Led by a former aide to Senator Harry Reid, the Searchlight Institute is hoping to persuade Democrats to play down causes like climate change and L.G.B.T.Q. rights to appeal to more voters
Republicans and Democrats are not the same, but there are people working hard to make it happen.
I never understood the idiocy behind “Huh people keep voting for Republicans instead of us, what if we were just Republicans lite instead of actually supporting things that poll better than Republican positions!” It’s like New Coke. In the 80s, Coca Cola did some research and found that at the time, most people preferred Pepsi to Coke, and released a “new and improved” version of Coke that tasted more like Pepsi. It was a complete disaster. People who preferred Pepsi continued to prefer Pepsi because well you can’t out-Pepsi the real Pepsi. But people who actually did prefer Coke completely hated New Coke because it didn’t taste like Coke. In trying to beat Pepsi by being more like Pepsi, Coke created a product that nobody wanted because it was just a worse version of Pepsi to Pepsi fans and a worse version of Coke to Coke fans. I feel like the Democrats are doing the same thing here. People who love Trump are not going to vote for Democrats no matter how much like Trump they try to be because you can’t out-Trump Trump. Even DeSantis failed at this trying to go even harder right than Trump because fundamentally this movement is about personal dedication to Trump rather than any ideology. So to Republicans these weak spined Democrats will still be worse versions of Republicans, and to Democrats they will be worse versions of Republicans, creating a party nobody wants. Democrats have been trying and failing at this strategy for the past decade and refuse to give up on it, even in view of the success of Mamdani in the primaries for NYC Mayor on a democratic socialist platform. At a certain point one has to think the Democrats are doing this on purpose to maintain the status quo while presenting the illusion of an opposition. Otherwise the leadership are some of the dumbest people in the world and have no place in leadership.
Probably run by pedos
Republicans don’t need to destroy the Democrat party, as Democrats are perfectly well able to do that themselves, thank you very much.
Kind reminder that “think tank” just means that a bunch of rich fucks paid a group of allegedly prestigious experts to spout their agenda in an authoritative voice on mass media. And to write “science” papers that agrees with the propaganda.
A staff of seven with a budget of $10M. Just imagine what people who weren’t geeked to the gills on The West Wing episodes could do with that kind of money.
There are think tanks out there that aren’t like that, they just don’t get recognized bc it’s very difficult to compete with corporations that disguise themselves as “think tanks” in order to create the “research” that is then presented to the lobbyists, who then lobby Congress to only pass laws and policies that will benefit their business. It’s a very convoluted and dumb system.
The Heritage Foundation was started with funding from the Coors family. They (along with all their offshoots) still lobby for the alcohol industry to this day.
You know how Ozempic is so expensive and insurance usually refuses to cover it? There’s this whole narrative that it’s bc insurance shouldn’t have to pay for medication that helps people lose weight when they can just do it for free with enough willpower.
What’s odd about that, is that doctors began noticing that GLP-1s like Ozempic also coincidentally helped some alcoholic patients cut back on drinking in addition to helping them lose weight. Some doctors started writing it off label for alcoholism that couldn’t be managed with other treatments bc it worked so well.
One of the most well known researchers studying this effect said he was directly contacted by a lobbyist for the alcohol industry who asked how much they needed to be worried about this.
Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults With Alcohol Use Disorder
GLP-1 Receptor Agonists: Promising Therapeutic Targets for Alcohol Use Disorder
Hey, you know how we’re already fucking hemorrhaging our own base?
Should we try just extending our current “values” to encompass additional issues for the working class? Nah, let’s just make more people feel alienated by ignoring what’s important.
When people act like this shit is a breath of fresh air, it’s like did you just forget all those times Russia and the new right were caught infiltrating, sabotaging, and in some cases just straight up astroturfing entire democratic movements?
Why be more inclusive when you can just start excluding your entire base?
Hey, you know how we’re already fucking hemorrhaging our own base?
I’ve been on Lemmy long enough to know that you plug the leaks in your party by screaming at everyone who won’t align with Henry Cueller, Bob Menendez, and Eric Adams. Call them Tankies. Tell them that they’re brainwashed by Russia. Remind them that by not voting for Democrats, they are killing Palestinian children. Then blow up their phone with “I’m not like other Democrats! Support me and we can change the system together, for just $25/mo!” ad spam.
Why be more inclusive when you can just start excluding your entire base?
Transgender people are hurting the party. Homeless people are hurting the party. The Radical Leftist Antifas are hurting the party. You’ll never get your Health Care Reform or your Student Debt Relief if you keep wasting your time on the tired, the poor, and the huddled masses who won’t stop yearning to breath free.
Politics is for the professional managerial class. Now get in line to walk 40 miles in the blazing sun, knocking on the doors of people two weeks away from eviction and asking them to Vote Blue No Matter Who!
If you don’t, my close personal friends in the Republican Party are going to shoot this puppy. And it’ll be all your fault!
You said you want to flip flop the presidential candidate half way through? Got it.
Searchlight, Mr. Jentleson said, is starting with an annual budget of $10 million and a staff of seven in its Capitol Hill office. The organization is subsidized by a roster of billionaire donors highlighted by Stephen Mandel, a hedge fund manager, and Eric Laufer, a real estate investor.
Gee, no wonder they seem to have their finger on the pulse of the common man.
What message helped Clinton to flip so many southern states blue when he was running for his first term?
PopulismHedge Funds?What was it about Obama’s message of hope that won over so many voters during his first term?
PopulismReal estate investment?What is the lie that makes poor people who vote for Trump believe doing so will be in their own interest?
PopulismHedge Funds and Real estate investment?If only somebody could figure out the complex secret formula that successfully attracts large numbers of voters. These billionaires probably know the answer.
Are they familiar with Democratic voters? If you get rid of those things, you’ll lose those voters who put up with their creeping conservatism in hope of achieving any progress in those areas, or at least preventing backsliding. They want more Bernie Sanders and 10000% less Joe Manchin.
“Please, let me get that Overton Window for you!”
A little more to the right… a little more… keep going… almost there…:
You’re a natural, sis!
“Is only working for our donors and corporate interests the reason we’re losing? Is it the fact that we support genocide? Is it the fact that we cower away from every political fight?
No must be our support for LGBT and climate issues!”
Seriously fuck these nerds.
democrats were already breaking what little fake solidarity they had with LGBTQ people, and they spent much of the biden administration bragging about record oil production.
And they wonder why they lost
Harry just got his wish when all the Democrats voted to federally celebrate a racist asshole.
Congrats Harry! You got your wish for more pathetic Democrats who will lose even more now.
“I am haz a biggest brian in the sides of my’d heads so you is taking the my’d advices. I am be thinkings that Republipublipibcans is winningz so we is just need beed Republipublipibcans toos. Thens we is winnings toos. Pays me millionbill dollar now four my’d thinkings, thanks.”
Voters must be fucking idiots.
