While I'm sure as hell no fan of Trump, or many of his fans, I think I'm understanding this whole thing more now. Unfortunately, I think it's pretty clear the Democratic Party hasn't learned a ******* thing.
As people like Matthews and Carville and Bloomberg and Manchin try to sound the alarm bells for the party, it's clear that the party has been taken over by the loonies who insist that PC and Identity Politics are at the core of the party's worldview.
To put this as succinctly as I can,
I think Trumpism is PUSHBACK against years and years of weaponized PC and Identity Politics. It's a primal scream of pent-up frustration. Burn it down, While much of it is pretty ugly to me, I do understand it, because I don't think that much of what the hardcore leftists who are in control of the party is actually American liberalism. I was called a racist for being against the ACA.
I warned about it long before Trump came down the elevator.
I just didn't know how strong it would be.
June 23, 2013:
Always nice to see pushback against the PC Police.
November 14, 2015:
Spin & deflect for the PC-Protected religion, and you'll get the pushback you deserve. Tough shit. Be responsible for your words.
July 27, 2013:
Looks like the PC Police are seeing that their phony "you're a racist" schtick isn't scaring some folks like it used to. It's still relatively effective, but the pushback is getting stronger. Hopefully the momentum will continue, and they'll have to actually engage in intellectually honest conversation for a change.
This doesn't mean that the Democrats will lose in November. I sure don't know. But I think I do understand this.
Sources:
Post 199:
Should Dean's life be ruined for saying the N-word 30-40-50 years ago?
Post 49:
The French people have some serious balls
Post 135:
How Obama Poisoned Race Relations in America
I think you're utterly full of shit. Trump got elected because the US voters are sick of politicians who promise "change" and to have their concerns taken seriously, They want "good jobs" that pay a living wage. They want affordable health care. They want infrastructure that is up to date and that works. And they want a government that listens to THEIR needs, not those of Wall Street or the top 10%.
Trump hasn't done ANY of the things he promised the workers of America. Nobody received the $4000 raises from the corporate tax cut, which Trump promised. 2% of workers received a small one-time bonus - $1000 seems to be the going sum, but raises of 3% are the norm. 3% of $20,000 is $50 per week. Low wage workers didn't even get enough money to buy a week's groceries - for one person.
Trump thinks it's all about jobs and white privilege. It's not. It's all about a fair chance, which workers no longer have, especially now that children graduate university $40,000 in debt.
Recently, a new study was published which said that the USA is leading the first world in yet another category: Elder poverty.
Elderly Poverty Statistics - Economic Security | NCOA
You keep touting the "free market" but here's what the free market has given you:
1. Healthcare: The most expensive healthcare in the world, which more than 30 million Americans have no access to. You spend twice as much per capita for healthcare, and yet you have the highest rates of infant mortality, materal mortality in childbirth, diabetes, obesity, and death from heart disease, and opiod addiction in the first world. Yours is the only country in the first world whose life expectancy is declining.
2. Education: The most expensive education system in the world. The one which requires the most direct cash output by the parents, in addition to government funds. The USA is one of two first world countries which spends less money educating the children of the poor, than it does on the children of the rich. The other country is Turkey.
The biggest reason why Canada survived losing it's auto industry without the kinds of problems we're seeing in the USA is government funded retraining. As industries left Canada, the government offered free retraining for workers displaced by automation or off-shoring. Added to which we have no-copay tax funded healthcare for all. People were able to transition to jobs in the new economy more easily.
3. Infrastructure: The USA once lead the world. You invented the technology. And then you left it up to the private sector to build your communications networks, and your utility companies. So you have strong networks in the heavily populated states, and Middle America has no access to the high speed networks business is currently using. In an effort to cut taxes, you've cut road repair and bridge maintenance, and there's little to no new construction. There's been no new construction since the start of Obama's first term, under his stimulus package, and even that was "shovel ready jobs" - stuff that could be quickly started.
Trump is ignoring all three of these issues, and worse, attempting to further undermine public education with charter vouchers for all. Didn't work in New Orleans. All it does is deprive poor kids of public schools, and ensure that public schools get the handicapped, the slow, and the troublemakers, making a quality education ever more elusive for the children of the poor, without which poor children are condemned to a lifetime of poverty and/or crime.
Biggest reasons companies choose a country to locate in: an educated work force; infrastructure to support the business; and a reasonable standard of living for their employees and their families. The cost of healthcare in the USA is a disincentive to investment.