I don't know who Mr Schaeffer knows but the Democrats I know are working people themselves, living on a shoestring, trying to get their kids through school, hanging onto the house if there is one and treasuring the most stability they can muster. We try to help each other out and lift up those in need. Nobody is arrogant or patronizing nor are we elitist. You are way off. We are fixin' to be terribly hurt in the coming four years and are looking for authenticity in our leaders. You are misplacing the blame.
I agree. He's a disaffected liberal, borderline traitor. He apparently doesn't know any real Left. We don't need this beat down from this guy. He claims he doesn't believe in berating others but he's berating the Left.
This is mostly nonsense. LOOK. IN. THE. MIRROR. White men want to blame everyone but white power for where we are! MAGA is so vile but you coddle them with they are good people and liberals are bad. Well, I’m not a bad person for denouncing white supremacy! This is a terrible take.
I disagree with the blame placed by this Mr. Schaefer about his take on democrats. Not knowing at all who he is, I realize that this is a time of many opinions and that’s okay, but we don’t have to address, agree or disagree with the any of the opinions. Conserve your mental energy. I am. These are difficult times and I don’t blame the democrats. He digresses and seems very much anti democrat the longer he talks. Tuning out this geezer. Dumping this conversation. Being old doesn’t make your right or wise.
I agree. We have worked hard to get where we are and my sons where the first of my family to go to college with the help of grants and loans. Trump is taking all that away and let’s talk about elitism, Frank! I doubt my grandkids will be able to afford college. In Trump’s world you must be white, rich and mostly male. One of the things I loved about our country was the diversity in all walks of life and he is taking all that away.
Oh dear Frank, this has only the tiniest hint of truth. The so called left just listened to the folks living on the borders - LGBTQ + , folks in poverty, blacks and LISTENED to who was left out in our culture. These folks used their voices and and then INCLUDED into the culture. This is called evolution. It is not elitism, just growth. Relax.
Take a moment and expand. I suspect you thought that school was a complete waste of time, when you were asked to give your reasons for an opinion. An uneducated butt-head like Trump has given you permission to label and opine without explanation. That's pretty much what has this country in its current state.
Kamala Harris put thousands of people of color in prison and that’s part of the reason many people of color didn’t vote for her. “White men” haven’t “brainwashed” people against “LGBTQ people”, mostly they don’t give a damn. But women who don’t want male sex criminals put in women’s prisons, or to see male sports cheats allowed to steal medals from girls and women, couldn’t vote for Harris, who has supported policies promoting these things. Black men and women who saw “Black Lives Matter™” burn down Black-owned businesses, and use the names of Black victims of police violence to take money that the families of those victims would never see, hear “Black Trans Lives Matter” and understand “they’re castrating our boys and sterilizing our daughters again”, they couldn’t vote for Harris.
You imagine you know what motivates other people, but when they tell you, you refuse to listen. You presume to better know what’s good for other people than they do, and never consider the possibility that people have rejected your position because your position ignores their reality and causes them harm.
That’s a load of crap. Most black women and men voted for Kamala. Trumps numbers grew with black men, but not enough to say black men and women not voting for Kamala was the cause of her loss. In fact, it was white woman voted more for trump. If you’re going to play the blame game at least blame the right folks. White women.
Diversity is about tolerance and variety of perspectives, and outcomes are generally better when more perspectives are considered. That is what democracy is all about. It’s about diverse perspectives sharing their positions and discourse and coming to a solution that is acceptable to all. Our politics has become less and less collaborative and subject to a refusal to give the other side any shred of “win” to take to their constituents. This has been spearheaded by the extreme right, and since their numbers have suffered to the point of an inability to win popular votes, THEY have chosen these issues that impact such a small percentage of Americans and make them seem overwhelming. Trans rights and even immigrants - surely immigrant crime that has lower rates among the immigrant populations than American citizens. They’ve used the politics of fear to outsize these issues of tolerance against the left. So there was a backlash for electing a black president, who had more smarts and integrity in his little finger than Donald trump has ever had - does that mean we should not have elected a black president? Absolutely not.
Isn't that kind of like saying that Ukraine caused Russia to invade it by seeking protection from invasion? I'm not sure what you mean by "forcing us to accept them," because transgender people actually do exist whether you "accept them" or not. All people deserve equal rights, even if other people don't happen to like them.
