Republican strategists focus on what Republican voters want. So do Democratic strategists.

As I blogged about back in June, the media seem to let the Republicans set the issues for the presidential election: Clinton’s emails, Gore’s inauthenticity, Biden’s age. The media are complicit — they lost any interest in email security when the Felon got into office — but I think Democratic centrists play a role too.

Since the 1990s, the mantra from one part of the party has been that Republican voters are winnable. All we have to do is meet them where they’re at. Respect their deep feelings on traditional gender roles and abortion. Stop talking about LGBTQ issues. Then they’ll listen when we talk about economic issues and we’ll win them over!

Currently the Felon has record unpopularity levels. Taking a stand against his policies seems like a winner. But some centrist consulting firm says no, be bipartisan, reach across the aisle. Prioritize kitchen table issues (just not the way Mamdani does) and support the Republican budget if they eliminate the cuts to ACA subsidies, an issue that Republican voters support. We get something for the public, Republicans get enough yes votes to avert a shutdown.

This is dubious on multiple levels. While a shutdown is bad, funding the Felon’s power grab is bad; if we do, we’d better get a lot for it. And what’s to stop the Felon’s administration from simply refusing to authorize the money? I can imagine Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s shocked face — we had a deal! How could we possibly have anticipated Republicans would backstab us?

As I’ve said before, collaborating with tyrants works out well … for the tyrant. “Democracy rarely dies in a single moment. It is chipped away via abdication: rationalizations and compromises as those with power and influence tell themselves that yielding just a little ground will keep them safe or that finding common ground with a disrupter is more practical than standing against him.” If we’re going to do it, at a minimum demand something big.

For another example there’s the Third Way, a centrist Democratic think tank. Recently it released a list of words Dems shouldn’t say because people don’t like them. That “woke,” “critical race theory” and “birthing person” aren’t Dem catchphrases, they’re shit Republicans say Democrats say, doesn’t matter. The result is that Third Way is confirming whatever negative image of Democrats these phrases generate. It’s like saying “Democrats should stop putting litterboxes in schools for furries!” when that never happened.

Some of this is the idea that white male Republican voters matter more. Some of it is undoubtedly that the centrists don’t like ideas to the left of them, even if the public does. Some of it is that a lot of pols and consultants are timid, and think avoiding any policy people dislike is safest. And some of it is that for some Dems — not all — throwing minorities under the bus to win an election seems perfectly reasonable.

It isn’t. As I’ve said before, it’s not just that “they came for the trans people, then they stopped” is not how things play out, ever, it’s that even if they did stop, leaving trans people vulnerable to someone like Ronny Jackson is profoundly wrong. And once we start culling the herd of anyone we think is a political liability — well, that won’t end well.

In other political links:

“Peronism became a cautionary tale of how not to manage an economy. President Donald Trump seems to have misunderstood the lesson.”

“Its incredibly frustrating to realize how dumb and naive most of our country is, and how easy it is to manipulate them for profit or political gain.“

“It’s not common for states to work together. But Democrats at the state level have their shit together much more than they do in Congress and so we are starting to see some positive steps. It has to happen if we want anything decent to survive at all.“

“We don’t even need to care about each other to improve everyone’s lives. We just need to stop actively spending on harm that benefits nobody.”

Republicans are punching down at woke Tom Hanks.

Trump loves the smell of napalm in the morning. More broadly he’s a chickenhawk who loves the image of himself as a dangerous warrior.

“175 more weeks to go. What are you doing?”