So... Did the Democratic Party learn anything? Did the Republicans?

Discussion in 'Latest US & World News' started by Jolly Penguin, Jan 21, 2021.

  1. Jolly Penguin

    Jolly Penguin Well-Known Member

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    So, the nightmare that was the Trump presidency (complete with an invasion of the capitol) is over. Trump has left.

    Did the Democratic Party learn anything from this that will make Trump 2.0 less likely?

    Will they listen to the people now or will they merely pander with woke politics while continuing to bow to corporate power, continue the expensive war machine, and laugh at left wing populists with actual policy ideas like Bernie and Yang?

    Can I expect to see the American lower and middle class continue to suffer more and more, as the Democrats continue to distract with woke buzzwords, as the Republicans continue to screw over conservatives while pandering to their talking points while taking their money and giving it to the rich?

    Will the Republican Party fall into an internal civil war now between Trumpists and old school corporate Democrats like Romney? Will they start listening to and addressing the concerns of their conservative base without just talking points?

    If neither party learns a thing, which appears could be the case, what will the next populist effort be? The Democrats and Republicans ignored Occupy Wall Street. The Republicans hijacked the tea party. Donald Trump was elected in large part as a middle finger to establishment politics, but he turned out to be a useless narcissist.

    So what next? Will the People's Party rise up? Will the Green or Libertarian parties grow in power? Will riots become commonplace? Will the greed and influence of kleptocrats on both Democrats and Republicans weaken the country to the point of a civil war or a foreign invasion being feasible?

    It will be an intetesting future.
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2021
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  2. fmw

    fmw Well-Known Member

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    Nothing has changed inherently in American culture. We are still the same people with the same beliefs and motivations. I don't see anything changing significantly with American politics. The two party system will continue as will the political divide. I thought the pandemic might reduce the divide but it actually deepened it. Life goes on.
     
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  3. Indlib

    Indlib Well-Known Member

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    You are correct. To see how little beliefs have changed between the two parties, one only has to watch a few All in The family episodes. Archie Bunker and Mike ("meathead") were having the same arguements with the same talking points as we are today. The difference is media companies are more efficiently exploiting these differences to create hate simply because hate drives up ad bait revenue.
     
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  4. An Old Guy

    An Old Guy Well-Known Member

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    You know, I was impressed at how well the Republicans did in the 2020 election in spite of the top of the ticket being weak. Republicans picked up 10 seats in the House (and did extremely well in the popular House vote) and managed to almost hold the Senate in a cycle not as friendly for them. Remove the Trump factor from GA and I think Republicans would have held the Senate. This is something Republicans can build on and the Democrats should take heed at the results - which I believe they are in the process of doing, if they're smart. Right now things are tighter than one might think. The real weakness for Republicans was the top of the ticket - Trump.........
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2021
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  5. fmw

    fmw Well-Known Member

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    I think a bigger culprit is the internet itself. It puts and pits people anonymously and they say things they would never say face to face. But, of course, the media has become political hacks and that hasn't helped at all. I used to love watching All in the Family. I think Caroll OConner played his role brilliantly. I wonder if you ever watched In the Heat of the Night where he played a small town police chief. Another great acting performance for him. Great fun.
     
  6. Poohbear

    Poohbear Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Why do you blame the Democrat and Republican parties? There were many moderate members
    on both sides were voted out of office by their own party supporters. The extremism in America
    comes from the general public.
     
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  7. Aleksander Ulyanov

    Aleksander Ulyanov Well-Known Member

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    So wait. You spend a whole para denigrating extremists and yet when you're given the very definition of a moderate you call him a sellout?

    Jeebus, no WONDER we lose all the time.
     
