I keep dipping into the news to see what’s up I get back to work, and most everything I see is dark and depressing. Some people seem to be drawn to dark and depressing, but I am not one of them.
For me, Pete Buttigieg is a spark of light in the dark, and it kind of feels like he is going everywhere, all at once.
Let’s here what he had to say last week.
I’m writing this from back home in Traverse City after a memorable visit to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, earlier this week. It was a meaningful trip, renewing my conviction that our political process and leaders need to pay much more attention to how their decisions affect everyday life in America–and be more prepared to explain their work in terms of those effects.
When I stepped off the plane at Eastern Iowa Airport on Monday, I walked into a gleaming new terminal, built with help from $20 million in federal funds that I was proud to help deliver through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. I remember visiting the same airport almost exactly two years ago, as Secretary, to see the construction progress, and it was a good feeling to walk through the upgraded facility and see the results, knowing it was just one out of tens of thousands of projects we funded across the country.
This time, my purpose in visiting was to participate in a town hall, organized by VoteVets, joining veterans and other Iowans to talk about what is happening in our country and what we can do about it. All day – first at a roundtable with veterans and people who are involved in caring for them, then over lunch with local Democratic leaders, and then at the town hall itself – I heard story after story of how the cruelty and chaos of this administration is affecting people on the ground.
- One VA worker talked about his experience scheduling patients for care – and his fears about what is happening to wait times and medical outcomes as the Trump administration pursues plans to cut 80,000 Veterans Affairs staff.
- Another described how hiring for doctors and other professionals has already been disrupted by DOGE cuts, harming rather than improving efficiency.
- It was especially troubling to hear about the Trump Administration firing employees who staff the suicide crisis hotline. We lose nearly twenty veterans a day to suicide, and it is shameful to see this lifesaving resource damaged by the administration.
- Others at the town hall talked about their concern for public education, the rule of law, and the strength of our elections.
- An extraordinary young woman who is currently fighting cancer asked what we can do to stand up to reverse the administration’s cuts to medical research that has delivered advancements like the cancer therapy that is saving her life.
Nearly two thousand people filled the room, and we could all feel the shared sense of outrage, fear, and frustration. But something else was clearly in the air – a feeling of determination, energy, and even hope. People were there on a busy weeknight because they were looking for action, ready to make sure that things change – and quickly.
We talked about that too –
- how the Democratic Party can do a better job of fighting these abuses and earning voters’ trust.
- how we could have a better future with more accountable leaders.
- America can, and will, do so much better than what the people in charge of our government today are offering.
- We do not have to choose between today’s abusive corruption and yesterday’s inadequate status quo.
By the time I stepped out of the venue and back outside into the warm Iowa dusk after the event, I was more sure than ever that Americans are prepared to work together and build a better future for the nation that the veterans I had met put their lives on the line to defend.
If you’re not drawn to dark and depressing, where do you find your sparks of light? For me, it’s Pete and Ben Wikler. Neither one of them is spending their time talking about how we are doomed.
On a more shallow note, these date Pete looks very different from the Pete we are used to seeing. I like clean-shaven Pete, but I also like the scruff. You?
Open thread.
Baud
Too scruffy for me.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Ditto.
ellenr
Stop this concern with appearance in general. Facilitates oppression and discrimination. Cut it out.
Baud
@ellenr:
That won’t happen. We just have to learn to exercise good judgment.
karen gail
I hate that people are all hung up about looks. Side note; the scruff makes Pete look more human in my eyes.
Baud
@karen gail:
Jeez. What’s going on today? No one here is going to make real world decisions on Pete based on his scruff.
Omnes Omnibus
HE WORKED FOR MCKINSEY FOR A COUPLE OF YEARS SO HE IS EVIL AND HIS BEARD DOES NOT CHANGE A THING!!!!!
(Did I do it right?)
Old Dan and Little Ann
Rochester is having a bunch of bridges replaced which is going to be hell on traffic for years to come. I noticed just recently signs along 490 and 390 saying it’s because of whatever bill. I usually can’t read it but the word that sticks out to me is bipartisan. Heaven forbid they write, this is all because of Joe Biden and the Democrats.
Chief Oshkosh
Scruffy? Clean?
Just win, baby!
Eduardo
reading/watching stories about advances in electrification/decarbonization. It is really amazing how much and good it is happening.
also: History. No way you take a long view and come up pessimistic.
Pete “don’t” do it for me. Used to have a crush on Rahm Emmanuel until I read that Nancy Pelosi told him she wasn’t gonna do Kidcare. (He was freaking out after the lost of the senate seat in MA.) this is a true history, her comment spoiled RE for me 😅)
I think this was the story: https://www.politico.com/story/2010/03/pelosi-steeled-wh-for-health-push-034753
WhatsMyNym
Doesn’t the GOP have agency anymore? In Iowa?
suzanne
I like scruffy Pete. He keeps it short, which is a good look. Also shaves a little lower on the cheek.
Nelle
My tiny spark of light is a new grandson, still in NICU, who came quite early but is tenacious and is going to make it. My bigger spark of light is seeing the absolute skill and caring given by the rather large team of professionals at Essentia St. Mary’s in Duluth, to whom we are in debt to, for dealing with multiple high risks to my daughter and grandson. Remember how grateful we were to nurses and health care workers during the worst days of the pandemic? We do well to remember those in all fields who do the good work, day in, day out, despite all the obstacles thrown in their way.
I’m grateful for the good roads which I sort of, kind of sped on as I drove up there last week.
I’m grateful that I get to spend a lot of time with a funny two year old, even when he refuses to say “yellow.” He prefers “Lellow.” He learns so much each week.
I’m grateful for the stories of ancestors who showed me that I come from those who have come through horrendous times and survived, believing in and experiencing the kindness of so many, so often. And showed me how to extend kindness to others.
My peonies are magnificent this year, as are the iris. My daughter has a bald eagle nesting and raising young on her property (though I didn’t make it there…she lives over two hours from the hospital she is at). Birdsong brings delight and responsibility. We are responsible to notice, to care for the natural world.
I’m a bit emotional these days. Sorry if this doesn’t fit the bill of the kind of response you were looking for, WaterGirl. And no, I don’t mind the beard. I’ll check with my Republican neighbor, a much older woman who just loves Pete.
Belafon
@WhatsMyNym: Do the voters have agency anymore? In Iowa?
