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You are here: Home / Open Threads / MY Democratic Messaging Strategy

MY Democratic Messaging Strategy

by Betty Cracker|  July 15, 20225:48 pm| 152 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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I’m going to a family reunion event soon that will be crawling with Trump- and DeSantis-loving relatives. (You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family.) I know from experience that after having a few drinks to screw up their courage, some wingnut family members will attempt to engage left-leaning kin on politics. I’ll be ready for them. Freedom will be my theme.

I want women and girls and everyone else to have the freedom to make their own reproductive choices, and I believe people who’ve been sexually assaulted should be free to put their lives back together without bossy-ass politicians like DeSantis and/or the religious zealots on the Supreme Court telling us what we can and cannot do. Don’t believe in abortion? Fine — don’t have one.

If an LGBTQ kid confides in a trusted teacher at a school in a small Florida town, I want that teacher to have the freedom to let the kid know they’re loved and valued for who they are and that the school will have their back if other kids try to bully them. People have the freedom to be homophobic bigots, but they should not have the right to impose their bullshit on the rest of us because that infringes on OUR freedom.

People should be free to visit their local library and read books without politically motivated kooks banning titles that offend their narrow-minded sensibilities, without fascist thugs harassing and intimidating library staff and without libraries closing because a few cranks ran the staff out of town.

I want the freedom to go to a Fourth of July parade, grocery store, school, movie theater, music festival, etc., without the worry that an unstable man with an AR-15 and satchel full of high-capacity magazines will start shooting people to pieces.

I’m not sure how Republicans managed to make “freedom” a core component of their brand. They’ve been sticking their officious noses in everyone’s business, exalting the “rights” of a small minority of gun fetishists in a way that holds the rest of us hostage, and trying to make people who are not their co-religionists follow their religious strictures since I was a small child.

“LET US ALONE” indeed, you sanctimonious prick! That’s why I’ll continue voting for Democrats — for freedom. The end.

Open thread.

 

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Reader Interactions

152Comments

  1. 1.

    JKC

    July 15, 2022 at 1:55 pm

    Well said. Democrats could do a lot worse than to rebrand themselves as the party of personal liberty.

  2. 2.

    Major Major Major Major

    July 15, 2022 at 1:55 pm

    It’s been so weird watching the GOP’s “three-legged stool” collapse in real time. The neocons are all Dems now. A lot of the libertarians vote Dem now, the rest have become fascists. Which leaves them with the ‘moral majority’, the exurban Poujadist petit bourgeois, and the white supremacists. Who are conveniently-enough located for them to hold power… sigh.

    Dems are the party of patriotism and free speech and freedom and small government and states’ rights and balanced budgets and and and…

    The never-Trumpers will back DeSantis, of course. He’s the future of the party, assuming he can beat Trump. Barf.

  3. 3.

    trollhattan

    July 15, 2022 at 1:56 pm

    Let us alone?

    Your offer is acceptable (easy to say three time zones away).

  4. 4.

    trollhattan

    July 15, 2022 at 1:57 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Voter suppression is the one crazy internet trick keeping that legless stool off the floor.

  5. 5.

    Paul in KY

    July 15, 2022 at 1:57 pm

    God bless you, Betty! When they come up with the ole ‘Just think how many great scientists or whatever have been aborted’, just nod your head and reply with ‘Just think about how many serial killers and other evil fiends have been aborted’.

    Hope you have some fun there.

  6. 6.

    Frank Wilhoit

    July 15, 2022 at 1:59 pm

    The difficulty is that the word “freedom” (like most words) means something completely different to them. As they use it, it is a euphemism for unaccountability. When you speak of the freedoms you want for yourself or whomever, all they hear is the threat of accountability for them, and that is an existential threat.

  7. 7.

    Bill K

    July 15, 2022 at 1:59 pm

    I was commissioned in the Florida Guard.  I have never seen that “Let Us Alone” logo.   I wonder if DeSantis made it up?

  8. 8.

    Kevin

    July 15, 2022 at 2:01 pm

    One of my favorite bloggers (not from this site) said it best: democrats see something they don’t like and don’t do it. Republicans see something they don’t like and make sure no one else does it.

    And they’re just grouchy, mean assholes with no right to be pissed at the world yet they are, in my experience.

  9. 9.

    Shalimar

    July 15, 2022 at 2:02 pm

    So you’re going to appeal to their Libertarian instincts.  Trouble is, most of them are faking those.  They want their freedom, but also want to control everyone else.  At least you will twist them in knots trying to justify their selfish selves.  Keeps them too off-balance to attack.

  10. 10.

    Steeplejack

    July 15, 2022 at 2:04 pm

    Inshallah, may Ron DeSantis one day be left alone with the white alligator of fate.

  11. 11.

    Jerry

    July 15, 2022 at 2:04 pm

    Speaking of DeathSantis, I saw a big ass Trump 2024 flag draped over an apartment balcony in Raleigh today. I took a second look at it and it actually read DeSantis 2024. Dude can’t even come up with an original flag for himself. letthemfight.gif

  12. 12.

    Bill K

    July 15, 2022 at 2:04 pm

    @Bill K: Ah.  Some Googling clears it up.  It’s the logo for DeSantis’ personal guard.  I hope the FNG fights him over this.

  13. 13.

    geg6

    July 15, 2022 at 2:04 pm

    I don’t know how you people with MAGA relatives do it.  I couldn’t.  I would cut every single one of them off.  No relative is worth the anger and stress of dealing with them.  No relative.  And I would not have a single qualm about it.

    Thankfully, I don’t have that problem.

  14. 14.

    Betty Cracker

    July 15, 2022 at 2:05 pm

    @Bill K: IIRC, DeSantis revived it from a pre-Civil War incarnation, and that origin is controversial because what Florida wanted to be “let alone” to do back then was to hold slaves.

