General Discussion

I'm not saying it's right or that it's wrong. However, I think a lot of insular Dems/liberals/progressives undercount how cumulative small annoyances can be to voters. I have seen several people say stuff along the lines of, "I lean liberal, but X makes me want to vote for the other side just to shut them up." Do you want to know a major reason why Trump won in 2016 (and also seemingly won this time)? Some of it is a genuine backlash to the persistent scolding that they see coming from people who claim to be on the left. If they don't vote for Democrats, then they're suck ups to whites? Or they want to be white? Yeah, good luck getting them to our side by basically calling them race traitors.

Trump is vile in every way. Many people who voted for him like how vile he is. However, if we continue to insist that 100% of these people are Nazis and refuse to listen to their concerns (especially economic concerns), then we will continue to lose elections and ask ourselves why this may be happening. Sorry, but traditionally Democratic voting blocs trending toward Trump/Republicans should be a bright red flag. Should our values become more conservative or bigoted? Absolutely not. However, the constant dismissal and patronizing attitude toward the economic concerns of voters will keep demotivating our side from voting and drive everyone else to the Republicans out of sheer desperation to be heard, even if the Republican party's promises are undoubtedly hollow.

I can't tell if we just genuinely cannot hear ourselves sometimes or if we just think it's completely normal to further insulate ourselves without even looking at someone who has different experiences than us.