You can’t win the heart of America being a self righteous elitist polishing your own halo. You need to be a loudmouth bully sucker punching for the protections of the marginalized.
Barely three weeks in, a CNN/ORC poll put Puppet Trump’s approval rating at a record low: 44% approve and 53% disapprove. To liberals, the idea that 44% of Americans think Trump is doing a good job is shocking: “Who in their right mind can believe that buffoon is doing a good job?! Who the hell are these people?”
These people are in their right mind, or rather, they are the right mind. 90% of republicans – and 10% of democrats – told the pollsters they approve of Donald J. Trump and his inept administration. Many like his style and agree with his executive orders because, “he’s doing what he said he’d do.”
The lesson: Americans, and particularly republicans, like loudmouth strongmen. Millions of us enjoy watching Kellyanne Conway calling Clinton a Loser, and think being cruel is the same as being strong. The Republican Party – roughly half of this country – likes bully behavior and attitude. An empty head with a boastful swagger is the very definition of an American*. Until democrats understand that, they will never win close elections in purple districts, never change the hue of the political map, nor the tone of our nation’s rhetoric.
Human evolution hasn’t caught up with Humanity’s
While POLITUSIC believes Puppet Trump represents the reversal of Humanity’s evolution, we don’t believe humans are necessarily evolved. We fill our guts, vacate our bowels, and have sex in between (if we’re lucky). For 99% of the human population… that’s about the extent of the lifeline. On a good day, 1% of the human race are truly benevolent; the rest of us who occasionally perform good deeds are just hedging our bets for an afterlife.
Humans are unbelievably** creative, but that doesn’t make us evolved. At the end of the day, we love a good explosion, a good fight, a juicy steak, and an attractive mate. Our motivations are far more base than democrats care to admit or cater – and that’s why they keep losing elections.
We are primates, and while America boasts the best technology, we are one of the most primitive civilizations because of how we choose to use it.
Americans don’t behead our enemies (but we do imprison and inject our people). We claim to treat women equally, and in most areas we have drinkable water. But we don’t trust our fellow man any further than we can throw him. We arm and barricade against the dangers of our own imagination, and are willing to shoot the first unrecognizable face that approaches our deadbolted door.
In the last 4000 years Humanity has evolved significantly, but humans have not. Technology and technique have grown, but human desires, fears, and instincts have pretty much stayed the same. “Liberal elites” struggle to be in tune with Humanity, while Trump voters are spending more time being in touch with humanness.
Americans like to blow sh*t up
It’s what we do best.
Liberals respond by announcing that they are “more refined” than that. Progressives like to think they’ve reached a higher level of existence, and therefore see moral degradation in primal things like going to war and sucker punching protesters.
If you fancy yourself more evolved than the 44% of people who think Trump is doing a good job, then that’s your right – but that attitude sure as hell won’t win back Congress. “They” are just as American as you are, and someone has to get everyone to sit at the same table. As is life, America is messy, confusing, and full of people telling Sweet Little Lies to one another so they feel better about the process. Trump supporters aren’t going to “come around” simply because elitist liberals keep pointing their fingers at trifles like facts and bad policies. People, particularly American people, want their senses tickled: shock and Awe, sexy ladies, and fire balls.
Americans like war.
For many, war is the only exercise of strength and power they will have in their entire lifetime. It makes us feel strong and it turns us on. It is the only alpha experience most will ever have. That’s why the GOP turned politics into a war and the opposition an enemy. But your America, my America, their America – they’re all part of one big mess: America – and it will remain in constant ideological polarization unless democrats get over themselves and start acknowledging not just the humanity in us, but the humanness.
Democrats can’t win without tapping humanness, not just humanity
NASCAR, MMA, NFL, and PUCs*** – if liberals can’t understand how those cornerstones of American culture are a turn on to our humanness – and exploit that experience in elections – then we’ll be stuck with a GOP controlled Congress for a very long time.
Thanks to Puppet Trump, democrats now have at least one base emotion on their side: anger. Anger brought the Tea Party to Washington, and in 2018 it will bring a handful of progressives to Congress. Anger isn’t enough to overcome gerrymandered districts, however. To do that, democrats need a bigger and more vigorous base by understanding – and accepting – the things that actually motivate a gaggle of human beings.
Liberals can promote education, empathy, and equality until their last dying breath (I hope they do), but you can’t sell a product without first sparking a base emotion with its packaging. If democrats want to win elections, they cannot forget that Americans like explosions, strongmen and loudmouths. It’s part of our DNA. Americans want fame and admiration. Americans want wealth; we secretly want to know what it feels like to step on someone else on our way up the economic ladder. We want to know in our insides that we are Better Than those around us – Americans have mastered how to be self righteous without ever being righteous.
The challenge is therefore clear, and it isn’t easy: expand empathy and benevolence by appealing to base humanness: adrenaline, ego, and greed. You can’t win the heart of America being a self righteous elitist polishing your own halo. You need to be a loudmouth bully sucker punching for the protections of the marginalized.
It’s the afterlife argument at the foundation of most religions. It’s praised on Sundays, but once you get outside the sanctuary and into the toil of day-to-day… it proves to be a wicked hard sell.
*Just ask any European. back
**To borrow Sean Spicer’s favorite word. back
***Pinup calendars. back
