“Voters don’t seem to care, perhaps because Democrats have taken a politically savvy “lie down and die” approach to Trump’s victory.”
Is that what Democrats are doing? I wouldn’t know. I’m in the “don’t care” column and have made it my mission to tune DC politics out for the foreseeable future.
What exactly do they want from the base right now? Why won’t pundits just leave us alone? It’s bad enough that we have to watch this clown show of an administration forming; stop begging us to add energy to this trolling.
We already expect the absolute worst from these fools. So we might as well rest up why we can.
The era of Finding Out starts in January 2025. Until then, I refuse to care.
If you’re sitting down this Thanksgiving with a Trump supporter, remember: their choice wasn’t harmless or abstract—it was a vote for cruelty, lies, and authoritarianism. In 2024 alone, Trump has embraced white nationalist rhetoric, calling immigrants poison to America’s blood. He’s threatened to execute political opponents, likened his rivals to vermin, and vowed to rule as a dictator. He’s attacked judges, incited violence, disparaged Jewish Americans, and spread conspiracy theories and election lies. Supporting him isn’t a political stance; it’s a declaration of allegiance to hate, division, and the unraveling of democracy.
Letting this slide in the name of “keeping the peace” isn’t civility—it’s surrender. Silence across the table is complicity. Challenge them. Hold them accountable. Make it clear: choosing a man who thrives on fear, violence, and dehumanization is a moral failure.
Thanksgiving is a time for gratitude, but it’s also a time for courage. Democracy dies in silence. Hate thrives on politeness. Stand up, speak out, and don’t let them forget that their choice comes with a cost—starting with your refusal to let it go unanswered.
"Voters don’t seem to care, perhaps because Democrats have taken a politically savvy “lie down and die” approach to Trump’s victory."
They're afraid. That's all it is, they're cowards. Pusillanimous is the word I use for the national democratic party. In various locales and districts they know how to put up a fight, but any democrat who knows how to fight will get neutered by the national party before being allowed into big leagues of national politics.
It's just a plutocracy / oligarchy all the way down now. The democratic party is complicit.
Great piece. When I tried to add you via your blue sky link it said something about being unable to resolve the handle or something like that? I don’t know if it’s an issue on my end or not but I wasn’t able to add you. Thank you for writing this, you bring up so many great points. Thank you so much for writing it, it’s very good. 🥰🫶🏻
Things are fucked right now--the bad is ascendant, exulting in their victory and proof that nothing matters, there will be no consequences, that when evil confronts weak, evil will win every time. And Democrats STILL are projecting weakness, now more than ever.
Things will not turn around until the old rot is cleared out, and those who are simply not fit for battle are replaced with a new breed that is ready to fight. There is no winning so long as we have the generals of 1940 France in charge, when we need the analogy to Patton and Eisenhower to take over.
There'll be battles over ideology (socialist left vs. moderate?) and policy (do we need to change our stance on fundamental policy aims?) but I think those miss the point. This is really about HOW to fight--communication strategy, political tactics, how to approach our adversaries and whether the "norms" that made sense in 1990 are worth anything more than the paper they're printed on today. (Interestingly, this is exactly what the GOP's "Tea Party" was fighting about--notice they didn't differ with the old guard on any policies, but rather how to fight the Democrats--the Tea Party won that intraparty battle, and now dominate how the GOP thinks. No more Charlie Crists or Dick Lugars!).
Well if Americans approve of this, why should Democrats do anything *other* than lie down and die, if approval means so much? It's what the people want.
I mean really, no good deed goes unpunished in American politics. We should look at their disapproval as a badge of honor really, and maybe they do intend the consequences to be for just us. But it'll hit them too.
He successfully sold them ethnic cleansing and disappearance of vulnerable minorities, but in the end people were willing to buy that. And he certainly had a lot of help from legacy media, a rightwing media human centipede, and a Supreme Court.
The voters will get what they voted for, and unfortunately so will those who didn't vote for it. But in the end, so long as there are still elections, the opposition still has the duty to figure out how to re-take power. Otherwise we effectively have no democracy anymore anyway.
I am certain that Democrats will still win local and state contests; there is work that has to be done and that's always the job of Democrats really. (and only Democrats have accountability for policy).
The way forward is probably building up the media infrastructure (for example Brian Tyler Cohen's Chorus Media) to counter the rightwing media human centipede.
But really you're going to need an upgrade of voters to resist the siren song of eliminationist populism. The whole pattern of this has been,
Klan Robe: Immigrants are poisoning society! They cause all the crimes! The Black ones eat dogs and cats!
