Let's summarize Cry-Baby-trump's negotiation outcomes...

@CedricH As is his common pattern, he is declaring victory in advance, insisting no one else could have done what he's doing, and that no one is more loved than him... I mean, just look at the expensive gifts people want him to have as part of his personal entitlement program.

@MarkPaul yep, that’s what you can do with a cult like base. Substance becomes irrelevant, performative politics all encompassing and if the leader presents his alternative truth there‘s no discussion on the validity

@CedricH In a way, while troubling that is (or should be) expected. What is confounding and astounding is there seems to be such weak opposition. In the undignified and counter-productive way the Democrats pushed Biden aside, they are largely giving this corrupt fantasy king a pass. Yeah, they are giving speeches and going on tours and writing letters. And, I do understand just how difficult it is to resist. And, I am not discounting the court victories and all the other effort. It is still not enough though. I fear a large majority of them still think "rolling over and playing dead" is a viable strategy.

Slowly they are waking up. That's good. It's still not enough.

@MarkPaul I mean I couldn’t agree more, the Democrat‘s opposition is pitiful. One exception was Chris van Hollen in El Salvador but to blame them for Biden‘s stubbornness isn’t fair. He shouldn’t have been on the ticket in the first place but his ego and self-interest were more important to him than beating fascism. I don’t know how fruitful it is to relitigate the issue since there are obviously many Biden afficionados in the Democraric coalition so the best way is to look forward and to take aim at Trump‘s neuralgic soft spots.

One big issue I‘ll focus on will be the budget negotiations as part of the regular appropriations process. If Democrats push Ukraine aid in there it would be the first sign of an effective opposition using its legislative prerogatives to influence the future trajectory of the federal government.

@CedricH There are some worthy exceptions and even Chuck Shumer seems to be getting a bit more aggressive... after being pushed, prodded, and threatened. As for Biden, I don't really fault him. Like George Bush (the son) once mused, "power is intoxicating" and that's true for any human. The Democrats should have mounted a more forceful and private advise-and-counsel effort to convince him his time was up. Pressuring him in a public performance to disgrace him for the views seems to be indicative of their problem now. They think if they just sit still, the voting public will migrate their way. They don't seem to want to acknowledge that voters sitting out the election is as much of a risk to their chances as maga-hatred rallying "the base."

I agree with you on the budget negotiations. They need to do more than just withhold their votes and disrupt the voting process with long speeches (no shade to Corey Booker). Ukraine funding, which most Republicans really do support but are afraid to admit would be a good way for the Democrats to smartly exert their influence they seem fond of claiming they don't have.

@MarkPaul well, withholding votes uniformly on an appropriations bill would mean a government shutdown. If the Democrats don’t even ask for something to avert the shutdown it would end up as a PR nightmare for them. So we‘re agreed.

Absolutely, and much earlier. Then again, they really didn’t have any way to push Biden out against his will, so Biden‘s self-restraint would’ve been paramount in any private and discreet discussion. And he simply lacked that self-restraint until after the epic tv disaster with millions of Americans watching. At that point it was arguably too late to savour any credibility on the issue. And sure, power is intoxicating. But James K. Polk is a pretty good example of how it could’ve gone. His mission and mandate was realizing mainfest destiny and he did it in under four years and then stepped aside. Biden‘s mission and mandate was to beat Trump and to steadily navigate America through the final stages of the pandemic.

Well, this is an uncomfortable truth but as of now, in its current composition, the Democratic coalition benifts from lower turnout because they have an edge with educated, high propensity voters like you and I. A higher turnout means mobilizing low propensity voters and they flocked to Trump and RFK Jr. That needn’t be a permanent allegiance but it’s important to consider.

@CedricH Their job wasn't to "push" Biden, but instead inform him, the way Republicans back in the day informed Richard Nixon that he couldn't survive impeachment. From what I am reading about what was going on behind the scenes, the Democrats didn't want to extend themselves as that information source until after the debate.

Although I have to call into question my own objectivity, likewise I don't think the maga-Republicans are extending themselves to be an information source to the fat slob they worship. For example, they are equating the gift of the Statue of Liberty from France with the so-called gift of a $400 M "palace in the sky" from Qatar. Personally, from my observations Cry-Baby-trump is as much diminished as Biden was. His thinking is clouded, his rants are jumbled, and his command of facts is more compromised than it ever was in the past. He is out of his element, past his prime, and only going to get worse while being disguised as much as Biden was... as much as Woodrow Wilson was after his stroke in the White House.

Sure, Biden and Cry-Baby-trump should extend beyond their own human limitations and admit the unfortunate limitations of age, but taxpayer funded advisors should be more assertive in helping them reach that decision point. It seems that is where the system is broken.

I'm not sure it's just engaging low propensity voters. Harris lost a lot of voters who did come out for Biden. Those weren't just lazy-ass citizens. As fresh and energetic as Harris was, she didn't compel them to vote for her. The incompetence of the maga Administration from RFK, Jr. who "doesn't want to give advice on vaccines" to Scott Bessant who can't seem to bring himself to explain how tariffs really work and Howard (Nutlick) Lutnick who thinks people who don't get their social security checks should just "wait until next month like his mother-in-law" might be enough to engage disaffected Republicans, but alone, it leaves too much at risk if that is all the Democrats are depending on. I am not necessarily a Pete Buttigieg fan (although he seems nice and competent enough), but he recently warned the Democrats of this and that is promising.

@MarkPaul 💯 % No doubt.

Yeah, particularly low-propensity voters who were upset with Trump‘s handling of the pandemic and the chaos in 2020.

Look, if she lost some high-propensity progressives who didn’t vote for her because of Gaza than so be it, these people are unreliable and shouldn’t be part of the coalition if they favor Trump over Biden/Harris because they’re upset with their Middle East policy. But that was actually a minor issue for most young voters far behind inflation, the economy, immigration, health care etc.

Harris held the moderate vote but she lost the swing vote and the swing vote aren’t moderates as we thought of moderates pre-Trump. The swing voters are now mostly less informed, less educated, low-propensity voters, highly susceptible to populism. The educated, moderate, suburban voters who used to vote for McCain, Bush or Romney are now part of the Democratic coalition - albeit begrudgingly.

As far ad future candidates are concerned. I‘d go with Josh Shapiro or Rahm Emanuel.

@CedricH So, far I've been impressed with J.B. Pritzker. Rahm Emanuel has a tarnished record from his mayoral time in Chicago. I don't think he could win. Shapiro... possibly. I need to see more. My fear is the Democrats like to put up statement-candidates and will obsess over the statement at the expense of winnability.

@MarkPaul
In any case, Democrats will have to agree on their general policy positions going forward and I believe Clinton‘s triangulation should serve as a template. I outlined my thoughts in a post on how to unite moderate upper-middle class and working class voters under the same Democratic banner.