Charles Pierce is a blogger at Esquire whose sensibility I share. I always enjoy what he writes.
He wrote about the Democratic Convention that Joe Biden was making a big gamble. He was betting that the American people would choose to vote for decency, for democracy, for science. That they would vote for light over darkness, for love over hate.
But will they?
Biden is leading in all the polls, but two recent polls show him and Mephistopheles only four points apart. Biden should be 50 points ahead of Trump. He is a good man, Trump is corrupt. Biden is a decent man, Trump is the symbol of immorality.
Who are we? Who can defend an administration and a president immersed in scandal? Who likes lies and greed? Who wants to see the USPS and the environment destroyed?
Biden is making a big gamble.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I agree. Decency will help but in the end people vote for their immediate interests. If Democrats focus on cultural issues and ignore the economic issues of the average working class citizen then Democrats may well snatch “defeat from the jaws of victory”. Remember what Clinton said: “It’s the economy stupid”!
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Michael, I don’t agree.
If people voted their economic self interest, Trump would be easily defeated.
He is trying to kill Obamacare, Social Security, Medicare, the environment.
Many of those who will suffer most are fervent members of his base.
I know.
One of my brothers is a Trumper, and he thinks Trump is on his side. He needs all those government programs that Trump and McConnell want to kill.
We have to dig deeper to understand why people who were left behind by people like Trump think he is their hero.
They really don’t understand that he would never touch them, never break bread with them, he despises them. He uses them.
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Yes but the Democrats aren’t explicit about those issues. They have to “pound it home” in their speeches how Trumpism and Republican policies hurt them. It must be their main emphasis in my view while not ignoring cultural issues.
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Sometimes, I think of the democrats to republicans equation as Charlie Brown is to Lucy. We just keep expecting authenticity when there is none. CBK
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LOL.
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Diane I think we have to look to (1) a deep desire to trust and believe one’s designated leaders . . . but a desire that (2) also tends to overlook questions that arise and that are so obvious to others, ending up in a thoughtless loyalty.
Also, if they voted for Trump before, a fear of having to admit wrong, especially to someone else who “told them so” . . . probably moves in oblique fashion into a cult mentality. Either way, truthful discernment has left the building.
Also, I’ve seen too many people who, with their jobs and young children at home, and with not enough money to afford the complexities of cable, phone, and computer access, are simply too busy to pay attention or don’t even vote at all.
A “wake-up call,” to be effective for some people, has to be accompanied jackboots on their driveway and by their own or their children’s spilled blood. CBK
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I saw an interview with Rev. Barber. He seemed disappointed with the DNC Convention. He feels most of what is being presented excludes poor people, and they lost before with same rhetoric. Rev. Barber feels the poor are an untapped source of votes, and they will vote if they are included. He said poor voters showed up in Kentucky because Beschear campaigned for their votes. I hope Barber is wrong.
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Retired I won’t be happy until it’s over and Trump is gone. But I’m certainly not going to be comfortable AT ALL as long as the poll numbers have Trump ABOVE 30%. <–I’ll never get even that. CBK
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Retired teacher,
I don’t know if this addresses your point, but many years ago I went to a fundraiser for women’s issues. Some woman indignantly demanded to know why the event included no poor women. I thought to myself “because it’s a fundraiser?” The Democratic Convention was amazingly diverse in its representation of people of all races and ethnicities and backgrounds. We’re any of them poor? I don’t know. When they did the roll call of states, each state picked one-5 people to speak for the party. It was a broad spectrum of people, including working people, but probably none was poor. The Democratic Party must work hard to motivate poor people to vote. The Republicans will try every trick to prevent them from voting. One party will work in their interest, the other conspicuously ignores them. They should be eager to vote, given the sharp contrast.
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Yes, Biden’s successful speech and those of his supporters were filled with moral appeals and ethical emphases, which came of as half an appeal, very abstract in promising “light instead of darkness,” “decency instead of lies and disrespect,” etc., needing a finish with plans, programs, and policies. So many voters are already disgusted with the vulgarian incompetent Trump and will be satisfied with moral generalities, perhaps even a majority of voters like those who gave Hillary a majority. Perhaps Biden and his team will fill this gap in the remaining 10 weeks. He’s doubtless a better human being than Trump ever was. But the 4 days of presentations evaded the plans and policies which the bottom 80% of America need.
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National conventions are never the place to describe plans and policies other than in generalities.
The American people look for signs and divinations, not a blueprint.
I’m happy to have a pledge of honesty, openness, and a commitment to protecting our democracy.