  15. 15.

    Paul in KY

    July 15, 2022 at 2:06 pm

    @Bill K: Got to assume either he or one of his lickspittles came up with it.

    I’m hoping some of our esteemed commenters are correct and he’s just too much of a creep with no charisma to play on the national stage

    Edit: See it comes from Antebellum Florida, which wanted to be left alone to hold humans as chattel slaves. Seems about right for that scumbag.

  16. 16.

    JoyceH

    July 15, 2022 at 2:06 pm

    “gun fetishists”. Let’s keep making that point. Make the point that there is just something ABNORMAL about people who are so enamored of their guns that they’ll include them in their Christmas card photos. Plus – assault weapons are ‘weapons of war’. Use that phrase. We don’t allow civilians to walk into a store and walk out with a grenade launcher or a shoulder-fired missile. So why do we allow them to buy a weapon that can DECAPITATE with one shot?

    Is there any real legitimate civilian need for an assault weapon? What gets me is people who claim they use their AR-15 for ‘varmint hunting’, for getting rid of small nuisance animals like squirrels and prairie dogs. You do NOT need that kind of firepower for a prairie dog! The smallest bullet on the market would kill a prairie dog. If people are choosing to use their assault rifle for varmint hunting, it’s not because they need to, it’s because they want to. And let’s admit it – they want to because they enjoy making small animals vanish into a fine pink mist. Which is something that should be abhorred, not encouraged.

  17. 17.

    Scott

    July 15, 2022 at 2:08 pm

    I think freedom should come out of the mouths of everyone running today.  Freedom to marry.  Freedom to plan your family.  Freedom to travel.  Freedom to keep Ken Paxton from policing my bedroom.  Freedom derived from privacy.

  18. 18.

    Kristine

    July 15, 2022 at 2:09 pm

    Righteous rant. In their minds, accountability = oppression.

  19. 19.

    Shalimar

    July 15, 2022 at 2:09 pm

    @Paul in KY: DeSantis is a creep with no charisma, but I don’t see why he can’t take the branding that works for him in Florida national.  He doesn’t have to give rally speeches like Trump does.  He owns the libs online through social media.

  20. 20.

    scav

    July 15, 2022 at 2:10 pm

    So, I’m confused. Should FEMA ship in extra crocodiles after the next hurricane or should they save them for states where the governors need help eating their own citizens?

  21. 21.

    Paul in KY

    July 15, 2022 at 2:12 pm

    @JoyceH: I might mention that these semiautomatic weapons are just too easy to kill with (no skill required). Maybe mention some totally fucked up idjit (besides them) that they know and say that dingbat could slaughter your whole family in 3 secs.  Is that what you want?!?!?

  22. 22.

    Paul in KY

    July 15, 2022 at 2:14 pm

    @JoyceH: Most people (IMO) buy them for ‘home defense’. They have bought into the ‘Negro Hordes coming to get ya’ and they’re not going to be outgunned. Nosiree. Plus they think they look ‘cool’.

  23. 23.

    JaySinWA

    July 15, 2022 at 2:15 pm

    @Paul in KY:

    Press secretary Christina Pushaw explained via email that the “Let us alone” motto embellished a flag that flew over the inauguration of Florida’s first governor, William Dunn Moseley, in 1845. According to the Florida Historical Society, however, the Legislature never formally adopted that flag because the Senate objected to inclusion of the motto.

    https://floridaphoenix.com/2021/12/02/desantis-wants-to-reboot-state-guard-to-ease-fls-reliance-on-biden-administration/

  24. 24.

    RSA

    July 15, 2022 at 2:15 pm

    @Bill K:  Apparently the Florida State Guard is a brand new organization, established June 15, 2022, as you’ve probably found already.

    Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced the reestablishment of the Florida State Guard and introduced the new director of this emergency-focused civilian volunteer force, retired Marine Corps. Lieutenant Colonel Chris Graham.

    I’m wondering about the guys in U.S. Army combat uniforms (ACUs) standing behind DeSantis in the photo.

  25. 25.

    rikyrah

    July 15, 2022 at 2:15 pm

    CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP

     

    Those are the FREEDOMS that I want too

  26. 26.

    JoyceH

    July 15, 2022 at 2:15 pm

    @Paul in KY: ​
     

    That’s the ticket! “The problem isn’t gun owners, it’s the gun worshipers. You’re a hunter. What you do takes skill, and effort.” – and so on and so forth. Try to decouple the ‘regular’ gun owners from the extremists. Use flattery.

  27. 27.

    patrick II

    July 15, 2022 at 2:16 pm

    You should pass out “official” Republican travel passes so Republican women of child-bearing age don’t have to pass inspection at the state border.

  28. 28.

    Mike E

    July 15, 2022 at 2:16 pm

    I’m going soon to a family get-together hosted by niece #3 and I will have no anxiety about the politics that will be discussed, mainly because we don’t get into it much and the points of contention boil down to generational POVs more than philosophy (about which my brilliant nieces and nephew will be happy to bring up to date, heh). In-laws tend to be the wildcards but for a couple of exceptions these discussions rarely if ever get heated when they chime in with less than progressive arguments.  I’ve been lucky that way like with my ex who came from a rw family where she was the black sheep and fought enough battles with them for there to be no troubles when we got together with them, thankfully. Their kids, on the other hand, are a totally different dynamic though. Sadly.

  29. 29.

    Paul in KY

    July 15, 2022 at 2:17 pm

    @Shalimar: Jeezus, I sure hope you are wrong, because he’s horrible. IMO, would be the closest thing to having Hitler as president, if he got in.

  30. 30.

    Paul in KY

    July 15, 2022 at 2:18 pm

    @JaySinWA: Thank you for that info, sir!

  31. 31.

    Chief Oshkosh

    July 15, 2022 at 2:18 pm

    Sure, you could verbally engage, but why not just kick ’em in the nuts? Saves time.

