Summary
Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign failed to connect with low-income workers due to a perceived lack of listening, according to AFL-CIO, the largest federation of labor unions in the US.
While union members largely supported Harris, many low-income voters backed Trump, swayed by his messaging on economic insecurity.
Despite Biden’s pro-labor policies, including infrastructure investments, the AFL-CIO now faces challenges under a likely Trump presidency.
AFL-CIO emphasized labor unions’ resilience and commitment to fighting rollbacks while advancing organizing efforts.
With public approval for unions at a near 60-year high, the labor movement plans both defensive and offensive strategies to protect workers.
You know what you call someone who votes for fascism? A fascist.
How do you appeal to fascists without being more fascist than the alternative?
America is comprised of stupider, shittier people than was thought.
When Democrats and Republicans work together to increase national fracking and oil production, protect polluting industries, not support living wages, gut education standards, not support universal healthcare, increase police funding it equals a stupider, shittier people that vote for the donor class puppets
That’s a pretty reductionist take, eh? Did it make you feel better to vent? It’s okay to vent. But also consider that you’re only seeing a small part of a larger whole.
The larger whole either voted for fascism or couldn’t be bothered to vote against it. That’s the country we live in.
Was there some other “larger whole” you were referring to?
Sure, but you seem like you’ve already found answers that satisfy you. I’m no Sisyphus to push online boulders up a hill, but I will give you my two cents:
In essence, our perspectives differ on apportioning blame. You heap it on voters, while I would argue that, in a two party system, culpability lies with the party who failed to engage and motivate their electorate. That is quite literally their entire raison d’etre.
So it’s easy to say we have ignorant, uneducated, and mean-spirited voters- and I wouldn’t argue that those descriptors are valid in many cases. Which says nothing of decades of declining public education, massive media intervention, oligarch pie-thumbing, or unaddressed racial tensions dating back to the Civil War.
But if that is the clay that an artist is given to mold, then it is incumbent upon the ARTIST to rise to the occasion and find a way to produce a grand work. And if they are unable- if they cannot MAKE GOOD on the necessary products required for civil social union, then they are something worse than an enemy. Ineptitude (feigned or real) is simply no longer tolerable when the stakes are this high.
And the stakes ARE high, despite the constant flip-flopping of messaging from the current administration. We either face clear and present dangers to the Union, or we accept that decorum is MORE important to our leaders than efficacy and the hope of America remaining a going-concern. And if our Leadership chooses decorum over action, if etiquette is their only talent, then the harshest criticism is not only valid, but a requirement of every citizen who still hopes for the erstwhile fantasy of living in and being part of the better American Dream.
imagine the dumbest person you personally know.
now realize half of America is twice as dumb.
“we have a concrete plan for helping you” - crickets
“my plans will hurt you but I’m pretending otherwise” - “what a brilliant businessman!”
her plan involved helping people get a home loan with no plans to raise the minimum wage
what did Harris say she was going to bring to table that would attract any voters other than high middle and above class?
That home loan was fucking worthless to boot. You know what would save Americans money? Directly building homes and selling them at cost.
Support for unions, getting inflation down, etc
Similar thing happened with Hillary and the green energy jobs training.
Did she, though? All I remember is something about a “new small business” subsidy fund, which is… good, I suppose, but didn’t address any of the probkems the average American is facing.
Okay, there was also the suggestion of Medicare for all, which would put a dent in things, but I only heard it casually mentioned once and it sounded like something she was “open to discussing,” not a core part of her platform.
Aside from that, there was nothing directly addressing the core daily problems the majority of people are experiencing, like overpriced living expenses and underpaid wages.
The small business loan was a joke if you look at the details. First off most people dont want to start a business its a lot of hard fucking work with a lot of risk. It also had a bunch of means tests involved. Which would make it a disaster to implement and a disaster to get.
Exactly. That’s the “not addressing the actual problems” part. It’s a sounds-good, feels-good, low impact, high visibility token effort. Throw out a little morsel for the general public that doesn’t really help, but critically, doesn’t impact profits for the wealthy class.
I hate to say it, but you have a point. While Kamala had lofty plans to do right by a lot of special interests, she ignored several important ones. What really killed her chances was that, for all of her promises, she had no plan to execute them with what would turn out to be a very hostile Congress.
