The ApricotHellBeast ran against 2 amazingly qualified women and *won*.
He ran against 1 male and lost.
There's more to it than just that, but the math speaks for itself.
'MURICA!

Maybe people might take a look at why that is, beyond the claims they're stupid, uniformed, low information cretins, and disengaged and so on. One might think it might have something to do with total disgust and cynicism as to what both the current Republican and Democratic Parties are offering as a platform and a new way forward.

Thanks, and welcome to the discussion.

A little off your theme with non-voters, but worth consideration I think. A lot of workers struggling and living paycheck to paycheck out there. Lot of people struggling beyond that and they're not feeling the platitudes and slogans from any direction. Lot of Democrats are yelling... "look at all we've done for you to lighten your load." Struggling people are responding..."sorry but the cost of daily survival has doubled and I've not seen the results you claim in my daily struggles." Said Democrats then respond with charges of... "you must be racist, sexist, a right-winger, or stupid for not seeing how much we've done for you and not voting for us." Republicans are yelling..." look at all we've done for you, we're giving you freedom, less bureaucracy, less regulation, tax cuts, and so much more. Look at all we've done for you before." Struggling people are responding..."sorry but my situation didn't improve at all when you were in charge despite your claims of wide spread prosperity." Republicans then respond with..."well you must be an irresponsible woke libtard, and a lazy radical leftist Marxist with purple hair who doesn't want to work at improving your lot after all we did for you." And so it goes...

As for your question on bridges within the party and "the left", if such a thing still exists. Maybe. A couple of observations. I don't think most who focus on class are turned off by or resent discussions on racism, sexism, bigotry, and what have you. I think people are turned off and resent when the discussion of sexism turns into an all men suck hate fest. I think people resent when sexism is weaponized to shut down discussions on economic class. I don't think most are turned off by discussions on racism. I think people get turned off when that turns into an all white people and their culture sucks hate fest. I think people are turned off and resent when people weaponize racism to shut down discussions on economic class. Same with antisemitism, islamophobia, and the rest. When identity is used as a weapon to shut down discussions on economic class, warmongering, or some other issues it's not a way forward for bridge building. I realize I'm somewhat painting with broad strokes on this, but it's some of what I see as roadblocks. Some people are truly identity reductionist in their politics and that's fine if they're honest about it. Same goes for class reductionists I would say. None of that is to say that racism, sexism, and bigotry doesn't exist. None of that is to say that racism, sexism, and bigotry doesn't play a part in elections. A bit disjointed, but that's some of what I see from my perch at least. Cheers and kudos for the discussion you're bringing to the table. More of this, and less of X, Bluesky, and Facebook meme politics is a good thing I think.

You are making many good observations.

I would ask you to consider if "all men suck hate fests" and "all white people and their culture sucks hate fests" are actually happening. People are talking about race and gender as social roles, and institutional bias, not as personal qualities.

If it is a matter of people shutting down discussions on economic class, which I think is happening right on these threads, then that would be the complaint, yes? and not "all men suck hate fests" and "all white people and their culture sucks hate fests."

"Look at all we've done for you" is also happening right here on this thread, as if people don't know from their own experience whether or not they are struggling. It is condescending.

In the absence of talking about economics and class, it is just about impossible to talk about racism and misogyny, since both are subsets of class struggle. The economic advantage comes first, then come the rationalizations. Slavery in the colonies preceded racism, for example. Holding anyone down anywhere holds us all down everywhere. It is economic advantage that drives that, not beliefs or ideologies.

Here is another good article on this topic, written on the eve of the election.

Nothing in the article says that.

Only if they get their heads out of their asses a recognize that the (lower) middle class exists and they pay attention to their needs.

Judging by the first few responses, the answer to the question is "no" the gap cannot be bridged.

Working class voters didn't flock to Trump. His vote totals aren't the issue here.

Harris failed to draw out her own base of supporters. None of them would have voted for Trump

I don't know what you are looking at. I don't think anyone said that blue collar voters "flocked" to Trump. However, blue collar workers have been moving to the Republicans. When looking at the results from the recent election here in Michigan, it is clear that the higher the average income in any given county, the better the Harris/Walz ticket performed, while the lower the average income in a county, the worse the Harris/Walz ticket performed. That is a big change from the way people voted in the past.

Who exactly is "her own base of supporters" and why did they not come out and why would they never have voted for Trump? Many people who did vote for Biden and Obama and Clinton did in fact vote for Trump.