It’s a mistake to leave out the horrible effects of the right wing propaganda machine over the last 50 years. As you have said, you and your father were a part of spreading lies and demonizing anyone who didn’t believe the same as you. This train wreck is not the fault of liberal, educated people. It is the result of an insidious onslaught of propaganda and hatred perpetrated by the Republican Party and Christian Nationalists for decades. Go ahead and try to shift the blame. History will show what really happened.
Well, if it's any solace, the Trumpers DID win the hard fought culture war against elitist libtards to "say ‘retard’ and ‘pussy’ without the fear of getting cancelled . . . it’s a new dawn." Let's be clear, I hear this accusation of "eltistism" and neglecting the (white) worKKKing class on the part of the Democrats (and by association, liberals in general) but for more than a decade of All Trump All The Time, I haev NEVER heard him or his proxies suggest ANY tangible policies or programs. It's been entirely blames, grievances, and jingoistic platitudes, demonizing anyone and everyone who'd DARE to suggest EVERYONE be granted to live their lives free from fear. In the eyes of Trump and MAGA cult, it's mind-boggling that somehow they've wrapped their heads around the prospect that a group of oligarchs with more money that God could possibly give a SHIT about the working class! So please, don't patronize us with a wave of a hand proclaiming, "liberals and elites DON'T get it!" And yet... that's pretty much what you wrote. What a shame.
I agree. So surprised that someone would attack his own people like this. No support, no affirmation just bitter accusation! Disgusting. Calling hard working people snobs is the purest manifestation of wrongheadedness. Self-hating left.
Whatever Democrats think of Trump's policies, few if any have been so blind as to claim that he is not enacting tons of them in a blizzard of activity in his first days in office.
And freedom imparts the right for an adult to be wrong about anything that is not a physical or financial injury to another citizen. That freedom exempts the person from government action against him but not social interpersonal action or even social discrimination against him. Businesses that are open to be owned by anyone or open to serving anyone through public advertisement, are excepted. They must accept the restrictions of the Civil Rights Laws the same as any governmental group. Democrats are free to say that only college educated people, who dress, talk and think like we do are fit to live in our neighborhood and be our friends. That any person, Black or white, that meets these criteria is acceptable, does not remove the actions from being discriminatory; it only removes it from being racially discriminatory.
mostly true but the best minds i've been reading say the entire reason for Heritage Foundation and Trumpism is bcuz they lost the culture wars over time, which i think is true, as of '16ish at least
Wow. You are so wrong. As a member of the LGBTQ community, the fact that I can live a life out in the open is a direct result of our party's "culture wars." I am not an "alternative to sexuality," and I've been with my partner for going on 25 years. It isn't the Liberals who are telling you what to believe, who to love, what to read, or who to pray for. I'm really disappointed that people like you are so quick to push the LGBTQ, women,and POC under the bus. As if we created this. I hope you rethink your position, Frank, because it is very hurtful to the marginalized. Honoring them as equals is not snobby. It is right.
Yes!!! The arrogance of this man proclaiming all of us liberals and progressives as being elitist because we fought for the rights of women to have bodily autonomy? - For transgender people (like my child who is fighting a death wish right now ) the right to live in the truth of their existence? - for fighting for the rights of immigrants?
I will say: the Democratic Party absolutely must look at how disconnected the ones who are in power are from the majority of working class, non-elitist Democrats, liberals, and progressives. But helping people to understand that transgender people have the right to exist and to support them by using our pronouns or advocating for women’s right to choose or an immigrant’s right to fight for their lives away from hate and oppression is NOT Elitism born out of being educated or having wealth. It IS born out of being human and having compassion for other human beings.
What you said, Regina, 100%! What I heard him say is that it's the liberals' fault Dump was elected because of of the left having platforms for/caring about (especially) trans folks or anyone who isn't "traditional"... Please... eye roll... And he seems to have conveniently forgotten or perhaps didn't look into the voter breakdown demographically. Primarily white people got us into this, men and women.
While he has some points that the "elite" on the left have forgotten about the working class we used to represent, let's talk about that more from getting dark money out of politics as a part of that conversation. Citizens United was one of the worst rulings to come out of SCOTUS.
