The Democratic Party in Trump's Fascist 2nd Term. Commentary, Ideas & Strategy (+ non Woketicism)

We're probably close.

The 4/10 Trumpers may be more racist than the entire group of Trump voters (which is larger than 50% of those who voted). I'll never know, because there's no safety in my differentiating between them.

And, in a first for many of y'all, they made themselves known in a way that even Whites could see.

 

What I like about the TdF is that it takes a different route every year, through different towns and regions. It was several years ago that it went through Plumelec, a Breton town about 25 km north of Vannes.I was trying to recognize certain landmarks, but it was tough since it had been a long time. When I was 11, my family spent a summer there on a farm (which was more of a culture shock than a different country for a city kid from Brooklyn) My father was a French professor and he got a sabbatical, and was writing a book about Jean-Paul Sartre. I tried to read it once, but that existentialism stuff soared over my head faster than an F-15 jet fighter!.

 

The problem with the line that the left-wing doesn't accept they've lost the argument to the right, (of the left, if you see what I mean), is that, too often, the right almost NEVER accept they've lost when it's the left-wing that has won the argument.

I saw that when Corbyn won the labour leadership and the Blairite tendency spent years trying to undermine him.

Their joy when labour lost in 2017 was almost visceral, despite the fact that we'd deprived the tories of even the narrow majority in parliament they'd got prior to the 2017 general election and despite the 40% of the vote we'd got which was miles above what was predicted.

Even in the so-called 'disastrous' 2019 result, we STILL got a higher percentage of the vote than we'd got in the so-called 'world beating' result in 2024 which was hailed as a great success for 'the moderates', (as we'd call them... or IC's as you fellas would say).

This is the problem.

The right are given carte blanche to undercut our side with no criticism when they're in the ascendancy but when the situation is reversed, the same rules don't seem to apply.

The worst thing is, they never seem to learn their less. They are, in the most literal sense, 'losers', as in, they keep fecking losing.

If we're going to have to be facing LITERAL fascists to stand a chance of winning, (and even then we can still lose, as we have against donny tiny hands), maybe we might be doing something wrong?

As @bigredfutbol I think it was said, we need to give people a reason to vote for us. Just saying 'the other guy's a fascist', even if it's true, probably isn't enough. Just saying 'Sure, I supported a genocide, but the other guy's a racist', again, maybe isn't sufficient.

 

In your side of the Atlantic, states collect a lot of taxes, the central government collects very little, so everything is localized.

In our side, the central government collects a lot of the taxes and the states relatively little, so our spending programs are very top down.

 

Schumer passed his sell-by date years ago. We've needed a changing of the guard for ages now. I wish I was seeing a fresh new leadership class that could unite the left and build a government that's up to all the challenges we're facing these days, but I'm not. So, we're left with these old geezers who are getting steamrolled. And the kids are not that much into the Democrats these days so it's hard to see where this is going.

Yes, the Democrats need to have a better message, we're a mess on every level. But, sadly, the Democrats are still our best bet.

And yes, I absolutely think that the threat of unfolding fascism and the end of Democracy as we've known it should be all the motivation that any left leaning person in this country should need to get their ass off the couch and fighting for the Democrats.

Those stakes alone are incredibly high, especially for the younger generation.

 

Philosophically, you’re right. But pragmatically, it’s more complicated. Let’s take them in your order.

On immigrants…do you agree with the slogan, nobody is illegal on stolen land? If we were to copy what Reagan did in the 1980s and regularize the status of undocumented people, should they have to wait 5 years to apply for citizenship? 10? Should they have to pay a fine for their years here undocumented? If so, how much?

POCs…what measures that a college might take to increase diversity in its student body should be ok, and which ones should be outlawed? If I think quotas are wrong, have I discarded POCs? If I think a poor white kid with no college graduates in her family deserves more consideration than a black kid from 2-3 generations of people with advanced degrees, have I discarded POCs?

On trans people…should the government pay for gender reassignment surgery for prisoners? Should health insurers be required to cover such surgeries? I don’t think minors should be allowed to begin the gender reassignment process unless at least one parent agrees, or the minor is emancipated. Does that mean I’m discarding children suffering from gender dysmorphia?

You didn’t mention abortion, but I’m a “on demand, without apology guy.” Except…if there is a practical way to make it illegal to abort a child because you want a boy and it’s a girl, I’d favor such a law.

Each of us would draw the line in a different place. And I think that’s OK. It should be ok.

