Democracy Pracademic, PhD

I miss coffee shops being open at night like the early 2000’s. I don’t want boba tea, I want coffee & a place to sit by myself with a laptop at 7pm. On a Friday. Yes, I am still that nerd.

@Angry_Staffer “Permanent chairman” too 🙄

Another Project 2025 co-author. Go figure.

A short thread on what refusal to comply can look like, with specifics, examples, and ideas for what the future may hold. Actually IDK if it's gonna be short, but it's gonna be specific, so read on if you're curious.

How come no one talks about how it’s really fun to defend your dissertation? I’m eternally grateful to my committee for the support and guidance along the way! (And the gentle nudges when I’ve lost the plot) @chris_weible, Tanya Heikkila, Anthony Starke, and Ashley Nickels

@JakeMGrumbach Also the pandemic was the biggest tumble economically and although economic mix measures shown here recovered before the ‘22 dip, sentiment didn’t have time to catch back up even though it did, at a lower level still generally follow the directionality of the economic measure.

@JakeMGrumbach Seems like what we see here is a loss of sentiment resilience. Post-pandemic people are primed to take shocks even harder. Similar trend to lesser degree following each of the previous big dips starting in the early 90’s. People tend to remember losses more than wins.

If you can’t accept that the relationship between economic outcomes and attitudes is fundamentally different now, you’re either being politically correct or you’re not paying attention.

@PamKeithFL They need to go farther and create a coalition to provide universal healthcare.

When the ACA gets repealed, the blue states should form a treaty alliance to create a massive big blue health care market that provides affordable health care for citizens in blue states with the ACA features. If those states form a common market, they can negotiate drug

@JakeMGrumbach Online became super important starting in 2016 primaries. So many novel tools for voter outreach and the social media meme sharing.

The thing I think I was wrongest about, and I'm most reconsidering, is the role of online life in this shit. I still think in-person social organization (unions, party orgs, etc) def matter, but political vibes seem so structured by the online zeitgeist.

🧵MAJOR takeaway ignored by Dems in losing to Trump twice in 8 years: Combined Millennial/Gen Z turnout—age 18-44—declined by 7% from 2016 (44% of voters) to 2024 (37% of voters). This was age group @BernieSanders won & galvanized—but Dems & media took him out by the knees. ...

@joyncassie @jmart @BernieSanders No he didn’t - he never took corporations to task for their blatant greed. Profit padding caused the vast majority of “inflation”. Full stop. That causes everyone economic pain. Full stop. If we want any prayer of saving democracy we must acknowledge that.

@jmart @BernieSanders But he's so off base. Biden did everything he possibly could for the working class in terms of policy. Saved their pensions, brought back jobs. It's a messaging problem (and inflation) We expect you guys to carry our water for us, we need to learn to market what we are selling.

Give @BernieSanders credit, at least he's trying to find a culprit. So many of the canned Dem statements read like 2016 resistance vows or campus therapy sessions. In some ways, it's more damning than the loss. Just reaffirms why so many voters are put off by the party. Somebody will figure it out, though. And I think it'll be the person who can keep traditional constituencies intact *and* claw back some of the non-college support

Beyond doing these things at home we also need to demonstrate a commitment to the more abstract values of democracy reflected by these policies. That means not funding or supporting genocide against ANYONE. That means not tolerating harms to children as a cost of business.

And by “leftist policies” I am referring to things that make a meaningful difference in many people’s quality of life. Universal healthcare, quality education, humane labor laws, worker protections, living wages, access to safe and affordable housing, paid family leave, etc.

I’m worried that unless the Democratic Party can start running boldly on the leftist policies people want instead of courting the mythical “center” we won’t even get a real 2028 election cycle. Given how things look now we already might not if Trump installs a 7-2 SCOTUS.

@devon_cantwell 💯

I've been saying this for a minute. The Dems have no state party pipeline or ground infrastructure after they stopped running 50 states campaigns. Trying to game electoral votes has cost the party nationally and is also why we are in deep shit re: things at state levels

@admcrlsn Only if by “gained more” you mean lost fewer votes than Harris lost. The raw # of votes for both Trump and Harris were down in many places from Trump and Biden 2020 totals.

Trump gained ground pretty much everywhere. If you’re blaming Harris or her campaign/stretegy, fuck off. If you’re blaming Israel-Gaza policy, fuck off. If you’re blaming one specific demographic group, fuck off. This was a collective uniform rejection of the last four years.

@libbybakalar @nytimes We are witnessing the collapse of democracy in real time. We have been since the back lash in the 80’s to the civil rights movement, Clinton’s hollowing out of governement, Tea Party movement, populist energy of 2016 across the spectrum. In 4 years our “norms” may be gone.

@PamKeithFL On the planet where people, especially people under 45, are hurting economically and Dems don’t have a plan for that while Trump is the “change” candidate. I get that things will get worse under Trump, but perception is what wins elections in cases like this.

We saw record turnout of Gen Z and millennial voters, but somehow Dem lost 20 million votes from 2020? On what planet does that make sense?

@cafedujord @abiggerinfinity Missouri voted for abortion rights, higher minimum wage and paid sick leave. CO dems also campaigned on very “leftist” economic messaging and OVER performed. Harris ignored the pain people are feeling in a climate where corporate greed continues to run unchecked.

@abiggerinfinity Given the way the liberal/progressive left seems to have been blown out all over the country, I really don't think that would have helped much if at all

Unlike in 2016 I genuinely don't know what she could have done differently, and that's really hard to take

@devon_cantwell Right there with you. This is a nightmare. A disaster I see coming in slow motion but have no power to stop it.

I had a bad feeling that we were headed towards a Trump victory and this just feels 100x worse than 2016. I don’t think folks are ready for the scale of disaster we are getting ready to brace for on all fronts.

wild to think if bernie sanders won in 2016 how different the state of this country would be right now