  32. 32.

    West of the Rockies

    July 15, 2022 at 2:18 pm

    I don’t mean to appearance-shame, but I’m surprised anyone finds DeSantis appealing in any way.  He is perpetually glowering.  He looks perma-pissed and disappointed, and he’s got an oddly low hairline.  And every damn thing he says is pissy and judgmental and harsh.

  33. 33.

    JoyceH

    July 15, 2022 at 2:18 pm

    @Paul in KY: ​
     

    Every article I see that talks about Trump losing support, the first alternative they ALWAYS mention is DeSantis. How such an obviously mean and charmless man attained that position just baffles me!

  34. 34.

    Will

    July 15, 2022 at 2:20 pm

    The “Freedom” message sounds good on paper, but then they reply with their own “freedom to pray when I want” and “freedom to raise my child” which sound reasonable to the mushy middle. At that point the message is just gray background noise.

  35. 35.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 15, 2022 at 2:21 pm

    @Frank Wilhoit: Your suggestion then?

  36. 36.

    JaySinWA

    July 15, 2022 at 2:22 pm

    @Paul in KY:

    That doesn’t mean your assumption was completely wrong, I’m sure some lickspitle found it and decided it was perfect.

  37. 37.

    Shalimar

    July 15, 2022 at 2:22 pm

    @Paul in KY: I hope every day that I’m wrong too.  The best hope is to beat him in November, but this state will be a negative ad hellhole if polls show it even close.  He already has enough money for a presidential race and he will spend it if he might lose.

  38. 38.

    Paul in KY

    July 15, 2022 at 2:23 pm

    @West of the Rockies: A college baseball teammate of his said he was the jerkiest jerk he had ever seen. Says he delights in humiliating people.

  39. 39.

    JaySinWA

    July 15, 2022 at 2:25 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Liberty, equality, fraternity is way too French.

  40. 40.

    Another Scott

    July 15, 2022 at 2:25 pm

    @Frank Wilhoit: +1

    They completely reject the rights/responsibility duality for themselves.  It’s your old (excellent) Law.

    Betty’s outline is good, but if there were an easy solution/argument/counterpoint it would have been done already.  :-(

    I’m a fan of the be-left-alone argument.  There’s enough real crime that needs to be addressed (unsolved violent crime; lack of prosecution of tax cheats; dark money buying judges, money laundering real-estate, etc.).  We sensible don’t need or want to criminalize reproductive decisions, menstrual cycles, who uses which toilet, etc., etc.  Officer Fife should be working on real crimes.  Leave us alone!

    Just Say No to Panty Sniffers!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  41. 41.

    Baud

    July 15, 2022 at 2:28 pm

    I don’t know why women can’t appropriate the Let Us Alone slogan.

  42. 42.

    Paul in KY

    July 15, 2022 at 2:29 pm

    @JaySinWA: You just know he has a bunch of servile toadies fawning around him and cringing when he’s displeased in any way.

  43. 43.

    WaterGirl

    July 15, 2022 at 2:29 pm

    Spectacular, Betty!

  44. 44.

    danielx

    July 15, 2022 at 2:30 pm

    @West of the Rockies: ​
     

    And every damn thing he says is pissy and judgmental and harsh.

    Well, yes. As with TFG, he’s an asshole as are most/all of his fans. The bigger an asshole he is the better they like it, because that means it’s okay for them to be assholes too.

  45. 45.

    UncleEbeneezer

    July 15, 2022 at 2:31 pm

    They coopted “Freedom” by defining it so that it excludes anyone who isn’t (or any concern not centered around) White, Christian, Cis/Het, Men.  Sadly, the Founders and all major religions gave them a a huge helping hand.

    Good for you though for being willing to engage.  I doubt I will ever have the patience for that work.

  46. 46.

    Geminid

    July 15, 2022 at 2:32 pm

    @Paul in KY: There is also a sizable cohort of gun nuts who believe they’ll need high powered rifles with large magazines to fight off a future tyrannical government. They used to just talk about this among themselves but now some Republican politicians are making the argument publically.

  47. 47.

    Paul in KY

    July 15, 2022 at 2:33 pm

    @Another Scott: Keep the police on the streets and not between our sheets!!

  48. 48.

    David S

    July 15, 2022 at 2:35 pm

    @geg6: yeah, I kicked every republican family member out of my life in 2015 and it was the best and easiest decision I’ve ever made. I will never understand the point of talking to these people about anything ever again.

  49. 49.

    Paul in KY

    July 15, 2022 at 2:36 pm

    @danielx: TFG does have a bit of Game Show Host ‘charisma’ (if you look hard enough). DeSatanis has none at all & probably realizes that & compensates for that by turning the asshole up to 12.

  50. 50.

    Paul in KY

    July 15, 2022 at 2:39 pm

    @Geminid: There’s them too. I think they are even stupider than the ‘negro hordes’ losers. The ‘negro hordes ™’ aren’t going to be armed with helicopter gunships & tanks & whatnot. The ‘government’ will.

  51. 51.

    Cacti

    July 15, 2022 at 2:40 pm

    @Shalimar: He doesn’t have Trump’s cheap celebrity with low information voters.

  52. 52.

    JaySinWA

    July 15, 2022 at 2:42 pm

    @UncleEbeneezer: They embrace the formula “your right to x ends when it meets my right to y” where x and y may be equal.

    sample x/y

    life/bear arms

    life/keep you from having abortions

    religion/religion

    win elections/win elections

  53. 53.

    WaterGirl

    July 15, 2022 at 2:43 pm

    @Another Scott:

    Republicans:  POPS:  Party Of Panty Sniffers

  54. 54.

    trollhattan

    July 15, 2022 at 2:43 pm

    Is Peter Thiel ghosting JD Vance?