Harris/Walz, et al.: Lies! Look at how the lying liar is lying to you! Truth! Facts!
Klan Robe: Immigrants are bad and there's also transes too and they're going to trans your kids! I'll get rid of them all! Women suck and I'll protect them with genocide! Also my pet Nazi billionaire says that we'll have great hardship if we do my economic plan!
I’m torn on Biden trying to be the grown up- doing things according to tradition. Those are his values. BUT. Is it right to treat a sociopath like this is normal?
I feel like treating Trump like a special case (ignoring his inauguration for example) almost fuels the fire of MAGA’ persecution complex.
I know I’m exhausted. Right now I’m just laying low until the inauguration.
1. I don’t believe polls anymore. Harry Enten himself was a veritable seesaw in the last weeks, vacillating wildly between the two candidates. So, no, Trump isn’t enjoying some media-fabricated post-election bump.
2. It is a sad commentary about America wherein the country is so much worse than any dystopian movie Hollywood could make. It is literally the Titanic at this point.
Were the polls the problem, or was the problem the pundits trying to analyze the polls? Polls were showing minor movement within the margin of error, which is how the election turned out, and pundits kept trying to interpret minor movement as something more than statistical noise (largely because otherwise there was nothing to report on, apparently).
I think this election showed us that the polling was pretty accurate, still.
A consistent theme was people rejected negative polling data. I got hammered at a previous publication when I pointed out that Biden/Dems were losing ground with POC. The immovable position from some liberals was that "Trump is racist. Dems will always get Obama level numbers with POC. Thus the polls are wrong."
“Democrats have taken a politically savvy ‘lie down and die’ approach to Trump’s victory.”
No kidding. My greatest disappointment over all this mess is not in the one-half of the country who voted for this obscenity, but in the party I’ve belonged to and faithfully supported for more than 50 years, just rolling over and showing its belly. Where’s their courage? Their fierce commitment to democracy? Spineless bunch of politicians, not all that dissimilar from the Repubs. Our country is broken, and the two parties are dead. Time to start over from scratch.
That's it! They haven't acknowledged that things have changed, and have adjusted accordingly. It's maddening. But they won't get any more of my money if they are going to act like trump is a normal person.
turmp has broken the 50% approval barrier?? Yes, Americans are stupid. As for Biden's approval caving, it could be because the Dems who worked their asses off, first for him, then for Harris, are ticked off that he's normalizing trump by welcoming him to the WH, being at his inauguration, and treating him like a real president. Biden doesn't have to send a mob to the Capitol, nor should he, but he doesn't have to be a pushover for trump.
“ … what we’re seeing here is Donald Trump’s presidential transition is getting a thumbs up and, dare I say, two thumbs up from the American people.”
—CNN? You sure this isn’t from the Onion? Tone-deaf, or simply now completely under Donald’s thumb? Sweet Jesus Fucking Christ. Glad I quit cable news a year ago. I’d have done an Elvis on my TV by now.
A clever comparison, although nothing compares to Trump and nothing compares to Americans who want the Soma of an imaginary history mixed with the meth of primal hate. These past ten years have shown that they were meant for each other. Trump could not have succeeded anywhere else - he’s not smart enough to outwit truly Machiavellian rivals or his personal Iago. And MAGA Americans require more insult-comic entertainment than the typical despot could provide them.
"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
"Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets."
People want lies. They want to be told they're the greatest. They want to be told they are perfect as they are.
Nothing will earn you hatred and scorn faster than telling a crowd the truth about themselves.
False prophets end up in power. Either in the White House or invited there. They get on TV. They wear fine clothes, eat the best food, travel on private jets, enjoy a good life.
Real prophets get beaten by the police or guards. They get thrown in dungeons or Alabama jails. They get sawed in half or shot on a hotel balcony.
And they do it with slim hope that because they're cause is just that somehow their life and their death will have some meaning, some lasting purpose...
Most of the time, a few generations later, they might get a monument and false prophets going on TV taking snippets of their words to support the very agenda they spent their lives fighting.
I don't know exactly what the future holds. Nothing good for a long white, I suppose. And each of us is going to have to navigate day by day, situation by situation, with how we respond to it. I hope and pray we all make the right choice regardless of the personal consequences.
“Voters don’t seem to care, perhaps because Democrats have taken a politically savvy “lie down and die” approach to Trump’s victory.”
Is that what Democrats are doing? I wouldn’t know. I’m in the “don’t care” column and have made it my mission to tune DC politics out for the foreseeable future.
