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Why Democrats can’t win the ‘respect’ of Trump voters
The Sacremento Bee ^ | May 17, 2018 | Paul Waldman, The Washington Post

Posted on 05/18/2018 8:58:00 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

In the endless search for the magic key that Democrats can use to unlock the hearts of white people who vote Republican, the hot new candidate is “respect.” If only they cast off their snooty liberal elitism and show respect to people who voted for Donald Trump, Democrats can win them over and take back Congress and the White House.

The assumption is that if Democrats simply choose to deploy this powerful tool of respect, then minds will be changed and votes will follow. This belief, widespread though it may be, is stunningly naive. It ignores decades of history and everything about our current political environment. There’s almost nothing more foolish Democrats could do than follow that advice.

Before we proceed, let me be clear about what I’m not saying. I’m not saying that the desire for respect isn’t real. As a voter says in “The Great Revolt,” a new book by conservative journalist Salena Zito and Republican operative Brad Todd, “One of the things I really don’t get about the Democratic Party or the news media is the lack of respect they give to people who work hard all of their lives to get themselves out of the hole.”

Nor am I saying there aren’t some liberals who express elitist ideas, because there are.

But the mistake is to ignore where the belief in Democratic disrespect actually comes from and to assume that Democrats have it in their power to banish it....

(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...


TOPICS: Campaign News; Issues; Parties; State and Local
KEYWORDS: democrats; trump; whites
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To: Red Badger

This whole incident was the fonal straw for most people. The democrats have chosen their own form od destruction. The more they try to destroy Trump, the stronger he will become.


21 posted on 05/18/2018 9:41:43 AM PDT by richardtavor
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I lost all respect for demonicrats when John Hanoi Kerry called Viet Nam Veterans baby killers and war criminals without any chastisement form the media. Jane fonda was almost as bad. It has not gotten any better.
22 posted on 05/18/2018 9:50:57 AM PDT by mountainlion (Live well for those that did not make it back.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I believe there is a false narative still being pushed in the world of politics. That narative is that the US electorate is roughly 1/3 left, 1/3 center and 1/3 right. I do not believe that is the case anymore.

I am of the opinion that the split is now roughly 45% left, 10% Center and 45% Right. While specific issues may vary a little from this, as a whole, I believe that the center is often a 50/50 split. In turn, there no longer the option of moving to the center to gain votes.

I do believe that if you move to the center, you run the risk of alienating your base. Thus, I am of the opinion that it is now better to move further in the direction of your party so that you can motivate the base. That motivation will in turn, pull along the party as a whole.

It is now the party that has the most motivated voters who gets the greatest turn out, wins elections. Ideas are no longer relevant to that equation.

It is also a very dangerous time and I believe that another civil war is no longer avoidable as the inevitable out come of the above is for people to become more entrenched in their views and more violent in support of their views.

Be prepared.


23 posted on 05/18/2018 9:55:13 AM PDT by taxcontrol (Stupid should hurt)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

democrat politicians and activists don’t even respect the voters within there own party. that being the case how can they respect those who differ from them in belief and in moral compass. the party is that of the scammer , con artist and thief at tis moment in history. conservative should look at this political party as a warning at the corrupting influence power has. we also should realize that this infection of not respecting those who vote is in the republican party but is not a terminal infection like the demacrat party.....


24 posted on 05/18/2018 9:55:29 AM PDT by PCPOET7
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Dems are like our dog, who would find terribly vile things to roll in and then want to be cuddled.


25 posted on 05/18/2018 10:18:50 AM PDT by lurk
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Past behavior is the surest predictor of Future Behavior...therefore, there is no “change” the libs could make to convince me of their sincerity.

They’ve made their bed, let them lie in it.


26 posted on 05/18/2018 10:19:08 AM PDT by FrankR (If it wasn't for stupid ideas, the left would have no ideas at all.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Respect for Anti-Americans. I don’t think so.


27 posted on 05/18/2018 10:19:48 AM PDT by CptnObvious (uestion her now.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

That this writer kept referring to “white people” shows he’s already lost in identity politics and that’s the problem. Stop friggin’ dividing us! We’re Americans.


28 posted on 05/18/2018 10:20:03 AM PDT by Flick Lives (Suddenly someone'll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o' shrimp out of the blue, no explanation.)
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To: dhs12345

It comes out over and over and over again from their own politicians.....”flyover country”....”bitter, clinging to guns and religion”....”basket of deplorables”.....

