Sit back and listen as I, Jack Cantrell, tell all you hopeful and hopeless fellow liberal jackoffs what the Democratic Party ought to do in order to win back the White House in 2020.
This has to be my gutsiest piece that I've written for the blog. (Granted, it's only my third). I have no background as a political strategist. But I do pay close attention, so why not, I'll dive right in.
The Democrats must be populist.
Donald Trump is certainly a populist; he knows how to play to a crowd and say whatever will excite them. When Trump is talking about immigration, jobs, trade, or any issue, he knows what his base wants to hear, and he says it. Whether he follows through on what he says is another story, but the point is that Trump knows how to appeal to large crowds. This was particularly effective in the Rust Belt, which was aching for populism after decades of decline. As a businessman, Trump knows how to make a good pitch, and that pitch to the right crowd got him to the White House. Now, Trump has all the skills that got him to the Presidency, plus the advantage of incumbency. Presidents rarely lose re-election, and usually only when the economy is bad, (Herbert Hoover, Jimmy Carter, and George H.W. Bush, for example).
All of this means that if the Democrats want to defeat Trump, they have an uphill battle. In order to win that battle, they must bring out masses of people to vote for them. Since they are facing an incumbent who knows how to excite people, the Dems too must excite.
Well, I think back to the last time the Democrats were able to get people as riled up as Trump was. I look back to three years ago, to the rise of Bernie Sanders. He filled up entire stadiums and started a mass movement. He captured the hearts of millennials, the age demographic that typically votes the least. How did he do it? All he had to do was, as he put it, talk about the bloody issues. And talk he did. From Medicare for All to a massive green jobs program, from expanding social security to a living wage, Sanders captured the heart of the Democratic base. Yes, Hillary Clinton did win the nomination with her name recognition and the entire party establishment backing her, but the excitement was clearly with Sanders.
To win again, the Democrats must take the Bernie movement as their cue. I'm not saying that they must nominate him; there are numerous possible candidates that I can discuss in future posts. But they must take the populism of Bernie Sanders and run with it. Talk about the bloody issues. Get people excited to come out and vote. And spend more time promoting your own issues than you spend bashing Trump, especially over trivial or unproven issues, (Russia, Stormy Daniels, Trump's tweets, etc). You can't run on a platform of "better than Trump." We need to know what you are for, not just against.
Now, running on a bold, left-wing platform certainly has its risks. One might say that most of the nation does not identify as liberal, so that's not where the votes are. However, while most Americans may not call themselves such, and they often cower at any word like "socialist," I really do believe that most Americans, when you analyze them, fall left of center. Just talk to every day people, and you will find that most of them want better wages, stronger benefits, and people wealthier than them to pay more taxes. Opinion polls tend to indicate this, too. As for social issues, they are currently swinging in only one direction: the left. Changing times and more younger folks voting ensure a more socially liberal electorate. That brings me to my final point: who is currently least likely to vote? Young people and poor people? Who did Bernie Sanders most appeal to? You guessed it. Only progressive populism can bring in more Democratic voters. Centrism failed to stop Trump in 2016, and it won't stop him this time, either. Populism is the only way.
Beating Trump in 2020 will be a challenge, and we must admit that. Assuming that Trump will lose is, to me, a sure way for him to win. The Democrats must stay focused, and appeal to their base with a positive message. Drive up the Millennial vote. Drive up the working class vote, including the Rust Belt, which Sanders did rather well with in the primaries. Put the cards on the table, go all in, and in the name of progress, let's win in 2020!
-Jack
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