Fair Economist
Pete just looks good, period. If I were 20 years younger and we both weren’t married — well, we’d never meet, but I could fantasize!
suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus: Weak. You have to call him a technocrat and a libertarian and a New Democrat and a kitten-puncher to be cool.
ETA: I forgot neoliberal!
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, you’re good.
I love Pete.
I’m trying to be with people who are positive as well. My friend is nagging me to go out on the street corner with a sign. More power to her, but it’s not my thing. If I felt it was purposeful while I was doing it, I would, but I just don’t feel that.
zhena gogolia
My sparks of light are my students. They are such fantastic people. I feel bad for them, after a string of Commencement speeches that were all, “Yeah, we’ve messed things up, but you go out and fix them!” I wish at least one message had been a bit different — couldn’t they coordinate it?
Baud
The mirror.
Princess
I’m a fan.
rikyrah
Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) posted at 10:57 AM on Wed, May 28, 2025:
Senate Democrats launch probe into Trump Administration’s maximum pay/salaries Senate Democrats launch probe into Trump Administration’s maximum pay/salaries for political appointees, amid mass layoff of federal workers
“The phone lines at Social Security are overwhelmed, food inspections are down & as fire season begins, the Forest Service is planning to layoff wildland firefighters” https://t.co/u5lSPHBeeI
(https://x.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1927756203557314599?t=5qNELFZHM0qC1ndI5q9gzg&s=03)
suzanne
@zhena gogolia: You care about them because you’re a good person.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@WhatsMyNym: That’s what I was thinking.
I mean those people in Iowa voted for this, they should be happy.
Elizabelle
@Nelle: Congratulations on the new little tiger.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@suzanne: Yes! Remember by definition, by holding office and trying to fix things Pete is a complete and total self out!
zhena gogolia
@suzanne: I don’t feel very good.
Does anyone else have this nagging feeling that you could have stopped Trump if you’d only . . . [insert whatever here]
I know it’s irrational, but I can’t shake it
WaterGirl
@Nelle: I love Pete both ways! That is a lovely spark of light and I’m glad you shared it with us.
My peonies have also been magnificent this year. Best year ever, for me.
terraformer
I’d like to have seen what Wikler would have done had he won the DNC election. The winner, Martin, has said a lot of things, and his posts on Bluesky seem to be only “look at this thing MAGA did”. Wikler had a plan, and he laid it all out. I hope I’m wrong, but so far, Martin seems to be more of the same.
suzanne
@zhena gogolia: Um, I feel very much like we (royal we, not anyone here specifically) lost ground that we shouldn’t have lost in this election. I think we left points on the board, yeah. Now, whether or not there were enough points left in the board to change the outcome is another question. But I do think that Dems are often bad at politics, even when we are good at policy and governance.
But. It is what it is, and hopefully we learn, and do better next time.
WaterGirl
@WaterGirl: These are just the ones I cut last night before the big rain. The pale pink ones that peeked last week were breathtaking.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Only what? Is it really that hard to understand most people are idiots who want to believe in bullshit? The election was very, very simple; Trump promised the voters flying magical ponies and Harris told the voters magical flying ponies don’t exist.
japa21
@zhena gogolia: I used to feel the same way. Mrs’ Japa and I were part of the 30 mile human protest chain in the Chicago area 2 Sundays ago (if you really good eyes, you could have seen us on Maddow the next night). The first time she has ever participated in any kind of protest.
It’s not that we did any good by ourselves, but being around like minded people (estimated 15,000 overall) was definitely a mood raiser not just for us, but for everybody else as well.
suzanne
@WaterGirl: Your peonies look great. I planted a climbing rose last year almost that exact shade of pale pink and it is blooming like gangbusters. (Whatever that means.) Anyway: SQUEEEEE!
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
No. I blame other people.
Trollhattan
Mayor Pete was my kid’s runaway choice in ’20 and while that didn’t work out for her, his work for Biden I think placed him on a higher plateau than before. Frankly, I find him the last candidate from the 2020 race still with a decent shot at ’28.
NB definitely NOT handicapping ’28 right now.
zhena gogolia
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Yeah, that’s my alternative state of mind. I go back and forth.
WaterGirl
@terraformer: You and me both!
Dan B
A definite set of sparks are our cats, a cute little boy and a beautiful big grey tuxedo girl. They’re very happy here.
Sitting in the clubhouse (tool shed) in the evenings enjoying the garden in the late afternoon light.
People like Pete and our senior Senator Patty Murray fighting for our democracy and dignity.
And much more.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@zhena gogolia: There’s a lot of subtle psychological pressure out there (and internalized), demanding that each of us “take responsibility” for our nation’s collective failure. The “accept what you can’t control” perspective is not allowed!
A legacy of Protestant work ethic and toxic masculinity makes it culturally hard to admit that some things are outside of our control.
WaterGirl
@Trollhattan:
Me, too!
Trollhattan
That thing folks were afraid would happen? It’s happening.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: I did everything I possibly could. Voted, donated$$, organized a voter registration drive and even canvassed remotely from India.
I can’t hold myself responsible for things beyond my control and you shouldn’t either.
suzanne
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I try very diligently never to punch to the left, but sometimes they’re dumb. Oh well.
Baud
Trump can’t pardon UK crimes.
Old School
@Omnes Omnibus:
No, beards make you more evil. Not less.
japa21
@WaterGirl: One of the many things we miss from the days when we lived in a house were the peonies. Those bring back good memories.
Elizabelle
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: What you said.
@suzanne: With all due respect, bullshit.
This was a problem with the voters.
WaterGirl
@ellenr: I’m not sure how or why mentioning Pete’s facial hair change is an indication of concern on my part. In fact, I literally wrote that I like it both ways.
It’s possible to note what someone looks like – or what someone is wearing – without being concerned about it.
I thought Jack Smith was hot, but that had nothing to do with the job I felt he did.
I won’t tell you to “lighten up” because in my book that is like telling someone to “calm down” which nearly always is the opposite of the reaction you get after saying that to someone one.
Cowgirl in the Sandi
@WaterGirl:
Those peonies are breathtaking I am so jealous! I wish I could grow them, but they just don’t do well where I am. Enjoy them for me!!
Harrison Wesley
Scruffy? I’ll consider Mayor Pete scruffy when he gets mistaken for Steve Bannon’s nephew.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: So right it’s wrong! Or would that be, so wrong it’s right?