It comes out even moreso from their mouthpieces in the MSM and the whole entertainment industry. Its not just the news, its TV shows, its Movies, its the statements from various actors its who is the butt of every “joke” on SNL or from late night talk show hosts and on and on. It comes out of the mouths of liberal arts professors at universities.

We’ve noticed. Any attempts to claim Leftists do not hate middle America are an outright lie doomed to failure. We know all too well that that’s exactly what they think.


29 posted on 05/18/2018 10:20:43 AM PDT by FLT-bird (..)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Everything I needed to know about the Dems was learned at the Wellstone memorial.


30 posted on 05/18/2018 10:20:44 AM PDT by lurk
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I agree with the author. Dems should double down on snobbish elitism, it’s the clear path to victory.


31 posted on 05/18/2018 10:22:55 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

White people who vote Republican?? To this moron, Black Americans nor Asians nor American/Alaskan natives do not vote Republican?? I better tell my friend (who is black and a Trump supporter) that he is white.


32 posted on 05/18/2018 10:25:27 AM PDT by Deplorable American1776 (Proud to be a DeplorableAmerican with a Deplorable Family...even the dog is, too. :-))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

They’re socialists and communists.

They all need to move to Venezuela, instead of turning the USA into Venezuela.

I will never show them respect as a group, though I am a law-abiding, polite person who, on a personal level, is freindly, and believes in civil discourse instead of physical combat.

But if it comes to that I will win, asserting my G-d given right to self-defense.


33 posted on 05/18/2018 10:26:07 AM PDT by zipper (In their heart of hearts, every Democrat is a communist)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

REASONS FORMULATED MANY YEAR AGO.


34 posted on 05/18/2018 10:27:32 AM PDT by bmwcyle (People who do not study history are destine to believe really ignorant statements.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

You don’t win respect, you earn it.


35 posted on 05/18/2018 10:27:55 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: taxcontrol

There’s one thing about the “center” that a lot of politicians don’t seem to get. You don’t “appeal to the center” by taking moderate positions. You appeal to the center by WINNING. People in the center are in the center not because they like moderate positions, but because they are indecisive people who don’t like to take strong positions one way or the other. They are the type of people who go along with the crowd to absolve themselves from having to take responsibility for their own decisions.

If you want to win those types of people over, you just need to get the momentum and they will naturally hop on the bandwagon.


36 posted on 05/18/2018 10:28:54 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Morals are not something you can get back once you throw them away.


37 posted on 05/18/2018 10:31:24 AM PDT by American in Israel (A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)
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To: pepsionice

“Outside of the beltway, and into various rural regions...I suspect that 10-percent to 15-percent of the working-class Democrats did vote for Trump along the way.”

My wife/I and our siblings had hard working parents and most of us have worked past age 65. We were born at the tail end of the depression. All of us are conservative and many still work past 70 years of age.

No body has ever been on wellfare.

Many liberals in our age bracket went to their graves thinking that FDR was the greatest thing that happened for hard working and non elite Americans. They voted straight Democrat at all levels for decades.

In spite of working hard and raising families, they were die hard FDR type democrats to their end of life here.

Their boomer off spring were/are Clinton voting democrats.

Their grand kids are millennials, who hate Trump and many still live at homes vote democrat like their parents and grandparents did.

So are we dealing with some DNA impacts on both sides?


38 posted on 05/18/2018 10:58:14 AM PDT by Grampa Dave (Democrats are having trouble with their MAMA campaign, (Make America Mexico Again), versus MAGA!)
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To: FLT-bird
Exactly. And they are supposed to be the party of love and inclusion and tolerance.

Malarkey!

39 posted on 05/18/2018 11:44:07 AM PDT by dhs12345
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To: Post5203

My thoughts exactly! I don’t want them to respect me, my feelings or my family. I want them to leave us alone. Period. It would only be a shallow gesture anyway. And we deplorables know it. They are scum.

When the shooting wars start, it’s nice that they did us a favor by affixing a target on their own backs. Makes it easier that way, since we don’t wear uniforms!


40 posted on 05/18/2018 12:33:53 PM PDT by Maskot (Put every dem/lib in prison...like yesterday.)
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