Except maybe for Obama, they were all lousy. Barely beating an incompetent criminal who sold presidential powers as private services and stole stuff from the Whitehouse, that's not impressive.

1. I didn't say it was impressive. Just refuting the claim that the Republican party puts forth candidates that the electorate wants while the Democratic party does not.

2. Nobody has beaten Trump since he's been a convicted criminal, lied about winning an election he didn't, or stole classified documents from the White House. So it doesn't make sense to discuss "barely beating an incompetent [...]" in the context of my comment that refers only to Democratic candidates who ran before those things happened.

The sentiment is Republicans are focused on winning while Democrats are focused on a deeply unpopular corporate-imperialist political project and scolding people into voting for them.

They will occasionally virtue signal elsewhere but their policies only align with the project

Progressive policies on minimum wage, labor and other things won in Red States once again. Nebraska's minimum wage increase, for instance, went 75-25. 60% for Trump, 75% for minimum wage increase.

It's important to realize the Democrats have no interest in those. Absolutely zero.

Their project is bowing down to companies like Wells Fargo, Equifax, Lockheed Martin, and General Motors and that's it.

You've been sharing this exact narrative all over the thread, which makes me think that you aren't really replying to my comment so much as you're just finding any pretense to share this same opinion again.

> The sentiment is Republicans are focused on winning while Democrats are focused on a deeply unpopular corporate-imperialist political project and scolding people into voting for them.

In the U.S. we are, for all practical purposes, stuck with two choices. Some people will vote for one side, while some people with vote against the other side. But, here you're claiming that people are voting for Republicans because they like them and people are voting for Democrats because they are being "scolded" into it. That is just you superimposing your opinion/analysis on to things. The only objective measure is that, until this election, Democrats consistently got more votes than Republicans. Period. You can read whatever tarot cards and tea leaves you want to figure out why.

> They will occasionally virtue signal elsewhere but their policies only align with the project > > Progressive policies on minimum wage, labor and other things won in Red States once again. Nebraska's minimum wage increase, for instance, went 75-25. 60% for Trump, 75% for minimum wage increase. > > It's important to realize the Democrats have no interest in those. Absolutely zero.

Let's get this straight. Voters in states that are being run by Republicans feel the need to take things into their own hands by going around their elected officials to implement progressive policies, like higher minimum wages. Voters in states that are being run by Democrats have NOT felt the need to add minimum wage increases to their constitutions.

And your conclusion from these facts is that it's the Democrats that don't care about increasing the minimum wage? Are you kidding? I think there's a MUCH more obvious interpretation here, and it's NOT that the Republican party is somehow in a more popular position when it comes to progressive policies...

None of that is born out by the facts. Look at the last few election cycles over on ballotpedia. The hypothesis doesn't hold.

You're just looking at superficial symbols and not substantive policy.

My brother is part of a union, voted for minimum wage increase, posts about evil communist Harris and her DEI woke mob trying to destroy our country. He's cooked.

He thinks Trump is antiwar and will have a federal jobs program.

I've been involved in right wing politics for 20 years because I have been trying to understand these people. How functioning democracies can enthusiastically elect clearly corrupt criminals based on laughable bullshit.

They deal in a world of symbols but at the policy and practice level, the actual ballot measures and positions, it's clear where they actually stand.

They want things like lower housing cost, jobs programs, affordable healthcare, better public infrastructure, increased wages ... That's all socialism. They just think it'll come through some wacky indirect way that doesn't work as opposed to direct and intentional implementation.

I don't know where you live. you got to go interact with the people if you really want to figure them out. Once you look past the scapegoats and boogeymen, it's pretty clear.

The Democrats have abandoned that platform. Arguably the last competent person to do that on a national stage was shot in 1968. You gotta lie to people, have bullshit factories ("think tanks"), media empires.. sitting down and playing classroom doesn't work. The 2024 DSA LA voter guide was 75 pages. I mean holy hell, no wonder they lose.