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Comment by nebula8804 | Hacker News Reader

Can you give some insight into if he "blames" anyone in particular for his situation? I ask because a noticeable chunk of Democrat -> Trump voters (especially in the rust belt) specifically cite Bill Clinton and NAFTA for their abandoning the Democrats. It was a group Hillary took for granted and lost. Some percentage of those people appear to have sworn off Democrats for good. Since COVID started under Trump I wonder if he blames a particular side for his situation?

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Does it matter who he blames?

There is enough blame to be spread around for both major parties. Trump had his -15- 45 days to slow the economy. Congress printed trillions of dollars. Nearly every governor was more draconian than the federal government.

It matters because it gives us an idea as to their future actions in subsequent elections. I know that Trump has caused a lot of damage but these voters vote based on how pissed off they are at the candidate. I'd bet if Michelle Obama ran they might vote her in.

because of "economic anxiety", right?

Man. Elites realizing they could deflect any criticism of the impacts of globalization and the knowledge economy on the “racismsexismandhomophobia” of the working class was genius.

Its not working though. Trump got elected and Bernie was very close to clinching the nomination. Italy just elected a far right candidate and lets not forget Brexit. If this strategy would actually work, the trend would be going in the opposite direction. At this rate it may just be a matter of time until the Elite's stores of values get "reset".

It works pretty well within their own parties. That is, it helps those people keep control of their parties, even if their parties lose control of their countries. For career politicians, the former is more important.

No but my point is that trend is going in the wrong direction. The Bernie wing almost took control of the party and Trump? He was a gameshow host and despite all the efforts of the Republican party not to have him nominated he barged in there like a bull and took control of everything. He somehow ended up becoming their useful idiot but the point still stands. How many more election cycles until the Bernie/AOC manage to wrestle control of their party? Then what?

> Bernie was very close to clinching the nomination

That's a counterfactual.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/a-close-look-at-sander...

I was referring to 2020. The trend from 2016 -> 2020 showed that he gained greatly in his numbers. Yes he ended up losing but this trend supports my thesis that the center is losing its grip on both parties. It could be Bernie 3.0, AOC or someone else but the far left is becoming the new "center" of the party and the far right is becoming the new "center" of the other party.

For the most part, I oppose abortion and gay marriage because of globalization and the knowledge economy. Just horrific, the effects on my moral position - which was previously anti-abortion and anti-gay-marriage.

racism, sexism, ant-gay and anti-islam interests are fiscal interests

You’re close. They’re related, but the causation runs the other way. Structural changes in the economy facilitate changes in views towards those things. It’s not coincidental that, for example, my contractor who earns his living lifting drywall over his head has different views of gender roles than people who make a living doing knowledge or creative work.

To turn the example around. people in my dad’s village in Bangladesh—where you need to have kids to work on the farm—all believe in traditional procreative marriage. Is that a justification for ignoring their economic concerns?

It’s a very weird kind of “liberalism” that holds people’s attitudes arising out of their lived experience against them.

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