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What choice does he have? It’s up to us.
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At this point, it should be searingly apparent (it was plainly apparent from decades ago) that Trump is the worst, terrible, incompetent and a menace to the functioning of the country. Heck, it was obvious in 2016 that Trump was a joke unfit for the presidency. I cannot fathom anyone voting for this clown after almost 4 years of the chaos, mayhem, criminality and blatant stupidity. And yet, even now, millions will vote for Trump, lemmings committing political and civic suicide. The Trumpers and the average GOPers vote AGAINST their own and immediate interests over and over and over and over again. Working class people voting for the party that wants to destroy the USPS, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the ACA, critical regulations that protect consumers and the environment. What’s the matter with Kansas, indeed.
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FYI: EdWeek Alert:
“Judge Issues Blistering Injunction Against Betsy DeVos’ Coronavirus Aid Rule
“The injunction in federal court about private school students represents a win for public school advocates in a bitter dispute over federal COVID-19 relief.”
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/08/judge-devos-coronavirus-rule-injunction.html?cmp=soceml-twfdbltz-ewnow
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i just happened to see an interview with Anthony Scaramucci on MSNBC. According to him the American people are going to be shocked at the level of criminality in the White House. Scaramucci is working with Michael Cohen to release “verifiable proof” of Trump’s corruption. This sounds like the maffia or an episode of ‘The Sopranos.’
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The laundry list of Trump associates who have either been indicted or convicted of crimes: Bannon, Roger Stone, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, campaign chairman Paul Manafort, his deputy Rick Gates, personal attorney Michael Cohen and Rudy Giuliani is reported to be the subject of an investigation for his business relationship with two men arrested in an alleged campaign finance scheme. I’m sure that’s not the complete list but these are the major ones. Can you imagine if a Democrat had all that baggage going on, he would be dumped immediately.
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As my husband remarked about the RNC Convention. “If you aren’t indicted, you aren’t invited.” Diane is right. Biden should be much further ahead.
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Biden must war against Antifa.
Done credible, he wins easy.
Without no chance of victory.
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What is Antifa?
If you mean Anti-Fascist, I am anti-fascist.
We fought World War 2 to defeat fascists.
Are you pro-fascist?
The biggest danger of fascism is in the White House right now.
Aren’t all good Americans anti-fascists?
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All Trump voters are pro-fascist. Some of them know it and some of them are too poorly educate to understand that they are embracing the same ideology of the fascists that Americans went to war to fight again.
Trump voters are not patriots because they don’t like the America that defeated fascism. They want an America that would have aided and abetted fascism.
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They are goons in the Northwest and elsewhere that BLM types are telling to get the hell away from them because their violence diverts and discredits that main BLM message.
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I am anti-fascist.
Aren’t you?
I oppose the nuts in QAnon. Do you?
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Ok, now I need the help. Who or what is Qanon?
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Like all good people who want answers to simple things they don’t know, do a Google search. But I’m betting you don’t need to do that and think you’re being funny. Remember, right wingers don’t understand humor, you are Exhibit A.
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Anonymous, indeed? Please explain what you think is wrong with understanding and opposing fascism? Or are we again in the Russian/Republican playbook: A soft-punch to a qualified position is better than no punch at all? CBK
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Antifa isn’t even an organization. It consists of a few (very few) white boys who play dress up and show up at otherwise peaceful protests and are usually thwarted by the protestors exercising their freedoms, under to Constitution, of speech and assembly.
The Trump propaganda media (Breitbart, Fox News) and the Trump administration have, like all fascists, blown Antifa (a tiny group of kids) up into some sort of scary, enormous terrorist organization because THAT IS THE CLASSIC FASCIST PLAYBOOK–create a nonexistent enemy to rile up the uneducated. That’s precisely what all fascists do. For Hitler, it was a nonexistent international Jewish cabal.
To Diane’s point, since the term Antifa means “anti-fascist,” and it isn’t really an organization, wouldn’t all decent people identify themselves as such? Diane is an anti-fascist. I am an anti-fascist. All decent people are anti-fascist. We, the United States, fought a world war to crush fascism. And so I repeat Diane’s question, are you NOT anti-fascist? Do you think that fascists have the right idea? It’s time for you to stop drinking the Kool-Aide, Anonymous.
So, what do fascists stand for? Well, they believe in the power of the state being entirely vested in one person–an all-powerful leader, a Hitler, a Mussolini. Well, who is the most prominent politician in the U.S. today who holds such a view” That would be Donald Trump. Trump’s belief, in his own words: “A president can do anything he wants.”
