Whose Base is Bigger - Democrats or Republicans?
By Thom Hartmann A...
In 1980, the Democratic and Republican parties went in different directions with regard to how to win elections. Knowing that so-called "swing voters" only represent about 5% of voters, Republicans worked hard to get out their base of hard-core right wingers. Believing that they could bring "swing voters" to their side, Democrats move to the right and aggressively compromised the ideals of the new deal, talking instead like Eisenhower Republicans. Time has shown that the Republicans had a better understanding of the American electorate then the Democrats.The big question for 2020 is twofold: will the Democrats learn from this and embrace a base strategy that brings to the polls more than 5% of voters who otherwise wouldn't have voted; and will Donald Trump's immigration and fear-driven base strategy of putting crying brown children into cages like animals work, or has his Bizzarre behavior shrunk his base to the point that his base strategy no longer is effective for Republicans?
-Thom
Comments
#2
Regarding putting immigrants in cages, check out the following article from the Associated Press including its photos.
AP FACT CHECK:
2014 photo wrongly used
to hit Trump policies
By ANNE FLAHERTY and CALVIN WOODWARD; May 29, 2018
ASSOCIATED PRESS
https://apnews.com/a98f26f7c9424b44b7fa927ea1acd4d4
#3
Hi Diane,
A busy day today....I read what you wrote in the last comments...:)
Great Trump rally tonight, hope you got to see it.
Just for fun
enjoy!
#4
700101,
It's sad... Thoms not happy unless he gets at least 2 lies in every story.
Thanks for the corection!
#5
Truly sad.
Now the trolls are pretending that Trump didn't have an evil policy that resulted in locking up little brown kids in cages after being ripped from their families, despite extensive evidence and testimony to the contrary.
Linking to an old article with outdated facts about a random incident of false evidence or people spouting off on Twitter does not make this pathetic, distinctly Republican scandal go away. Sorry, two-thirds of the electorate in 17 short months will still remember these horrible atrocities committed in our name and burned into our memory. Dead-enders lying about it only reinforces the truth of it.
Trump's immigration policy is racist to the core, a fake emergency to satiate a psychopath's simmering cruelty, who has no empathy for anyone but himself. Tony Schwartz, who regretfully wrote "The Art of the Deal" for Trump, said that even his own kids can't stand him.
No matter how Trump trolls try to slice and dice facts to fit their false narratives, human rights abuses in the United States have only worsened under Trump, particularly at the southern border in a failed policy to handle asylum seekers.
Perhaps Greg Sargent said it best: "Trump’s threat of mass arrests stinks of weakness and failure."
Here's what Human Rights Watch had to say in their 2019 World Report about the United States:
"The United States continued to move backward on human rights at home and abroad in the second year of President Donald Trump’s administration. With Trump’s Republican party controlling the legislative branch in 2018, his administration and Congress were able to pass laws, implement regulations, and carry out policies that violate or undermine human rights."
And further into the report:
"More than 2,500 families were forcibly separated at the US border as the Trump administration targeted parents traveling with children for criminal prosecution. As part of this policy, children with disabilities were separated from their families, including in one case, a 10-year-old girl with Down Syndrome from her mother.
"Though a federal court and tremendous public outcry put a stop to mass separations in late June, reunifications of hundreds of families lagged for months. According to media reports, families continued to be separated on a smaller scale after Trump issued an executive order supposedly ending the practice. Reportedly, many of these continued separations were based on vague or unsubstantiated allegations of wrongdoing or minor violations against the parents. Ramped-up criminal prosecutions for illegal entry continued. Mental health professionals warned that separation was very likely to cause trauma, both immediate and long-lasting.
"Hundreds of parents were deported separately from their children, including many whose asylum claims were improperly dismissed by US border agents. A June administrative ruling by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions sought to restrict access to asylum for people claiming persecution by non-state actors, including victims of domestic and gang violence. In November, the administration issued an interim final rule barring migrants who enter between ports of entry from asylum, in violation of US and international law; it was temporarily enjoined by a federal judge. A peaceful march by migrants on November 26 seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border ended with US border agents lobbing teargas projectiles at migrants, including young children."
-------------
Two more pertinent sources:
#6
Good Wednesday HotCoffee. I am about to pour a cup right now as I was teaching a basic pistol class last night to a group that included young women and get this, three Muslim Clerics. We are setting up training classes and creating armed teams that will be present in churches, synagogues and mosques in our cities.
That class prevented me the opportunity to see President Trump's rally so with my hot coffee,I will be watching it over the internet this morning.