It seems Frank has eaten the soup, an expression from the misnamed Irish Famine when a Catholic would give up their religion in order to be fed by the Protestant church. He believes that the annoying elite somehow caused decent people to support Trump. Uh uh. The people who support Trump ARE ignorant, they hate anybody who studied, who actually accomplished something, who are different races from them, etc. Sure the elitists are annoying, sure the crazy extremes on the left are irksome, but most of the Dems I know are just working people. To blame defeat on arrogance is nuts. Trump supporters are not good people. At root, they are haters. I’m sure in his darkest heart, so is your Trump loving neighbor. I hope you don’t find that out the way neighbors did in Germany in the 30s when the true faces were shown.
Yes, most of the Dems you and I know are hard-working middle class people. But these are not the ones at the head of the companies these working class Dems are not the ones teaching in the universities. These working class Dems are not the ones holding elected office. These working class dems are not the ones making the laws. These working class dems are not the ones creating classroom nameplates with four and five pronouns on them to be placed on every seat in the classroom. I have worked at Yale University for almost 50 years. These Ivy League universities is where you’re gonna find what he’s talking about. I remember years ago when president Salovay (Yale University) faced pressure to change the name of Calhoun College (one of 14 residential colleges at Yale) because it’s namesake had owned slaves. I said then, and I stand by it, Yale should never have changed the name of that college. And the pressure came from the students. To me, it was a real life in person starting point of this backlash.
This is exactly right! It’s almost scary how many people replying to this guy just don’t get it! It’s not the average working class dem this guy is referring to, and this seems to have gone over so many people’s heads. It’s the elite, the kind of people you mention here, the people who run political campaigns, the people who decide what platform to run on. Those are the people he’s referring to. And he’s saying the dems have to introspect and understand what lost them the election. And they absolutely have to, unless America wants another 8 years of this after trump has gone! That cannot be allowed to happen!
But he is referring to the “elites” insistence on “culture wars” like using pronouns to support transgender PEOPLE, or believing in climate change and advocating for instituting measures to save our planet now not in some far off distant future. As being elitist.
I might clarify, that I was not only writing about “working class” Dems, but all the working people I know in business, in finance, in academia, in show business, in the arts, etc. Most of them are intelligent, aware of the world, and reliably vote Democratic. I would say that most fall in the category of “slightly left of center.” This is hardly radical here in California, but my sense is the majority of Americans fall near the center, and that includes a large slice of Trump voters. Hardcore MAGAts are a lost cause.
If the more crazy elements on the Dem side of things continue to grow, I can foresee the Democratic Party going the way of the Republican Party. In that case, a new party that tracks closer to the center could arise. But, really, I think that there won’t be an honest election, if there is even one, in 2026. The Trumpers seem to be following the Nazi playbook which put them in full control of Germany, so I expect a “Reichstag Fire” incident and the granting of emergency powers by the Republican Congress, sanctified by the Supreme Court.
I’m in my 80s so I’m not too likely to be around to see all of this, but you will be. And my children, grandchildren and grey grandchildren. I wish them, and you, the best.
So tired of statements like . And now, after years of prioritizing culture war battles over working-class struggles, liberals are faced with the consequences: define culture war battles do they include equity for lgbtq? Race? Etc Let me assure you the real elite- the wealthy class are not the ones benefiting from equity for so called “cultural” concerns for example Peter Thiel and his partner will become without lgbtq protections- not so the bulk of us including many working class folk. Dont buy into this view that keeps us fighting each other while the money flows up. Follow the money
I have done as you asked and respectfully heard you out.
Because I believe in our American values of hearing each other out, I now respectfully ask the same thing of you.
There is a fundamental difference between those who want to conserve ways of the past and those who are working towards a more equitable future for all.
Believing in science is not a hallmark of being a liberal. Believing that everyone should have the freedom to pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is simply American.
I did not hear you mention anything that would clarify you as a "liberal." It is unfortunate that the right wing has gone so far as to make us think that defending medicine, education, or science is a "liberal" set of beliefs.
Those who have spent 50+ years working to eliminate Jim Crow, forwarding equal rights for women, people of various sexual preferences or freedom to identify as they see fit... those causes are the hallmarks of progress.
What I'm hearing from you is a defense of regression, not progression.
I understand that you are angry, frustrated, alarmed and appalled by what is unfolding. I am, as well. As are many of us. And I can understand why we are all tempted to find someone or something to blame.
But the unstoppable march forward towards living the true principles embedded in our country's founding documents is not the reason we find ourselves here.
