I want to explain how the GOP went from "Dead and Buried" to at it's peak in 2024.

[WarGamer]

Remember 2008 and 2012?

I remember thinking to myself, "They're done. The GOP is so weak and unorganized, with a dwindling base and Demographic changes... we may never see another GOP President.

Now we're looking at 8/12 years of GOP rule.

So what happened?

I've thought about it extensively.

Let me share.

It all goes back to the neocons, my favorite topic, lol...

Neocons are that group of warmongers who A) Wanted to win the Cold War and B) Were annoyed by the counter-culture movement of the 60's and the Civil Rights movement

Early neocons were mostly DEMS.

The neocons hid their true purpose, American Imperialism by building fake support groups including Evangelicals, Country Club Republicans and soccer moms, whatever.

It worked with Ronald Reagan... he won 2x

The 90's rolled in and Bill Clinton won 2x.

The GOP was starting to lose it's voters... and the DEMS were building up voters.

The last gasp of the neocons was the election of Shrub the Lesser.

Georgie boy stocked his Administration with ne'er do well Neocon scumbags.

One fake illegal war later and even GOP'ers grew tired.

Add in the candidates.

The GOP used to have a thing with nominating the most boring people on the planet.

Dole, McCain, Romney...

Thought Experiment:

Look at the Trump base who won in 2024... winning all 7 Swing States and setting high marks in Minority votes. Now look at Mitt Romney and tell me how many of those Trump people would have voted for Mitt. How many GOP'ers pumped their fists and cheered on Mitt? Drove around with Mitt flags on their trucks and boats?

In other words, Romney would have lost to Harris 60-40 in 2024, IMHO.

Trump killed the neocon movement. The neocons used to pander support from groups but then never do anything for them after winning elections. Neocons USED people for their vote.

Traditional GOP 100% alienated a HUGE portion of the US voting public. Even those who might lean RIGHT.

Trump's entire strategy was to mine for the 30% of white folks that didn't vote and then got lucky after 2016 when the DEMS ran to the right and cozied up with neocons which resulted in even MORE DEM adjacent blue collar folks voting Trump.

Failure in 2024 was 50% Failure of the DEM Party.

And 50% Trump ascendancy as a strategy...

That's why we're here today.

My solution?

In a sentence. Invest EVERYTHING to taking BACK the populist banner... similar to what Bernie said...

[AkFemDem]

1. I don't hate this

I hate most suggestions so thats a compliment.

How do we take back the populist banner?

[Irish_Dem]

2. We cannot make a plan until we figure out some things.

Assess an emergency situation first, then plan.

[FalloutShelter]

6. My suggestion is that the party put a lot of eggs into the

Universal Health Care basket. I know Ted Kennedy died on this hill, but if the assassination of the Health Care Exec. proved.
this is an issue that has appeal the every American.

also, it encompasses women's reproductive health and health in general, as well as trans care in a way that can't be cleaved away as wedge issues.

JMHO

.

[GreenWave]

3. Propaganda machines work well for the GOP

Anti-war sentiment from the 60's was quickly switched to pro-POW stances.
Upcoming Democrats were simply assassinated. along with MLK all in their prime.
GOP flicked on the anti-Russia switch but never the anti-Nazi switch. Foreign policy supported dictators and coups.Now we have a plutocratic coup with the GOP embracing both Nazis and Putin.

[ProfessorPlum]

4. agreed - being actually populist, following the FDR playbook, is the only path forward

if only some more Democrats would do it

[poli-junkie]

5. By asking how renaming that

body of water is going to bring down the cost of eggs? Put a spotlight on what TSF is actually doing and asking how that improves the lot of its voters.

[58Sunliner]

7. We seem to have skipped right over voter fraud, suppression, gerrymandering...

[WarGamer]

8. Voter fraud doesn't really exist... gerrymandering doesn't affect Presidential elections...

And Voter Suppression is a State by State Issue that is legislated.

[58Sunliner]

9. Voter fraud does exist and we are talking about the party.

Without gerrymandering do you think DT would have the support he does or the state legislatures? As for voter suppression, purges, etc... it does matter and it makes a difference. I'm done with this.

