does a pretty good job of defining some of the ideological divisions within the dem coalition and how those may be increasingly in conflict if the trump threat ever recedes.
https://twitter.com/MattGlassman312/status/1734716829950419124
I read the silver essay. It is definitely true that cultural grievance is the main engine of "mass politics" and not materialist concerns. But I have another triangle/pyramid that would suggest it is pretty naïve to think that it is what is actually the engine of people's lives.
There is just an incredibly strong consensus about preserving the base, even with Trump and Biden's turn against the "neoliberal free trade consensus" that Douthat was talking about today and everyone exercises themselves up about.
As for the electoral side:
The Democrats were willing to basically take on the Stephen Miller/Trump immigration program for some money for Ukraine and Israel shows how out of touch they are with their voters and the general public but even this too is just pure theatre.
The song remains the same...
Biden will find a way to get weapons and money to Ukraine and Israel. For instance, Pakistan got $1 billion of their IMF loan forgiven by the US because they made ammunition and bombs for Ukraine, the US also helped the Pakistani military depose Khan who then miraculously won a majority of the parliament seats because the military was too overconfident about their ability to control the election)
https://theintercept.com/2023/09/17/pakistan-ukraine-arms-imf/#:~:text=Sipa%20via%20AP-,U.S.%20Helped%20Pakistan%20Get%20IMF%20Bailout%20With%20Secret%20Arms%20Deal,former%20Prime%20Minister%20Imran%20Khan.What was Trump's big accomplishment? A tax cut. People are kidding themselves if they think the story is about drag queen story time or anything happening on a college campus.