That’s fascism. And it’s completely anti-democratic and un-American, and those who care about democracy will oppose it. If you too oppose fascism, then you will do everything in your power to ensure that Trump, who is a fascist by his own reckoning, is not reelected in November.
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cx: Kool-Aid
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Trump and his gangsters are traitorous liars and should be in jail.
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From you lips to God’s ears, Yvonne!
I was thinking that the Republican National Convention should host a roundtable on Law and Order consisting of indicted former members of the Trump administration.
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But this would be such a large group that they would have to give them an entire evening.
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You know, I can’t imagine how democrats always lose. When Democrats offer their “plans”, they get laughed at and demeaned, the way the media treated Elizabeth Warren, for not inspiring anyone and being boring or too “academic”. When Democrats talk about the bigger picture, they get criticized for not having “plans”. Trump never had a single plan unless MAGA is a “plan”, and HRC and Elizabeth Warren had extraordinary plans.
Basically, whatever the democrat is offering is, by definition, bad and whatever the Republican is offering is, by definition, good. If Biden had made a speech with plans, the criticism would be that he just gave a laundry list of plans and voters want to be inspired.
Anyone think Trump defeated all the other Republicans in the 2016 primary because he had more plans? Did the Democrat with the best “plans” win the democratic primary?
The problem is that this propaganda is so pervasive that in isn’t just the right, but liberals, progressives and moderates who get sucked into using whatever framing happens to benefit the Republican candidate by making the public believe it is the Democrat who is the horribly problematic and dangerous candidate because (Insert criticism here: “Offered too many plans” “has no plans” “is too corporate” “is too socialist” “is a warmonger” “wants the terrorists to win”)
Every time a democrat offers a specific plan, the media attacks them by pointing out all the reasons that the plan is not realistic and can’t happen. And then the narrative is about how the democrat candidate is lying because he/she knows those plans will never happen.
I do think that the only way the Democrats can break through is their plan to protect the existing programs that people already like, not offer new ones that just allow the right wing propaganda red meat so they can attack that plan as “unworkable”, “dishonest” or “socialist”.
Presidential elections have always been about one thing — character. Do you believe what the candidate is telling you, or is the candidate a blatant liar who will say and do anything to win so whatever the candidate tells you about “plans” is just more evidence that the candidate should not be trusted?
Given that, it is incredible that Trump could even be in the race and it demonstrates how much those who aren’t Trump supporters have aided and abetted him by using the right wing framing always, which means it is always the Democrat who cannot be trusted to be president. The polls always reveal that Trump supporters absolutely believe Trump can be trusted and they don’t trust the democrat. And Democrat supporters often say “well I don’t trust (insert name of candidate who wins primary) but maybe I’ll hold my nose and vote for him/her)”. Which means that the Trump voters are far more motivated to vote than the Democrat voters. And also results in the low-interest voters in the middle thinking “wow, those people who support Trump really trust him and know that the Democrat is a lying crook, and those who support the democrats ALSO say that we shouldn’t trust the Democrat because that person is a lying crook Hmmm, who should I vote for if I bother to vote?”
Both sides are telling those voters they absolutely should not trust the democrat, and only one side is telling them that they should not trust Trump.
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Damned if they do and damned if they don’t. You reminded me of a comment I heard on broadcast news where they were talking about Biden’s speech. One of the talking heads made the entirely inane comment that Biden didn’t smile enough. Seriously!? I think you have something here, NYCPSP.
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Even after Trump is long gone, the deplorable, easy to fool and scare people that supported him will still be around looking for their next Prince of Darkness that promises that only he can save them from what they fear.
“Psychologists have found that conservatives are fundamentally more anxious than liberals, which may be why they typically desire stability, structure and clear answers even to complicated questions. “Conservatism, apparently, helps to protect people against some of the natural difficulties of living,” says social psychologist Paul Nail of the University of Central Arkansas. ‘The fact is we don’t live in a completely safe world. Things can and do go wrong. But if I can impose this order on it by my worldview, I can keep my anxiety to a manageable level.'”
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/calling-truce-political-wars/
And that is what Fox (faux) News, Hannity, OAN, Sinclaire Media, Limbaugh, and other extreme-right hate mongers deal in developing fear in their audience so the voters in that audience will vote for candidates like Trump that also focus on that fear factor even if that means manufacturing conspiracy theories and telling lots of lies to do it.
