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Given that Trump constantly does things that should screw himself over, and then he trips on a rock and somehow it's fine. I think it comes down to two things: Trump is a very skilled con man (his one tangible skill) with unbelievable luck, and America is chock full of idiots. I really believe now that he could literally shoot someone on 6th Avenue in front of network television and get away with it.
It's not that simple. Sure, he's conning people, but it's not because he's particularly clever or skilled. He's simply offering them an image that's different from the establishment Democrats (and establishment Republicans, for that matter) who they despise. Of course, the right-wing propaganda machine plays a role, but the people themselves do a lot of the work towards inventing explanations for how he's on their side. They believe in him because they want to believe in him, and they want to believe in him because he presents himself as an alternative to a failing system.
You're absolutely right that he's offering people the image they're looking for. But speaking as someone with a few years training and experience in stage acting - nothing bigtime but legit, I'm not talking high school play - Trump has always been generally quite a good performer. He's been called a "consummate liar" but it's the same thing. He understands nuances of character and uses them consistently - a set of voices, facial expressions, head tilts, etc, that communicate sincerity. One of his bits is a straightforward tone that exudes honesty and gets people to remember stuff. He'll say like, "Listen to me now..." and then repeat something he just said in this very "I'm leveling with you" tone. Sometimes he pauses to let it sink in and then repeats it again. Very effective way to get people to believe and remember a message. He has all kinds of little tricks to sound more believable to people who already want to believe him.
To me it all looks like well practiced technique but there's probably also some natural talent. I bet he was super good at lying to his parents as a kid. His skillset is actually pretty rare, and is a hallmark of a really effective salesman (or actor). His other talent, which is really the con man part, is picking the right audience. On some level he does understand them and how to push their buttons. With a vastly different character he could have been a fantastic therapist - although the rapist part probably would have ruined that.
Regardless of whatever skills he may have, material conditions are the primary reason for his relevance and success. This is generally how the world works. People say the same thing about Hitler, that he was so charismatic that he just hoodwinked the German people, but it was really the declining material conditions that allowed him to come to power. Trump is merely a symptom of a larger disease, and even when he's gone the disease will remain, the conditions that created him will still be there waiting for another person to take advantage of the same things in the same ways.
Harris tried to address our material conditions too, just different ones. At this point I think a major reason Harris failed is that she's a woman and mainstream America still isn't ready for that, amazingly.
That's completely false. Tammy Baldwin won in WI, Elissa Slotkin won in MI. It's completely incoherent to blame the fact that she's a woman.
Harris' message did not resonate with people struggling to pay their bills. She completely attached herself to the policies of the Biden administration and the broader status quo.
Yes there have been women in Congress for many years. In fact if you wanted to make that point better you could have referred to Jeannette Rankin, who was elected to the House of Representatives in 1916 and again in 1940. It's not "incoherent" to point out the fact that many people are still against having a woman as President. When Hillary Clinton ran in 2016 it came up a lot. And don't take my mention of it as agreement - I voted for Harris.
Right, but this is literally the same election we're talking about, in the same states that she needed to win, that two women got elected. If the majority of voters are willing to vote for a woman for senate, then it's pretty ridiculous to suggest that they're specifically only opposed to a woman being president. There is not a significant voter bloc that is specifically opposed to a woman being president but is fine with women in any other position.
Your speculation is not "fact." Clinton and Harris are a grand total of two data points that you're using to draw this conclusion, and they were both deeply flawed candidates. Blaming their gender is just a deflection from their actual faults and strategic blunders, of which there were many.
I'm saying Americans will elect women for CONGRESS, but many of them still don't feel good about a woman PRESIDENT. I don't really care if you believe that or not.
I understand what you're saying, what I'm saying is that it's wrong, makes little sense, and is almost completely baseless.
Whatever dude. Argue with these ignorant bozos at The Hill who said in July that the number of Americans who say they are ready for a woman president had dropped 8% since 2015. Obviously they just pulled that number out of their ass.
Right, and I suppose I'm supposed to interpret that number as being completely unaffected by the specific woman who was running for president.
By the way, funny you should mention that it "dropped by 9 points" without mentioning the actual numbers. Only 30% said that they weren't ready for a woman president. The vast majority of that 30% is going to vote Republican even if you run the straightest whitest malest person you can find.
Of course, as always, "The Democratic Party cannot fail, it can only be failed." Never point the finger upwards, only ever downward. Their loss cannot possibly have anything to do with their strategies, the voters are always the ones to blame. This refusal to self-criticize is exactly what caused the Democrats to repeat the same blunders that caused Trump to win in 2016. Get your head out of the sand.