  8. Independent4ever

    Independent4ever Well-Known Member

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    Agree with everything you said

    The "defund the police" and the riots/looting really hurt the Dems

    If not for Covid, Biden would have had very little to run on
     
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  9. Jolly Penguin

    Jolly Penguin Well-Known Member

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    I blame the political parties because they run the system. They have corrupted it and they benefit from the corruption. They do the bidding of lobbyists and donors, instead of the people they pretend to represent. They fail to listen to their respective bases, delivering platitudes and empty promises, and continuing further and further towards complete oligarchy.

    We've seen uprisings over the past decade where the people are noticing this and trying to rise up against it. Occupy Wall Steet was that. The Tea Party (in its inception) was that. Trump getting voted in reflected that as well. None of them worked out. So what's next?
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2021
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  10. Poohbear

    Poohbear Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I can't remember the names, but over the years I have read articles about state and federal elections in
    America where moderate voices were voted down. And it became a vicious cycle - one side nominates
    woke canditates so the other side nominates a hard line right winger. In part Trump was voted into power
    by people fed up with the leftward drift of liberal politics.
     
  11. Jolly Penguin

    Jolly Penguin Well-Known Member

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    That is counter to the facts, at least in Trump's case. Trump sailed to nomination for his party, and then took the presidency because people were in an anti-establishment uproar. Jeb, Hillary, etc are symbols of establishment politics. Trump was an outsider. Hillary was nominated over Bernie (They DIDN'T put up the far left candidate).

    If Biden governs like an establishment politician with all the swamp intact, I think we can expect a Trump 2.0.
     
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  12. Poohbear

    Poohbear Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I make a prediction - if Biden is a moderate President it will tamper down political
    agitation in America. True, Sanders didn't get the nomination, but not only was
    Hillary seen as more liberal than necessary, but she was unpopular as well.
     
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  13. Richard Franks

    Richard Franks Well-Known Member

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    Hillary had too much baggage which what I heard.
     
  14. Richard Franks

    Richard Franks Well-Known Member

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    Trump left us in a trillion dollar debt
     
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  15. dairyair

    dairyair Well-Known Member

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    Vote out all incumbents every time.
    We the voters control that agenda.

    We just need to dump the 3 corrupt party system.
    Vote often. Vote anti incumbent.
     
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  16. dairyair

    dairyair Well-Known Member

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    True. America's no longer view a threat to all Americans a threat. Just the other party is the enemy.
     
  17. dairyair

    dairyair Well-Known Member

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    Vote out incumbents. Voter 1.0
     
  18. fmw

    fmw Well-Known Member

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    A good example of what I said.
     
  19. Poohbear

    Poohbear Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I think America's debt is about 20 times that figure. And about to get a lot worse.
     
  20. Eleuthera

    Eleuthera Well-Known Member Donor

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    Hell yes the Democrats learned something!

    They learned how to steal an election in a most professional style.
     
  21. Poohbear

    Poohbear Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    How did they do that? I mean, no-one found evidence of stealing, did they?
     
  22. dairyair

    dairyair Well-Known Member

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    Right from under incompetent Republicans. What a sorry bunch of politicians they must be.
     
  23. Hey Nonny Mouse

    Hey Nonny Mouse Well-Known Member

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    It's too soon to know what lessons, if any, the two parties will take away from this.

    So much hangs on what happens to voter enthusiasm on both sides now. Neither Dems nor GOP is very popular with it's own base. Yet Dems turned out in force to remove Trump and cons turned out in force to stop that from happening. But which side will care more about whether the GOP gets in once Trump is gone?

    In particular, so much is going to hang on who wins the GOP primaries. Anyone who is not a party establishment figure is a wildcard.
     
  24. Jolly Penguin

    Jolly Penguin Well-Known Member

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    That means they must be really good at it! :p
     
  25. Jolly Penguin

    Jolly Penguin Well-Known Member

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    I think there is a good chance that the Republican nominee will be another non-establishment figure. The Republicans seem to have a more democratic (ironic) nomination process than the Democrats do, and anti-establishment fervor seems to be ever growing. I do think that had the DNC not worked things behind the scenes, HIllary would have had a harder time beating Bernie and Joe would have as well.
     

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