What Democrats Don’t Know About the American People Could Reelect Trump! Part 2 of 3

Why Democrats should not rest.

So, Joe and Kamala escaped the “debates” without any major gaffs. “Well have we done, thrice-valiant countrymen. But alls not done, yet…” [Henry V]. I still say Trump could slide in under the tag and Democrats would be complaining about the electoral college again. It’s a numbers game. So, get out and vote! Tell all your friends to vote too!

But the polls all say Biden will win.

Don’t believe them. I put debates in quotes because they aren’t debates at all – they are rallies. When high schools and colleges hold real debates they are not at all like the televised Presidential debates.

First (in a real debate) there is a premise like: “The President has said he has done more for African Americans than any President since Abraham Lincoln. Defend or Refute” [i.e.: Pro or Con Then the Pro (in this case it would be Trump) side would state their case (without any interruption). Then the Con side (Biden) would state their case (without any interruption). And then each side would get a chance to rebut the statements of the opposing side (without any interruption).

What makes the presidential “debates” so un-debate like is, that in a real debate there is a panel of judges and they determine a winner based on the validity (i.e. they fact check them immediately) of their arguments (NOT how loudly or angrily they make their case). However, there are many people who like Trump because of the way he behaves, not for his policies which in many cases will act against the very people who support him.

This situation will last longer than just the election.

So I’m writing to help give the Democratic party supporters some additional support. Because there are commentators and other Democrats who are totally missing the boat emotionally. Emotional appeals are some of the main Trump strong points, he appeals to emotions rather than logic.

Here’s more (Part 2 of 3) of what all Democrats should know before arguing with a Trump supporter or, even more importantly, trying to convince a skeptical voter to vote at all. Now, to give some additional support… Or maybe to avoid conversational traps in order to preserve friendships… Or maybe simply to get a sane government elected… I offer the following:

Biden gets it but…

Democrats have got to stop trying to win on morality (Mistake #3 see Part 1). Bringing up an opponents moral shortcomings might be appropriate in a regular election (probably not because…) but in the era of instant internet contact, Trump and the blind obedience that he engenders – being totally open about morality is useless.

When I was arguing with my former friend (see Part 1) about Trump’s shortcomings as a political leader she would bring up Bill and Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden’s family. The reason Trump followers bring up the past is because they don’t have any idea as to what the future will bring. I was watching Fox News [“Know your enemy.” Sun Tzu] after the third Presidential Show (actually the second “debate”?). Fox had on a leader of the RNC and she was going on about: ‘lack of transparency,’ ‘lies,’ ‘unclean money.’ I thought she was a Democrat talking about Trump until I saw the ticker at the bottom of the screen!

The point here is those who voted for Trump (and will again) already knew he was a sharp dealing goniff (thief). And they voted for him anyway. The only way I can see that the Evangelicals justify Trumps immorality is they are very ignorant. Ignorance is the main reason Trump got elected. People who voted for him were mostly one issue voters. That means they think like: ‘Hey he may have ripped off some people with sharp business dealings but he is pro life so I’ll vote for him and save some babies.’ They do not think about the consequences of their vote. They don’t think there are any consequences to having unwanted babies who grow up to be very troubled teens and adults [see the rest of my website and posts].

Shine a brighter light on the motivations of the Republican elite (Mistake #4).

What’s in it for the Republicans who allow this fool to remain in power? They get to pack the courts with unqualified rightwing judges. Being right-wing doesn’t make you automatically unqualified but Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans are ramming through judges whose main qualifications are that they are Trump supporters. McConnell got sanctions lifted on a Russian oligarch so he could build a huge aluminum factory in Kentucky. John Kasich (R) of Ohio would’t have done such a thing.

Don’t state your goals in absolutist terms (Mistake #5).

Joe did a good job of putting Trump in check when he (Joe) said, “You are running against me not Bernie, or AOC, or Hillary, or Pete Buttigieg.” I mention Buttitieg because he was very prominent (strident?) saying, “We are coming after your guns.” I know that Biden has said he won because he was different from the more leftist candidates. But that doesn’t stop Trump (or the brain dead on the right) from conflating to Biden every far left position of any candidate who isn’t Trump. Not intelligent, not good. [to use the sentence structure of the Pres.]

In the second (third) debate Biden was totally transparent when he said he would’t just shut down the oil and gas industry but it did have to be fazed out (because it’s a polluting industry). I believe it was a mistake to be so open in that forum. Why? Because Trump would (and did) mix up Biden’s message of hope for the future by saying, “Are you listening Pennsylvania?” Those who don’t listen very well or who might be leaning toward the right might hear that Joe is going to totally dismantle the oil and gas industry if he is elected. Balderdash! And the woman on Fox had the audacity to say that Biden was not transparent!

Stop talking about race and diversity (Mistake #6).

First read my post: How Democrats Can Make it Happen. And then stop talking about race. Every time you (pundits, professors, and candidates) bring up race and/or diversity you stick your foot in your mouth! First off there are those who hate on principal. They hate different, whatever that difference might be (color, class, income, ethnicity, you know what I mean). So, Trump may indeed be a dog whistle as big as a fog horn but he does know (like Hitler before him) that if you say the lie/mistake loudly enough, often enough it becomes its own ‘alternative fact.’

Then there are those who are tired of hearing about race and diversity. We are the ones who work in the inner city and are tired of hearing about how hard it is. Well guess what? It’s hard for everybody. Yes white privilege does exist but many people don’t like to be lectured by those who don’t know what they are saying. For Example:

LAUSD Hires With Diversity In Mind. What did you say?

My wife made a family rule. Whenever I had to call the offices of LAUSD I was to warn her so she could leave the apartment. Why? She hated listening to my side of the conversation because I had to ask, “What?” so many times. I also had to have whomever I was talking with repeat themselves time and time again. Because of diversity I couldn’t understand the person I was speaking with because they did’t speak English as their first language and they had SUCH THICK ACCENTS they were hard to understand. [btw; my wife was a foreign lady who was difficult to understand at times so my issue isn’t that they are foreign but that they were hired to be communicators, not because of their skill as communicators but because they added to the diversity of the workforce! And they were VERY DIFFICULT to understand].

Then there was the guy who was hired by the Information Technology division to install covers for the wires for our new computer system. He also didn’t speak or read English well enough to do the job right and his boss came in and started yelling about having to work with unqualified workers based simply on race (in my classroom with students present).

Epilogue:

I am not trying to denigrate any particular group or voter. I just want you to understand the feelings and (lack of) logic of many people who don’t have a public forum (other than social media). I believe in equality among all people but I also try to understand their motivations when they say or do things which seem to be counter productive to their own goals.

Bottom line: Vote and tell all your fiends to vote. And even if they can’t make up their minds about who to vote for for president, assure them that they need to vote the rest of the ticket and they can leave the Presidential vote to those of us who have our minds made up.