I dunno there was a really good article posted in the LC thread from wiz kid who worked on the obama campaign and was one of the top data analysts after. He said many politicians are to the left of their constituents and after Bernie I kind of believe him. Yeah the media and democratic establishment had a lot to do with it as well, but I just think most older democrats aren’t anywhere near as liberal as we think. We’re all in our own little bubble but it’s pretty clear most democrats in this country are super, super moderate and they almost have to move to the right to win in this fucked up country.
Like defunding the police is SUPER unpopular even among democrats. But still I think they can do some accountability stuff democrats would like.
“Left” is impossibly vague. Pretty big flaw in that article that it’s undefined. Did he mean pro-gay marriage? Pro-M4A? Property is theft?
But in the sense PocketChads is talking about here, all administrations end up to the right in Law and Order. Easy for Senator Obama to do something like praise whistleblowers, or sympathize with OWS protestors, but it’s different when they actually are working with DoD, FBI, CBP, ETC.
Lots of laws are unconstitutional. They arrest your stuff like your car and sell it at auction and the courts say that’s ok to do without due process because it’s not punishment. Whenever speech is a problem for the police, the courts say it’s yelling fire in a crowded theater and that’s that.
If Biden we’re to become president, he could tell Border Patrol to back the eff off. idk, it’s possible he’ll get enough pressure from BLM to do something like that.
I don’t think that’s likely at all. People gather in ridiculous crowds and wear diapers just to watch a stupid ball drop in NYC on NYE. They for sure aren’t going home because a Democrat wins the presidential election.
I could see the protests dying down if this were JUST about the murder of George Floyd. Trump leaves office, Biden assumes command, he offers a token promise that this is the start of a new era. But no one going to the protests at this point believes Trump is the sole source of this problem, nor that Biden is ever going to be a magic bullet (excuse me, a magic chokehold).
These aren’t people who want a token compensation. It’d be different if there’d been ONE highly publicized murder, but the police have continued to brutalize and murder Black people and protestors IN THE MIDST OF THE PROTESTS. It’s been captured on video and publicized throughout the world. That alone is enough to keep their blood boiling on both sides. If the protestors would just lay down and die, the police would go back to brutalizing and murdering civilians. If the police would just stop brutalizing and murdering civilians, protestors would stop demanding the police stop brutalizing and murdering civilians.
And that is only the start of it. COVID, unemployment, and generations of forced inequality are also fueling the protests. Trump is guaranteeing that tens of thousands more will die as a direct result of his actions, but he is also highlighting that no one is innocent in this. The GOP, the cops, as well as the Dems. The protests will continue, and the thing that makes me look forward with hope is the increasing conviction with every new day of protests that a hundred years from now, we will see this as a watershed moment that paved the way for meaningful change the likes of which those of us living through it could not imagine possible.
Cause protests probably don’t have a high approval rating among the donor base.
Establishment Democrats are terrified of being labeled soft on crime or anti-cop.
So I partially agree and partially disagree. I agree that voters are left of the Democratic party on war and policing, intellectually. If you poll them on these issues, you’ll probably find a significant majority tend to be against unnecessary war and for police reforms. But I think if you let the GOP hit them for a week or two with some fear mongering on cable news, then loop back around and poll specifically, you’ll find they shift way right.
Example:
Pollster: Should we have more or less wars in the Middle East if there is no direct threat to US national security? Dem voters: Less. Like none!
GOP: WMDs WMDs WMDs SADDAM WANTS TO KILL US ALL IT’LL BE THE NEXT 9/11!!!
Pollster: Should we bomb the shit out of Iraq then put some troops there and kick Saddam’s ass? Dem voters: HELL YES!
On the other hand, I think if you stick to economic issues and healthcare, that dynamic is less important (although the socialism scare still works pretty well, that’s changing).
This is why progressive candidates do well if they make it about jobs and healthcare, but not so well if it’s about other issues. Obviously each district and specific issue may be an exception, but I think generally speaking the GOP is really good at fear mongering on issues regarding the military and law enforcement, and progressive messaging hasn’t figured out how to counter that.
It comes down to fear as a powerful motivator. To counter it, you either need to convince people they’re safe or make them more scared of the police than they are of the fear mongering. To this end, the police have been doing a great job on progressives’ behalf in 2020.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, who filed the charges against the McCloskeys, did not order the couple to surrender or be arrested. Instead, as part of Gardner’s reformist approach to reducing incarceration for low-level crimes, she issued them summonses and said she would consider them for a diversion program, which would enable the charge to be dismissed if a counseling or other remedial course were completed. The charge carries a possible penalty of probation up to four years in prison.
Karen & Clyde charged. FoxNews has already been priming the pump on Kim Gardner. I predict she’s going to instantly rocket up the hate charts and be a huge instant hit for the derposphere.