    July 15, 2022 at 2:31 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard

    Daily Beast: “That’s the key takeaway from Federal Election Commission filings this week, which show that between mid-April and the end of June, the Vance team raised a million dollars, spent more than that, and is a quarter of a million dollars in the hole with just four months until election day.”

    “It’s not the full picture for Vance, whose fundraising operation includes a leadership PAC and joint fundraising committees. But even that isn’t much better.”

  55. 55.

    HinTN

    July 15, 2022 at 2:43 pm

    @JoyceH: Greg Abbott is a low bar to clear.

  56. 56.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    July 15, 2022 at 2:44 pm

    I’m all for putting things in terms of freedom. They will come back with wanting the freedom to own guns, not get vaccinated/wear a mask, not participate in providing services to things they don’t believe in (like gay marriage), etc. Just be prepared to respond to that.

    I think it also helps to say things that undercut their assumptions. For example, the second amendment stuff they will run their mouths about can be smacked down by letting them know you think the supreme court screwed up with the ruling that said gun rights are individual rights. It was a misinterpretation. The responsibility of the government, according to the constitution, is to protect the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The way the court interpreted that decision directly interferes with that. It isn’t just wrong, its a disaster.

    When it comes to the COVID stuff, always bring it back to HIV. Ask if people should have the freedom to give people HIV without telling anyone they have it? Well what if they don’t know they have it? Right wingers have completely contradictory views on these things.

  57. 57.

    the pollyanna from hell

    July 15, 2022 at 2:45 pm

    Deathsantis and tfg share what I call criminal charisma. Abusive behavior to the victim offers hopeless submission or dangerous opposition. To the witness it offers dangerous opposition, silent complicity, or safely enrolled followership.

  58. 58.

    Wapiti

    July 15, 2022 at 2:45 pm

    @JoyceH: This. Anyone blowing apart prairie dogs is the type of person that would blow apart frogs with firecrackers or set fire to a stray dog or cat. Not a good person; not a decent person.

  59. 59.

    Paul in KY

    July 15, 2022 at 2:46 pm

    @JaySinWA:  Another way I have heard it is we must be bound by the laws and be without any agency and they have all the agency without being bound by the laws.

  60. 60.

    Another Scott

    July 15, 2022 at 2:47 pm

    @Geminid: Yup.  It’s stupid and doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

    Wikipedia tells me the guy in Las Vegas in 2017 had 14 AR-15s, 8 AR-10s, a bolt-action rifle and a pistol.  Fired over 1000 rounds.

    And he was dead less than an hour after he started shooting, confronted by local police and hotel security.

    The US Government isn’t going to have any difficulty dealing with yahoos with AR-15s.  It’s cosplay nonsense.  And they know it.  The point isn’t to be able to fight the US Government, the point is to be able to intimidate neighbors and people they meet (politicians, etc.).

    Grrr…,
    Scott.

  61. 61.

    NutmegAgain

    July 15, 2022 at 2:50 pm

    Good luck with the family, Betty!  I mean, think of it this way: instead of the “Let us alone” gator, you could have New Hampshire’s “Live Free or Die”.  As a long time Masshole, I often saw those license plates and thought to myself, “not much of a choice, is it?”.

  62. 62.

    Mike in NC

    July 15, 2022 at 2:51 pm

    Whatever happened with the private army of poll watchers that the Florida legislature voted to provide DeSatan?

  63. 63.

    zhena gogolia

    July 15, 2022 at 2:52 pm

    Excellent.

    Will be wild!

  64. 64.

    trollhattan

    July 15, 2022 at 2:52 pm

    @Another Scott: If all Ukraine had to defend themselves from Russia were AR15s, Vlad would have taken the whole country in a couple weeks.

    p.s. Don’t say this to the ammosexuals because they’ll start demanding tanks and SAM batteries.

  65. 65.

    Albatrossity

    July 15, 2022 at 2:53 pm

    In a few weeks the primary election here in Kansas will also have a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amendment, misleadingly named “Value Them Both”, is basically an end-around play by our GQP legislature, designed to negate the KS Supreme Court’s ruling that the KS Constitution guarantees a right to privacy and a right to abortion. The legislative weasels put it on the ballot in a primary, rather than in the general election, because they know that the GQP voters have historically turned out well for the primary (there are rarely two Dem candidates for any elected position). So Bleeding Kansas is once again on the front lines of the abortion wars.

    The opposition to the amendment has crafted a message around personal freedom, and also around opposition to government mandates. It is aimed at GQP voters, but also at voters who are not affiliated with a party (who thankfully can vote on this amendment). I am cautiously optimistic that the amendment will lose, and Kansas will remain in the dwindling number of states that guarantee access to abortion. We shall see!

  66. 66.

    Mr. Longform

    July 15, 2022 at 2:53 pm

    My MAGA relative problem really depresses me because it is confined to the younger ones – grown kids in their 30s, mostly, who have imbibed internet-fed right-wing mindlessness.  I am from a large family of late-boomer kids, so it is nephews and nieces and their partners I am talking about.  Certainly not all of them, but a scary 20-25%  My own kids are all sane, politically, and they are appalled at some of their cousins.  I had great hopes that as old folks like us died out, the newer generation would be less inclined to swing that way; but the successful campaign to ruin education in America and create a bunch of pliant idiots has paid off.

  67. 67.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    July 15, 2022 at 2:53 pm

    I will add that one thing I’ve learned from the GOP is to make someone uncomfortable with defending their guy before they even get the chance to brag about them. You know your relatives are going to praise DeSantis, so if his name gets mentioned at all, start by dunking him. You can do it on real issues, or just be petty. I mean, the first time I saw him, I thought he looked like a sleazy preacher or a used car salesman. I mean, he really could be a character in Better Call Saul.

  68. 68.

    trollhattan

    July 15, 2022 at 2:53 pm

    @the pollyanna from hell: “Governor, you’re no Tony Soprano.”