[msfiddlestix]

17. I think you might be confusing the term "voter fraud" with Election Fraud? significant distinction.

Voter fraud is fraud committed by an individual voter, say like voting in more than one district, or marking a ballot belonging to a deceased family member.
this happens but not a scale impacting election vote outcomes.

election fraud however is a different kettle of worms all together.

[dpibel]

10. Pretty confusing, maybe even confused.

Early neocons were "DEMS"? Please tell me who you're thinking of.

And these "DEMS" courted country-club Republicans? This is getting very interesting.

And then we suddenly segue into Ronald Reagan, who I'm pretty sure was not a DEM.

And slide without pause into "and then Bill Clinton," so I guess he was a neocon.

After which George Bush, because, well, that's what happened!

It's a mess, Gamer. I don't think you've presented your argument very well at all.

[FSogol]

11. A mess you say? Guess what, TCM is showing the classic "Gaslight" tonight!

[vanessa_ca]

12. Here. Start with wiki and then do your own research

Neoconservatism (colloquially neocon) is a political movement which began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist Democratic Party along with the growing New Left and counterculture of the 1960s. Neoconservatives typically advocate the unilateral promotion of democracy and interventionism in international relations together with a militaristic and realist philosophy of "peace through strength". They are known for espousing opposition to communism and radical politics.

-snip-

Rejecting the American New Left and McGovern's New Politics

As the policies of the New Left made the Democrats increasingly leftist, these neoconservative intellectuals became disillusioned with President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society domestic programs. The influential 1970 bestseller The Real Majority by Ben Wattenberg expressed that the "real majority" of the electorate endorsed economic interventionism but also social conservatism and that it could be disastrous for Democrats to adopt liberal positions on certain social and crime issues.[28]

The neoconservatives rejected the countercultural New Left and what they considered anti-Americanism in the non-interventionism of the activism against the Vietnam War. After the anti-war faction took control of the party during 1972 and nominated George McGovern, the Democrats among the neoconservatives endorsed Washington Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson for his unsuccessful 1972 and 1976 campaigns for president. Among those who worked for Jackson were the incipient neoconservatives Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith, and Richard Perle.[29] During the late 1970s, neoconservatives tended to endorse Ronald Reagan, the Republican who promised to confront Soviet expansionism. Neoconservatives organized in the American Enterprise Institute and The Heritage Foundation to counter the liberal establishment.[30] Author Keith Preston named the successful effort on behalf of neoconservatives such as George Will and Irving Kristol to cancel Reagan's 1980 nomination of Mel Bradford, a Southern Paleoconservative academic whose regionalist focus and writings about Abraham Lincoln and Reconstruction alienated the more cosmopolitan and progress-oriented neoconservatives, to the leadership of the National Endowment for the Humanities in favor of longtime Democrat William Bennett as emblematic of the neoconservative movement establishing hegemony over mainstream American conservatism.[20]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism

[dpibel]

14. Thanks, boss!

[WarGamer]

13. Admittedly, it's a random thought stream...

Justin Vaisse wrote a great book on the origins of Neoconservatism...

[BannonsLiver]

16. I don't either.

The argument in a nutshell: Dems that can actually win presidential elections are baaaaaaaaad.

[BannonsLiver]

15. Wait, you thought they were done?

Holy naivety Batman!

[Polybius]

18. I agree with you about the sentiment of 2008, but strongly disagree about 2012

In 2008 it sure looked like Democrats would stay in power for a very long time, with huge majorities in both Houses and a generational President. However, it was short-lived. In 2010, Democrats got what Obama called "a shellacking." Republicans were back.

In 2012, Republicans nominated a guy who wasn't really trusted in his own party, so much so that Free Republic refused to endorse him. While Obama won handily, it was closer than 2008. The writing was on the wall for 2016, especially after the 2014 elections.

Now, 1992 would be another story. Not sure if you're old enough to remember, but Clinton utterly destroyed Republicans morale that year.

[Chemical Bill]

19. I figure it's just big money.

If Democrats bought all the big media we'd be in much better shape.