Thank you, President Ronald Reagon and G. H. W. Bush for killing the Fairness Doctrine that would have made it almost impossible to manipulate people like that. With the Fairness Doctrine, there would be no alternative fake facts and conspiracy theories built on a foundation of lies influencing the opinions of conservative voters.
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The damage done by the removal of the Fairness Doctrine is incalculable.
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I fear it could be a repeat of 2016. Trust us we’re the good guys and we know what’s best but we’re not going to give you any concrete policy proposals you will be able to hold us to. We know that + 80% of you favor M4A but we know for profit health care is still the solution. I want Trump and his SWAMP to be gone but am nervous that Trump hate alone will not be enough to turn out the younger vote.
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There will be plenty of concrete policy proposals.
Do you expect the Republicans to lay out their concrete plans to eliminate the funding for Social Security and Medicare? Do you expect them to announce they will strip mine every remaining green field? Do you expect them to pledge not to raise the minimum wage (Biden said he would raise it to $15 an hour)?
Biden promised to invest billions in infrastructure. He made many more specific proposals including a huge increase in education funding.
Funny, I heard very specific policy proposals from Biden. Why didn’t you? Were we watching the same convention?
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2016? Hillary had lots of detailed policy proposals. That is NOT why she lost. The constant yammering about her emails, the last minute intervention by Comey to reopen the FBI investigation of her emails…all without any merit. Lies.
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Which polls show them 4 points apart? Rassmussen? It has a known GOP bias. 538 still has Biden well ahead.
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The CNN poll. I’ll find the other one.
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The best source of all polls is Real Clear Politics. The site tilts right but all the polls are there.
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CNN and Rasmussen show a four point spread. As you noted, Rasmussen is always higher for Trump.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_biden-6247.html
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I see. I like 538: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/national/
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Retired Teacher. I also heard the Reverend William J. Barber II speaking on You Tube. He had an amazing command about the votes that Democrats might get if they were more attentive to people who are living in poverty.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, CEO compensation surged 14% in 2019 to $21.3 million. CEOs now earn 320 times as much as a typical worker. “CEOs are getting more because of their power to set pay—and because so much of their pay (about three-fourths) is stock-related, not because they are increasing productivity or possess specific, high-demand skills.” https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-compensation-surged-14-in-2019-to-21-3-million-ceos-now-earn-320-times-as-much-as-a-typical-worker
Meanwhile the stock market has recovered from the 2009 pits. It reached a high in late January before the news of the pandemic had registered, fell sharply in late March and has since recovered, thanks to big-time corporate tax-breaks and bailouts–all of that giving Trump something to crow about. https://www.macrotrends.net/1358/dow-jones-industrial-average-last-10-years
But the economy is not just about the stock market. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 16.3 million people were unemployed in late July 2020. According to the Reverend William J. Barber II, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, Democrats avoid talking about poor people. They speak only of the “working poor.”
A 2018 audit from the Economic Policy Institute reported: “More than 40,600,000 Americans subsist below the poverty line; this report additionally shows that there are close to 140 million people dealing with some combination of crises every day. Nearly half of our population cannot afford a $400 emergency, which presents a structural crisis of national proportion that ties poverty to things like healthcare and housing. (p. 6)”
According to Lauren Bauer, who works on economic issues for the Hamilton Project, during the week of June 19-23, 2020 “17.9 percent of children in the United States live in a household where an adult reported that the children are not getting enough to eat due to a lack of resources.” See more, including graphs and data sources from (of all places) the Brookings Institute. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/07/09/about-14-million-children-in-the-us-are-not-getting-enough-to-eat/
Transcripts of speakers at the Democratic Convention speakers show that few speakers addressed poverty or if so, as a condition that could be remedied by opportunity and hard work.
–On Day one Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina mentioned poverty as a condition remedied by opportunity and hard work.
–On day 2, Howard Chou of Colorado mentioned growing up in poverty and as an immigrant but finally being able to make a decent living.
–On day 3 Barak Obama mentioned poverty as a condition to overcome in the future. Elizabeth Warren mentioned poverty once as “a cyclic condition trapping millions.”
–On day 4 Pete Buttigieg said “We will see to it that no one who works full time can live in poverty.” An unidentified Speaker (23) said: “We will raise the minimum wage so no one who works a full time job in America lives in poverty.
https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/democratic-national-convention-dnc-2020
I think the issue of poverty was not addressed boldly because conventions strive to be uplifting. There is also here is a deep vein of belief that you are responsible for your fate. As these few comments show, the Reverend William J. Barber II has some excellent ideas about earning votes from people who are desperately poor.
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