  69. 69.

    JaySinWA

    July 15, 2022 at 2:53 pm

    @Another Scott: They believe there are enough like minded rebels to pull off a new American revolution in the same way that Viet Nam fought off the US military.  With any luck they are radically overestimating their support.

  70. 70.

    zhena gogolia

    July 15, 2022 at 2:53 pm

    @geg6: Same here. Luckily I have hardly any relatives.

  71. 71.

    dm

    July 15, 2022 at 2:54 pm

    @Paul in KY: “Just think how many great scientists and cancer curers were turned back at the border when they tried to come to America”.

  72. 72.

    CaseyL

    July 15, 2022 at 2:55 pm

    @Another Scott: I’m not sure how one could work that into a discussion without being snide, but it IS notable that assault weapons work really well against civilians, not so great against the military – so the people who claim to need those weapons to “fight the government” really mean, “to mass murder civilians.”

  73. 73.

    Paul in KY

    July 15, 2022 at 2:57 pm

    @Mr. Longform: You are a respected elder. Should treat them as deluded dumbasses. Just chuckle at all their silly positions. Better than debating their idiot beliefs.

  74. 74.

    Hoodie

    July 15, 2022 at 2:57 pm

    That’s a possible approach, but how about something a bit different, built around an idea of American greatness?  The kitsch that the GOP sells is that the country was somehow better at some ill-defined point in the past, a mythical good old days when men were men that is more reflective of a manufactured TV narrative than reality.  The reality is that two periods were seminal in making the US the economic and military powerhouse we are today: (1) Lincoln basically saying “fuck states’ rights” in the Civil War and (2) building the defense and regulatory state out of the Depression and WWII.   That’s when we became a global superpower, when we took destiny into our own hands instead of just letting things happen to us through the action of unconscious instincts like greed and prejudice.   We need a narrative that brings out that real history, one of immigrants who came to the US, fought for democracy, built our economy, etc.

    It’s ironic that the GOP has kind of bought into the idea that America is bad, they internalized the more cartoonish of the leftist critiques coming out of the Viet Nam era.  In other words, they’re the ones running down America and essentially saying America is not and cannot be great.  We let Trumpian assholes steal the narrative of American greatness even though they sell a thoroughly negative message.  The America they want will not be great at all because, above all, it does not tap all of the potential of its citizens.  Such an America does not provide opportunity for everyone and, thus, will eventually provide opportunity to no one except the favored few.  This contrasts with the victory in WWII, which broke down class structures and massively increased American power and prestige.  All those freedoms you talk about a big part of what enables American greatness, i.e., the refusal to let parochialism, factionalism and ignorance hinder the country’s mission.   Everything MAGA wants is exactly what will make America weak, at least because we are not and never could be united behind it.

  75. 75.

    Mustang Bobby

    July 15, 2022 at 2:57 pm

    “You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family.”  True enough.  It’s a corollary to “You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can’t wipe your friends on the back of the couch.”

    The right-wing-nutsery concept of “freedom” is in the same league as North Korea calling itself the “Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea.”  The only word that is correct in that statement is “of.”  And I’m not so sure of even that.

  76. 76.

    Paul in KY

    July 15, 2022 at 2:59 pm

    @Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: He looks like a creepy assistant principal stereotype. Does athletic supporter inspections of the freshman football team.

  77. 77.

    West of the Rockies

    July 15, 2022 at 2:59 pm

    @danielx:

    It takes so much emotional energy to be pissed off all the damn time.  I don’t know how wingnuts do it.  Maybe constantly proclaiming to be a victim super-charges their psyches?

  78. 78.

    Paul in KY

    July 15, 2022 at 3:00 pm

    @JaySinWA: With massive help from North Vietnam and the USSR?! Man I want to smoke some of what they have.

  79. 79.

    West of the Rockies

    July 15, 2022 at 3:01 pm

    @Paul in KY:

    DeSantis and Jordan have that same creepster vibe.

  80. 80.

    Lobo

    July 15, 2022 at 3:03 pm

    Freedom, Faith & Family

    Freedom:  per the post

    Faith: Value all faiths and favor none.

    Family:  Value all families and favor no particular makeup.

  81. 81.

    Kelly

    July 15, 2022 at 3:04 pm

    I used to get emails from my wingnut relatives. After the 9/11 attack the emails grew increasingly insane. An aunt sent sent around a full page screed that amounted to “If the good Muslims don’t get the bad Muslims under control they can’t expect us Americans too be careful cleaning up”. Strong “kill’em all let God sort them out” vibe. Well we have done a lot of that over the years.

    Anyway I did a replace all Muslim with nigger, added “reads like this to me”, reply to all. Had about a 2 week email shitstorm with them and never got another political email. I described Muslims I know, went to school with, worked with. Asked if any of them know a single one of the billion Muslims scattered across every continent. No replies.

  82. 82.

    Paul in KY

    July 15, 2022 at 3:05 pm

    @CaseyL: They’ll probably be pretty snide themselves. Snidery is one of their default emotions. Can’t let being snide out of our arsenal if we want to make a great point and/or make them feel stupid.

  83. 83.

    Miss Bianca

    July 15, 2022 at 3:06 pm

    @Geminid: Do the Republican politicians ever include themselves as part of the tyrannical government to be  battled? I mean, every time one of them says something like this, I just want to ask, “so if someone decides to assassinate you, he just has to chant “Sic semper tyrannis”, and it’s all good?”

  84. 84.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    July 15, 2022 at 3:06 pm

    @RSA: Is that (ie, using military uniforms) legal?

  85. 85.