 

Uhm, no.
In the Netherlands the government collects from every owner of a motorized vehicle (car, motorcycle,truck/lorry) a tax.
The amount of your vehicle tax depends on a number of factors: the weight of the vehicle, the type of vehicle, the use of the vehicle (private or business), the type of fuel of the vehicle and the province in which the holder of the vehicle lives.
The government is responsible for the national infrastructure (like national highways) and maintenance of it.
The provincial roads (for cars/bikes/pedestrians) are paid for by a tax I have to pay to the province I live in.
The infrastructure within the city limits are paid for by taxes I pay to my city.

 

I can only imagine he's saying 'states' to mean the different countries.

The EU isn't a 'country'.

It's a supranational body with different countries working together and sharing sovereignty in a few very selective areas but not in others. Also, as brexit proved, the countries can leave the supranational bodu so the analogy makes absolutely no sense anyway.

In the different countries, (such as Holland, the UK or whatever), the central government handles most important functions and collected the bulk of the taxes. Local taxes actually pay for very little.

But the important thing, (which was the point I made), was that most european countries, (along with others), operate things in similar ways in areas like healthcare and NONE of them use the same system as the US.

If you google 'which countries have universal healthcare' professor google's AI thingie says...

Over 70 countries have some form of universal health care (UHC) or similar, covering at least 90% of their citizens. Notable examples include most of Europe (UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark), Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Argentina. These systems provide access to medical services, often funded through taxes or mandatory insurance. ​

There's also a map from a website...




The point being that LOTS of countries are big or have large populations and the majority of them have some form of universal healthcare, (of varying qualities, obviously).

 

Just to be "that guy" given the context of the post - Holland isn't a country, it is a region of the Netherlands.

 

I thought he was that guy up top for City

 

There's a degree in 'interpretation' involved, to be sure but over here, for example, the language used by Starmer has been lazy and inaccurate around the issue of immigration which has helped make the debate more toxic...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj3rxrg2pnjo

It all comes back to this idea that we have to become fascists as otherwise, the fascists will get in.

To be clear, I'm not saying Keir Starmer is a fascist. I'm just saying that more care needs to be used when talking about some of this stuff and being lazy and imprecise in your language isn't a great look.

 

It's Holland, (or the Netherlands). Nobody gives a shit

I keeed, @feyenoordsoccerfan I keeed

 

I always call it Holland because I’m too lazy to write that other thing.

 

I'm not sure the map above is correct. Denmark does have universal health insurance, in that every citizen has access to "free" healthcare that is paid by taxes. I believe the reason why it isn't on the map is because it is not provided at the federal level, rather it is provided at the regional level, but it is funded by the Federal government.

To use the US as an example, it would be as if Medicaid paid for the healthcare of every state resident, not just those living below a certain income.

 

I just google'd all 4 countries and only Bulgaria and, to a lesser extent, Ireland don't have some for of universal healthcare.

Ireland has a low-cost system and are moving towards a universal system whilst bulgaria has what's claimed to be a low cost system, (probably BRF can advise further as to the costs).

 

So basically, every "developed" country (and some not-so-developed) has some form of universal health care. in Some partly-developed places like Zuid Afrikka, there are lots of people who likely have pretty decent insurance but a lot more who don't, depending on the brown bag test.

 

I’ve been reflecting on your post a little and it’s kind of a stunning observation. I wonder just how prevalent this type of thinking is, on the left. So there’s a train of leftist thought that says vote Trump so the current political system will be destroyed and then what? A socialist utopia rises from the ashes?

Doesn’t seem particularly well thought out but if we’re swimming against those kinds of currents maybe it’s game over and we should just accept our fate and it’s pointless to expect a massive display of left wing party unity? I don’t see how we (the Democrats) can overcome these kinds of attitudes. Not anytime soon.

 

EU = USA

Netherlands = Illinois


That is what I mean when I compare your States to ours.

 

I understand/understood the size by size comparison, but it doesnot fit the legal framework of the EU vs the USA.

 

That is your guys and gals fault.

Your union is not as strong as ours.

 

As I said before, socialism is the future of the Democratic party, how will "Independents" handle that will determine who wins elections.

42% of under 35 year old call themselves Democratic socialist.

An all-time high, 58%, of voters say the Dem Party is too liberal.

This comes as 1-in-3 Democrats think of themselves as Democratic Socialists!

And the % of Dems who say they're very liberal has quadrupled since 1999.

NJ-11, NYC mayor & Bernie Sanders are no aberration. pic.twitter.com/J0xuskHgn6

— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) February 12, 2026