There has been a lot of talk of what Democrats "need to do" in order to regain some measure of power and save America from its descent into authoritarianism. One of the underrated problems is that are simply too many targets to focus outrage on. Masked goons are roughing up people on American streets! Government censors are kicking people off the air! Medicaid and ACA spending is being gutted! Food assistance is being removed! America's health infrastructure is being dismantled! Tariffs are hurting the economy! Corruption is everywhere!
Trying to find a thread to all this can be challenging. However, it seems as if Democrats are slowly coming around to a theme: Trump's authoritarianism is aid and comfort for plutocrats.
If they haven't landed on this, they should. The "persuadable voter" is an ignoramus. They don't follow the news; they don't ponder the nature of liberal democracy. They do know the price of groceries. They can also see Trump's defacement of the Oval Office with gold shit everywhere. They know the job market sucks and they are already seeing Trump's tariffs as being bad for inflation. The fees for H-1B visas will likely be waived for companies that pay Trump a bribe.
It's the naked corruption that serves no other purpose but to enrich Trump and the people around him while at the same time hurting average people that creates a "populist" message that Democrats can use.
If we accept that this current populist moment is about inchoate rage against the changing nature of the world, then blaming this on an oligarchy of fat cat billionaires sure seems like a winning message. There has always been a reluctance among Democrats to go after tech billionaires in particular. But when you've lost someone like Bezos, why even bother to give those fuckers the benefit of any doubt?
The corruption feeds into that, but so does the authoritarianism. Trump is the boss that can't be joked with; he's the boss that fires you for making fun of him. He needs to stop you from voting because if you do, you will stop him from rewiring America even more for the superrich.
Lots of people are pissed, because they feel the game is rigged. It shouldn't be hard to get them to see that Trump is rigging it even more.
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