Ruckus
Water Girl.
I’m a vet and I use the VA for my healthcare. And have for a few decades.
I, and I’d bet a hell of a lot of other vets – and VA workers would be EXTREMELY PISSED OFF if shitforbrains or his crew got rid of the VA. In some way many vets have issues that would be almost unknown of with normal, not VA doctors. Hell even on occasion we get a doc at the VA who does not really understand the military and veterans in any way, shape or form. And they do not last long. As other vets often know, the military is unlike any other concept of human beings. Sometimes the crap vets have gone through is as mentally debilitating as a bloody war wound can be, sometimes far worse. Some doctors often do not have the tools to deal with it. And it’s different than being in the military, in that everyone using the VA is equal. And that isn’t at all how the military works.
Professor Bigfoot
My bright spots? Mostly right here.
That election really told me— LOUDLY— that white people are not to be trusted.
This joint reminds me there’s a significant fraction of that demographic who are thoughtful, knowledgable, intelligent, and NOT driven by the same Fear of a Black Planet as most white Americans are; and for that I’m grateful.
ETA: I could care less about Pete’s beard— I’d love to spend an evening just talking to this guy. He wouldn’t have to pay for the beers, either; just let me hear his ideas about, well, dis, dat, an’ de odder t’ing.
He’s a bad man, Slayer Pete.
suzanne
@Elizabelle: Well, yeah. But we’ve won many of those voters before. So, that means either the larger electoral environment changed, or we changed.
pajaro
@terraformer:
The DNC seems to have pushed two projects starting earlier this year. They have done a series of “empty chair” town halls in the districts held by Republicans that have gotten some attention in the places where they have been held, and they are engaged in a coordinated fund raising campaign for state party organizations. As you have noted, they have also tried to be more consistent in messaging, although it’s not clear to me how large a megaphone they have been successful at developing.
Professor Bigfoot
@suzanne: I think it’s the conservatives who’ve changed.
They’ve abandoned any dogwhistles and gone for the full-on bullhorns of white male Christian supremacy.
They are literally overthrowing the Constitution they claim to revere.
And most of this swerve into madness has occurred since 2008 and the rise of the “Tea Party.”
The challenge is how much of the electorate are susceptible to such “messaging.”
(when I hear complaints about Democratic messaging, I wonder if they want us to mimic the GOP and put white men first)
They Call Me Noni
@schrodingers_cat: same
suzanne
@WaterGirl: I think Michael Avenatti is hot, even though he’s terrible.
They Call Me Noni
@Omnes Omnibus: And all caps! Perfect.
WaterGirl
@suzanne: Or it means that disinformation was stronger, with the help of social media and the mainstream media.
Bokonon
They expect someone to come along and fix things for them … like, the Democrats that they didn’t vote for. They expect to be saved from their own choices. It’s a form of entitlement.
rikyrah
Greg Sargent/
May 28, 2025
BOTTOMLESS GRIFT
Trump’s Fury at Harvard Gets More Deranged—and Exposes a Big MAGA Scam
Trump says he’s attacking foreign students because they’re taking places reserved for American kids. But the House GOP budget bill would hurt countless American students from the working class.
https://newrepublic.com/article/195766/trump-fury-harvard-maga-scam
They Call Me Noni
@Nelle: Congratulations! Beautiful post.
Glad Mom and baby are doing well.
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud: I wonder how US/UK extradition works these days.
rikyrah
Variety
@Variety
At a White House press briefing Wednesday, President Trump was asked about a new Wall Street term: The “TACO trade,” which stands for “Trump always chickens out” when it has come to carrying out his threats to impose high tariffs on foreign countries. Trump lashed out at the reporter. “Don’t ever say what you said. That’s a nasty question,” Trump said. “To me, that’s the nastiest question.” https://variety.com/2025/biz/news/trump-responds-taco-trade-trump-always-chickens-out-tariff-threats-1236412080/
Gloria DryGarden
@Nelle: I feel so uplifted by your answer, your grandchild coming through in the nicu, the life in your garden, the eagle babies at your daughters land. I love it.
I love a man with a beard. I don’t understand why people call it scruffy, it’s neat and trimmed and looks just fine. I’m happy that your republican neighbor likes Pete. I don’t mostly care what he looks like, and am not a fan of beauty standards for people ( what happened to diversity?).
I just want Pete to keep speaking so clearly and coherently, with so much fairness for all, and I’m happy that he’s “every where all at once”, talking about “everything” that matters. I am so grateful to him.
and, give me a man with a beard..
WaterGirl
@Bokonon: Are we writing off all the people in a state because they voted R? Surely we are smarter than this.
If even one of the 15 shitstorms that were happening in November had gone a different way, then Dems would have gotten the slim win instead of the Rs.
And some of those 15 were done by foreign leaders and entities who wanted Trump in office, not a Democrat. We still have to deal with the fact that that’s the world we now live in, but that doesn’t mean everything Dems do / have done is wrong.
Bokonon
This reminds me of the Trump campaign saying that their housing policy was to kick so many people out of the country that housing would then become abundant and cheap. And the media gave them a pass on it.
Gloria DryGarden
@rikyrah: he knows something about nasty for sure…
Geminid
I’ve been encouraged by news out of Syria. The lifting of sanctions by the U.S. and EU, and other developments in the last ten days could make a real difference for that nation.
Syria’s President Ahmad al-Sharaa made an important speech yesterday in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. I posted excerpts in the Late Night Thread and here are some highlights:
Chief Oshkosh
@rikyrah: TACO said what?
Man, I hope every single Democrat picks up on this.
“President TACO,…I mean, President Trump,…”
Omnes Omnibus
@zhena gogolia: No, I don’t. I did my share of canvassing and donating. I voted the correct way. I am not a hero, but sure as fuck ain’t one of the villains.
Gloria DryGarden
@WaterGirl: thank you for these wonderful peony photos..
suzanne
@Professor Bigfoot: My perspective on messaging is influenced by the fact that I worked in the advertising industry for a few years. (And I hated it and left.) I learned a lot about how that industry works, though, and how good those people are at getting other people to do things.
I do think we made some strategic errors on that front, but whether or not the outcome would have been different is unknowable.
Baud
Via reddit, we lose because we’re not offering the people what they want.
suzanne
@WaterGirl: Disinformation falls under the broader category of “the environment” being different, IMO.
