Like the Library of Babel, this
long politics post has excerpts that say for me what I would have said if I took the effort:
…it doesn’t seem to me that this particular set of Democrats are interested in doing the stupid and predictable things the Democrats do to undermine their own chances, which usually comprise of tacking to a now non-existent US political center (which is usually actually to the right of center), and being overly cautious with their messaging because they’re worried about how the right will pile on at Fox News and on social media.
…
2016 shows us that polls aren’t votes; 2020 shows us that sore losers would rather take down democracy than admit defeat. Democrats have a tendency toward complacency and doomerism and self-factionalizing themselves into irrelevancy; there’s a reason so many of the DNC speakers reminded the audience, in the arena and out of it, that they have to stay focused and actually vote. Conversely, we already knew the MAGA faithful will show up to the polls
I would replace “Democrats” with the left. They’re very online and good at chastising and reassuring each other. Bad at actually winning and changing anything.
And this has always been the thing. In 2000, the electoral ring was thrown into a pile of pig shit and the Democrats and the Republicans were both invited to go rooting for it. The Democrats gingerly waded in and seemed to resent having to do so; the GOP, on the other hand, dove in with a snorkel. The whole thing was eventually decided in the Supreme Court, but the template was established: the Republicans would do what it takes to get what they want, and were perfectly happy to bash the Democrats in the teeth while they did it.
Scalzi thinks this has changed; it has was the candidate, but I’m not sure how they’re going to handle the attacks on the election system, like the AI-generated legal challenges and the Trump-packed Georgia board of electors.