This poster at the Atlantic makes a lot of good points.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Taran Wanderer • 19 hours ago
Trumpies are getting angrier and angrier at how this is going down.

They thought they won in 2016, but every day it's becoming ever-more clear that they lost.

I have empathy for them. The liberal Twitter-ati are all the cool kids from school. Beautiful, rich, living in big cities with glamorous jobs. They're obnoxious and entitled blowhards.

And the Trumpies, in choosing the easy path of the troll, the feel-good path of indulging their own outrage, the cynical path of supporting candidates only because they anger the opposition...are playing right into the hands of the cultural elite.

You want to stand up for what's right and be on the side of good? Choose the path of principled conservatives, who would rather live an ethical life and lose a political race than sink to the basest level and win.

By now, it's clear to all but the deluded that Trump's win last November was the greatest gift to the Democrats and the cultural elite they could possibly receive.

They've won this round, Trumpies. All the Hillary voters you thought you defeated...in 2017 they've kicked your a$$ from here to next Tuesday. While you clutch onto a Supreme Court seat and that fleeting moment you felt good last November, the feminists have ascended to the dominant cultural faction in American society (by far), the Bannon platform you liked has been abandoned, and now not even an Alabama Senate Seat is safe (Doug Jones is winning in the polls...which is kind of ridiculous in ALABAMA!)

Admit defeat. Admit you were wrong. Retreat into a life of morality and kindness. Turn off your outrage. It hasn't served you well. At all.

The Republicans were a real force for good in the world once. Lincoln freed the slaves. Teddy R defined what it means to be a real man. Eisenhower oversaw the happiest, most optimistic time in American history. Reagan won the Cold War and got a major tax cut out of a Democratic Congress.

Trump can't get a teensy tax cut out of a Republican Congress.

Trump is a loser. A born loser. The trick with him, the trick you couldn't see, is that when he won, you lost.

That's what he does. Everything he touches, loses. He's THE BIGGEST LOSER, politics edition.

And he always will be.

[brush]

1. Oh yeah! K&R

[bigbrother05]

2. He did say they would get sick of winning

Seems prophetic with their string of Pyrrhic victories

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. I always say we won the culture war.

[Saviolo]

4. One line I take issue with:

By now, it's clear to all but the deluded that Trump's win last November was the greatest gift to the Democrats and the cultural elite they could possibly receive.

In some ways this is true for Democratic politicians, sure. There's a Trump Wave that's going to engulf all of the GOP candidates at many levels of government and it's going to cost them votes, seats, maybe even governorships. It will mean that Democrats may hold the Senate or the House after the 2018 midterms (if the pressure from the left stays strong, and those awesome flipping efforts continue).

But a great deal of damage has already been done. Damage to the USA's reputation on the world stage, damage to trade deals, damage to peace accords. McConnell has stacked the federal and state judiciaries with dozens of incredibly far-right life-appointed judges that will affect the legal environment in the USA for decades at least. Trump's incompetent and divisive cronies have already done massive damage to the EPA, HUD, NASA, Department of Education, Department of Energy, and Department of the Interior. Buoyed by the Trump win, states have rolled back protections for the most vulnerable communities. POC, women, the poor, LGBTQ+, and immigrant populations.

This myth that the Trump administration has got nothing done is disingenuous, and highly dangerous. He may not have made any big splashy public policy wins, but those incredibly visible and public failures on the part of Trump have been hiding a shady and effective machine working in the background to enact smaller far-right policies that benefit the wealthy, corporations, lobbyists, and Trump's cronies.

So, celebrate the upcoming win that the Democratic Party looks ready to claim due to "the gift" of Trump, but please remember: That win comes on the back of vulnerable communities that already supported the Democrats, and many of them are experiencing a lot of pain now. First order of business is to get that fixed.

[GoneOffShore]

6. I'm with you.

[lunamagica]

21. ICAM.

[Saviolo]

22. ????

I'm sorry, I don't know what that means!

[brucefan]

29. i couldn't agree more

[Saviolo]

30. It all comes clear! Thanks!

[GoneOffShore]

5. Good piece, but the first sentence of the third paragraph?

Load of bullshit.

I have no empathy what so ever. They could tell they were being conned. A kid in nursery school could have told them they were being conned.

And by voting for Donny the Dolt, they knew that they were voting for misogyny, bigotry, and authoritarianism.

[Persondem]

7. Lots of good points ... it's just that Reagan did NOT win the Cold War.

The USSR was an empty shell waiting to collapse. This was known in the late 70's by the Politburo. By the time Reagan became president even keeping the status quo militarily would have wrecked the Soviet Union.