Gloria DryGarden
Agree.
That is the main thing, or one of the biggest things. Disinformation. Fox news. Falsehoods prevailing. Foreign influence on a huge scale. The difficulty to bring awareness to folks who believe the lies spread by mr taco, and MTG, and so many maga and Q folks. The mind boggling spin and bending of reality to fit denial and bolster so much un-accountability. The weird unawareness of how much harm, and potential harm…
Eyeroller
@suzanne: I question how much difference it would have made in the last election, but one of my long-standing gripes with the Democratic Party in general is that we don’t seem to have anybody who understands marketing or advertising. Too many seem to think those are undignified or something. It doesn’t have to involve lying or blatant manipulation, but some understanding of narrative and repetition and “branding” would help, IMHO. Instead we seem to have a sclerotic consultant class who, as another commenter pointed out last time I complained about this, seem to be good at marketing themselves to politicians, but not the politicians to the public.
It doesn’t help that we lack the blaring media ecosystem of the right and the social-media presence, but we don’t seem even to try very hard to work around that.
Gloria DryGarden
@suzanne: can you teach us, from your advertising experience? Either how to influence and spin, or how to recognize it in its subtler forms? That might be a useful national wave of workshops…
Baud
Via reddit, Iowa.
Eyeroller
@Baud: r/leopardseatingfaces
Gloria DryGarden
@Baud: I go to food banks, and rely on them. They have gotten more sparse, run out of things after the first half hour, the selection and quantity and quality have decreased. Last week at on place, I got their last pound of ground chicken, at the half hour point, and they had two more hours to be open..
it is real
Baud
@Gloria DryGarden:
I’m livid that people like you will be hurt by what other people chose.
Baud
@Gloria DryGarden:
I think we should have a catchy jingle, but no one listens to my ideas.
ETA: I blame consultants.
suzanne
@Eyeroller: Agree. 100%. 110%.
@Gloria DryGarden: I am by no means an expert. But the biggest failure that I observe in recent years is that we are just not good at saying stuff in incredibly simple language and then we don’t repeat it 638947226846 times where people already are. The most staggering statistic I remember reading was that people needed to hear or see something upward of 10 times before they even remembered seeing it, to say nothing of earning a vote. And that was in the early 2000s, so it’s probably increased by a factor of ten now. It leaves us vulnerable because they hear the disinfo first and more consistently. Direct mail, TV ads, etc….. those don’t reach a lot of people anymore. I think we are, to large extent, not going to where lots of potential voters are. That’s more a failure of messaging strategy than the content of the message, per se.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: This is a catchy jingle.
JGreen
@suzanne: And an elite.
Ruckus
@Nelle:
I’m an old fart veteran and use the VA for my healthcare and have for a few decades.
The concept that we don’t need the VA is pure bullshit. Vets have had exposure to events that most citizens never have and that’s not just the vets that went to war. Now I served during Vietnam but didn’t get sent there, but know a few who did and no one who hasn’t been to war fully understands the concept. Even people like me, a veteran that served during Vietnam can have an extremely difficult time seeing the life of someone who did go, even this long ago. I have a buddy that is 2-3 yrs older than me and went to Vietnam in the Marines. Part of his mind is still a bit off and it took him a not insignificant time to learn to put at least most of it behind him. I’ve met other vets at the VA who did serve during and IN Vietnam. They really, really do not ever want to talk about it, even in group sessions long ago. And I understand, hearing some of the stories I have heard. It of course has now been a long time ago so I don’t hear much about it any longer. But we’ve had a military long before Vietnam and will have for as long as we are a country. Hell I was born not long after WWII and have known vets from that era, like my own dad. Who never talked about it, not one word. Not even after I joined. I have all the family pictures, as I’m the only one left in my immediate family, and there is one of my dad in his USN uniform with my oldest sister.
Belafon
@Eyeroller: It would help if a couple of the rich liberals, and there are a few, would decide to spend their money on some media. It’s a place where they would be useful.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
That’s what I’m talking about.
narya
The picture of Ozark Hillbilly and Billie Jean on the BJ calendar this month is definitely a bright spot, even if sad/wistful too.
They Call Me Noni
@WaterGirl: Beautiful! I recently cut the last of mine and have had vases of them throughout the house for the past few weeks. They smell soooo good. I planted mine as bare roots so it took a few years until I got even the first bloom but these past four years they really have shown out. They are a wonder. All those petals from a little ball.
Professor Bigfoot
@suzanne:
@suzanne:
@Gloria DryGarden:
WIth all the respect in the world, how did “messaging” make Americans* choose a 34 count felon over a former prosecutor?
The difference between them is SO STARK that I have a lot of trouble getting past it.
Americans* chose a FELON, and I would love to see the “messaging” that could make a dent in that.
Professor Bigfoot
@suzanne: I respect all of that, but I still cannot get past how Americans* chose a 34 count FELON.
This seems to me to be something more than “messaging.”
WhatsMyNym
@Baud:
It will help the drug trade and money laundering.
They Call Me Noni
@Professor Bigfoot: That election really told me— LOUDLY— that white people are not to be trusted.
I feel the same and I’m white. I don’t know that I’ve ever been so disappointed, disgusted and fucking mad at one group of people in my life. I just knew Kamila would win. I mean, how could she not given the starkness in difference between the two candidates? I so underestimated the pure ignorance and hate that exists in this country.
zhena gogolia
@Trollhattan: This has happened several times already in my midsized town.
Geminid
@Gloria DryGarden: When it comes to the disinformation, I think we only saw the tip of the iceberg. A lot was done through social media micro-targeting, and Republicans took advantage of the way people are “siloed” into seperate information bubbles.
There was an example of this in Michigan, where Arab Amerericans were told how staunch an ally of Israel Kamala Harris was, and Jewish Americans were told how critical she was of Israel. The hook was how the ads pretended these positions were positives even while the creators knew they would not be taken as such by the target groups.
I read about this because those two Michigan groups were very closely watched, but I wonder how many similar efforts were made with other groups and other issues that I never heard about.
Plenty, I bet and they weren’t all through obviously paid advertizing either. The Republicans also organized individuals to spread disinformation within different groups, and backed them up with an host of bots. Some of these networks likely dated back to the 2016 election, when the notorious St. Petersburg troll farm got many of these balls rolling.
suzanne
@Professor Bigfoot: Revealed preference has indicated — for decades, this isn’t new to FFOTUS — that people will vote for their personal interests and that “good character” is less important.
