They knew they would move the goalposts and not vote on it. The border is the only thing they had to run on, and they shot that all to hell. The economy is slowly getting better, wages are rising and the stupid Republicans not only shot themselves in the foot over the impeachment based on Russian criminal hearsay, they reloaded and shot the other one over the border deal they got.
I don’t know that I agree that it was bait. They were working on that bill long before it became apparent that it wouldn’t pass.
Even if it was bait, it was a tacit agreement that the racist fearmongering from the right was true.
I do think it was good political strategy in the end, but it still advanced and legitimized the alarming eliminationist rhetoric coming from the maga camp
Do you know how much “legitimizing” something is worth in politics? Nothing. All politicians are masters at “legitimizing” whatever their voters want through cheap words. Actually doing something costs money and may piss off the wrong person, so they try to avoid that.
You can literally tell everyone placating things, “legitimizing” everyone’s opinion, and do nothing at the end of the day.
I haven’t seen any Democrats say they did it on purpose, but I could’ve missed that memo.
But even if it is bait, it’s using immigrant lives as bait, and I’m not cool with that. What if the Republicans voted for the bill? Risking all those lives, for what?
And furthermore: now that the Republicans are proven to be hypocrites, do you think that this will cost them any votes?
Even if we accept it was bait, and not just the DNC pivoting to the right, I think it was a losing move. Who is this going to sway? Republicans aren’t the kind to be well-informed and swayed by the changing circumstance of current events, so it won’t peel any of them away. As for the rest, it just shrank the differences between the two parties, whether practically or purely optically. It’s not like this just finally demonstrated that the Republicans were a fucking joke of a party when it comes to actual governance.
So we showed that the Republicans are incompetent hypocrites, as though that’s new information, and as if that realization would change any hearts or minds. And in exchange for this completely worthless prize, all it cost us was a now bipartisan consensus to push The Big Lie about immigrants. I don’t consider that a victory.
The DNC is still the lesser evil, and there’s still a significant margin. I just wish that margin was growing because the Democrats were moving left, not because they’re both moving right but at different speeds.
It was literal bait.
They knew they would move the goalposts and not vote on it. The border is the only thing they had to run on, and they shot that all to hell. The economy is slowly getting better, wages are rising and the stupid Republicans not only shot themselves in the foot over the impeachment based on Russian criminal hearsay, they reloaded and shot the other one over the border deal they got.
I don’t know that I agree that it was bait. They were working on that bill long before it became apparent that it wouldn’t pass.
Even if it was bait, it was a tacit agreement that the racist fearmongering from the right was true.
I do think it was good political strategy in the end, but it still advanced and legitimized the alarming eliminationist rhetoric coming from the maga camp
Do you know how much “legitimizing” something is worth in politics? Nothing. All politicians are masters at “legitimizing” whatever their voters want through cheap words. Actually doing something costs money and may piss off the wrong person, so they try to avoid that.
You can literally tell everyone placating things, “legitimizing” everyone’s opinion, and do nothing at the end of the day.
It doesn’t matter.
I haven’t seen any Democrats say they did it on purpose, but I could’ve missed that memo.
But even if it is bait, it’s using immigrant lives as bait, and I’m not cool with that. What if the Republicans voted for the bill? Risking all those lives, for what?
And furthermore: now that the Republicans are proven to be hypocrites, do you think that this will cost them any votes?
Not among the base
But
Independent voters are watching, and the Republican party is tanking with the 18-40s Independents.
I’m sorry, but I can’t be optimistic about this.
Even if we accept it was bait, and not just the DNC pivoting to the right, I think it was a losing move. Who is this going to sway? Republicans aren’t the kind to be well-informed and swayed by the changing circumstance of current events, so it won’t peel any of them away. As for the rest, it just shrank the differences between the two parties, whether practically or purely optically. It’s not like this just finally demonstrated that the Republicans were a fucking joke of a party when it comes to actual governance.
So we showed that the Republicans are incompetent hypocrites, as though that’s new information, and as if that realization would change any hearts or minds. And in exchange for this completely worthless prize, all it cost us was a now bipartisan consensus to push The Big Lie about immigrants. I don’t consider that a victory.
The DNC is still the lesser evil, and there’s still a significant margin. I just wish that margin was growing because the Democrats were moving left, not because they’re both moving right but at different speeds.