    TiredOfItAll

    July 15, 2022 at 3:07 pm

    I don’t envy you, Betty.  I have a bunch of cousins who worship TFG, and a few among them who are in FL and think Rhonda is the second coming.  (Of course we were all infected with poisonous, guilt-inducing, misogynistic Catholicism as children.)  As for me, life’s too short to engage with these haters, and I no longer believe in their vengeful sky god.  But I wish you luck!  Imagine if you are able to convince even just one of them to vote blue!

  86. 86.

    Paul in KY

    July 15, 2022 at 3:09 pm

    @West of the Rockies: I think alot of them live meaningless and sad lives. Getting riled up gives them some colour in their usually drab & dull existences.

  87. 87.

    gvg

    July 15, 2022 at 3:09 pm

    @West of the Rockies: Have you ever looked at a picture of Hitler and wondered the same thing?

    These people are always angry themselves.

  88. 88.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 15, 2022 at 3:09 pm

    @West of the Rockies:

    He is perpetually glowering.  He looks perma-pissed and disappointed,

    That was how Adolf Hitler always took care to look, and it was a huge part of his appeal, because to a certain type of person it signaled “I’m pissed off like you and I’m going to go bash in the heads of the people who are pissing you off”. It was also the face Donald Trump made in many of the photos of him as a candidate and as President.

  89. 89.

    Betty Cracker

    July 15, 2022 at 3:11 pm

    @Albatrossity: I heard about the KS ballot initiative in a recent “This American Life” podcast episode called “The Pink House at the Center of the World.” Good luck, Kansas!

  90. 90.

    trollhattan

    July 15, 2022 at 3:12 pm

    @Mustang Bobby: SO lucky the main stem of the in-law family bush resides in the Ozarks, two time zones away. Saves a lot of awkward interaction.

  91. 91.

    Paul in KY

    July 15, 2022 at 3:12 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: He did glower alot. Hitler that is.  Can see how DeSatanis & Cheetolini have also gone with that. Excellent observation.

  92. 92.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 15, 2022 at 3:13 pm

    @Mr. Longform: If you look at actual generational voting patterns, the MAGA nuts really are less common among the young–but they’re far from extinct. Some of this is simply that younger people are less likely to be white.

  93. 93.

    Baud

    July 15, 2022 at 3:14 pm

    Re: dealing with right-wing relatives:  May I suggest brandishing a loaded AR-15 at the dinner table.  How could they possibly object?

  94. 94.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    July 15, 2022 at 3:23 pm

    @geg6: My wife’s  sister and  dad are going to give her an aneurysm.  I’ve  been telling her to cut them off.  I would.  Unfortunately she won’t.

  95. 95.

    gvg

    July 15, 2022 at 3:24 pm

    @Albatrossity: Can you actually amend a state constitution in a primary?  I would seem to me the process would be spelled out in the state constitution and a sane constitution would say maybe primary to get on the ballot, then actual election to become a law.

    Otherwise they can repeal it in the next primary, right?  Actually what else can you repeal in a primary….

  96. 96.

    MikefromArlington

    July 15, 2022 at 3:26 pm

    Tell ‘em Live and let live

  97. 97.

    emmyelle

    July 15, 2022 at 3:33 pm

    I’m starting to think that “let ’em secede” is not adequate.

     

    Can we, like, actively secede them?

  98. 98.

    Cacti

    July 15, 2022 at 3:34 pm

    Can we let them alone when the next hurricane blows through?

  99. 99.

    HumboldtBlue

    July 15, 2022 at 3:35 pm

    Dr. Caitlin Bernard Was Meant to Write This With Me Before She Was Attacked for Doing Her Job

    By Tracey A. Wilkinson

    Dr. Wilkinson is an assistant professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine.

    Earlier this week I was preparing to write a guest essay with my colleague Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an ob-gyn here in Indiana. We wanted to write about the chilling effect that the overturning of Roe v. Wade has had on medicine in our state and around the country in just a few short weeks. But then Dr. Bernard became a target of a national smear campaign for speaking out about her 10-year-old patient, a rape victim from Ohio who needed an abortion and had to travel to Indiana to receive one, given the restrictions in her home state.

  100. 100.

    VFX Lurker

    July 15, 2022 at 3:35 pm

    @Albatrossity:

    I am cautiously optimistic that the amendment will lose, and Kansas will remain in the dwindling number of states that guarantee access to abortion. We shall see!

    I, too, am cautiously optimistic. I am also writing Postcards to Voters to ensure Kansans vote against this awful amendment. I’ve written fifteen so far; will write more this weekend.

  101. 101.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 15, 2022 at 3:36 pm

    @JaySinWA: Yesterday was Bastille Day, you know.

  102. 102.

    Another Scott

    July 15, 2022 at 3:37 pm

    @Miss Bianca: Yup.  Similarly with all the “Election Fraud!!11ONE” that only affect TFG and not any of the GQPers that won their elections.

    ’tis a puzzle.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  103. 103.

    Another Scott

    July 15, 2022 at 3:40 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: Yup.  Remember his first official photo?

    Mee tough strong hee-mann.  (Who misplaced my glasses.)

    (groucho-roll-eyes.gif)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  104. 104.

    la caterina

    July 15, 2022 at 3:41 pm

    @Kelly: Please do not use the n word in full.  It’s offensive.

  105. 105.

    James E Powell

    July 15, 2022 at 3:44 pm

    I am disappointed to learn that my proposed Democratic campaign theme – Fuck All Republicans! – isn’t more popular.

  106. 106.

    Baud

    July 15, 2022 at 3:45 pm

    @James E Powell:

    It does have two connotations.

  107. 107.

    Albatrossity

    July 15, 2022 at 3:48 pm

    @gvg: The legislature can pass a proposed amendment with a two-thirds vote in each House; that amendment is then voted on by the electorate. There is no provision in the state constitution that even mentions primary elections. Here’s the wording: “At the next election for representatives or a special election called by concurrent resolution of the legislature for the purpose of submitting constitutional propositions, such  proposition to amend the constitution shall be submitted”.