I also think that the FFOTUS is, in an exceedingly broken and through-the-looking-glass way….. a generational political talent. He is exceedingly good at commanding attention and being transgressive and entertaining, and it is compelling. He is amazing at appealing to emotion.
That’s not to let voters off the hook. People should be smarter.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: There is a reason no one pays us to do this stuff.
Harrison Wesley
@Baud: Damn. Last real job I had was as grant writer for a food bank. This really, really sucks.
Trollhattan
@Baud:
Before this bartering was not legal in Florida?
Cool.
rikyrah
@Nelle:
Your response just made me smile :)
Gary K
For dinner so far I’ve had a corn dog and a chocolate-covered mint. What would be a complementary third course?
Jackie
@WaterGirl: Your peonies are gorgeous! And, in the last photo I see a glimpse of your new flooring? Did I miss the promised post with pics of your new floors?
Gloria DryGarden
@Professor Bigfoot: somehow messaging got people past his felony criminality, sane washed or erased so much of his racist activities and support for racist groups, made him seem ok, believable, made people believe all his denial.
And then, there’s the slice of folks who prefer to hate people the6 don’t even know, who might not look like them, or might be a different gender. A strange mind boggling preference, but I understand there are swaths of America that hate or look down on women, or who think some people are inferior to others.
cant understand why religion didn’t stamp out the hate. can’t fathom how this country has been the international template and ideal for racism. Does not make me proud to be from here.
meanwhile, it’s my understanding that a great deal of the technology I use, smart phone, iPad, gps (I don’t, but others are completely dependent)..car windshield wipers, and so on, are things invented by, create$ by, patented by, either women, or people of color, or lgbtq people. Probably some people with “disabilities “ too.
golly, I want those maga people to give up using every livin thing they use that was invented by people outside their ideal group of white cis het men.
they can just give up their smart phones, their windshield wipers, and whatever is on the list. I need a better list, more complete.
Redshift
@suzanne:
Let me preface this by saying that 2024, like 2016 was “overdetermined” as the statistics guys say, meaning the margin was small enough that there are many things that could have swung it the other way, and one of them being true doesn’t make the others false.
But given that, it is absolutely true that then environment was different. Parties that were in power during the pandemic lost everywhere around the world, and the Dems lost by much less than all of the others. Without that trauma driving so many to a feeling of “I want something different,” I think there’s no question we would have won.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Professor Bigfoot: Drive into the country and scroll through the radio stations until you start hearing right-wing radio. They have that poison being poured into their brains every day and they believe it. Then you will understand.
Dan B
@Eyeroller: Democrats come from academia where more words and complex ideas are rewarded. GOP comes from business where marketing is respected.
Gloria DryGarden
@Gary K: veggies, a second dog, a protein rich dessert, or some berries. Ketchup is not enough veggies…
WaterGirl
@Gloria DryGarden: Happy to share them. I wish I had gotten photos of the stunning pale pink ones from last week!
Redshift
@terraformer:
Martin was the guest speaker at our county Dems fundraising dinner a week and a half ago, and I got to chat with him for a bit afterward. Both from that and from the speech, I have a much more positive feeling about what he’s doing. I really need to write it up to maybe be posted here.
WaterGirl
@suzanne: Fair enough!
BlueGuitarist
@japa21:
Good for you both.
coverage of hands across Chicagoland looked good.
it all helps.
Keep bending the arc towards justice!
Baud
@Dan B:
This makes sense to me.
ETA: I believe it is extremely hard to message to liberal Dems and normies in a way that will be satisfying to both.
lowtechcyclist
@Bokonon:
Yeah, he’ll kick out all those people hanging drywall and installing roofs. That oughta make housing way cheaper. You’d think even our mediots might think of that, but I guess they’re being well paid to not notice such things.
WaterGirl
@Eyeroller:
It’s like the old lawyer joke, adapted for these times.
WaterGirl
@They Call Me Noni:
Yes! Flowers are my happy place.
Gloria DryGarden
@suzanne: strategy and reach.
10 times, or way more. Yikes.
and if they get bimbarded by the disinformation, – gonna leave that typo, reasons- it’s hard to pry them loose from believing it, to get a shift I what they will see and believe.
example, the crazy bimbo blondes on fox going on and on w jake tapper re his book, and the “ cover up “ of Biden’s “cognitive decline” is worse than watergate.
It isn’t anything like watergate!!! Picture of Lucy next to Charlie Brown, her mouth open wide, shouting “ for crying out loud!)
( and now I have to scoot, the food bank is in 5 minutes, I’m late, I want that last pound of meat…)
Professor Bigfoot
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: Yeesh. I can think if more fun ways to rot what few brain cells I have left, thankyewverymuch. 😉
BlueGuitarist
@WaterGirl:
Peonies look great!
“Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.”
W.H. Auden, September 1, 1939
https://poets.org/poem/september-1-1939
Marc
I would argue that both these statements about Kamala Harris are, in fact, arguably true, so how are these ads disinformation? I always assumed this was what marketing (political or otherwise) was supposed to do.
WaterGirl
@Jackie: I’m still waiting for the small round rug for under the rocker chair, and then the room will be officially done.
I will post photos. :-)
edit: it turns out that musical chairs was not limited to the living room and the sunroom. A third room and the patio came into play, so musical chairs is still happening. But the aforementioned closet room (where I had jammed everything that still needed to go somewhere) is mostly walkable now. So the dining room table is the worst of the last of it.
The blessing and the curse of a small house. If there’s not a place for everything, you just end up moving piles from place to place and room to room.
Gloria DryGarden
Baud, everyone, it’s probably time to brainstorm more potential jingles and simple messages…
Gloria DryGarden
@BlueGuitarist: wonderful. Thank you for this poem. So elegantly and clearly stated.
rikyrah
Carolina Forward (@ForwardCarolina) posted at 2:25 PM on Wed, May 28, 2025:
North Carolina’s Attorney General @JeffJacksonNC recently won a big settlement with the state’s 2nd-largest apartment management firm for using RealPage, an AI tool that helps landlords get around laws against price-fixing collusion.
Now, RealPage is getting a lifeline from Republicans in Congress.
The GOP’s new “big, beautiful” budget and tax bill specifically bars states and cities from banning rent-fixing AI software like RealPage for 10 years. This would provide major relief to the company, but likely help turbo-charge rent hikes around the country.
