This is not even close to what I said at all. I have never expressed the belief that I didn't want Biden to beat Trump, only concern that the Democrats may not learn the lessons of what brought Trump into power in the first place and risk a similar thing happening further down the track.
What lessons would you say they should have learned that might bring about something similar in the future? Genuine question.
I think there are probably wildly different takes on this, so i'm just wondering what yours is.
For me:
I think that each election is unique and a slice in time of the attitude across the electorate. What brought Obama victory, would not necessarily have brought him victory 8 or 12 years later.
He was a new hope and direction after Bush, and the financial crisis was a unique event that created its own dynamics in that election.
It often is tied to the cyclical nature of elections as well. Obama coming in after two terms of a Republican held White House. Just as Trump coming in after a two terms of a Dem held White House.
That's something that you can't really control. It just is sort of the built in nature of how the public seems to move.
I think we also found out that narratives that are built over time by republicans work. They have always hammered away that we "need a business man" in the White House. Well, it seeped into the collective minds of many voters and this, along with coming off a two term Dem, along with a Clinton's baggage, along with Clinton going after Trump's character instead of driving home kitchen table priorities, along with Russian interference, along with Comey, we found out was a potent mix.
Pile on top of that, you had this simmering racism and disgust for Obama in a section of the electorate, that once they had a racist as a candidate, freed them. They knew they had their guy. One that they could be the shitty people they were on the inside, but could now feel free to let it out.
Also something that we can't really control. I would like those people not to be racist. but they are.
On top of that, I think we found out that there was also very large section of the electorate, that was much more susceptible to misinformation then we would have ever realized. Unfortunately this was a problem on both the far right and far left.
I think "progressives" need to reckon with the fact that they were played by the Russians just as badly as the right was. But I'm not holding my breath.
Also, I think we found out that Americans are too willing to be won over by a "celebrity" that is able to speak a million words, most untrue, and literally say nothing, but somehow gives them the feeling that he will make everything right, because he says so.
It turns out that narcissistic sociopaths, with no political baggage, actually make a potent candidate, but a horrific president.
So now this election brings another slice in time. One that is SO dramatically different than any other before it.
Some of these things can't be changed. Human nature, cyclical nature of elections, etc...
But, I do hope that Biden learns this time of who to speak to and how to speak to them in a way that Clinton didn't. I think we learned from 2018, that there is a swayble group in the middle, middle/right, that he definitely should go for.
BUT, he also at the same time needs to realize that there is new energy and ideas to the left of him that he also needs to connect with. This isn't an easy task to do both at once, but he needs to.
