Tinidril

For the US to readopt slavery, wouldn't it have to give slavery up first? The thirteenth amendment specifically allows for the enslavement of prisoners. That's a big part of the reason we put so many blacks in prison.

Not one Republican ended up voting for it anyways. Most of the compromises were for blue dog Democrats.

There is no way we don't get a massive recession or worse in Trump's presidency. MAGA won't care, but a lot of the idiot moderates always blame the incumbent party and will vote in a Democrat.

All it takes to eliminate the filibuster is a bare majority. Democrats did it selectively to carve out exceptions for the few promises they actually wanted to fulfill.

So, just curious,what's your plan to replace the voters? Are you just bitching, or does this lead somewhere? It seems to me that even if the voters are the problem, we need candidates capable of inspiring them to act differently.

Yeah. This is the most unsatisfying "I told you so" opportunity of my life - by a long shot.

I really think the Democratic establishment saw it coming and tried to stop it. What I don't think they understand is why they failed. They seem to have a neverending capacity to delude themselves with the idea that they just didn't "centrist" hard enough. It's almost like they're paid to think that.

Agreed. However, I'm less bitter about 2016 than 2020 because Bernie was such a longshot who wasn't even running to win at the outset. The establishment also didn't get that Trump could actually win. By 2020 their eyes were wide open about Trump, Bernie was a serious contender, and the establishment did everything they could to undermine him. That was a totally unforced error made with full knowledge of the risks.

Aside from being aware of the rightward motion I'm not really well versed on European politics. The best we have in the US is the Working Family's party that primarily works within the Democratic party because of our two party system.

I know Spain has done some interesting things with restructuring corporations to put workers in charge. I'm not familiar with the political landscape that made that possible.

The 2020 primary was a joke too. The Democratic establishment manipulated it with a heavy hand in plain sight of everyone. Even so, their first choice, Kamala, flamed out spectacularly. Yet, somehow, we ended up with her being crowned as the next nominee almost before anyone saw it was happening.

I think it's fair to say that we wouldn't be in this position today if Bernie had won. The "anyone but Bernie" coalition is 100% responsible for the next 4 years.

Don't blame it on populism. Populism is just people objecting to the ruling elite and a rigged economy. It's right wing populism that always gets paired with nationalism and xenophobia to breed fascism. Left wing populists don't have the same tendency.

Progressives always win in the long run. The more years you look at in history, the clearer that becomes. The slowness and the backslides are often excruciating though.