It’s unclear whether the law would affect lawsuits like Jackson’s here in NC, which are based primarily on existing antitrust laws. But for renters, this is very bad news. https://t.co/hmdYYWpoTq
(https://x.com/ForwardCarolina/status/1927808578913718605?t=UggrUnqwbySEnL2VlU1vtA&s=03)
Baud
@Gloria DryGarden:
WTFGhost
@ellenr: I took the comments on appearance to be merely appreciative, not a point of focus.
@Baud: “His head was shaved cueball-bald, so the only source of information about the toxin was in his beard hairs – thankfully, he was carrying precisely the right amount of scruff, that the toxin could be identified….”
@Baud: Um… with, or without, biting on wintergreen lifesavers?
Melancholy Jaques
@WaterGirl:
No one wants to write off whole states, but telling them that what they are complaining about is what they voted for is not writing them off.
It may not make a difference to most of them, but people need to be reminded – sharply – that their votes have consequences.
Dan B
@Baud: That’s why there’s messaging strategy. You need to know your target audience. Messages need to be tailored to a specific audience and don’t try to find the fabled one true message. Walz calling the GOP / MAGA “weird” was close.
WaterGirl
@Redshift: I would love to hear more about what the DNC is up to! If you write something up, I would be happy to share it.
Gloria DryGarden
@suzanne: true, about mR TACO. Spot on, compelling.
WaterGirl
@Marc: If you tell one partial truth over here, to a very specific audience, and another partial truth over there, to a very specific different audience, that cannot be described as “hey, I was just telling the truth!”
You were sharing bit of truth to specific places to get the response you want.
WTFGhost
@Old School: Well kept beards, maybe. “I just don’t shave” beards never look evil, IMHO.
Prometheus Shrugged
For anyone interested, a number of my younger colleagues have organized a 100 hour continuous livestream for Weather and Climate. We’re about 4 hours into the youtube telethon (half expect to see the ghost of jerry lewis show up towards hour 99) but it’s a concatenation of dozens of international experts who are either grouped into panel discussions–right now, it’s former directors of the National Weather Service–or else just sharing expertise and taking questions from viewers. The purpose is the raise awareness and sound the alarm regarding the current lunacy of dismantling the climate science enterprise. The link is http://www.youtube.com/@wclivestream/live
WaterGirl
@Melancholy Jaques:
With that addition, I totally agree.
suzanne
@Redshift: I think the environment is a lot different than it was 4 or 8 years ago, and that meant we had an uphill fight, no matter who our candidate was. And I agree with you about things being overdetermined.
I feel it in myself, even. The pandemic radicalized me in some ways that continue to reveal themselves to me.
Nevertheless, the core of electoral politics is persuasion, and that hasn’t changed. We’ve won in the past when the vibes went our way, and we are flattering ourselves if we don’t admit that. I also think that we normies donate a ton of small-dollar donations (in my case, really small dollars!) and it’s a reasonable expectation that that money is used effectively. So I don’t think it’s a good response to say that we couldn’t have done anything differently or better. Hopefully, there will be a next election, and we’ll be in a better position — and we’ll also make better strategic decisions.
Baud
@Dan B:
Sure, I agree. What makes it hard is the lib Dem group is hyper focused on messaging and is watching all the other messages.
Omnes Omnibus
@Marc: In a conversation with your college friends, you may emphasize certain aspects of your new gf/bf’s proclivities. In a conversation with your mom, you may chose to emphasize others. Both may be true.
Anyway
Glad Cheetoline was stung by President TACO — and that it was brought up at a press avail. Keep using it, Dems and journos.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Seconded.
They Call Me Noni
@Gary
@Gary K: well you’ve already had desert but you need a vegetable. Popcorn?
Baud
@Anyway:
I like it. I fear, however, that the association will make it even harder to realize the dream of taco trucks on every corner.
Jackie
@Eyeroller: Not all Iowans voted for FFOTUS. I hate when ALL people who live in red states are grouped as ONE.
WaterGirl
@They Call Me Noni: I was thinking veggie, to, but popcorn is inspired!
zhena gogolia
@Redshift: Yes, please do.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Gold and silver coins make more sense than crypto, at least, but that’s a pretty low bar. The article said the coins have to be stamped to indicate their purity, but apparently not their face value – which of course changes daily. Not as drastically as crypto can, but still.
When I buy a Whopper and a drink at Burger King, nobody has to wonder what the $20 bill I hand over is worth today. But any retailers accepting gold and silver coins would have to somehow set up their registers to tell them what the market value of a gold or silver coin of a given weight and purity was at that moment. I can’t imagine that many retailers are going to bother with this.
Not to mention, many retailers won’t accept $100 bills. Gold is currently trading at >$100 per gram.
rikyrah
The Washington Post
@washingtonpost
An advisory committee of diverse historians helps ensure that the record of America’s history remains unbiased, transparent and thorough.
President Trump just fired all of the members of the committee.
https://x.com/washingtonpost/status/1927752999998292273
zhena gogolia
@BlueGuitarist: That’s really nice, thank you.
They Call Me Noni
@WaterGirl: Mine too. I have a plethora of stargazers and other fabulous daylilies that have buds on them and then the gladiolus will be next.
rikyrah
Drew Comments (@sjs856) posted at 10:05 AM on Wed, May 28, 2025:
Reminder that RFK Jr. is only HHS Secretary because of his skin color and the full embrace of anti-intellectualism by the alt-right.
He has no actual qualifications or expertise to be making public health policy.
(https://x.com/sjs856/status/1927743086924378611?t=N0l7z5wEOxO6hlXMHsK4tw&s=03)
rikyrah
NO CONTEXT WHATSOEVER.
Rachel Bitecofer 🗽🦆 (@RachelBitecofer) posted at 3:03 PM on Wed, May 28, 2025:
Media coverage of what Trumps doing to Harvard provides no context about how insane it is for the president to assert these powers over a private institution.
No mention at all.
They read the WH statement full of lies with also without comment.
Just read it as fact.
(https://x.com/RachelBitecofer/status/1927817926423228464?t=XY4CY7Ycl6m9fxpKcQd0lw&s=03)
Jackie
@Anyway:
Even sweeter, the term was coined by WS members! :-D
Baud
@Jackie:
WS?
rikyrah
THEY just don’t want to do it. It’s OK for ‘ OTHERS’, but not for THEM
Carolina Forward (@ForwardCarolina) posted at 6:37 AM on Wed, May 28, 2025:
A huge majority of Americans say that more people should work in manufacturing – but that they, personally, don’t want to.
