Can progressives learn anything from Republicans?

[The Industrial Atheist]

Democracy is not being destroyed under Trump. Get real. We survived Obama. You can survive Trump.

I don't think he's trying to set up a dictatorship, but he is worse for Dems than Obama was for Pubs.

Obama didn't run on conservative tears. (That's not even a thing)

The thing he did that the far right hates so much, the ACA, was actually a right wing plan. (The central aspect being the same as Nixon's Individual Mandate Plan)

Obama actually made part of the last Republican president's policy permanent, with the middle class part of the Bush tax cuts.

Trump has been pretty much signing anything the right wing establishment gives him.

With Obama, the far left stuff didn't even get to his office, because there weren't enough Dems that are far left.

[Brian37]

Democracy is not being destroyed under Trump. Get real. We survived Obama. You can survive Trump.

I don't think he's trying to set up a dictatorship, but he is worse for Dems than Obama was for Pubs.

Obama didn't run on conservative tears. (That's not even a thing)

The thing he did that the far right hates so much, the ACA, was actually a right wing plan. (The central aspect being the same as Nixon's Individual Mandate Plan)

Obama actually made part of the last Republican president's policy permanent, with the middle class part of the Bush tax cuts.

Trump has been pretty much signing anything the right wing establishment give him.

With Obama, the far left stuff didn't even get to his office, because there weren't enough Dems that are far left.

I don't care if what he believes, he is still undermining checks on power. Gotti did that too through murder and witness intimidation. Putin does that too.

[Angrboda]

Obama actually made part of the last Republican president's policy permanent, with the middle class part of the Bush tax cuts.

Republican cuts for the middle class are their idea of a loss leader. It's simply to get you to buy other things. Helping the middle class was not Bush's goal.

[The Industrial Atheist]

Obama actually made part of the last Republican president's policy permanent, with the middle class part of the Bush tax cuts.

Republican cuts for the middle class are their idea of a loss leader.  It's simply to get you to buy other things.  Helping the middle class was not Bush's goal.

You're right about that. The point I was making was that at least Obama wasn't necessarily trying to destroy everything Bush did for the sake of it, the way Trump is doing with the things that Obama did.

[bennyboy]

Absolutely. They can learn how to win a fucking election.

[Anomalocaris]

Everything else the republicans do are loss leaders to get people to buy into an agenda whose core aim is to move 99% of the wealth into 1% of pockets.

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Absolutely.  They can learn how to win a fucking election.

No, they should learn how to take power, election or no election.

[CapnAwesome]

I suppose it would on the surface..but some part of the explanation for why the GOP has turned into a bunch of creepy fuckers is that they are beholden to the seat capturing scheme.  The same would be true of democrats using the same scheme.

Let's put it into context, with just one part of the scheme. Telling dumdums what they want to hear. Obama told everyone they could keep their doctors. How'd that work out? Is there some great idea somewhere doing well by the application of the republican model?

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Or hey..hey, maybe the dems should suppress votes?  I;m sure that voter suppression could be the springboard to countless great things.

The Democratic's surpress votes. The model and methods they use is different. I've had this conversation on atheist forums a few times, and it's always the same response, either that it's not as bad (which seems iffy anyway) or that because the methods are different that somehow it doesn't count. Also odd that people think Hillary was willing to surpress the Bernie vote but somehow took the high road against Trump, which makes no sense.

I don't feel like going through the research again just for the same lazy reply but I urge you to look into it. I'll dig it up again if people are willing to admit Democratics surpress votes when they see the evidence right in front of them.

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They keep winning because of stupid voters.  There are a few who hang around here when goose-stepping practice is over for the day!

I think one never brought up reason that Democrats lose, even though many of their issues are winning issues that most voters agree with, is their base is full of insulting people like Min who make normal undecided voters not want to associate with that party. Look at the group of hard core ideologues here on Atheist Forums. They call everyone who doesn't agree with them (not just the opposition) Nazis and whatever.

Lately I've even been accused of being a Trump supporter on here (Lolwat?) just because I refused to say that Trump supporters were like the Jim Jones cult. (Which is totally insane, if you know anything about the Jim Jones cult.) Rather than defend the idea or admit that it's an exaggeration and a rush to just say the most over the top thing possible when I started pointing out what the Jim Jones cult was actually like it became a matter of just responding with insults.

Hence the problem. It's like with some Democrats you have to either support every single thing and if you don't then they don't want you even if you support them on the important issues (I'm pro-choice, pro-peace, pro-universal health care, pro-marijuana, I mean, what do you want?) but I think that calling Trump Hitler or Jim Jones is historically ignorant. To even point that out, and you are cast out and made to feel unwelcome.

Hillary Clinton said that the basket of deplorable comment was her biggest political mistake of the election. This is where she said that less than half of Trump supporters were racists or whatever. But the hardcore democratic base here on Atheist forums (or on my facebook page, or in real life) quadruples down on that statement all the time. Now nobody ever wants to blame the base of a party, but the base of the party that I'm exposed to on a daily basis seems driven to make the party small and ideologically pure. If you aren't behind 100%, including some fairly crazy things, then you are a Trump supporter and therefore a Nazi or just plain stupid, or whatever. I mean, from outside of that bubble, it's easy to see why that's a losing strategy.

[Neo-Scholastic]

If Dems were better on economic issues the economy should have soared under 8 years of Obama. It didnt. The numbers dont lie. The economy is better for pretty much everyone under Republican policies of deregulation and lower taxes.

[The Grand Nudger]

Honestly, who cares who does it too, too...when I'm giggling at the notion that good might come of voter suppression.......regardless of whose doing it?

You could only be adding "the dems do-do it too!"..and case in point, the dems have been losing.

[The Industrial Atheist]

If Dems were better on economic issues the economy should have soared under 8 years of Obama.  It didnt. The numbers dont lie. The economy is better for pretty much everyone under Republican policies of deregulation and lower taxes.

Like it did under Bush? Obama brought us out of that Recession. As I said Dems are much better at lowering taxes where it does the most good.