We're here for a thousand different reasons and due to a confluence of factors. Principally, several rich, powerful groups of people formulated a long term plan and we're seeing that plan come to fruition.
And the reason we are here now is that we, the People, didn't work hard enough to stop it. We had the playbook. They published it for the whole world to see. Project 2025 was there for all of us to see. We didn't take Trump seriously enough to stop him a second time. His supporters either wanted this chaos or didn't educate themselves about the plan.
The battle against science has been waged by Republicans for decades. The battle against education has been waged by Republicans for decades. The battle against women, people of color, and the entire queer population has been waged by the Church and the powered for centuries. These things are not new.
What is new: the fast paced and increasingly insistent cries for equality - the pushback against old, outdated norms has never been greater. The technology has allowed those voices to be amplified.
What you call the Trump moment is simply the clash between a group of people who aren't ready to move forward and all those who are ready ... For real and lasting progress.
Respectfully, I ask you to consider pointing your ire at those who are trying to take us backwards. We are not going back.
“Throughout history there have always been men who fear the future, suspect the present, and long for a comfortable past that never really existed” Robert Kennedy
However, you are twisting one fact. You are presenting things as if liberal went on a cultural war. That's not accurate. What you call culture war was just the simple acts of advocating for inclusion, equally and fairness. Liberal were reacting to people that have been trying to discriminate and abuse minority. Liberal did not start culture war.
Let me get this right, the left has been “stupid and annoying” for pushing for equal right for members of the lgbqt+ community, humane and ethical treatment of immigrants and DEI initiatives to bring ethical awareness to racist policies and procedures?
You suggest we should abandon morality and ethics, not to mention equal rights for citizens, because the issues make some of us uncomfortable? If we make this sacrifice have we not already lost? Are they not the core of what we hope to represent as a nation.
Democracy doesn’t always look or work the way you want it to but that’s why it works awkwardly for everyone instead of a dictatorship or an aristocracy that works exceptionally for a few. Powerful people in our country now would like our government to operate exceptionally.
Beware the effects of propaganda. Effective propaganda is insidious and seeps into your thought process making someone else’s ideas seem like your own.
He means in effect we didn’t keep our eyes on the prize - we fought a lot of good battles, but forgot about what was important to the heart of the party, the middle class. Jobs, wages, home, health, healthcare, eldercare & Medicare, childcare, taxes, etc. The GOP took advantage and masqueraded as the party of the middle class. They now own the White House, Senate, House, SCOTUS, and a slew of judges. How’s that working out for us??
ALL of those hard fought wins are disappearing one by one, and they’re going after every single one of them. How long did Roe v Wade last?
We need to stop counting the wins we had … “had” being the key word here. We have to take stock of how we wrest the power back. We HAVE to do that, or get ready to wait in line to get thru the Canadian border before Trump locks that one down too.
The blame is in the seat of power currently, and all those who promote republicans and their agenda. I agree with the others commenting here that their fascist theocracy has been pushed by the so called moral majority for the last 50 years. Democrats have always been for the working class, and my educated friends are the working class. Republicans are to blame, they have now given in to the bullshit that has been their mantra for ever.
While diversity, equity, and inclusion are wonderful things to build upon in fostering a kinder world, too often people on "the left" resort to shame, and it backfires. Shame leads to resentment, not inclusion. I know one liberal voter who actually voted for Trump on account of it. I know others who didn't vote for Harris on account of Biden's policy on Israel. Unfortunately, there will always be something to criticize about the party that is not the fascist one. My focus now is on stopping the bleeding.
You are describing liberals the way they describe us. But that is just their logical fallacy, the straw man or the stereotype that they attack all day every day. They lie about who we are so they can win an argument with their own imagination. I will not abandon the LGBTQ+ community who was attacked and hated by the RIGHT first.
I don't know who Mr Schaeffer knows but the Democrats I know are working people themselves, living on a shoestring, trying to get their kids through school, hanging onto the house if there is one and treasuring the most stability they can muster. We try to help each other out and lift up those in need. Nobody is arrogant or patronizing nor are we elitist. You are way off. We are fixin' to be terribly hurt in the coming four years and are looking for authenticity in our leaders. You are misplacing the blame.
I agree. He's a disaffected liberal, borderline traitor. He apparently doesn't know any real Left. We don't need this beat down from this guy. He claims he doesn't believe in berating others but he's berating the Left.