That, mixed with the delayed effects of both Trump’s and Biden’s influence, the dogshit-brained blamed Biden for Trump’s bullshit while crediting Trump with Obama’s achievements after Bush. And it’s gonna happen again when all of Biden’s work to improve the economy takes affect during the second of Trump term and everything Trump does wreck the economy so the next president after him will take the blame for it.
Because most voters in this country, don’t understand that economic policy rarely takes affect in fewer than 2 to 4 years, but the dog shit inside their skull makes them blame whomever is president at the moment, regardless of their actual capability.
Because the media they consume have told them it’s the fault of the current president, and they’re too simple to do any thinking for themselves.
some of us know that the Democrats and Republicans are at fault because it is us that are directly dealing with fallout from both parties
just wait until the shit that hit the fan finally makes it onto you sitting further out
and no not all of us had the option to get a backrow seat further away from the fan
“We have a concrete plan to help you! For example, higher federal minimum wage!”
"Okay, take my vote!
Four years later
“You’ve been in office for four years. Where is the minimum wage hike?”
“Turns out we can’t actually do it unless we have a supermajority of government. And then it’s still questionable if we will. Vote for us some more in your state and presidency. Hope that others in other states do too. Also stop bitching, we are moral and the other people are fascists, do not fail us, you must defend women and minorities by keeping us in power etc etc.”
“I had more money under Trump, fuck off.”
Tldr choosing to believe Republicans when they cause problems and blame them on others
That’s not the message working people heard. They heard, “we are the establishment whose theories have been fucking you over for fifty years, but in our infinite wisdom and benevolence we have decided to make some changes that WE have determined will make your lives better, and so you must vote for us. After all, we are your intellectual superiors.”
Because they heard that from Republicans who lied to them
They need to find a way to silence the Republicans, then. They need to ensure that people are only getting the right message.
Yes. Incredibly theoretical, difficult to understand, highly abstract plans like “raising the national minimum wage”.
Wrong plans, they’re referring to the joke ‘50k small business loan with a bajillion strings attached’, ‘a maybe tax hike for the wealthy, but no transfer to middle/lower income’, ‘here are two tax credits half of which only impact parents and together dont break even on inflation’, ‘absolute refusal to commit to keeping khan’, in short dems to working Americans: fuck you, and here’s some genocide on top. Vote for us because we think we’re the only option.
Yes. Incredibly theoretical, difficult to understand, highly abstract plans like “raising the national minimum wage”.
Gee. Can’t imagine why they didn’t have any fucking credibility on that one.
Thumbs down, curtsy
The theories I’m talking about are neoliberal theories, they are the theories that essentially all economic policies have been based on for the majority of time most of us have been alive. Even if the establishment has recently decided to embrace some changes, you can’t expect people to just forget the last fifty years or so.
"I have … no plan… but… uhhh… "
Say no more!
This loss brought to you by Corporate Media. We sanewash the insane bullshit and manipulate you into anything.
Trump told people they were struggling and only he could fix it.
Kamala told people the economy was rebounding and they were gonna create more opportunities for the middle class.
People didn’t give a shit about what opportunities they were given. They also didn’t give a shit about a rebounding economy because none of them were feeling things getting better. Media kept saying real wages beat inflation finally. Only after 3 years of insane inflation where wages in no way kept up.
So sure, the economy is better than it was, and better than the rest of the world. But the shock happened and nothing was done to actually help the people that were suffering. Instead they were told by Democrats that ‘it could have been worse! And it will be worse under Trump’ basically admitting they weren’t really interested in helping.
So Trump, despite him not actually caring or really planning to do anything about it, stayed on message with something that resonated to voters. While Kamala assumed people wanted to start businesses? People can’t afford food but sure, let’s talk about how they have some opportunity to open a mom and pop shop across from Walmart.
She literally said, “I will go after price gouging,” which is 100% the reason prices are so high, but instead, the media focused you on starting a business. The whole price gouging thing was absent from every news article. The only time you heard it was when she spoke live. Absolutely wild.
This message fell flat. She’s the vice president, the message should have been I’m working with the AG now to investigate price to gouging, and will continue that when elected. Also the end result is just the government getting a small settlement check, that means fuck all to people.
Watch this and you’ll understand.