Otherwise, great post.

[LisaM]

10. I know.

And just the thought of Reagan still makes me feel ill.

[HughBeaumont]

11. Nor did "Eisenhower oversee the happiest, most optimistic time in American history."

Yeah, maybe if one was white.

Maybe if one considers due to all the white supremacist bullshit that happened during Eisenhower (note that I didn't say BECAUSE of him), the Civil Rights movement got underway in the late 50s-early 60s; then yes, something positive did happen.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

20. I should have put this in the original post

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029841853#post19

[Podkayne K]

8. BIG PROBLEM THOUGH...

Supreme Court is lifetime appointment. Look at how long we've been--and will be--saddled with sex pervert Clarence the Clown and then Gorsucks and his ilk, which will haunt us forever and a day.

So yes Trump appears to be a loser, but the Deplorables, who vote with the Supreme's in mind, unfortunately got a YHUGE win last year. And it's mainly because they vote with the court in mind and therefore not--as some of us Progressives argue--against their best interests. We, on the other hand, have a large group who did nothing but vote against their and our best interests. And no matter what we have done or will do after the fact, the court will be legalizing and normalizing Trumpism for years and years to come.

[Achilleaze]

9. "Retreat into a life of morality and kindness."

if only republicans would act with a smidgen of honor and do so...sigh

[LisaM]

12. Well, we still don't have a president Hillary.

Their victory may be hollow, but one of the dearest political wishes I ever had was not realized, and never will be.

I really thought that on January 20, 2017, I would see her raise her hand and be sworn into office. The thought reduced me to tears many times during the turbulent 2016 campaign.

The fact that it didn't happen - and will never happen - is one of the most bitter pills I have ever had to swallow. It took me eight long years to get over the 2008 primaries, and I don't think I'll ever, ever feel the same about any Republican again.

[calimary]

13. I'm with you, LisaM. You perfectly described me in that second paragraph.

The squandering of a resource like that STILL hurts. I STILL want those brains in the Oval Office. I STILL want that level of achievement, intellect, logic, reason, experience, circumspection, and practicality in the Oval Office. Even while knowing she (and we) won't ever get there. Eventually, just by law of probability, we'll have a woman president someday. She would have been OUTSTANDING as the first one. I wanted HER to have that place in history, I wanted it for me, I wanted it for all the women in America, I wanted it for all the PEOPLE in America. I wanted it for all the women - and all the people - in the world. It'll happen one day, but it won't be Hillary, and we are all the poorer for that. She uniquely had the makings of a world-class-superb president. And we'll never have that.

As desperately as we need it, we'll never have that. And Good Grief does that ever hurt.

I'm with you on something else, too. I don't think I can ever EVER look at or feel the sam about any republi-CON again. My new default on those who stand by trump and/or the GOP at this point is "so what does that say about YOU, then?"

[LisaM]

18. You're very eloquent, and I second everything you say about Hillary.

I think that the one takeaway I had from the 2016 election was how much actual hate the other side has for people like me. It was shocking. I try to be a good person. I don't commit crimes. I pay taxes and I'm happy to, even though I don't own property or have children and so many of the taxes I vote for, I don't use directly. I still support the services they provide and I don't take deductions or look for loopholes. I try to be generous with my friends, and I even go to church sometimes. I'm not violent. I keep a small footprint. I ride transit most of the time and I even give up my seat to people who need it more than I do. I work hard.

Why there is that level of hate directed at people like me, I'll just never understand but realizing this year that it was there was an eye opener.

[lunamagica]

25. What shocked me the most is the level of misoginy in this country

it is so deep, so ingrained that I now believe we will not see a woman president in my lifetime.

[LisaM]

31. That too.

I think there were people who went to the ballot box and just could not vote for a woman for president.

[calimary]

32. I think they hate you (and me) because they think we're "babykillers."

Because we're pro-choice. (I'm guessing you are, as well, so forgive me if I'm presuming wrongly.)

But then I want them to explain why a diddler is better, and more acceptable than someone who simply believes that a woman's body is her own. These days, with this groundswell of new consciousness of sexual assault, I think that particular talking point needs to be expanded dramatically, loudly, and constantly! After all, WHOSE body is it anyway? The woman's, or the groper's? The woman's, or the molester's? The young girl's, or does it belong to the local bigshot with a case of entitlement and a taste for the young and "unspoiled"?

And if indeed someone claims so earnestly to be "pro-life," then I want to know where they stand on the death penalty.

If indeed someone claims so desperately to be "pro-life," then I want to know where they stand on the Ultimate Mother - MOTHER EARTH, and the survival and sustenance of OUR PLANET?