What exactly do they want from the base right now? Why won’t pundits just leave us alone? It’s bad enough that we have to watch this clown show of an administration forming; stop begging us to add energy to this trolling.
We already expect the absolute worst from these fools. So we might as well rest up why we can.
The era of Finding Out starts in January 2025. Until then, I refuse to care.
Trump Relative at Thanksgiving?
If you’re sitting down this Thanksgiving with a Trump supporter, remember: their choice wasn’t harmless or abstract—it was a vote for cruelty, lies, and authoritarianism. In 2024 alone, Trump has embraced white nationalist rhetoric, calling immigrants poison to America’s blood. He’s threatened to execute political opponents, likened his rivals to vermin, and vowed to rule as a dictator. He’s attacked judges, incited violence, disparaged Jewish Americans, and spread conspiracy theories and election lies. Supporting him isn’t a political stance; it’s a declaration of allegiance to hate, division, and the unraveling of democracy.
Letting this slide in the name of “keeping the peace” isn’t civility—it’s surrender. Silence across the table is complicity. Challenge them. Hold them accountable. Make it clear: choosing a man who thrives on fear, violence, and dehumanization is a moral failure.
Thanksgiving is a time for gratitude, but it’s also a time for courage. Democracy dies in silence. Hate thrives on politeness. Stand up, speak out, and don’t let them forget that their choice comes with a cost—starting with your refusal to let it go unanswered.
https://open.substack.com/pub/patricemersault/p/an-open-letter-to-trump-voters?r=4d7sow&utm_medium=ios
"Voters don’t seem to care, perhaps because Democrats have taken a politically savvy “lie down and die” approach to Trump’s victory."
They're afraid. That's all it is, they're cowards. Pusillanimous is the word I use for the national democratic party. In various locales and districts they know how to put up a fight, but any democrat who knows how to fight will get neutered by the national party before being allowed into big leagues of national politics.
It's just a plutocracy / oligarchy all the way down now. The democratic party is complicit.
Great piece. When I tried to add you via your blue sky link it said something about being unable to resolve the handle or something like that? I don’t know if it’s an issue on my end or not but I wasn’t able to add you. Thank you for writing this, you bring up so many great points. Thank you so much for writing it, it’s very good. 🥰🫶🏻
Oh, thanks for mentioning. I need to update that link.
My handle is now @playtyperguy.com
Things are fucked right now--the bad is ascendant, exulting in their victory and proof that nothing matters, there will be no consequences, that when evil confronts weak, evil will win every time. And Democrats STILL are projecting weakness, now more than ever.
Things will not turn around until the old rot is cleared out, and those who are simply not fit for battle are replaced with a new breed that is ready to fight. There is no winning so long as we have the generals of 1940 France in charge, when we need the analogy to Patton and Eisenhower to take over.
There'll be battles over ideology (socialist left vs. moderate?) and policy (do we need to change our stance on fundamental policy aims?) but I think those miss the point. This is really about HOW to fight--communication strategy, political tactics, how to approach our adversaries and whether the "norms" that made sense in 1990 are worth anything more than the paper they're printed on today. (Interestingly, this is exactly what the GOP's "Tea Party" was fighting about--notice they didn't differ with the old guard on any policies, but rather how to fight the Democrats--the Tea Party won that intraparty battle, and now dominate how the GOP thinks. No more Charlie Crists or Dick Lugars!).
Well if Americans approve of this, why should Democrats do anything *other* than lie down and die, if approval means so much? It's what the people want.
I mean really, no good deed goes unpunished in American politics. We should look at their disapproval as a badge of honor really, and maybe they do intend the consequences to be for just us. But it'll hit them too.
He successfully sold them ethnic cleansing and disappearance of vulnerable minorities, but in the end people were willing to buy that. And he certainly had a lot of help from legacy media, a rightwing media human centipede, and a Supreme Court.
The voters will get what they voted for, and unfortunately so will those who didn't vote for it. But in the end, so long as there are still elections, the opposition still has the duty to figure out how to re-take power. Otherwise we effectively have no democracy anymore anyway.
I am certain that Democrats will still win local and state contests; there is work that has to be done and that's always the job of Democrats really. (and only Democrats have accountability for policy).
The way forward is probably building up the media infrastructure (for example Brian Tyler Cohen's Chorus Media) to counter the rightwing media human centipede.
But really you're going to need an upgrade of voters to resist the siren song of eliminationist populism. The whole pattern of this has been,
Klan Robe: Immigrants are poisoning society! They cause all the crimes! The Black ones eat dogs and cats!