The message was weak though. The policy was fairly limited-- like limits on gouging in emergencies-- and not expressed in terms of a tangible achievable metric. And it’s not like we have direct economic control that would allow for specific deliverables-- how exactly are you goung to get Kroger to bend the knee? A fine that’s 12 seconds of their turnover?
‘I’ll get the 99-cent Taco Supreme back’ (or the $2 gallon of milk/dozen eggs) would have helped-- a graspable specific rallying cry. “We’ll tax gougers back into the stone age” maybe too. ISTR there’s some rightwing scumball in Canada who achieved most of his political rise by literally campaigning on $1-per-can beer. Again, a tangible goal, and one more achievable because there’s direct state controlled alcohol sales in much of the country…
One of the frustrations was that they would be talking about how the economy was doing great… if you were a homeowner. The inflation was also in things like rent which they have no intent on really addressing, but disproportionately gets omitted from broader stats regarding inflation despite people getting $500+ rent increases shortly after the end of the COVID eviction protections.
She literally said, “I will go after price gouging,” which is 100% the reason prices are so high
Right. She also said she wouldn’t do anything different from Biden. Whose public-facing opposition to price gouging consisted of “knock it off, guys”
Harris: ‘i will go after price gouging by firing the person actively going after companies price gouging…’ and you believed her? 🫨🫠😮💨
This interview with Sarah Smarsh is good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC-VkbEpac4
She says that the Republicans were the party that validated working class voters’ pain, even if the rest of what they said was a pack of lies and they plan to help the rich and harm the poor. The Democrats didn’t even get this far: they repeatedly ignored working class suffering while insisting the economy was good and making promises to help the “middle class” (whoever that is these days). Given the choice between one party that says “we hear your pain” and another that says “you’re too ignorant to realize things are actually going well” it’s not surprising which party got the working class votes. It’s just a shame the Republicans don’t actually plan to help these people.
It wasn’t just not validating, Trump was allowed to just promise no taxes on tips or overtime without getting called out on blatant false promises. Harris just went me too on that.
Preventing the Railworker’s Union strike pretty much solidified the Democratic position as a Union enemy regardless of anything that happened afterward.
The Dems had a weak message and they struggled to deliver it where it mattered.
They raised a record amount of money, and spent it on door-knocking and cable ads talking about a rebounding economy, the middle class, and diversity.
The voters who decided the election live in apartments and listen to podcasts, and see an economy in the shitter, and see themselves as working class (not middle) and just an average schmuck.
Total disconnect.
They didn’t even need to move to the right to reach these voters, and they alienated a bunch of the left by trying.
you forgot the money spent on Fortnite
I wonder how much this whole situation resonates with what happened in Argentina, when they elected Milei.
Milei to them was an obvious lunatic who would probably be terrible but had a small chance to be different, versus their traditional party who would very obviously just continue the country’s predictable economic decline.
Then again, I can’t really see any way Trump could be good for you if you’re poor. Not ever by the most charitable interpretations.
I think the difference is we already had Trump as President. Thinking he might be good now is admitting you have no idea how he was the first time.
deleted by creator
The main problem, IMHO, has two facets: (1) the Dems seem unable to muster the courage, will, self-sacrifice, or what-have-you, to rebalance wealth in this country such that Joe Average has a fighting chance at the same life Gramps had (a car, a house, sending the kids to college, etc.); (2) the American voter tends to be dumber than dogshit, and the dems refuse to see it. Therefore, they can’t develop a message that is digestible by the masses, nor a messenger who is enough the showman to entertain the crowd. I think we’re fucked until the Dems can address these issues. My confidence is quite low. What I see coming down the pike is ever increasing socioeconomic stratification, the logical endpoint of which is some break-point event that leads to societal upheaval and a restructuring of the American system. We are headed for crisis. When exactly we’ll get there, I don’t know. It took roughly my lifetime so far for shit to get this fucked (I’m mid 40s), I don’t give us another 40 years before some bad shit happens.
Harris did not even need a plan the way she started
all she had to do was acknowledge that yes there are issues and talk about them publicly
just like at the DNC instead of taking the win she was given others were let on the stage to talk that put a lot of fire out of her campaign
Harris could have won by a landslide with all that she was given and the people that initially supported her, but she fumbled so bad it feels intentional