Cannabis does have medicinal benefits and I am a big supporter.
As for Hatrmanns lies. I don't think he even knows what he is babbling about. Repeat it often enough and ....
Maybe later today.
#7
G'afternoon Diane,
Whose Base is Bigger - Democrats or Republicans?
Well lets see....
PRESIDENT TRUMP Has BIGGER ORLANDO CROWD THAN DISNEY — Mountain of Media… to Joe Biden’s 85 People
Joe Biden scored 85 people at his rally last week in Iowa.
It was an exciting stop for Creepy Sleepy.
WOW! Trump Hauls In Whopping $25 Million on Launch Day For Re-Election Campaign
Who to believe ? Thom or your lying eyes??
Back soon.
#8
...and, naturally, a lying Trump troll (#6) lies about lying:
"As for Hatrmanns [sic] lies. I don't think he even knows what he is babbling about. Repeat it often enough and ...." --Dianereynolds
The only truth in that statement is, yes, you "don't think."
The big takeaway here is that Trump's proselytes have been so thoroughly lobotomized by a closed feedback loop in the wingnut galaxy, they can no longer (if indeed they ever could) distinguish a truth from a lie. These seriously disturbed minds simply lack the skillset and mental versatility it takes to conduct objective research, preferring instead to languish in a prison of ignorance built on decades of Republican big lies. Trump is only the latest manifestation of superstition, mythology, and a hopelessly contorted distortion of reality.
Case in point: Lost on gun-totin' Granny is the delicious irony of falsely accusing Thom of lying (Where's the proof?) while lamenting that she couldn't attend a liefest palooza by King Trump the Liar-- someone who has lied directly to her oh-so-trusting face well over 10,000 times in just two and a half years. Although, since he has rapidly increased his rate of lying to the American people (and the world), it's likely over 15,000 times by now, since the latest tally by investigative reporters -- or in Trump's duplicitous vernacular, "FAKE NEWS!"
Really? Guns and "armed teams" roaming around in "churches, synagogues and mosques"? It sounds just like the war-torn countries in the Middle East (brought to us by another immoral Republican president, along with his CIA Whisperer, Dickhead Cheney). Gee, you'd think all-powerful beings could at least protect their own flocks from evildoers, like waving a magic wand or something.
Otherwise, what good are they?
Or, perhaps the gods prefer working through the people and the system for common-sense legislation, as have most modern, civilized nations: banning high-capacity magazines and weapons of war on civilian streets, restricting them to armories and shooting ranges; licensing and insurance requirements for lawful gun owners (to compensate victims, as in automobile accidents) in case their guns are stolen and used in crimes; strengthen background checks and enforcement; prevent ownership by violent felons, crazy people, terrorists, and other looney tunes, such as white-male, radical Christianists who hate people of color and who account for most of the terrorist attacks in the United States.
And what would Jesus do?
Nope. Republicans' so-called "leadership" is captivated by donations and bribes from the NRA, a thoroughly corrupt organization from top to bottom. Ever mindful of their deplorable basket-case base -- macho (haha) civilians who only play at soldiering -- they have pugnaciously resisted nearly every common-sense proposal ...and, no doubt, sharp admonishment from the pulpit and their preferred cloud being.
Otherwise, what good are they?
#9
Trump troll (#7) and Granny butt-buddy:
ditto
#10
Diane....a little humor!
San Francisco Holds Nation’s First Plastic Straw Buyback Event
https://www.imao.us/index.php/2019/06/san-francisco-holds-nations-first-plastic-straw-buyback-event/
and
New Blame-a-Lyzer App Automatically Determines Who Deserves to Have You Blame Them for Your Problems
and last but not least
Liberals Furious Over Trump’s “Secret Russian Ties” Men’s Neckwear Line
later!
#11
#12
Everybody knows that the illegal immigrant detention policiies were holdovers from previous administrations. Wait, better let me rephrase that statement a little. Everybody with a brain knows that illegal detention policies were holdovers from previous administrations.
If a democrat came out and said that they were really going to enforce the current immigration laws, they might actually have a chance to beat Trump. But as long as they embrace open borders, they will have trouble in most parts of the country. It might work in the primaries, but not in the general election.
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I vote for the latter as more likely. The moderate, traditional Republican base is shrinking faster than Trump's atrophied brain and wee cock. Never mind "Sleepy Joe" -- any Democrat with a pulse and a microphone could beat the flaming orange bigot now fouling the Oval Office, especially after four years of kakistocracy. So they may as well choose the most progressive, just as Republicans in 2016 chose the most regressive.