What should the GOP's strategy be for the next 2 years?

We'll see about Biden. So far, he hasn't played identity politics.

Republicans will now take their turn at identity politics as they try to hold a coalition together that includes Christian fundamentalists, libertarians, international business types, and now, lower- and middle-class whites.

My hope for Americans is we'll get away from people identifying as "X"--however they choose to see themselves--and then insisting "X" be the focus of the party they support. Take two examples. Americans have no stomach for taking away a woman's right to obtain an abortion or our right to protect ourselves with a firearm. Are there exceptions to both? Of course, but it will take most of us to make it clear we may support limited restrictions in these areas, but no more.

 

I really don't mean to be mean here, but that simply is not true. Biden has done it, and he has to do it.

Yep.

Again, I am sorry, but I feel compelled to say that this is something that simply is not going to happen. The problem is that our society creates the conditions that make it more likely than not that people will be self centered and materialistic. As a result of that, identity politics will work and politicians will resort to it out of necessity.

Please forgive me, but someone needs to say these things.

 

No, I don't think they created it, but leaders of the local BLM chapter may have chosen to get involved with what appears to a stupid, ideological move of white people to set up a physical space where whatever it is the morons think they share as beliefs prevails. The idiot Seattle mayor, pandering to potential supporters, gives away the overarching theme of the ideologues by talking about "peace "and "love."

Governor Inslee should have been on the phone to the mayor and in the press immediately saying there would be no "autonomous zone" in Seattle.

Now, you may choose to claim a local chapter of an organization with chapters all over the country, none having anything to do with this sort of political action, are somehow representative of BLM, but that would be straight BS.

Am I a fan of BLM? No, because they don't have core principles they insist upon with anyone associated with their organization. BLM should have said their organization has nothing to do nonsense like "autonomous zones."

 

I don't think so. Not yet. We'll see what he does after he assumes power.

It has already happened to a degree by Democrats electing a centrist over the like of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Republicans, I believe, will respond by turning away from Trump. We'll go back to tradeoffs between center-right and center-left.

This is certainly the pull away from centrist compromises.

Democrats will overplay their hand if they try to create a fault line in the GOP over dealing with Trump. I think we're at a time when the growing political middle wants us to steer away from extremism. The party that does this will likely be the one who holds political power for the next couple of election cycles.

Discussion is good, especially around real issues.

 

The point remains that the template for violent insurrection was established by BLM protests in 2020.

 

No, not at all. BLM is a throwback to the peaceful protests of the 1960s, but they don't have the discipline of King's SCLC to reject the politics of more radical groups. The problem with all protest organizations is they tend to look for something to protest.

 

If they "don't have the discipline" to reject the violence then they are responsible for the violence.

 

A pattern that existed before Politico:

 

I honestly don't think that is true and I would point to the appointment of Kamala Harris as Vice President as evidence of that. Its not that Kamala Harris is not qualified, but the appointment itself was about identity politics and was a token reward because Biden was able to fend off a challenge from the left because of the support he got from black folks when he was in trouble. Now he really doesn't have to do anything tangible for black folks specifically and can point to his appointment of Harris to guarantee the continuation of the rock solid support of black for the Democrats. Black folks in general have been the hardest hit of all racial/ethnic groups by the effects of poverty. Democrats don't have the ability to help them as a class, but what they can do to secure the black vote is to promote some token black candidates to positions of power. Once there they can't do anything specifically to help blacks as a class so the effect is the same as what the typical white democrat would do in terms of policy. But the appointments themselves are more than what Republicans will do, so blacks folks, not having anywhere else to go are appeased.

Bottom line, Biden plays identity politics. He has to, because that is simply the current dynamic of politics in the US.

I really don't think the selection of a so called centrist like Biden proves that people are moving away from the notion that I identify as X and that X should be the focus of the party. Although a centrist may be more likely to promote compromise in an attempt to win over members of the other side, what is being done in that case is that he is simply reacting to the influence of the elements of the extreme elements on the other side as it manifests in the political activity of the centrists from the other side. It is no more than that. And the fact that the opposing ends of the political spectrum in the US are moving away from one another will mean that it will become more difficult for centrist elements from both sides to compromise. Furthermore, that same polarization will mean that centrist candidates will find more difficulty keeping political power. We only need to look at the example of the selection of Trump as the Republican nominee for president as evidence of that.

At the risk of being redundant, I am going to repeat again that I really don't think centrist compromise is going to be the remedy to identity politics. Not only that, but Democrats don't have to do anything to create a fault line in the Republican party, its already there and is the result largely of the historical pandering of the Republicans to white racism. Furthermore, I don't think there is a growing political middle. I think the growth that is occurring politically speaking is at the ends of the political spectrum. The powers that be in both parties wish for what you said to be true because its easier for them to navigate politically and keep power if they don't have to engage in a difficult balancing act as a result of the forces from the extreme end from their side. But really its wishful thinking, and the fact that the extreme end of the Republican party was able to pull of the spectacle the other day at the capitol is proof of that.