This is mostly nonsense. LOOK. IN. THE. MIRROR. White men want to blame everyone but white power for where we are! MAGA is so vile but you coddle them with they are good people and liberals are bad. Well, I’m not a bad person for denouncing white supremacy! This is a terrible take.
I disagree with the blame placed by this Mr. Schaefer about his take on democrats. Not knowing at all who he is, I realize that this is a time of many opinions and that’s okay, but we don’t have to address, agree or disagree with the any of the opinions. Conserve your mental energy. I am. These are difficult times and I don’t blame the democrats. He digresses and seems very much anti democrat the longer he talks. Tuning out this geezer. Dumping this conversation. Being old doesn’t make your right or wise.
Ignoring him is the kind of mistake the democrats already made.
Not untrue! So pissed that this was even allowed to happen.
I agree. We have worked hard to get where we are and my sons where the first of my family to go to college with the help of grants and loans. Trump is taking all that away and let’s talk about elitism, Frank! I doubt my grandkids will be able to afford college. In Trump’s world you must be white, rich and mostly male. One of the things I loved about our country was the diversity in all walks of life and he is taking all that away.
totally utterly agree
Oh dear Frank, this has only the tiniest hint of truth. The so called left just listened to the folks living on the borders - LGBTQ + , folks in poverty, blacks and LISTENED to who was left out in our culture. These folks used their voices and and then INCLUDED into the culture. This is called evolution. It is not elitism, just growth. Relax.
You are delusional
Take a moment and expand. I suspect you thought that school was a complete waste of time, when you were asked to give your reasons for an opinion. An uneducated butt-head like Trump has given you permission to label and opine without explanation. That's pretty much what has this country in its current state.
I checked his page, zero posts, zero likes, zero everything. I muted & blocked him/her. 😊
That is how patriarchy works, isn’t it—blame everything and everyone but white men and their weak egos.
Kamala Harris put thousands of people of color in prison and that’s part of the reason many people of color didn’t vote for her. “White men” haven’t “brainwashed” people against “LGBTQ people”, mostly they don’t give a damn. But women who don’t want male sex criminals put in women’s prisons, or to see male sports cheats allowed to steal medals from girls and women, couldn’t vote for Harris, who has supported policies promoting these things. Black men and women who saw “Black Lives Matter™” burn down Black-owned businesses, and use the names of Black victims of police violence to take money that the families of those victims would never see, hear “Black Trans Lives Matter” and understand “they’re castrating our boys and sterilizing our daughters again”, they couldn’t vote for Harris.
You imagine you know what motivates other people, but when they tell you, you refuse to listen. You presume to better know what’s good for other people than they do, and never consider the possibility that people have rejected your position because your position ignores their reality and causes them harm.
That’s a load of crap. Most black women and men voted for Kamala. Trumps numbers grew with black men, but not enough to say black men and women not voting for Kamala was the cause of her loss. In fact, it was white woman voted more for trump. If you’re going to play the blame game at least blame the right folks. White women.
u r a classic propagandist agitator. bahbye!
Diversity is about tolerance and variety of perspectives, and outcomes are generally better when more perspectives are considered. That is what democracy is all about. It’s about diverse perspectives sharing their positions and discourse and coming to a solution that is acceptable to all. Our politics has become less and less collaborative and subject to a refusal to give the other side any shred of “win” to take to their constituents. This has been spearheaded by the extreme right, and since their numbers have suffered to the point of an inability to win popular votes, THEY have chosen these issues that impact such a small percentage of Americans and make them seem overwhelming. Trans rights and even immigrants - surely immigrant crime that has lower rates among the immigrant populations than American citizens. They’ve used the politics of fear to outsize these issues of tolerance against the left. So there was a backlash for electing a black president, who had more smarts and integrity in his little finger than Donald trump has ever had - does that mean we should not have elected a black president? Absolutely not.
The Alphabet freaks are responsible for the bigotry by forcing us to accept them and I don't mean gay and lesbians I'm talking about the Trannies.
Isn't that kind of like saying that Ukraine caused Russia to invade it by seeking protection from invasion? I'm not sure what you mean by "forcing us to accept them," because transgender people actually do exist whether you "accept them" or not. All people deserve equal rights, even if other people don't happen to like them.
