![]() You Republicans have been caught flat-footed. The Democrats are great at this - cis white men hate you, they deny your right to exist, the cruelty is the point, resist or be destroyed. You tell your people that the other side hates them and wants to kill them they need to fight back. It's the 21st century having principles is out of style. This is what happens when nobody uses the word “class”! We are concerned about the rising power of the upper class, and we are dedicated to stamping out classism." Say "Hey, we Republicans want to be the party of the working class. Instead, just use the words "class" and “classism”. Or saying you hate the government, and then it looks like boring old libertarianism. Or saying you hate rootless cosmopolitans, and then it looks like boring old anti-Semitism. Or saying you hate the elites, and then it looks like boring old populism. But you make the mistake of saying you hate Democrats, and then it looks like boring old partisanship. It's an easy mistake to make, because you Republicans absolutely loathe the upper class, and whenever you're talking about Democrats you focus on this group and how much you hate them. The Democrats are a coalition of the upper class, various poor minorities, union labor, and lots of other groups. The upper class is a cultural phenomenon.Īren't I just describing Democrats? No. Donald Trump is a billionaire, but still recognizably not upper class. Pilots, plumbers, and lumber barons are well-off, but not upper-class. Teachers, social workers, grad students, and starving artists may be poor, but can still be upper-class. (full disclosure: I fit like 2/3 of these descriptors)Īren't I just describing well-off people? No. Who all have exactly the same political and aesthetic opinions on everything, and think the noblest and most important task imaginable is to gatekeep information in ways that force everyone else to share those opinions too. Who get jobs in journalism, academia, government, consulting, or anything else with no time-card where you never have to use your hands. Who would never get married before age 25 and have cutesy pins about how cats are better than children. They conspicuously hate NASCAR, wrestling, football, "fast food", SUVs, FOX, guns, the South, evangelicals, and reality TV. Who conspicuously love Broadway (especially Hamilton ), LGBT, education, "expertise", mass transit, and foreign anything. Who usually go to Ivy League colleges, though Amherst or Berkeley is acceptable if absolutely necessary. Who eat Thai food and Ethiopian food and anything fusion, think they would gain 200 lbs if they ever stepped in a McDonalds, and won't even speak the name Chick-Fil-A. He might define them as: people who live in nice apartments in Manhattan or SF or DC and laugh under their breath if anybody comes from Akron or Tampa. Powerful people? Getting warmer, but Mike Pence is a powerful person and Trump wasn't against Mike Pence. Some people thought that contradicted his anti-establishment message, but those people were wrong. Trump is rich, lots of his Cabinet picks were rich, practically the first thing he did was cut taxes on the rich. But which establishment? Not rich people. He won on a platform of being anti-establishment. Trump didn't win on a platform of capitalism and liberty and whatever. Instead, do it openly, while using the words "class" and “classism”. You're already doing class warfare, you're just doing it blindly and confusedly. Economic class warfare is Marxist, but here in the US class isn't a purely economic concept. Yeah, yeah, "class" sounds Marxist, class warfare and all that, you're supposed to be against that kind of thing, right? Wrong. Pivot from mindless populist rage to a thoughtful campaign to fight classism. So here's my recommendation: use the word "class". All else being equal, I'd rather you have a coherent interesting message, and make Democrats shape up to compete with you. Also, the more confused you are, the more you flail around sabotaging everything. But maybe I would hate you less if you didn't suck. You seem to have picked up a few minority voters here and there, but you're not sure why, and you don't know how to build on this success. Most of what he said was offensive, blatantly false, or alienated more people than it won absent his personal magic it seems like a losing combination. Trump managed to excite people, but you don't know how to turn his personal appeal into a new platform. Your old platform of capitalism and liberty and whatever no longer excites people. I hear you're having a post-Trump identity crisis. Read this first: Book Review: Fussell On Class
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