Why are vote totals "not the issue?" We are talking about election results after all.

Trump didn't pick up all the voters (the reliably Dem base) who didn't show up for Harris

That's all I meant

Thanks. No class revolt would pick up all of the people in the working the class. However you are right i you are saying that many blue collar voters are still with the Democratic party. There has been a steady leakage of that support, to the point that the support for the two parties has completely flipped. The poorest counties went for Trump, the wealthiest counties went for Harris. That is remarkable, and it is a sign of what could be called a "class revolt."

We ran a person of color from Oakland who went to a black college worked at Mcdonalds and became an attorney, through hard work...not nearly Liberal enough for me personally..but I could see her evolving into it.

and a guy from Minnesota, who cut child poverty, gave families paid leave was for legalized weed, was in the national guard and was a high school football coach.

They ran a sociopath rich kid thief, sexual predator, business failure who cheated his blue collar workers out of money and who is old and demented. His side kick a VP private equity lackey who cribbed a story as an everyman by living with his grandparents for a summer and writing about how their friends can't by

We had the policies in Build back better a tiny majority and two nameless former members of our coalition wouldn't go along with it and repubs never cross their party to help struggling americans....or impeach Ahole's who deserve far worse then they have gotten

I think that article masks some massive racism and misogyny

Instead of "The USA's massive electorate of garbage people voted for the garbage candidate."

The Party gave off a vibe of disregarding blue collar folks...

Like it or not, that's what the votes show.

This isn't the DEM Party of old... too much effort to woo Republicans and neocons.

and they have no problem with Trump.

Becsuse they are white.

Racists say this? "The Party gave off a vibe of disregarding blue collar folks...Like it or not, that's what the votes show. This isn't the DEM Party of old... too much effort to woo Republicans and neocons?" I don't think so.

Implying that a post you disagree with is racist is not a good thing to do.

and Oprah. But no complaints about the billionaires a Trump is appointing and hanging out with.

I agree with you that it is not good to deny bigotry exists.

I have plenty of complaints about the billionaires a Trump is appointing and hanging out with.

I didn't say anything about Beyonce nor about Oprah. Since they support the Democrats therefore we can't criticize the recent campaign? That doesn't make any sense. If we criticize the recent campaign then we therefore have no complaints about Trump? That doesn't make any sense, either.

I am interested in hearing your point of view, whether or not I agree with it. Can you explain what you are trying to say? I could be wrong, but I think you are saying that racism is the prime factor in the recent loss, and further you are saying that anyone who says otherwise is actually supporting, defending or promoting racism? Yes?

Who is asking you to pretend anything? I'm not seeing it.

I am baffled by this comment!

"That's what racists say.'

What is "what racists say"? I don't see anything in the post you were replying to that sounded like anything racists say.

Thanks for your input. I suspect that you will be in the majority with that opinion. But my question is not so much which side is right, but rather can the gap between the two factions be bridged? Are you a "no" on that?

Of course the Democratic candidates were vastly superior. I didn't and wouldn't say otherwise. That makes the question even more important. How did we lose? To Trump!! Should we not be looking at that?

Can you describe the racism and misogyny you see in the article? I am not in any way advocating backing down or compromising on either the fight against racism nor the fight against misogyny, by the way.

That is a bizarre comment. No one said or implied that "Black women are the elites."

The upper 20% is mostly white folks, and it is the upper 20% we are talking about.

Everything's wrong in this article.

Thanks for weighing in. Nothing that I said and nothing in the article suggests that "the Republicans are the Working Class Party." Of course they are not.

Biden ushered in 4 years of prosperity for construction workers + the and the infrastructure workers that service the construction industry.
This is after 4 years of promises by Trump. That infrastructure would start next week. Biden invested in billions and all the union workers are busy as all get out. The problem was poor messaging.

The move to the Republicans by blue collar workers started 40 years ago. It has reached a critical level. There is no question that the two parties have flipped on income levels.

Of course Biden is better than Trump. That is a very low bar. Could it get any lower?

What do you mean by "messaging" and how would you improve it?

Do you not think that millions actually are desperate?

Which part is utter b*******?

This includes white supremacy and misogyny.

That is the prevalent view. The party will probably continue to be dominated by that view.

So would you say that there is no way to bridge the gap, then? The focus will be on class or on bigotry, but not both? Secretary Clinton did win the popular vote, and so did Barack Obama. Why were white supremacy and misogyny not the determining factors in those elections?