Much has been said and written about why and how the Democrats find themselves out of the White House, and in the minority in Congress. Not to mention State Houses. We all know the arguments, so let's focus on something else.
Good idea, because basically you keep getting shown how you are wrong, and you keep repeating the same things.
It's clear now that the Democrats' strategy for 2018 and 2020 is not to change any of their behaviors, whether you agree with them or not. The strategy is to bring Trump down as far as possible and then make those elections a simple referendum.
That was essentially the Republicans' strategy with Obama, and the Democrats can't be blamed for pointing at that and saying, "See? Let's just do that. It worked. And it's easier". That's where we are. That's where our politics are.
Couple of points. You act like this started with Obama. It can also be said that the Democrats did the same thing with Bush in 06 and 08. That the Republicans did the same thing with Clinton. That the Democrats TRIED to do the same thing with Reagan (although they failed in the general, they did make pretty decent gains in 82 and 86).
The fact is, the MIDTERM is ALWAYS a referendum on the incumbent. So is any election with an incumbant in it.
Second, the Democrats should not really waste time trying to convince working class white males to not vote Republican by pandering to them or abandoning their commitment to women, minorities or gays. You go home with the one who brought you to the dance. You aren't going to win these guys over. ****, George W. Bush wrecked the economy, sent a lot of their kids home in boxes, and McCain STILL got 55% of the White vote,
Third and final point that you won't be able to answer, because you'll just whine about how I'm being mean to you. The elections SHOULD be a referendum on Trump. Trump represents a very dark turn in our body politic, the kind of thing where we've looked at demagogues in other countries and assured ourselves could never happen here.
Well. It happened here. Now what are we going to do about it.
"Um, um, whine about how Democrats aren't pandering to the same awful deplorables!!!"
The press and the Democrats are going to minimize/avoid any positive developments in areas such as the economy, and they're going to focus on Trump and his behaviors.
As well they should. I mean, shit the economy in 1936 Germany was pretty awesome, but there was still some awful shit about to go down.
They should focus on Trump's behavior because his behavior is truly awful. Between mocking Gold Star Families and spewing racial slurs, how do you NOT pretend these things are happening.
So given that, why won't that work in 2018 and 2020?
It probably will. But more likely, Trump is going to really **** it up. which will work even better for the Democrats. It's just a question of how many people end up dying because we treated picking Leader of the Free World like selecting the Winner of American Idol.