If indeed someone claims so emphatically that they're "pro-life," then I want to know about their stand on all this saber-rattling from their so-called "pResident", and what looks like a developing hard-on for war?

If indeed someone claims so earnestly to be "pro-life," then I want to know where they stand on life-sustaining/family-sustaining programs and other supports for children? And for single heads-of-households, the vast majority of whom are women whose men ran out on them, or killed in action or by overzealous cop, or incarcerated? Those families still need help! Yet they're the first targets for budget cuts. THAT is NOT "pro-life," no matter what your excuse is, or your pre-fab GOP talking point that you heard on hate radio is.

Pro-embryo, okay. If they want to call it that, then good. At least they'll be honest and accurate. But with a "belief system" like some of these deplorables assert, "pro-life" is the absolute LAST thing I'd call them.

[LisaM]

34. Yes, I'm adamently pro-choice.

I remember back when I was in junior high school, girls would have to leave school to go "visit an aunt" in California or New York. I don't want to go back to those days.

I can't believe we are even still having the conversation in 2017. There's a whole generation that has now been specifically groomed to fixate on abortion. I feel as if it's affecting more elections now than it did when Roe v. Wade first became law.

[lunamagica]

24. Oh, my. I'm in tears...again

[lunamagica]

23. MTE. I feel that never having Hillary as POTUS is a tragedy for America. And it hurts. It hurts

It will always hurt.

[Mr. Evil]

14. Trumpy is where he is because of what is commonly

referred to as 'lucky sperm.' He wouldn't be shit if daddy hadn't left him everything he did.

[iluvtennis]

15. Indeed

[Scruffy1]

16. To me its utter bullshit.

Where do I begin. Oh Viet Nam when they went behind LBJ's back and put the nix on a peace deal. Treason. When they made a secrete deal with Iran to undermine Jimmy Carter. Treason again. The senile old actor in the White House diidn't end the cold war, the Soviet military regime collapsed on its own.The old racists just vjanged Part labels. they are still racist assholes and have nothing to do with Lincoln.By the 1870' they were the party of the oligarchy who used the glory and gore og the Civil War to steal everything they could. All they had to do was wave the bloody shirt and the pulic would buy it. They used to claim they were better managers when I was young and were less about ideology, but the only Republican I can thing of who was really good at it was Taft.He came up with a process to reign in Monoplies called the FTC. We owe Teddy a lot for the National Parks, but he was no friend of labor.
Short version: The ethical conservative is a contradiction in terms.

[charliea]

17. Too rosy a view point...

While I agree that tRump is a walking pile of corruption (and loserhood), he's adding his special touch to the federal judiciary with results that will persist for decades. Gorsuch (an apple who didn't fall from his mother) is just the tip of the iceberg. If I remember correctly Bush nominated 4 judges deemed unqualified by the ABA, in 8 years. tRump has already nominated four who were unanimously deemed unqualified, this year.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

19. The OP whitewashed Reagan and ignored the fact a lot of people were ignored ....

The OP whitewashed Reagan and ignored the fact a lot of Americans were ignored or worse during the 50s but on the whole it's a well written and thoughtful piece.

[0rganism]

26. imho, there's a problem: "Reagan won the Cold War" - clearly not

by now, it is quite apparent that the Cold War was far from over in 1991, and the dissolution of the USSR did not necessarily mean its attendant institutions simply dissolved into the aether. the Putin-assisted ascendance of Trump can be seen as the latest salvo in the ongoing Cold War. at this point, remnants of the KGB have planted multiple operatives, witting and unwitting, at the highest levels of our government in what will be remembered as one of the greatest espionage actions in history. in short, "game not over."

[delisen]

27. They hate us because we are idealistic.

They have lost their idealism. The religion is phony, the political stands are lies. The patriotism is insincere.

They think we are suckers for believing we can make things good

[malchickiwick]

28. "Teddy R defined what it means to be a real man"?? -- Fuck that.

Real men don't need to slaughter a dozen zoo's worth of Africa's wildlife on a lark.

And I'm a fan of much of what TR did as prez., busting trusts and preserving antiquities, etc. I just hate that worn-out trope that he defined masculinity. Yuck.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

33. I like the fact TR boxed because your opponents can hit back.

It is for that reason I hate hunting. The animals can't shoot back.

[ThoughtCriminal]

35. "principled conservatives"

They built this. All of them.

[liberalla]

36. "The trick with him, the trick you couldn't see, is that when he won, you lost."

yes, dear trumpies: When he won, you LOST.