Let me be clear — I can’t stand Michael Moore. I really can’t. The myriad documented problems with Bowling for Columbine have been a huge problem for left-oriented credibility for decades. He’s smarmy and self interested and pisses on cornflakes to get media attention.
He also has a very tight bead on the heartbeat of upper Midwest middle America. He called Trump’s victory and named exactly why it would happen — racist, bitter white working class men who felt “left out” and “forgotten”.
He’s sounding the alarm again. Maybe he’s just doing it for attention. Maybe he’s completely wrong. But if the Biden campaign thinks they have the upper Midwest locked up they are 100% wrong. Trump is going to Kenosha for a reason — he thinks he has an in road to flip the script on Wisconsin’s trend, and for my part I think he’s right. Unlike Portland, local BLM-associated protesters are responsible for much of the damage the City has sustained, and it has definitely turned off the residents of the city, and that’s how many of my Democratic or center-left family and friends see it. They’re describing it as Chaos and the suburbs of Kenosha are setting up armed checkpoints at night. The politics of fear is working, because so many Democrats and working class people in Wisconsin listen to right wing talk and Fox News (yes, Democrats). Most of them feel they absolved themselves of their racism having voted once for President Obama. Furthermore, the media hasn’t been covering the daily peaceful marches and speakers, instead completely focusing on the after-curfew conflict and violence. Support for BLM has dropped by 13 points in Wisconsin after the outbreak of resistance following the attempted murder of Jacob Blake and the subsequent terrorist attack the other night that claimed two lives. Trump is turning this race into a referendum on Black Lives Matter, and while that message might meet scorn here and in many places in the country, the key swing states that got him the Oval in the first place are incredibly susceptible to his divisive tactics.
In other words, we are not winning the messaging war in the very same places that cost us 2016. Given the news that congress is going to be frozen out intel briefings on foreign interference in the election, it’s even more important for us to get our candidates out in the battleground states we absolutely must win.
I know — the polls show steady support for Biden. And I know it’s stronger than it was for Clinton. But you cannot — and I’m saying this as someone who grew up in exactly this crucible — you cannot underestimate blue collar Midwestern racism, and the way that Midwesterners will be “nice” about shit like this until they have any small excuse to turn their backs on us. We have to get in there, and we have to spend big, and the candidate has to be out there in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania (at least).
Democrats in congress also have to show real backbone and fight. If upper Midwesterners don’t see you fighting with everything you’ve got, they won’t trust you. They already don’t trust Nancy Pelosi, despite her many successes, because she’s seen as out of touch with the white working class.
I know this is going to sound like Chicken Little, but we ignore this at our own peril. We need these states, and we need them to return a solid, clear message to Trump and the Republican party. I’m donating regularly. I’m phone banking and doing post cards. Are you?
Monday, Aug 31, 2020 · 4:27:50 AM +00:00
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Madisonian
Update — I appreciate all the comments here and rec’s. Thank you. I wanted to say a couple things to folks, in the hopes that you’ll take them to heart.
1 — the people in the comments who are from this or similar areas are telling you the truth, even if it’s hard to hear.
2 — I don’t believe that means protest should stop. Quite the contrary.
3 — I do think, however, that more leadership is needed, and that Biden and Harris have to thread the needle on respecting the pain and outrage and protest of BIPOC people while also reassuring voters turned off by the unfair treatment of these stories in the media. I don’t necessarily know how that works, other than bringing on board Obama speechwriters to make that happen with the sort of hopeful oratory that allowed him to navigate the troubled waters he encountered as President and Candidate.
4 — Fuck the police. Just to be clear. That’s how I feel, but we don’t get to defund anything if we don’t win this election.