It’s a mistake to leave out the horrible effects of the right wing propaganda machine over the last 50 years. As you have said, you and your father were a part of spreading lies and demonizing anyone who didn’t believe the same as you. This train wreck is not the fault of liberal, educated people. It is the result of an insidious onslaught of propaganda and hatred perpetrated by the Republican Party and Christian Nationalists for decades. Go ahead and try to shift the blame. History will show what really happened.
100 %!
exactly! (incidentally i'm a white middle aged man)
Well, if it's any solace, the Trumpers DID win the hard fought culture war against elitist libtards to "say ‘retard’ and ‘pussy’ without the fear of getting cancelled . . . it’s a new dawn." Let's be clear, I hear this accusation of "eltistism" and neglecting the (white) worKKKing class on the part of the Democrats (and by association, liberals in general) but for more than a decade of All Trump All The Time, I haev NEVER heard him or his proxies suggest ANY tangible policies or programs. It's been entirely blames, grievances, and jingoistic platitudes, demonizing anyone and everyone who'd DARE to suggest EVERYONE be granted to live their lives free from fear. In the eyes of Trump and MAGA cult, it's mind-boggling that somehow they've wrapped their heads around the prospect that a group of oligarchs with more money that God could possibly give a SHIT about the working class! So please, don't patronize us with a wave of a hand proclaiming, "liberals and elites DON'T get it!" And yet... that's pretty much what you wrote. What a shame.
I agree. So surprised that someone would attack his own people like this. No support, no affirmation just bitter accusation! Disgusting. Calling hard working people snobs is the purest manifestation of wrongheadedness. Self-hating left.
I agree, couldn't have said it better.
Whatever Democrats think of Trump's policies, few if any have been so blind as to claim that he is not enacting tons of them in a blizzard of activity in his first days in office.
And freedom imparts the right for an adult to be wrong about anything that is not a physical or financial injury to another citizen. That freedom exempts the person from government action against him but not social interpersonal action or even social discrimination against him. Businesses that are open to be owned by anyone or open to serving anyone through public advertisement, are excepted. They must accept the restrictions of the Civil Rights Laws the same as any governmental group. Democrats are free to say that only college educated people, who dress, talk and think like we do are fit to live in our neighborhood and be our friends. That any person, Black or white, that meets these criteria is acceptable, does not remove the actions from being discriminatory; it only removes it from being racially discriminatory.
mostly true but the best minds i've been reading say the entire reason for Heritage Foundation and Trumpism is bcuz they lost the culture wars over time, which i think is true, as of '16ish at least
Wow. You are so wrong. As a member of the LGBTQ community, the fact that I can live a life out in the open is a direct result of our party's "culture wars." I am not an "alternative to sexuality," and I've been with my partner for going on 25 years. It isn't the Liberals who are telling you what to believe, who to love, what to read, or who to pray for. I'm really disappointed that people like you are so quick to push the LGBTQ, women,and POC under the bus. As if we created this. I hope you rethink your position, Frank, because it is very hurtful to the marginalized. Honoring them as equals is not snobby. It is right.
Yes!!! The arrogance of this man proclaiming all of us liberals and progressives as being elitist because we fought for the rights of women to have bodily autonomy? - For transgender people (like my child who is fighting a death wish right now ) the right to live in the truth of their existence? - for fighting for the rights of immigrants?
I will say: the Democratic Party absolutely must look at how disconnected the ones who are in power are from the majority of working class, non-elitist Democrats, liberals, and progressives. But helping people to understand that transgender people have the right to exist and to support them by using our pronouns or advocating for women’s right to choose or an immigrant’s right to fight for their lives away from hate and oppression is NOT Elitism born out of being educated or having wealth. It IS born out of being human and having compassion for other human beings.
100%
What you said, Regina, 100%! What I heard him say is that it's the liberals' fault Dump was elected because of of the left having platforms for/caring about (especially) trans folks or anyone who isn't "traditional"... Please... eye roll... And he seems to have conveniently forgotten or perhaps didn't look into the voter breakdown demographically. Primarily white people got us into this, men and women.
While he has some points that the "elite" on the left have forgotten about the working class we used to represent, let's talk about that more from getting dark money out of politics as a part of that conversation. Citizens United was one of the worst rulings to come out of SCOTUS.