    So they also passed the concurrent resolution naming the August primary as the special election for this amendment.

  108. 108.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 15, 2022 at 3:49 pm

    Hmmmmm, my Democratic messaging strategy is usually just, “Fuck off.” After reading Betty’s, it seems lacking.

  109. 109.

    Baud

    July 15, 2022 at 3:54 pm

    In case you were on pins and needles wondering how how Biden would manage the latest controversy that the media has obsessed over, he greeted MBS with a fist bump and not a handshake, according to my feed.

  110. 110.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 15, 2022 at 3:54 pm

    @MikefromArlington: But when this ever-changing world in which we’re living makes you give in and cry…

  111. 111.

    CaseyL

    July 15, 2022 at 3:56 pm

    I wish I could come up with a catchy way of saying “You’ve been voting for the GOP for the last couple of decades.  Your life, town, and prospects have gotten worse and worse, as a direct result of what GOP policies. Change your vote, change your luck!”

    And along the same lines, “If God is telling you that you have a right to make life miserable for anyone not of your faith, race, gender, or nationality… then you need to get a better God, because that one is a liar and a psycho.”

  112. 112.

    RSA

    July 15, 2022 at 3:57 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Is that (ie, using military uniforms) legal?

    I’m guessing that the soldiers are on duty? That and travel are the most common times to wear the uniform, though I’m not really knowledgeable. My first thought was to wonder whether this was a campaign event, which would be problematic.

  113. 113.

    debbie

    July 15, 2022 at 3:59 pm

    A great start to the weekend. Thanks!

  114. 114.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 15, 2022 at 4:00 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Republicans have been shamelessly using the military as campaign props for ages–whether it’s legal is almost beside the point by now.

  115. 115.

    raven

    July 15, 2022 at 4:02 pm

    @RSA: NG, he’s the commander until they are federalized

     

    The governor made the announcement Thursday morning while speaking before a small group of guardsmen at the Pensacola National Guard Armory

    “We had the National Guard going into nursing homes and providing other testing and screening to protect our most vulnerable,” DeSantis said. “When it came time to do vaccine distribution, you had National Guard helping out with that response in a very, very big way. So we appreciate all the effort that has happened over the last year and a half. It has made a huge difference.”

  116. 116.

    Baud

    July 15, 2022 at 4:03 pm

    @CaseyL:

    1. You can’t get Democratic outcomes by voting for Republicans.
    2. Your god is a false god.
  117. 117.

    James E Powell

    July 15, 2022 at 4:05 pm

    @Baud:

    I’m more than willing to accept suggested changes so long as the message isn’t lost.

    This Michigan state senator has the right idea. We need 100 more like her.

  118. 118.

    Kelly

    July 15, 2022 at 4:10 pm

    @la caterina: Of course it’s offensive. I wanted my wingnut relatives to know exactly how offensive their bullshit is. Worked to.

  119. 119.

    bluefoot

    July 15, 2022 at 4:11 pm

    @JoyceH: ​
      That whole claim about AR-15s for “varmint hunting” is bullshit. I knew someone with an extensive horse farm. They would shoot the prairie dogs who dug holes in the pastures. (Prairie dog holes are dangerous for horses.) The weapon of choice was a .22 single action rifle. Anything bigger and you were considered 1) a poseur 2) a moron and 3) a really bad shot and shouldn’t be allowed near a weapon.

  120. 120.

    raven

    July 15, 2022 at 4:12 pm

    @bluefoot: What’s being a bad shot have to do with it?

  121. 121.

    CaseyL

    July 15, 2022 at 4:16 pm

    @Baud: Short and to the point, but perhaps too blunt – they’ll just stop listening.  My version essentially says, “Do you want  your life to be shit forever?”

  122. 122.

    UncleEbeneezer

    July 15, 2022 at 4:16 pm

    On a lighter note, Betty did you see this Florida-Man story?: “Jacksonville resident James Nix told Action News Jax he was checking his mail in mid-May when his neighbor’s rooster began attacking him.”

  123. 123.

    geg6

    July 15, 2022 at 4:17 pm

    @Baud:

    I caught a bit of Morning Joe by accident the other day and this exact thing was a hugely contentious topic of the conversation.  I was flabbergasted.  Changed the channel right quick.  Jesus.  Who gives a shit?!?!?!

  124. 124.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 15, 2022 at 4:20 pm

    @Baud:

    In case you were on pins and needles wondering how how Biden would manage the latest controversy that the media has obsessed over, he greeted MBS with a fist bump and not a handshake, according to my feed.

    I turned on MSNBC and heard a reporter gravely intoning that the Biden White House would have to figure out how to “message the optics of the fist bump”.

    The planet is well on its way to becoming inhabitable, we’re facing a global food crisis and Vladimir Putin is targeting children in Ukraine.

  125. 125.

    Jesse

    July 15, 2022 at 4:21 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: agree with all that, except the part about never Trumpers going for DeSantid. Elaborate? My gut sense is that honest-to-god never trumpers have largely fled the party.

  126. 126.

    soapdish

    July 15, 2022 at 4:23 pm

    You can’t choose your family, but you can choose if you want to interact with them or not.

    I saw Stormfront in my mother’s web browser history in 2012.

    I haven’t spoken to her since November 2016.

  127. 127.

    geg6

    July 15, 2022 at 4:26 pm

    @zhena gogolia:
    My siblings are (or were) all as or more liberal than I (3 sisters and 2 brothers).  My parents, who are now deceased, were mostly liberal (my mother was pro-life being a Catholic). My mother was an only child, so not even any first cousins on that side.  And my dad’s family was larger, but his siblings had fewer children than my parents.  And his parents were immigrants who came as adults, so their families are still back in England.  So I don’t really have to deal with any of this garbage from either side.  Thank FSM.​

  128. 128.