There’s a huge disconnect between how most people think of “manufacturing,” versus the reality. Manufacturing jobs are often physically and mentally demanding, repetitive and offer limited upward trajectory. Despite offering reasonably good wages – the average is roughly $30/hour today – there were over 400,000 vacant manufacturing jobs around the United States in March of 2025. Finding workers is one of the industry’s biggest challenges.
A lot of this disconnect can be explained by simple nostalgia. On some level, many people believe in a sepia-toned “glory days” version of history, where manufacturing jobs were the ticket to safety and stability. This is the root of a common meme about how, supposedly, Americans could once easily afford a big house, two kids, cars, vacations and college tuitions all on one income. That was *never* true in reality, except for very rare exceptions – it’s based more on Nickelodeon TV reruns than actual events.
But that kind of pop culture is how many people construct their beliefs about the past, the present, and their sense of gain or loss. That type of nostalgia is what creates disconnects like this one.
https://t.co/I0hFu4Sagu
(https://x.com/ForwardCarolina/status/1927690566571364573?t=7TCG54SO4CBqFwAmySvy2g&s=03)
Jackie
@Baud: Wall Street
Redshift
@suzanne:
I’m not saying we couldn’t have done anything better. But the fact that Dems lost by way less than incumbent parties in peer countries argues that they actually did well and probably used a lot of the money effectively to overcome a major headwind beyond their control, not that they lost because they sucked and need to do everything differently.
Even if they did as well as they could fighting against that particular current, there are undoubtedly other arenas where they could have done better, and those also could have made the difference. I do think it’s somewhat heartening to think that in almost any other circumstances, what we did would have been enough to win, and if a chunk of normie voters think things suck and want to go against whoever’s in power in upcoming elections, it won’t be us.
They Call Me Noni
@WaterGirl: I was going to ask if he’d had an IPA type craft beer or needed a wine suggestion but didn’t want to be presumptuous.
Baud
@Jackie:
Thanks.
Melancholy Jaques
@WaterGirl:
I would like to see messages directed specifically at people who voted for that asshole. Like “If you voted for Trump, you voted to take medical care away from children” and the like.
Geminid
@Marc: I thought the deception was in the presentation, the feigned enthusiasm for Harris on grounds the targeted group would reject. This was cynical and manipulative and that’s why I described them as disinformation; that and the fact that very different messages were ostensibly “pitched” to two different groups.
Marc
I’m really not trying to start an argument, but is it “targeted messaging” when the Democrats do it and “disinformation” when the GOP does it? I’m not seeing the difference when (and only when) the statements are not based on actual lies.
Marc
Perhaps any form of marketing is cynical and manipulative?
rikyrah
OH WELL
Suzie rizzio
@Suzierizzo1
A Cyber truck owner in California washed their car through an automatic car wash and it totally destroyed it. Apparently there is a button you have to push to let the truck system know it’s being washed beforehand & the warranty doesn’t cover this damage if not done correctly!😡
https://x.com/Suzierizzo1/status/1927758801039511847
schrodingers_cat
Bright spots are my fountain pens and my art supplies.
Snowlan01
I have to say, my mood is not being improved by the 50 fundraising e-mails I seem to get every day, each of which is a variation on:
“be outraged because the world is losing to fascists/Trump/Republicans/Christian Nationalists . . . but you can help save us by sending [insert group] only $5/$15//$25 today!” We seem to be using fear mainly to raise money right now.
I appreciate Mayor Pete’s attempt to do something other than send out fear-filled fundraising e-mails.
Jackie
@Melancholy Jaques:
I’ve attempted remarks akin to this, and ALWAYS get the retort “too many are receiving SNAP illegally.” They can never provide facts to prove it, but instead give the “everyone knows this,” or “Elon Musk said so.” These people can’t/won’t be dissuaded of these beliefs.
Jay
@Chief Oshkosh:
The Tate Brothers went back to Romania, where they were rearrested, then extradited by Britain.
cain
@Chief Oshkosh:
Hans Solo: “who is scruffy looking?!”
Marc
@Geminid: By the way, I’m asking about this as I’m trying to understand what is actually meant by effective messaging these days. I do know that my late 20-something kid will see messages that come through Instagram or TikTok, but mostly the circles of friends communicate through private groups on Discord, Signal, or other chat networks. Political messages are passed, but in my experience, it seems this generation would like somewhat different messaging than what they are currently getting.
karen gail
Spark of light, spark of hope?
This time of year I am reminded of graduation from high school; how the speaker gave us hope to dream and dream big with the reminder that we had put a man on the moon that year.
lowtechcyclist
@Marc:
There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.
Hence the part about “the whole truth” when swearing in a witness.
Baud
@karen gail:
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: Its not just Harvard. They have stopped issuing visas to incoming international students.
Ruckus
@Professor Bigfoot:
A lot do not consider him a felon.
I do and imagine that most here do, but he’s also basically gotten away with it and there are a lot of people that don’t care what you do as long as you don’t harm THEM and that if you got away with it with little penalty then it’s likely some level of BS.
Isn’t it a lovely world we live in?
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@suzanne: I agree 100% with what you said and it’s mind boggling to me how long it’s taking for the party to realize it and do something to correct it.. People need simple, repetitive and it has to be everywhere on social media because for better or worse, well let’s face it, for worse, that’s where the eyeballs and eardrums are these days.
I mean a massive conservative social media campaign targeting Hispanics is why we lost ground with them. It wasn’t Trump’s deport them all message was a winner with them it’s that they heard a bunch lies more often and loudly. All we had to do was point out the truth even more often and loudly but we didn’t.
WaterGirl
@Melancholy Jaques:
Totally agree!
WTFGhost
@Marc: Not all targeted messaging is dishonest. Still, I grant you one thing.
If Morons For Trump paid for Kamala ads, that made only true statements, and it was clear this was from a Trump centered organization, sure, I’d agree that’s not disinformation.
If it looked remotely like a Kamala-supporting organization, then, they’re hiding their identity, and purpose, which is textbook fraud – trying to make the bait attractive to the mark.