It seems Frank has eaten the soup, an expression from the misnamed Irish Famine when a Catholic would give up their religion in order to be fed by the Protestant church. He believes that the annoying elite somehow caused decent people to support Trump. Uh uh. The people who support Trump ARE ignorant, they hate anybody who studied, who actually accomplished something, who are different races from them, etc. Sure the elitists are annoying, sure the crazy extremes on the left are irksome, but most of the Dems I know are just working people. To blame defeat on arrogance is nuts. Trump supporters are not good people. At root, they are haters. I’m sure in his darkest heart, so is your Trump loving neighbor. I hope you don’t find that out the way neighbors did in Germany in the 30s when the true faces were shown.
Yes, most of the Dems you and I know are hard-working middle class people. But these are not the ones at the head of the companies these working class Dems are not the ones teaching in the universities. These working class Dems are not the ones holding elected office. These working class dems are not the ones making the laws. These working class dems are not the ones creating classroom nameplates with four and five pronouns on them to be placed on every seat in the classroom. I have worked at Yale University for almost 50 years. These Ivy League universities is where you’re gonna find what he’s talking about. I remember years ago when president Salovay (Yale University) faced pressure to change the name of Calhoun College (one of 14 residential colleges at Yale) because it’s namesake had owned slaves. I said then, and I stand by it, Yale should never have changed the name of that college. And the pressure came from the students. To me, it was a real life in person starting point of this backlash.
This is exactly right! It’s almost scary how many people replying to this guy just don’t get it! It’s not the average working class dem this guy is referring to, and this seems to have gone over so many people’s heads. It’s the elite, the kind of people you mention here, the people who run political campaigns, the people who decide what platform to run on. Those are the people he’s referring to. And he’s saying the dems have to introspect and understand what lost them the election. And they absolutely have to, unless America wants another 8 years of this after trump has gone! That cannot be allowed to happen!
But he is referring to the “elites” insistence on “culture wars” like using pronouns to support transgender PEOPLE, or believing in climate change and advocating for instituting measures to save our planet now not in some far off distant future. As being elitist.
I might clarify, that I was not only writing about “working class” Dems, but all the working people I know in business, in finance, in academia, in show business, in the arts, etc. Most of them are intelligent, aware of the world, and reliably vote Democratic. I would say that most fall in the category of “slightly left of center.” This is hardly radical here in California, but my sense is the majority of Americans fall near the center, and that includes a large slice of Trump voters. Hardcore MAGAts are a lost cause.
If the more crazy elements on the Dem side of things continue to grow, I can foresee the Democratic Party going the way of the Republican Party. In that case, a new party that tracks closer to the center could arise. But, really, I think that there won’t be an honest election, if there is even one, in 2026. The Trumpers seem to be following the Nazi playbook which put them in full control of Germany, so I expect a “Reichstag Fire” incident and the granting of emergency powers by the Republican Congress, sanctified by the Supreme Court.
I’m in my 80s so I’m not too likely to be around to see all of this, but you will be. And my children, grandchildren and grey grandchildren. I wish them, and you, the best.
💯
So tired of statements like . And now, after years of prioritizing culture war battles over working-class struggles, liberals are faced with the consequences: define culture war battles do they include equity for lgbtq? Race? Etc Let me assure you the real elite- the wealthy class are not the ones benefiting from equity for so called “cultural” concerns for example Peter Thiel and his partner will become without lgbtq protections- not so the bulk of us including many working class folk. Dont buy into this view that keeps us fighting each other while the money flows up. Follow the money
Tired of statements like WHAT?
It’s pretty clearly stated “And now,…….faced with the consequences:
Mr. Schaeffer,
I have done as you asked and respectfully heard you out.
Because I believe in our American values of hearing each other out, I now respectfully ask the same thing of you.
There is a fundamental difference between those who want to conserve ways of the past and those who are working towards a more equitable future for all.
Believing in science is not a hallmark of being a liberal. Believing that everyone should have the freedom to pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is simply American.
I did not hear you mention anything that would clarify you as a "liberal." It is unfortunate that the right wing has gone so far as to make us think that defending medicine, education, or science is a "liberal" set of beliefs.
Those who have spent 50+ years working to eliminate Jim Crow, forwarding equal rights for women, people of various sexual preferences or freedom to identify as they see fit... those causes are the hallmarks of progress.
What I'm hearing from you is a defense of regression, not progression.
I understand that you are angry, frustrated, alarmed and appalled by what is unfolding. I am, as well. As are many of us. And I can understand why we are all tempted to find someone or something to blame.
