Republicans admit the GOP’s midterm forecast is bleak. But they’re clinging to two hopes: voters’ fear and loathing of Democrats.
“It’s going to be a hate election,” a Republican tied to President Trump’s political operation told Axios. “Voters have to hate the Dems more than they hate us. And we have material to work with.”
Why it matters: There’s broad GOP frustration that Trump has made challenging midterm elections worse by not focusing heavily on pocketbook issues — especially the tax cuts Republicans won — while launching the Iran war, which raised gas prices and fueled inflation.
Trump’s prime-time speech Thursday night about China’s alleged influence campaign targeting U.S. voters six years ago did little to assuage those concerns.
“I have yet to understand how we win the midterms by talking about what happened in 2020,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told Axios.
The Republicans’ plan will probably work too. Hate is the opiate of the masses. Some say its religion, but religion is merely a syringe.
You need to think of power coalitions and long term policy positions.
Again, you’re stuck in binary short term thinking. I need to be more long term and strategic than you do.
And yes, transphobic DNC candidates losing makes the party less transphobic in the long run. We need to make transphobia completely toxic in the Democratic party, and that’s only possible if transphobic candidates lose. Every win by a Dem transphobe means more transphobes winning the next primary cycle. Look at Labor in the UK now. They’ve been completely taken over by TERFs.
Again, you’re still stuck in this thought pattern where the only election that matters is the one in front of you. I’m thinking decades into the future here.
Right now, we are seeing a transformation of the Democratic party. DSA candidates for instance are pulling the party further left than it has gone in decades. Do you think that could have ever happened without Trump being elected. (Please don’t put words in my mouth and pretend I’m saying that means it’s a net positive that Trump won. You’re better than that.)
The only reason the DSA candidates are doing well now is that the old common sense understanding that corporate centrists are “more electable” has been completely shattered. That would not have been possible without the 2016 and 2024 elections.
Remember, parties are coalitions. There are both trans allies and TERFS in the Democratic party. And TERFS need to be seen as complete losers. Elect a TERF? Lose the general election as all the queer people sit it out.
Small minority groups have no real political power on their own. Queer people are never going to be able to win elections on their own. The only power small minority groups have is the ability to work as a spoiler. And if you’re not willing to exercise that power, you will have none.
And frankly, if both parties turn transphobe, this whole country can burn to the ground as far as I care. You don’t get to expect someone’s political support after you’ve decided they don’t count as a human being.
My fellow, there’s a nonzero chance we engage in civil war in the next 2 years. What the heck do you mean “long run”?
Take it from one marginalized community to another; your issues will not be won in a campaign trail. It will be fought for through years, decades of demonstration to a point that the public outcry can’t be ignored. If there’s one thing about the establishment, it’s their policies shift with the sand. Trans support increases from the public and establishment dems will eventually get the message.
I have a trans family member. I am personally invested in their rights as a person be respected.
We disagree completely. Up until 2 years ago I think we would agree that the DNC, for the most part, supported trans rights. When did we start seeing a handful of DNC candidates shifting on this position? When the candidates winning elections, the GOP, went transphobic. So the DNC losing more elections won’t make them less transphobic, it will make them more. We’ve seen this in real time in the last 2 years.
WTF. Its a good thing I never said anything of the sort. I don’t even think you need me in this conversation when you’re the one putting words in my mouth, and then criticizing me for it.
You are the one advocating for the GOP and voting for GOP candidates directly opposed to trans rights. You are directly hurting my trans sister. You are the person with the torch setting fire to the country.
It depends entirely on why they lose. Democrats didn’t lose in 2024 because of transphobia. Polls show trans issues were near the bottom of voter priorities.
When a party loses an election, politicians start to innovate. They change their messaging and start modifying their platform to try out something different. If those changes improve electoral results, those changes will stick. If they’re a net negative, they’ll end.
What we’re seeing with the Democrats is experimental transphobia. They’re testing the waters to see if it improves their odds. I as a trans person need to do everything I can to make sure that experiment is a resounding failure. Most Democrats aren’t openly transphobic…at least not YET. It’s unusual and “innovative” to be a transphobic Democrat. If a Democrat experiments with transphobia, and they win an election, that teaches every other Democrat that transphobia is a winning strategy. If they lose in landslide because the queer vote abandoned them for their betrayal, the experiment fails, and other Democrats will be less likely to take up transphobia.
You were almost certainly going to. After all, you just said I advocated for the GOP. Which should be pretty obvious I don’t support. Whenever I point out that sometimes trans people need to vote against some Democrats for larger strategic reasons, someone with a room temperature IQ will come out of the woodwork and say, “well that must mean you love Trump!” I wasn’t accusing you of putting words in my mouth. I was asking you not to do that. However, you still did it anyway when you accused me of advocating for the GOP.
That is not the case. In almost all scenarios, I support voting for a Democrat over a Republican. But a Democrat experimenting with transphobia against a Republican? Regardless of how that race goes, a transphobe is going to win. From my perspective, that particular election is already lost. At that point my priority is making sure the transphobic Democrat has as little credibility as possible. And that’s achieved by making sure they lose by the largest margin possible.
You will only see this as advocating against trans issues if you have the future time horizon of a fruit fly.
I had a half written post responding to what you wrote before I realized just how far off we are from one another in both ideology and tone. Clearly I’ve deleted all of it. I feel sorry for you, but worse, I feel bad knowing the damage your actions will have on your cause and that of my family. Still, I wish you good luck in life and hope you don’t end up regretting your choices of who you vote for.
Feel free to respond to my final post to you if you like if you want to put a coda on this thread for others, but I’ll never see it.