Harris/Walz, et al.: Lies! Look at how the lying liar is lying to you! Truth! Facts!
Klan Robe: Immigrants are bad and there's also transes too and they're going to trans your kids! I'll get rid of them all! Women suck and I'll protect them with genocide! Also my pet Nazi billionaire says that we'll have great hardship if we do my economic plan!
Voters: <3 <3 <3
I’m torn on Biden trying to be the grown up- doing things according to tradition. Those are his values. BUT. Is it right to treat a sociopath like this is normal?
I feel like treating Trump like a special case (ignoring his inauguration for example) almost fuels the fire of MAGA’ persecution complex.
I know I’m exhausted. Right now I’m just laying low until the inauguration.
1. I don’t believe polls anymore. Harry Enten himself was a veritable seesaw in the last weeks, vacillating wildly between the two candidates. So, no, Trump isn’t enjoying some media-fabricated post-election bump.
2. It is a sad commentary about America wherein the country is so much worse than any dystopian movie Hollywood could make. It is literally the Titanic at this point.
Were the polls the problem, or was the problem the pundits trying to analyze the polls? Polls were showing minor movement within the margin of error, which is how the election turned out, and pundits kept trying to interpret minor movement as something more than statistical noise (largely because otherwise there was nothing to report on, apparently).
I think this election showed us that the polling was pretty accurate, still.
A consistent theme was people rejected negative polling data. I got hammered at a previous publication when I pointed out that Biden/Dems were losing ground with POC. The immovable position from some liberals was that "Trump is racist. Dems will always get Obama level numbers with POC. Thus the polls are wrong."
1. You were correct. 2. The polls were wrong. 3. Lazy media (wash, rinse, repeat).
“Democrats have taken a politically savvy ‘lie down and die’ approach to Trump’s victory.”
No kidding. My greatest disappointment over all this mess is not in the one-half of the country who voted for this obscenity, but in the party I’ve belonged to and faithfully supported for more than 50 years, just rolling over and showing its belly. Where’s their courage? Their fierce commitment to democracy? Spineless bunch of politicians, not all that dissimilar from the Repubs. Our country is broken, and the two parties are dead. Time to start over from scratch.
And they are still begging for money. What for? You need money to roll over for fascism? I've unsubscribed from all their emails and texts.
Same
They are responding as if Haley or DeSantis had won. That is a big mistake that doesn’t reflect the stakes they raised.
That's it! They haven't acknowledged that things have changed, and have adjusted accordingly. It's maddening. But they won't get any more of my money if they are going to act like trump is a normal person.
turmp has broken the 50% approval barrier?? Yes, Americans are stupid. As for Biden's approval caving, it could be because the Dems who worked their asses off, first for him, then for Harris, are ticked off that he's normalizing trump by welcoming him to the WH, being at his inauguration, and treating him like a real president. Biden doesn't have to send a mob to the Capitol, nor should he, but he doesn't have to be a pushover for trump.
“ … what we’re seeing here is Donald Trump’s presidential transition is getting a thumbs up and, dare I say, two thumbs up from the American people.”
—CNN? You sure this isn’t from the Onion? Tone-deaf, or simply now completely under Donald’s thumb? Sweet Jesus Fucking Christ. Glad I quit cable news a year ago. I’d have done an Elvis on my TV by now.
A clever comparison, although nothing compares to Trump and nothing compares to Americans who want the Soma of an imaginary history mixed with the meth of primal hate. These past ten years have shown that they were meant for each other. Trump could not have succeeded anywhere else - he’s not smart enough to outwit truly Machiavellian rivals or his personal Iago. And MAGA Americans require more insult-comic entertainment than the typical despot could provide them.
"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
"Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets."
People want lies. They want to be told they're the greatest. They want to be told they are perfect as they are.
Nothing will earn you hatred and scorn faster than telling a crowd the truth about themselves.
False prophets end up in power. Either in the White House or invited there. They get on TV. They wear fine clothes, eat the best food, travel on private jets, enjoy a good life.
Real prophets get beaten by the police or guards. They get thrown in dungeons or Alabama jails. They get sawed in half or shot on a hotel balcony.
And they do it with slim hope that because they're cause is just that somehow their life and their death will have some meaning, some lasting purpose...
Most of the time, a few generations later, they might get a monument and false prophets going on TV taking snippets of their words to support the very agenda they spent their lives fighting.
I don't know exactly what the future holds. Nothing good for a long white, I suppose. And each of us is going to have to navigate day by day, situation by situation, with how we respond to it. I hope and pray we all make the right choice regardless of the personal consequences.