But the unstoppable march forward towards living the true principles embedded in our country's founding documents is not the reason we find ourselves here.
We're here for a thousand different reasons and due to a confluence of factors. Principally, several rich, powerful groups of people formulated a long term plan and we're seeing that plan come to fruition.
And the reason we are here now is that we, the People, didn't work hard enough to stop it. We had the playbook. They published it for the whole world to see. Project 2025 was there for all of us to see. We didn't take Trump seriously enough to stop him a second time. His supporters either wanted this chaos or didn't educate themselves about the plan.
The battle against science has been waged by Republicans for decades. The battle against education has been waged by Republicans for decades. The battle against women, people of color, and the entire queer population has been waged by the Church and the powered for centuries. These things are not new.
What is new: the fast paced and increasingly insistent cries for equality - the pushback against old, outdated norms has never been greater. The technology has allowed those voices to be amplified.
What you call the Trump moment is simply the clash between a group of people who aren't ready to move forward and all those who are ready ... For real and lasting progress.
Respectfully, I ask you to consider pointing your ire at those who are trying to take us backwards. We are not going back.
“Throughout history there have always been men who fear the future, suspect the present, and long for a comfortable past that never really existed” Robert Kennedy
You make some strong point.
However, you are twisting one fact. You are presenting things as if liberal went on a cultural war. That's not accurate. What you call culture war was just the simple acts of advocating for inclusion, equally and fairness. Liberal were reacting to people that have been trying to discriminate and abuse minority. Liberal did not start culture war.
why is it that the right can be so crass but the left is expected to make sure not to offend? And the right wins elections?
These type of capitulators are the worst! He believes the Right BS and he's spewing it back at us. What a dope!
Let me get this right, the left has been “stupid and annoying” for pushing for equal right for members of the lgbqt+ community, humane and ethical treatment of immigrants and DEI initiatives to bring ethical awareness to racist policies and procedures?
You suggest we should abandon morality and ethics, not to mention equal rights for citizens, because the issues make some of us uncomfortable? If we make this sacrifice have we not already lost? Are they not the core of what we hope to represent as a nation.
Democracy doesn’t always look or work the way you want it to but that’s why it works awkwardly for everyone instead of a dictatorship or an aristocracy that works exceptionally for a few. Powerful people in our country now would like our government to operate exceptionally.
Beware the effects of propaganda. Effective propaganda is insidious and seeps into your thought process making someone else’s ideas seem like your own.
He means in effect we didn’t keep our eyes on the prize - we fought a lot of good battles, but forgot about what was important to the heart of the party, the middle class. Jobs, wages, home, health, healthcare, eldercare & Medicare, childcare, taxes, etc. The GOP took advantage and masqueraded as the party of the middle class. They now own the White House, Senate, House, SCOTUS, and a slew of judges. How’s that working out for us??
ALL of those hard fought wins are disappearing one by one, and they’re going after every single one of them. How long did Roe v Wade last?
We need to stop counting the wins we had … “had” being the key word here. We have to take stock of how we wrest the power back. We HAVE to do that, or get ready to wait in line to get thru the Canadian border before Trump locks that one down too.
It’s the rigged neoliberal economy. The orange clown is just a symptom of 40 years of the system
Do not live in a grievances mentality. Stay, instead, open to solutions we all can live with, ALL of us.
Signed the eternal optimist.
The blame is in the seat of power currently, and all those who promote republicans and their agenda. I agree with the others commenting here that their fascist theocracy has been pushed by the so called moral majority for the last 50 years. Democrats have always been for the working class, and my educated friends are the working class. Republicans are to blame, they have now given in to the bullshit that has been their mantra for ever.
While diversity, equity, and inclusion are wonderful things to build upon in fostering a kinder world, too often people on "the left" resort to shame, and it backfires. Shame leads to resentment, not inclusion. I know one liberal voter who actually voted for Trump on account of it. I know others who didn't vote for Harris on account of Biden's policy on Israel. Unfortunately, there will always be something to criticize about the party that is not the fascist one. My focus now is on stopping the bleeding.
You are describing liberals the way they describe us. But that is just their logical fallacy, the straw man or the stereotype that they attack all day every day. They lie about who we are so they can win an argument with their own imagination. I will not abandon the LGBTQ+ community who was attacked and hated by the RIGHT first.
Blaming others for the racism of many Americans who are maga is starting to sound like the trump bunch.