hoffman and Mark Cuban are no friends of progressive policy. But they’re among the “prominent entrepreneurs [who] are launching ‘Business Leaders for Harris.’ Yesterday, Max Cohen reported that the organization is filled with businessmen who voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. “The outreach to the traditionally right-leaning business community comes as the Harris campaign seeks to win over independent and conservative voters suspicious of Trump.”
Are purple guest and green guest the same person? How about teal guest and darker green guest? Time for them to get their own handles if they want to have credibility. Howie?
Bernie spent 2 presidential election cycles giving speeches like FDR's epic 1936 speech. The very idea of Bernie becoming the party standard-bearer became an anathema to most of the party. Harris "outgrew" her initial support of single payer and opposition to fracking.
I'd also note that FDR openly confronted the nakedly political SCOTUS of his time, which is something that the current WH has never considered doing.
Whatever one thinks of Semafor, Dave Weigel has a good piece
on the move to the center/right:
https://www.semafor.com/article/10/04/2024/kamala-harris-chases-the-disaffected-republican-vote
Yup Bernie - the modern FDR - should’ve won the nomination instead of Biden in 2020 but the traditional Dems - I’m looking at you Obama - would not have that. Way too much money involved. A lot of MAGA types would’ve voted for Bernie. Yet Biden did the job by beating the Orange Menace and turned out to be pretty good policy wise.