Thank you for another insightful essay, Vanessa, especially this summary: "It's not that Harris necessarily lacks substance—and it’s certainly not that Trump has any. But rather, it’s the branding and appearance of caring about working class talking points that matters in an election. It’s a paradox but both candidates seemingly departed from who they were in an attempt to court voters."
My sincere hope is that, going forward, the Republican Party will address the concerns and problems that the working class faces, for real and not just in rhetoric; and that the Democratic Party will redirect its attention by studying how people like Sanders are still speaking for the vast majority of Americans. In my travels I met plenty of lifelong Republicans who supported Sanders, and then when Clinton received the nomination, they switched to Trump. Many centrist Democrats did the same, in 2016 and even more so in the two subsequent elections.
In short, what I'm hoping for is that both parties will redirect toward the middle, where I estimate that 70% of us live in our daily lives. And that they will do this in actual policy work and not just to appeal to populism. It's a lofty hope, but I'm going with it.
Thanks so much, Steve! I always appreciate your thoughtful comments. It's so true that Bernie was able to connect with people across party lines by having consistent messaging about working class issues. Policy talk is key for sure. Hope you are doing well!
The way some people go on about how incredibly popular Bernie Sanders allegedly is, you'd never guess that he actually lost both the 2016 and 2020 primaries to two fairly meh nominees.
Did you see the clip of Joy Reid saying Kamala ran a great campaign because she got Queen Latifah and Taylor Swift and Beyonce to endorse her? It was like a clumsily scripted Daily Wire skit.
You’re almost there. When you’re the incumbent party, it is NOT about the message. It is about the ability to turn a message into real positive and visible effects on people’s lives. Bernie has fallen short of this for his whole career, and resoundingly the democratic party has failed to actualize while the trump administration did not fail.
CO2 emissions dropped faster during each year of Trump’s presidency than the best year of Biden’s. Why? Because by supporting fossil fuel development, we converted more coal to natural gas, halving the CO2 emissions of our electrical capacity. Biden had social cost of carbon added to government contracts and his administration refused to grant new fossil fuel development and the effect was to SLOW DOWN the energy market’s conversion and ultimately emit more CO2.
Democrats’ policies had an effect contrary to their message.
Excellent analysis. Should be in the NY Times!
Thank you!
Better than anything the NYT publishes, tbh
Thank you for another insightful essay, Vanessa, especially this summary: "It's not that Harris necessarily lacks substance—and it’s certainly not that Trump has any. But rather, it’s the branding and appearance of caring about working class talking points that matters in an election. It’s a paradox but both candidates seemingly departed from who they were in an attempt to court voters."
My sincere hope is that, going forward, the Republican Party will address the concerns and problems that the working class faces, for real and not just in rhetoric; and that the Democratic Party will redirect its attention by studying how people like Sanders are still speaking for the vast majority of Americans. In my travels I met plenty of lifelong Republicans who supported Sanders, and then when Clinton received the nomination, they switched to Trump. Many centrist Democrats did the same, in 2016 and even more so in the two subsequent elections.
In short, what I'm hoping for is that both parties will redirect toward the middle, where I estimate that 70% of us live in our daily lives. And that they will do this in actual policy work and not just to appeal to populism. It's a lofty hope, but I'm going with it.
Thanks so much, Steve! I always appreciate your thoughtful comments. It's so true that Bernie was able to connect with people across party lines by having consistent messaging about working class issues. Policy talk is key for sure. Hope you are doing well!
The way some people go on about how incredibly popular Bernie Sanders allegedly is, you'd never guess that he actually lost both the 2016 and 2020 primaries to two fairly meh nominees.
Did you see the clip of Joy Reid saying Kamala ran a great campaign because she got Queen Latifah and Taylor Swift and Beyonce to endorse her? It was like a clumsily scripted Daily Wire skit.
No I haven't seen that yet! I will look. So much celebrity infatuation at the expense of other things.
You’re almost there. When you’re the incumbent party, it is NOT about the message. It is about the ability to turn a message into real positive and visible effects on people’s lives. Bernie has fallen short of this for his whole career, and resoundingly the democratic party has failed to actualize while the trump administration did not fail.
CO2 emissions dropped faster during each year of Trump’s presidency than the best year of Biden’s. Why? Because by supporting fossil fuel development, we converted more coal to natural gas, halving the CO2 emissions of our electrical capacity. Biden had social cost of carbon added to government contracts and his administration refused to grant new fossil fuel development and the effect was to SLOW DOWN the energy market’s conversion and ultimately emit more CO2.
Democrats’ policies had an effect contrary to their message.