Suzanne
@Redshift: I should have been more clear, and I apologize….. you said nothing of the sort, and I didn’t mean to imply that you did. There has been some pushback on past threads when we discuss this topic that doesn’t recognize some of these gaps.
WaterGirl
@Marc: The example that was presented – that you are responding to – was not the same as focusing on abortion rights when Dems are talking to one set of people and focusing on rule of law when talking to a different audience.
Dems don’t tell one group they believe in a woman’s right to control her own body and then promote fake abortion clinics when talking to da different audience.
It shocks me that you don’t seem to see the difference. It seems very stark to me. Unless you’re interested in dancing on the head of a pin.
WaterGirl
@lowtechcyclist:
Well said!
Kayla Rudbek
@Marc: it’s called “lying by omission” I.e. leaving things out can be a lie
Suzanne
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: I also think that media formats have changed and Dems haven’t changed with it. Like, I just listened to Secretary Pete on the Bulwark pod, and they discussed how the format favors these long, unscripted conversations, and the pols who do well at those are just….. more comfortable with that. They’re less careful, in a sense, and they’re able to speak plainly about their beliefs and positions. Today’s environment interprets that as authenticity and perhaps a lack of ego or pretension.
That’s a difference from the days when “the 60 Minutes interview” was a big deal.
LAC
@Elizabelle: God bless you for that. So sick of the “how voters were failed by the messaging” rather than actually engaging with the process or oops there goes democracy! Not everything has to be an episode of American Idol with a sob story to make you care and be engaged.
People looking like me didn’t die in the streets for the right to live as full citizens so that I can go into an election cycle with “gee, do I pick the normal person who respects the rule of law or the racist human version of ebola yelling shit?”
By the way, that is my spark of hope – looking at our history in this country and how we still rise. And America, you are welcome!
karen gail
I think it was the first day of the first class of marketing that teacher got up and sang “my hot dog has a first name” by the time she finished the whole class was singing along.
She said that is one of the most successful marketing campaigns she knows; everyone knows the jingle; if you want to catch the attention of a buyer to first need to catch their ears and mind. So the class information on what the catch first is dated by the media available at the time but the point still holds.
How many of us have ear worms from marketing? The maga crowd has managed to catch interest and minds with red hats and speaking the words that people want to hear.
karen gail
Mix up; it was baloney has first name and last name. Hot dogs was a different song.
Professor Bigfoot
@karen gail: “When It Rains, It Pours.”
Sounds like something handed down from the ancients; but it was marketing.
Geminid
@Marc: “Deceptive and manipulative” might have been a more precise a way to describe the advertising strategy, so I didn’t think you were just quibbling. But while I may have used “disinformation” in a broad sense, so was the commenter I responded to.
My main point, though was that this manipulative micro-targeting was well-organized and I assume widespread.
WaterGirl
@Geminid: On that, I suspect we can all agree!
schrodingers_cat
@LAC: Well said! The messaging that won was immigrants are eating your pets.
Eyeroller
@Jackie: It was an in-joke for Baud, the Redditor.
It’s all bad. Some of the people dependent on the food bank probably did vote for Trump while others did not. There are also anecdotes about dairy farmers about to lose their farms for various Trump-related reasons, such as contracts for Canadian feed, who still support him.
The “if only the Tsar knew” mentality. What do we do about that? What do we do about the people who didn’t vote for it, or didn’t vote at all, but will suffer? As things stand, we can’t do a whole lot.
BlueGuitarist
@Gloria DryGarden:
@zhena gogolia:
You’re welcome!
I should have been clearer that i only quoted the end of a longer poem, which begins
I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid…
Understandable feelings for the day World War II began.
Some other lines:
The enlightenment driven away….
We must love one another or die….
https://poets.org/poem/september-1-1939
BlueGuitarist
@WaterGirl:
A few seconds of Denzel Washington in Inside Man:
”calm down, calm down, Calm the F**k Down”:
https://youtu.be/M2i17JZD8pU?si=fGtpWq76Z_dtY1BY
Eyeroller
@schrodingers_cat: And I’m not even sure most people believed that literally, but there was a metamessage there.
Plus I know a lot of us are tiptoeing around the misogyny. I believe that is worse than the racism, especially for male voters. They just will not vote for a woman for President.
Gvg
@Baud: snort, I don’t think states get to have legal currency. The US government is our currency. I hope we still have one when we get rid of Trump.
Desantis is so pathetic.
Another Scott
@Nelle: I was thinking yesterday that I hadn’t seen you here recently. It sounds like you’ve been busy! :-)
Best of luck to everyone in the newly expanded family!
Best wishes,
Scott.
lowtechcyclist
@Marc:
It would help if you could provide an example, even a hypothetical one, of Dem ‘targeted messaging’ that we’d call ‘disinformation’ if the GOP did it.
TEL
@Redshift: I would love to read about that! Maybe Watergirl could front-page it if more jackals are interested?
TEL
@WaterGirl: And… I should have read further into the thread before posting😉.
TEL
@karen gail: I still remember that entire jingle! I used to sing with it when that ad was on tv when I was tiny.
WaterGirl
@BlueGuitarist: I have never seen that movie, thanks for the link.
It looked like that might have worked for Denzel in that clip?
WaterGirl
@TEL: That just provides more encouragement for Redshift! :-)
Geminid
@Marc: I think it’s possible to market a product or a candidate honestly, and it is often done.
Another Scott
@Redshift: Thank you.
It’s always important not to learn the wrong lessons when things don’t go the way we want. That’s probably even more important than learning the right lessons.
(Personally, I’m convinced that the RWNJs strangling the economic recovery after the housing bubble burst, in the USA, Western Europe, and elsewhere, was a deliberate strategy to make normal, non-political people angry so that they would turn more xenophobic and conservative/reactionary and less trustful of others. (They remember the 1930s in Europe….) Because they knew it would benefit themselves politically (and enable their return to power after losses from W’s incompetence).
The roots of Harris’s loss were planted in Moscow Mitch’s obstruction of Obama’s economic recovery efforts, and we’re still suffering as a result of his actions.
As you remind us, the outcome in November 2024 was over-determined.
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
NightSky
@suzanne:
I think I recall hearing that someone on Team TACO (just could not resist) said they aggressively tried to capture the young male Latino voters in this past election via social media— and they seem to have succeeded. Maybe Cambridge Analytica experience taught them a lot… Another reason to worry about the data capture by DOGE…