Democrats suffer from a condition that I've come to call "Democratic Realism," named after Capitalist Realism. No matter how much they get their shit kicked in. No matter how badly they do. No matter how little they accomplish. No matter how badly they look or do in debates. Democrats always believe, beyond a shred of doubt, that they'll win elections without trying. Not because of their own merits, but because they're just the only "real" choice; they simply can't fathom anyone willingly voting for their opponents.

Hillary barely campaigned in the "flyover states" that she needed to win because she couldn't be fucking bothered to actually try. It wasn't worth the effort to try and persuade people she thought of as her lessers. And the DNC just went "well, it's obviously her turn. She's been waiting for the chance at the presidency for 20 years now. We should go ahead and let her be president." Because that's the mentality. They don't have to "win" elections. They just pick a candidate and they get to win, because there is no "real" alternative. That Bush and Trump won don't indicate that, yeah, actually, you do have to fight for the people who are voting for you, otherwise they'll vote for the schmuck that appeals to their basest and most venal instincts. Those were just flukes...right? And you don't have to inspire confidence and admiration in others, because they should just recognize how smart and accomplished and inoffensive their candidates are, and that they're told to vote for them by people that are smarter than they are, so they should just shut up and do it.

It's a party driven less by any kind of ideological goals and more by a pervasive sense of smug, impotent, lazy egotism. And, yeah, they'll get a shitload of votes in the elections because the alternative always seems to be someone who is one goose-step shy of a literal Nazi. Biden will probably even win the popular vote. Y'know....just like Hillary did...

[–] anachronist@midwest.social 13 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Good essay. I don't know if you remember after Obama won in 2008 a bunch of democratic party apparatchiks came up with this idea of "the coalition of the ascendant" and that they pretty much had the government locked in for a generation, due to support that would never waver for them amongst immigrants, yuppies, tech bros, etc. They didn't need the working class anymore and the Republicans would be the minority party for many years.

Two years later the democrats were wiped out in the midterms.

[–] rwhitisissle@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

The coalition of the ascendant concept is kind of insane when you remember for a moment that the popular vote is kinda worthless in winning elections. The electoral college is structured in such a way that conservative whites have a larger share of the electorate relative to their minority peers. It doesn't matter if you're a lock for California and New York (enclaves of coastal elites and minorities alike) if you lose the entirety of the South, Southwest, and Midwest, enclaves of...the opposite of those things, really. This 538 article on it has links to other discussions related to this and represents a fascinating look into the relationship between popular votes and electoral votes. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-a-difference-2-percentage-points-makes/

[–] conditional_soup@lemm.ee 3 points 4 months ago

Yeah, I think you've got a good handle on it.

[–] InputZero@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 months ago

I never thought of it like that, well written.

[–] TokenBoomer@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

You smoothly worked philosophical theory into the conversation. Subtle.

[–] NakariLexfortaine@lemm.ee 31 points 4 months ago (2 children)

They won't until they absolutely have to.

Which at this rate is fucking never.

[–] jaybone@lemmy.world 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Thought they would have learned something from that whole Hillary and Sanders debacle. But I guess not.

OR… they don’t give a fuck either since they’re all on the same corporate payroll

[–] TheFriar@lemm.ee 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Of course they didn’t. They literally had every establishment democrat coordinatedly drop out of the primaries in exchange for cabinet positions to throw their support behind Biden when Sanders started winning the primaries in 2020. Like, it’s been clear they’d learned nothing. And thanks to the idiotic two party system, they got rewarded for that maneuver with the opportunity to say “we told you so! Look, we got trump out of office!” And when they lose this time…they won’t learn a goddamn thing. Again.

[–] BearGun@ttrpg.network 5 points 4 months ago

luckily, they won't have to learn a thing if trump wins, because MAGAts will stack the odds so much in their favor that no dem will win a presidential election in many years. yay project 2025!

[–] SOMETHINGSWRONG@lemmy.dbzer0.com -3 points 4 months ago

“You’ve convinced me, now make me do it”

You are seeing what 80 years of worldwide violent repression of leftist ideology have culminated in.

Fuck the boat, I hope we all drown.

[–] Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org 15 points 4 months ago (2 children)

it would be nice if the democrats fucking tried.

They think they don't have to, they just have to keep you scared enough of the GOP that you'll vote for them out of terror. It's how Biden won the first time, after all.

[–] femtech@midwest.social 6 points 4 months ago

Democrats do not need to make us scared. The gop does it themselves.

[–] TheDarksteel94@sopuli.xyz 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

And they're right. I mean, Trump's a waste of oxygen, so why should anyone vote for him?

[–] Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You misunderstand the dynamic. Most GOP voters are going to vote and are going to vote for the Republican, regardless of how awful that Republican is. Voting is a civic duty and party above all are kinda core ideas for them.

Dem voters are a lot more flighty in general. Any barrier to voting no matter how small (even having to rise from the couch) impacts Dem voters more than GOP ones.

There are more Dem voters than GOP ones except maybe in very red states. It's about turnout - US voter turnout is God awful and it's worse among Dems than GOP.

That's why the debate was so bad for the Dems, because it's not about whether or not it pulls voters to Trump but about what it does to Dem turnout.

[–] TheDarksteel94@sopuli.xyz 2 points 4 months ago

I see, sorry for misunderstanding. I've also heard about the problem with voting turnout. As a European, the whole US voting system just seems kinda obscure in general. Although, to be fair, the right party voters are also way more likely to vote here than the ones from other parties.

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 11 points 4 months ago

Imagine if they had spent last 4 years promoting some young faces as potential candidates.

[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 10 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I would vote for a wet sandwich before I vote for Trump, but Jesus Christ, it would be nice if the democrats fucking tried.

why should they? you're going to give them what they want from you anyways in november and multiple novembers into the future; there's literally no reason for them to ever bother.

[–] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 13 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Remember when a bunch of people didn't vote because the Democrat candidate was a piece of shit? And then trump won? And then the democratic party said "oh wow we should put up actual candidates instead of decrepit neolibs" except they didn't because they didn't learn shit.

[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

except they didn’t because they didn’t learn shit.

not only did they not; but they cock blocked a popular progressive candidate from running; twice.

[–] anachronist@midwest.social 3 points 4 months ago

And then spent the next several cycles systematically forcing anyone who supported him out of the party.

[–] AngryPancake@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 months ago

You can't pin that on the voter because not voting for the democrats is effectively voting for the republicans. It's a problem of the two party system

[–] krashmo@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

Why doesn't anyone call him out on lying about running for a second term? I very vividly remember hearing him say in 2020 that he would not seek reelection and yet here we are.

[–] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Why doesn’t anyone call him out on lying about running for a second term?

never saw this. citation requested thanks

[–] John_McMurray@lemmy.world -1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yeah I remember it.

[–] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

citation requested thanks

[–] Liz@midwest.social 6 points 4 months ago

I dunno about you guys, but I didn't believe it for a second when he said he was going to be one term. Shame on him for lying, even if it was obvious.

[–] conditional_soup@lemm.ee 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, I don't get it. I was confused and not happy when I saw he was running again. He could've gone out like a heavily watered down LBJ, instead he's going to be forever remembered as the lost nursing home patient who wandered onto the debate stage. This is an unmitigated disaster, and the only way forward I see now is have Joe step down and let Kamala be the president. I'm not excited for that prospect, but I assume she can at least win a debate against a potted plant.

[–] anachronist@midwest.social 1 points 4 months ago

Kamala is literally the only person in politics who would be a worse candidate than Joe...