Everyone is reading this wrong. I have said it since Trump was elected the last time: the Democrats will want to maximize punishment for the voters who did not turn out for Kamala.

Remember right after Trump’s (second) surprise victory, the libs were laying all the blame on pro-Palestinian supporters and the Latinos who went for Trump, and were screeching about deporting those Latinos back to their home countries?

You might have forgotten, but the Democrats haven’t. This is one big punitive, disciplinary action: you want to support Palestine? We make sure Trump will make Gaza even worse. They did that. And they’ll continue to support ICE because they believe that the immigrant population has “betrayed” the role that has been assigned to them.

They are sending a clear message: you did this. You did not vote for Kamala. And this is what you deserve. And we won’t pander to you anymore and we’ll do it on our terms. If you had any bargaining chance with us before, that is gone. Now go and enjoy the Trump presidency and experience how much you regret for not turning out for Kamala Harris.

They want the pain to sting. The more painful it is, the more you’ll remember come election time why didn’t you vote the last time. How many people will fold? That’s the question.

[–] dead@hexbear.net 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

I don't think they're trying to punish people for making them lose. Democrats want people to vote for the Republican. They say that they love Republicans all the time. I think that the Democrat establishment genuinely wants to do the same thing as Trump admin. It's a uniparty. Democrats didn't even try to win the last election. They ran a corpse as the presidential candidate. They tried to lose. What's the purpose of a punishment? The Democratic establish doesn't even want to win.

Democrats don't care to punish people for not voting for them. That would require them to actually doing something. Their doctrine is inaction. Punishment would imply that Democrats want to win elections in the future; they don't. Their only real goal is preserving the existence of the party.

Democrats are not resisting Trump doing these things because Democrat politicians also want those things to happen. They like that Trump bombed 7 countries. They like that the ICE is a racist militia. They like that Trump kidnapped Maduro. They like that Trump use sanctions as an extortion tool. They only provide the mildest criticism because they like the things that he did.

Democrat politicians don't care that Kamala lost. Newsom actually say during the podcast with Ben Shapiro that he didn't want Kamala to win. They are actually quite happy that Trump won.

[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 day ago

They have to strike a careful balance between not winning but still plausibly being able to win. Their ideal year is one where they lose every single election by a single percentage point.

[–] xiaohongshu@hexbear.net 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

You’re not thinking big enough. The goal is not for the Democrats to win, but to exert a disciplinary action against people (and by extension, the entire voting class) who think they can leverage the democratic system to blackmail the bourgeois ruling class.

The message is not that “you have to vote Democrats next time”, it is “you are never going to get us to pander to you, so think carefully next time if you think you can undermine the system by sitting out the election”.

[–] dead@hexbear.net 17 points 1 day ago

No. You're implying that democrats are way more competent than they actually are. While China plans in decades, the US plans in weeks. The Democrats do not have a "big picture". There is no greater plan for Democrats. Their plan is "Does the Democrat party exist right now? Yes. What we can we do to make the Democrat party last 2 more weeks" and then they repeat that plan.

Democrats are not "maximizing punishment". Democrats are just doing nothing. Republicans are maximizing the punishment on their own.

[–] TreadOnMe@hexbear.net 6 points 1 day ago

And it is waking people up to the farce of the two party system. I have lifelong Democrat voters expressing to me that I was correct and that the Democrats are part of the problem.

It isn't working the way they want it to. Exactly as I have been saying. They can try to punish us and blame it on us all they want, they are just rapidly creating a larger base of actual resistance, and not just mealy-mouth platitudes.

[–] ClathrateG@hexbear.net 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Fundraisng's easier when you're not in power, not that's their sole motavation

[–] footfaults@lemmygrad.ml 11 points 1 day ago

Excellent analysis. They kept referring to "the groups" as an impediment in their post-election analysis. You can feel the contempt they have for their voting base

[–] sewer_rat_420@hexbear.net 1 points 1 day ago

At the end of the day our politics comes down to a big good cop/bad cop routine