Republicans lose even when they win

[DonViejo]

The excerpt below, is from Ms Rubin's analysis of the election in AZ's "solidly red" 8th Congressional District. Republicans held on to the seat with a "tepid win." I found Rubin's closing paragraphs of this particular column meaningful.

By Jennifer Rubin April 25 at 10:30 AM

-snip-

Republicans grossly misjudged the political landscape if they think the GOP tax cut can buy the loyalty of Republican moderates, white women, married women and college graduates who held their noses to vote for Trump in 2016. These voters are the ones likely to tell pollsters they are embarrassed to have Trump as president, consider him dishonest and unfit, fret about getting into a fighting or a trade war, and worry not that their taxes are too high but that college tuition is too costly. These are the voters who play by the rules, know they need experience for high-level jobs and follow social norms in their neighborhoods and in their workplaces. They do not insult work colleagues, compulsively lie or think they’re on the precipice of losing their place in American society. They are strivers, not grievance-mongers and conspiracy theorists looking for excuses for their plight. They regard Trump as boorish, irresponsible, loopy and even dangerous.

Combine the “Could we just have normalcy?” voters with impassioned millennials and gun-safety advocates, and you have the makings of a formidable Democratic coalition. Democrats don’t need to play the protectionist card with white working-class voters or hand out job guarantees. They don’t need to feel guilty they are somehow not respecting Trumpkin snowflakes when they call out climate-change denial and recoil at casual expressions of white resentment.

In other words, Democrats can ignore the hundreds of media stories written from diners in coal country wherein Trump voters moan about political correctness and complain that elites look down their noses at their anti-immigrant, anti-free-trade, anti-climate-change-science views with disdain. It’s just fine for Democrats to run as grown-ups who are conscientious about their obligations and are unafraid to say that Emperor Trump has no clothes.

Democratic candidates who present themselves as defenders of democratic values, decency and what Republicans used to call “well-ordered liberty” will rack up midterm wins, maybe even enough to win majorities in both houses of Congress. Voters are telling us that they are sick of the Trump show and even more sick of his enablers who insult their intelligence with crackpot defenses of Trump.

full column
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2018/04/25/republicans-lose-even-when-they-win/?utm_term=.d99f78dba154

[mopinko]

1. they've lost the soccer moms.

the specter of the burning towers doesnt haunt the current crop of moms. the specter of drumph does.

[The Polack MSgt]

2. This comment made me fist pump - alone in my cube

well said Poo-American:

poo-american

23 minutes ago

On the one hand, Republicans have been telling the "urban" poor for years that the way out of poverty is to stay in school, stay off drugs, not have kids outside of marriage, learn a marketable skill, and obtain some mavericky, individualistic bootstraps, but these prescriptions apparently don't work for rural, "real Americans", who the government should help out with Free Stuff™ like jobs that pay a middle-class wage while allowing for a High School education and an opiate habit.

On the other hand, Democrats have for decades been working in support of employee protections, a strong social safety net, progressive taxation, health care reform, fair trade, and a host of other issues that would actually help all working and poor Americans, but a segment of the intended beneficiaries reject those out of hand as "soshulism" due to their AM radio conditioning.