    Jesse

    July 15, 2022 at 4:26 pm

    @JoyceH: it’s such a pathetic argument. You get an argument to…shoot at the ground? They’re really reaching there.

  129. 129.

    ARoomWithAMoose

    July 15, 2022 at 4:29 pm

    @RSA: Trying to find info as to whether they are subject to the UCMJ, wikipedia has, “The FSG is available to the governor of Florida whenever needed, but unlike the National Guard, the FSG is trained and funded by the state and therefore can not be federalized”.  They aren’t federal troops, unlike the various state national guards.  They may not be subject to federal military codes, so no prohibition on wearing uniforms at explicitly political events.

  130. 130.

    J R in WV

    July 15, 2022 at 4:32 pm

    @bluefoot: ​
     

    This is pretty much true. A .22 rifle was what I was taught to shoot with, by my grandmother, who was a crack shot. It had a 5-round clip, but we used it as a single shot, because it was safer and slower.

  131. 131.

    Sister Golden Bear

    July 15, 2022 at 4:36 pm

    A-fucking-men!

  132. 132.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 15, 2022 at 4:40 pm

    @geg6: All of my family that I see at all regularly is liberal.  It makes holidays easier.

  133. 133.

    Old School

    July 15, 2022 at 4:41 pm

    @Baud:

    he greeted MBS with a fist bump

    Are we sure it wasn’t a terrorist fist jab?

  134. 134.

    raven

    July 15, 2022 at 4:45 pm

    @ARoomWithAMoose: This is a major nothingburger.

  135. 135.

    raven

    July 15, 2022 at 4:46 pm

    @J R in WV: And had zero to do with being a good or bad shot.

  136. 136.

    Gravenstone

    July 15, 2022 at 4:47 pm

    @Bill K: So he’s literally assembling his own Brown Shirts. Cool, I guess?

  137. 137.

    trollhattan

    July 15, 2022 at 4:48 pm

    @bluefoot:

    Dead prairie dog/prairie dog vapor: tough choice. Guess “varmint” sounds rootsy and ‘Murcan.

  138. 138.

    sab

    July 15, 2022 at 4:51 pm

    I went out for a short drive with my husband this afternoon at about 3 o’clock, and whatever was on NPR got my husband so upset I thought he would have a stroke or crash the car. Right wing talking head commenting on abortion.

    I like NPR at night, but their afternoon and drive time stuff can be problematic. Boring Fox Lite..

  139. 139.

    Gravenstone

    July 15, 2022 at 4:53 pm

    @JoyceH: His one appealing feature in MAGAt eyes is that he, like Trump before him, hates all the right people. Just like them.

  140. 140.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    July 15, 2022 at 4:59 pm

    Well, on the plus side, you can use DeSantis’s state guard as an example of what the founding fathers actually had in mind for a well regulated militia in the 2nd amendment rather than the nutso interpretation we are stuck with today.

    Also, I think DeSantis and Eli Gemstone (corrupt preacher character from HBO series) are twinsies. https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/righteous-gemstones/images/d/d0/5d5ef40b0773a.image.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20200122205741

  141. 141.

    Timill

    July 15, 2022 at 5:03 pm

    @Gravenstone: But during National Brotherhood Week…

  142. 142.

    Mike in Pasadena

    July 15, 2022 at 5:04 pm

    When a trump supporter bends my ear, my reply: Grab that pussy like dear leader.”

  143. 143.

    The Moar You Know

    July 15, 2022 at 5:13 pm

    Those uniformed goons standing behind Governor Asshole sure look extremely well-fed.

  144. 144.

    kindness

    July 15, 2022 at 5:28 pm

    I’m lucky.  Most my family are NY/New Englanders who while were once moderate to liberal Republicans, now find they’re moderate Democrats.  I only have a couple Trumper’s through the in-laws and if they mouth off I don’t engage.  I just let them know they’re @#%!! idiots.  Nothing I can say will change their minds.  Really those Trumpers don’t really have any actual beliefs other than a deep desire to see liberals cry and I’m not giving them that satisfaction.

  145. 145.

    Geminid

    July 15, 2022 at 5:38 pm

    @Another Scott: It’s a fantasy. So are the new permitless conceal carry laws. People imagine themselves as heros stopping crimes in progess. It’s like Walter Mitty imagining himself as Charles Bronson in Deathwish. And some nuts dream of being Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver.

  146. 146.

    Ksmiami

    July 15, 2022 at 5:47 pm

    @James E Powell: I’m in.

  147. 147.

    Ksmiami

    July 15, 2022 at 5:50 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: not to mention, in many states, women are going to be held hostage and left to die by rotten as fuck evangelical ppl

  148. 148.

    Wapiti

    July 15, 2022 at 5:52 pm

    @RSA: The guys wearing US Army above their left breast pocket might be Florida National Guard – which can be federalized. Florida State Guard cannot be federalized, but should wear tapes saying something like “Florida” or “Florida Guard” because they aren’t part of the US Army

    eta: amusingly, state guard personnel would be subject to a military draft, it’s not a get-out-of-dangerous-duty trump card.

  149. 149.

    J R in WV

    July 15, 2022 at 5:56 pm

    Am I the only person here scared that the FLA Governor has his own private army?

    Holy shit, Batman!!!

  150. 150.

    Chief Oshkosh

    July 15, 2022 at 7:04 pm

    Seems obvious to me: a fist bump is what you do with your dude bro buds, it is an act of the familiar. It is not what you do with a thug murderer. It’s not hard to figure out how this is problematic.

  151. 151.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 15, 2022 at 7:37 pm

    @Chief Oshkosh: or it’s a way a 78 YO POTUS greets another world leader during a resurgence of Covid

  152. 152.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 15, 2022 at 7:53 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    It’s total bullshit how it’s being covered by the media, it’s a nothingburger in reality

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