Here’s a tweet from Ana Navarro that has so many things wrong with it I thought we should dissect it together:
Where to begin?
Well, first, there hasn’t been even one primary yet so we have no idea if Democrats are as clueless as Trump voters in 2016.
Second, implied in her plea is that we don’t select another Hillary Clinton. But we have learned in the last two years that Hillary was a good, experienced and successful candidate. She lost because of a massive fraudulent operation carried out by the Russians and others to mischaracterize her and make her email “scandal” to be the equivalent of pedophilia and mass murder. It was meant to sow distrust and it worked brilliantly. And there was absolutely nothing the dedicated hard working canvassers or the candidate herself could do about it.
Third, those same uncommitted and confused voters are still going to be easily confusable in 2020. It is their nature. I have canvassed them and found them to be the most frustrating voters I’ve ever met, particularly middle aged white women. They are as impenetrable as any wall Trump could build. I’m not saying they’re stupid. I’m saying that there is an internal logic flaw that is easily exploitable by whoever gets there first to tell them how the wind is blowing. Let’s just call them The Herd.
If Ana really wants Democrats to win in 2020, she should straighten out the media. That’s the entity that should be more careful about how it influences The Herd. Ana should know this. Once the media has set a narrative, it’s hard to change it. And if the media wants a photo finish horse race, it will find ways to make the election nail bitingly close. That should make Ana very nervous, not the Democrats.
Fourth, there is nothing even remotely normal about the Trump presidency. We don’t like him. Regular Republicans don’t like him. He’s an international embarrassment and generally dangerous. But what I think I’m hearing in Navarro’s plea is that we nominate someone like Reagan and I’m here to tell her that it ain’t never going to happen. The two parties differ in values, priorities and philosophy. The best we can do is nominate someone who wants to improve the country and represent all of us, not just the left.
I’d like to remind Navarro that if Republicans we’re not in charge of government in the last 30 years, they sabotaged any duly elected Democrat who was. They insisted time and again that Democrats negotiate in a bipartisan manner and put everything on the table. Some things can’t or shouldn’t be compromised or pieces cut up and discarded just because Republicans feel oogy about them.
If times are as desperate as Ana thinks they are, and I wouldn’t disagree, her best shot is to suck it up and make a sacrifice in 2020. Howard Schultz has no political experience and if Mike Bloomberg gets in the race, the Democrats will not vote for him. If she thinks everyone else will go for another NY billionaire for president, she should repeat the term “NY Billionaire” a few times to see how it sounds to Joe Bagodonuts in East Jabip, Ohio.
Yes, Ana, 2020 is not going to be fun for you and your friends, just like it wasn’t fun for us in 2000 or during Clinton’s impeachment over a blow job (really?? We impeached a president over oral sex and Trump is a Russian asset and Republicans are quiet?). It wasn’t fun for a large swath of Democrats in the Obama years who saw him cave to pressure to be just the kind of president YOU want. Someone who doesn’t like confrontation, is incapable of doing thought experiments on his policies, puts everything on the table and gave away the treasury to the Wall Street financiers. It wasn’t fun for us when Hillary Clinton lost. The most experienced presidential candidate we’ve ever nominated “lost” to an ignorant toddler. That REALLY sucked. I’m still not convinced that the Rust Belt elections weren’t hacked. It will always be an open question for me.
Rest assured, Ana, we aren’t going to nominate someone like Trump or Kucinich or Sanders. Hopefully, we’ll nominate someone to the left of Obama, who was really a moderate Republican, and you’ll just have to get onboard. But let’s be clear about something: if you and your friends sit it out and Kamala or Lizzy or Kirsten or Amy loses, it will be you who will “SCREW IT UP”.
Now, chill.
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