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CuriousReader4456's avatar

Impeding traffic does zero to stop Trump and Elon. Might actually be counterproductive.

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DM's avatar

Well it seems like the bulk of the Democratic party seems to think the best response is sitting around watching and hoping that when the price of eggs goes from $9 to $15 that people will get really really fed up with Trump.

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James Trout's avatar

Considering all the rallies Harris and Walz did last year did them and us no good though, there is only so much that can be done. At the end of the day, VOTERS decide. That cannot be stressed enough.

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DM's avatar

I do not believe that taking over the justice department, putting Musk and his 6, 19-24 year olds in charge of government contracting and disbursements, seizing power from Congress, and completely gutting competency from the government is what most people voted for.

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Jonathan's avatar

Its not the point; Trump won the election; our side lost; strategy for the next election should not include stupidly and unnecessarily pissing off Joe Schlub by impeding his way to get to and from work

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michaelflutist's avatar

He didn't win an election for dictator, and Musk certainly didn't, but pay attention to what they're doing and don't tell people to concede.

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Jonathan's avatar

absolutely my point, our strategy has to be focused properly; the protests talked about in this thread could actually turn counterproductive imo

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michaelflutist's avatar

That's not the point. The point is for people not to concede and stop resisting. I'm sure you've seen the summaries of what to do to resist authoritarianism before it turns into a dictatorship. Reread them.

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Jonathan's avatar

I think we may be arguing 2 sides of the same coin here though; I think only election victory is ultimately going to matter; protests 2 weeks into the new administration, unless extremely focused, probably serve little purpose

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Ben F.'s avatar

If there had been no rallies - or for that matter, low enthusiasm rallies* - the ultimate results may have been worse, and NV/WI/MI Senate seats may have been lost

* I know this is one of those asymmetric things; Reps can have low charisma candidates and unenthused crowds and still win.

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sacman701's avatar

Also Arizona.

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michaelflutist's avatar

I don't think it's logical to conclude that because someone lost by 1.5% of the vote, their rallies were pointless. If you had to know the future to do anything, you'd never do anything. Human history is full of progress, regression, generosity of spirit and barbarity. Do you think all the efforts of Reconstruction were useless because the Democratic Party and KKK annulled them for 50 years?

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Tigercourse's avatar

Demonstrating in support of immigration isn't going to do any good. Demonstrating against Trump power grabs, sure.

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michaelflutist's avatar

Crop-pickers not coming in to work makes a difference, especially when Mexican produce was just made 25% more expensive, to boot

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Tigercourse's avatar

Okay, then let the stupid people of America feel that pain during a Republican president's time in office. Unless they get burnt, they are just going to grab the hot stove. Saying "we're going to lose our cheap sources of labor!" isn't effective. They need to feel it. Trump partly won on "finishing what Democrats wouldn't let him do" and the next neanderthal (or Trump himself trying for a third term) will run on that again if we step in, particularly if we step in too soon.

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michaelflutist's avatar

Too soon? They should wait until the country is fully under dictatorial rule? How many people were saying similar things in Germany circa 1933. Hitler was a clown, would screw everything up and lose the next election, right?

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michaelflutist's avatar

To be clear: I think that demonstrations against the Trump regime on any subject have the virtue of showing a lack of conformity to authoritarianism, and therefore have a value as pure resistance.

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Tigercourse's avatar

In 2016 Trump road illegal immigration into the White House and our response was basically, "immigration is the heart of America and things will be more expensive without cheap workers". It didn't work. In 2024 he rode immigration into the White House and our argument was "immigration is the heart..." It didn't work. Protesting on the streets in support against his popular policies is pointless. Yes protest his unpopular over reaches. If his immigration policies become unpopular, he has presented an opportunity to strike. We should not charge out in front of our guns.

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michaelflutist's avatar

You just ignored 2020. His winning in 2024, however egregious and existential for the country, does not prove that resistance which helped power the 2018 and 2020 elections "didn't work." This again is the argument to stop doing anything because we can't predict the future and even if it's temporarily good, it could turn bad later. In other words, no argument at all.

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Tigercourse's avatar

I skipped 2020 because it's pretty clear to me, 1) we would have lost without Covid, 2) Immigration wasn't that big of an issue in that election.

Again, I didn't say "no resistance", I said that picking unpopular positions to demonstrate on was pointless.

I remember a couple of years back on Daily kos elections when I raised concerns about the "migrant crisis" in NY and you, specifically, and a bunch of other folks thought it didn't matter. Than the "migrant crisis" mattered a whole lot all over the country and helped move NY to the right. Maybe I'm right again.

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Jonathan's avatar

Agreed but my point is solely about the proper tactics

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Jonathan's avatar

I disagree with this entire post

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