True, but the “moderates” who seem perfectly willing to throw entire groups under the culture war bus to chase conservative votes are pretty much in control of the party. Harris-Walz could have had a much stronger campaign if they had actually listened to what the rank and file were asking for, and then ran on that… instead they made the choice to chase disaffected republicans as hard as they could. The party leadership keep tacking right, and then they keep failing. Maybe it’s time for them to take a stand like some Democrats seem to be doing.
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As far as I can tell, the leading Democrats are extremely dedicated to making Trump look like Hitler by acting exactly like Hitler’s opposition. 
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Some of that cynical strategy is classical ‘triangulation’. Essentially the short-sighted: “meh, what are those to the left of us gonna do? vote republican!?” So, they endlessly court the middle, because the one political party thinks it has the significant left nailed down and the other has the significant right locked in. Of course, we know this doesn’t work when the margins are so hideously narrow (plus gawdawful things like the electoral college). The tricky bit (and one that i’ve failed consistently at) is convincing the established political strategists that this is suicidal when the options of not voting or …jill-steining are so upwards in too many voters minds. @#$!!!
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Here’s another example of state level democrats doing something:
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Finally some national dems making some noise:
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It would be dumb regardless. The biggest group in the US is people who don’t normally vote. We know actual hopeful and progressive messages can win votes from them. Democrats like Harris keep throwing that away in favor of going after the Liz Cheney only-hurt-the-right-people contingent, as if anyone actually likes her.
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That group is who the Democrats need to reach out to. They need to reach out to people who are so disenchanted with our political system (well before Trump), figure out what they want, and propose policies to get us there. It really isn’t rocket surgery… the Democrats (or the leadership) has just decided that the only game intown ot playing to the mythical middle, and ignoring the rest of us… progressives don’t matter, because as @theophrastus said - what are we gonna do, vote republican? So they are constantly trying to give in on culture wars in order to win back those Reagan Democrats… well, they left because they were mad about integration and women’s rights gains and LGBQT+ rights… But these non-voters WANT stuff, too. And the democrats could talk to them and figure out what they want, but they refuse to do that in favor of asking their already existing voters for yet more donations, rather than asking for actual input! They figure they have professional policy people, so they don’t need to know what we want, because we should always just trust these “experts” because they have advanced degrees and went to yale and came from good families…
Ugh…
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I have the sad feeling it is because too many of them are not trying to win votes, they are trying to win donations. The disenchanted turn elections but they don’t give you money. You’d have to be incredibly stupid to look at a fascist president and think what a great fundraising opportunity…but unrestrained capitalism seems to favor putting venal stupid people in charge of everything…
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I was just watching on C-SPAN and they cut out to Marco Rubio when they started to enter the building. Then ended the stream altogether.
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The majority of Senate and House Democrats are fighting for trans people. The majority of them are fighting for BIPOC. It’s just that they don’t get any press for it. They get ignored, even by “liberal” media. If we want them to keep fighting, we need to stand with them instead of throwing them out with Dem leadership.
I look at my senators and representatives, and they are fighting. They are pushing back. Don’t ignore them because headlines are dominated by the spineless moderates. That just yields the power to the centrists.
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I think what national Democrats are struggling with right now is the same thing we’re struggling with: what, exactly, can we do? They can’t follow the GOP blueprint from 4 years ago (and also throughout Obama’s Presidency) and be obstructionists, blocking Trump’s agenda in Congress. Trump isn’t going through Congress. He’s governing through Executive Order almost exclusively. The only way those can be blocked is by lawsuits, which is being tried but is slow, or maybe through Congressional action, but Democrats don’t control Congress. They can obstruct, but they cannot enact. And there’s nothing to obstruct. So they can speak. And they are, but no one is really listening, and the media is helping the other side. None of that excuses throwing trans people or anyone else under the bus, of course, but I honestly don’t have an answer to “What, exactly, can they do besides talk?” Unless we’re at the revolt stage. Are we? Maybe we are?
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We’re there. A nazi oligarch is currently taking over functions of the US government.
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So this is a lever of power the Democrats could pull, I suppose, but certainly far from ideal due to the collateral damage it would cause. Then again, we’ve run out of ideal options a while ago.
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Trying to look for small favors in all this, maybe this is the end of people waxing loquacious about the unparalleled political genius of the slave owners who decided murdering countrymen was preferable to paying taxes.
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Yes, some are… But they could do more, and far too many are collaborating by voting in Trump’s appointees, among other things… But the problem here (and the source of all of frustrations) is the Democratic leadership. All of them are acting like what is happening, which is looking increasingly like an ACTUAL COUP, is politics as usual. All of the leadership is failing us… it’s unacceptable and we need to let them know it’s unacceptable. They have the biggest voice of the Democratic party, and they’re using it to moralize on fucking bipartisanship. And that’s who gets to cameras shoved in their faces, and who has the monopoly on messaging from the DNC…
Wil Wheaton has some ideas what the Democrats COULD be doing right now, but mostly aren’t…
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I just sent messages to my senators urging them to remove Schumer as Minority Leader.
I have been a supporter for decades. I always have appreciated how you fight for Oregonians and our values. As we face an unprecedented takeover of the US Government by fascists, I find myself demoralized that Democratic Senate leadership is collaborating with them instead of fighting them.
If Chuck Schumer is going to seek middle ground with fascists, then he is no longer representing Democrats in America. I urge you and your Senate colleagues to remove him from his role as Senate Minority Leader and replace him with someone who will fight for democracy instead of roll over under the slightest pressure.”
I also sent a message to our State AG asking them to prosecute Elon Musk and his DOGE minions for illegally accessing my confidential data at the US Treasury Department and seek court orders blocking their illegal access to that information.
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They can’t (and shouldn’t) completely block all government action. Too much of it is needed to actually help people survive. What they can do in the Senate is to freeze all of T****’s nominees in committee. That should be feasible (and they should be doing that, anyway, because those nominees are manifestly unfit to run a Wendy’s much less a government department.).
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