 

You're propagandizing the forum. BLM organizes peaceful protests and the violence typically occurs after they go home.

"Since 2017, we have been collecting data on political crowds in the United States, including the protests that surged during the summer. We have almost finished collecting data from May to June, having already documented 7,305 events in thousands of towns and cities in all 50 states and D.C., involving millions of attendees. Because most of the missing data are from small towns and cities, we do not expect the overall proportions to change significantly once we complete the data collection."​

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/10/16/this-summers-black-lives-matter-protesters-were-overwhelming-peaceful-our-research-finds/



https://acleddata.com/acleddatanew/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/ACLED_USDataReview_Sum2020_SeptWebPDF_HiRes.pdf

An example ... his call to the Georgia Secretary of State.

 

Duck and Run.
SOP for the GOP.

 

Yup. And good on Politico for telling their own cry-bullies to stuff it.

 

What should the GOP's strategy be for the next 2 years?

Go back and listen to what she said. She was right.

 

Every Vice President nominee is identity politics. The notion of playing "identity politics" becomes almost nonsensical if you're going with that standard.

I submit a more meaningful distinction is an effort to help a class of persons to get something they want--racial, ethnic, gender, and single-issue groups for and against abortion, gun rights, etc.

Reparations for blacks is identity politics. Helping poor people generally, even with an understanding blacks will tend to benefit more others because the percentage of blacks in poverty is higher, is moving away from identity appeals.

I think Biden is trying to make a more general appeal, the so-called "big tent."

Biden whipped the leftists in his party and at this point has won the race to the political center with Republicans. We'll see if as President he continue working on a more general appeal.

The ends of he political spectrum are on full display and doing themselves in with extreme displays, sometimes fighting each other in the streets. Biden exploited the situation by running up the middle.

The "system" (the political center) is fighting back and we'll see if Joe can it and his party together. Slick Willie did it for two terms.

It's the only remedy to identity politics in a democracy.

I wouldn't be so sure about that.

I think the graph above suggests something more complex is going on and it seems as though Biden is going to try to go with the center. His cabinet picks say so, anyway. Slick Willie was the last Democrat to pull it off and it remains to be seen if Joe can make it work.

 

Not that I entirely agree with you, but I think there's a lot of truth in what you say. When I was involved in politics, I made sure we had meetings instead of rallies or protests. We sidestepped a lot of problems by not creating opportunities for morons to act out.

BLM are socialist types--real socialists who would collectivize production if they got the chance--whose vision, fortunately, stops with protests. Look at the evolution of their website from their belief in socialism to no longer having a coherent plan.

 

Fair enough.

 

The GOP is in a tricky place. They will be back in power because both parties always get back into power, but it isn't clear exactly what gives them the best shot at that without losing power to another Trump figure.

Ignoring moral issues and considering only strategy for getting elected, the GOP should work to change the topic from Trump and Covid. Attack the media. Get the focus off the recent past and onto attacking Biden. Whatever problems or crises Biden faces, play them as disasters. Focus on immigration and play up threats to jobs.

But none of that would stop another Trump from coming along, and the GOP doesn't want that. Trump gave hope to conservatives who felt abandoned by their party.

 

Hmmm. When asked my party affiliation, I reply that I'm an old-fashioned Midwest Republican. My party doesn't exist anymore. Trump was not the hope of conservatism; he was the abandonment of conservatism.

 

The best policy would be repeating the following points over and over:

Gun Rights
Lower taxes
Limited federal government intrusion

 

We should all be paying higher federal income taxes. It is neither sustainable nor responsible to run continuous structural deficits when the economy is growing.

 

The hypocrisy is deep and wide among Dems.

Dems Were For Occupying Capitols Before They Were Against It

Marc Thiessen, WP

 

It is an interesting fact that Trump did better with both Blacks and Latinos in 2020 than in 2016. This has led one commentator to suggest the idea of Multiracial Whiteness. Republicans can have their cake and eat it too. They can be the Whiteness party and get multiracial support.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...k-supporters-are-white-supremacists-media-say

 

For years, starting well before Trump, the GOP has been picking up black and Latino voters and white women. By the same metrics, though, the GOP has been losing white males, and whites overall, to the Dems.

 

Biden spent a lot if his time courting white voters. I don't think that will be necessary in 2024.

 

Giving up the Trump legacy will be their greatest endeavor in the very near future.