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David Shor’s Unified Theory of American Politics

nymag.com

11–20 of 79 posts

Re: David Shor’s Unified Theory of American Politics

#11
post #2

> And I think the real synthesis of these views is that Obama-to-Trump voters are motivated by racism. Hmm. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/18/opinion/biden-latino-vote... > We began by asking eligible voters how “convincing” they found a dog-whistle message lifted from Republican talking points... Almost three out of five white respondents judged the message convincing. More surprising, exactly the same percentage o…

Trump is obviously racist and divisive.

Curious that you're downvoted without comment. I was hoping some of your detractors would've explained why they think you're wrong.

As an outsider to the US bunfight, your statement seems, based on what we see, pretty self-evident.

Re: David Shor’s Unified Theory of American Politics

#12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump is obviously racist and divisive.

Which group(s) do you assert he is racist towards? As a White formerly-enthusiastic-supporter, I would now consider Trump the most openly racist anti-White president in US history. His promises of securing the border have been entirely unfulfilled (he even promised more immigration than ever in the face of a rapidly declining and disenfranchised White population); his contributions to Israel from the predominantly-Wh…

What in the god damn was that.

1) Stop capitalising "white". 2) "little old White women are prohibited from attending church" - [citation needed] 3) "popularisation of "Karen" racist dialogue" - how is this racist?

Re: David Shor’s Unified Theory of American Politics

#13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump is obviously racist and divisive.

Which group(s) do you assert he is racist towards? As a White formerly-enthusiastic-supporter, I would now consider Trump the most openly racist anti-White president in US history. His promises of securing the border have been entirely unfulfilled (he even promised more immigration than ever in the face of a rapidly declining and disenfranchised White population); his contributions to Israel from the predominantly-Wh…

This comment lives in an alternative reality. Calling someone a Karen is racist? Please.

Re: David Shor’s Unified Theory of American Politics

#14
post #3
post #2

> And I think the real synthesis of these views is that Obama-to-Trump voters are motivated by racism. Hmm. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/18/opinion/biden-latino-vote... > We began by asking eligible voters how “convincing” they found a dog-whistle message lifted from Republican talking points... Almost three out of five white respondents judged the message convincing. More surprising, exactly the same percentage o…

Yes that’s one of Shor’s weak er arguments. Shor is a self-described progressive who wants to help elect Democrats. He’s mostly useful as a critic of the left from the centre. His “facts don’t care about your feelings” rebuttals of leftist fantasies are incredibly useful to both the centre and the left. (This also got him fired on the first day of Floyd protests when he posted research showing that the riots will bac…

he didn't even post the research - he re-tweeted the research of a black academic that showed that violent protests are less successful that non-violent ones. His firing was a travesty.

Re: David Shor’s Unified Theory of American Politics

#15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which group(s) do you assert he is racist towards? As a White formerly-enthusiastic-supporter, I would now consider Trump the most openly racist anti-White president in US history. His promises of securing the border have been entirely unfulfilled (he even promised more immigration than ever in the face of a rapidly declining and disenfranchised White population); his contributions to Israel from the predominantly-Wh…

What in the god damn was that. 1) Stop capitalising "white". 2) "little old White women are prohibited from attending church" - [citation needed] 3) "popularisation of "Karen" racist dialogue" - how is this racist?

Many people and even some mainstream outlets capitalise "Black" but deliberately avoid doing so for "white", including in a HN post within the last 24h. If they insist on making this petty distinction, I'll happily play along.

Re: David Shor’s Unified Theory of American Politics

#16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by demographic destiny? I assume that means something like, over time the demographic makeup of society will come to look more and more like "college-educated coastal progressives"? Do people really believe that? If so, that is hard to believe. "College-educated coastal progressives" tend to have few or no children compared to the "majority of the country". It would seem the demographic makeup will g…

> What do you mean by demographic destiny? Presumably he means the same thing CNN means by it. https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/01/politics/election-2020-trump-... (emphasis mine): “It happened four years ago when Donald Trump scored an Electoral College victory with his turn-back-the-clock campaign to Make America Great Again. He'll have trouble pulling it off again. That's partly because the pace of demographic change k…

I love how acceptable it is to brag about how eventually white people in the US will be outpopulated by non-white people who we assume will all vote Democrat. How would the reaction be if the mainstream media was bragging about white people outbirthing Mexicans in Mexico and soon taking over their politics?

Note: I'm not white btw so don't @ me, just making an observation

Re: David Shor’s Unified Theory of American Politics

#17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which group(s) do you assert he is racist towards? As a White formerly-enthusiastic-supporter, I would now consider Trump the most openly racist anti-White president in US history. His promises of securing the border have been entirely unfulfilled (he even promised more immigration than ever in the face of a rapidly declining and disenfranchised White population); his contributions to Israel from the predominantly-Wh…

What in the god damn was that. 1) Stop capitalising "white". 2) "little old White women are prohibited from attending church" - [citation needed] 3) "popularisation of "Karen" racist dialogue" - how is this racist?

I wouldn't personally call it racist or sexist (as I've seen the term used for both men and women and of different races). However the logic works like this:

Tyrone is a internet stereotype of a thuggish blackman. The stereotype of Tyrone is considered by some to be racist (probably quite rightly). Karen is a stereotypical entitled white woman. So if calling someone a Tyrone is racist, therefore calling a woman a Karen is also racist.

Not saying I agree with any of it. But that is my understanding of how the logic works.

Re: David Shor’s Unified Theory of American Politics

#18
post #2

> And I think the real synthesis of these views is that Obama-to-Trump voters are motivated by racism. Hmm. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/18/opinion/biden-latino-vote... > We began by asking eligible voters how “convincing” they found a dog-whistle message lifted from Republican talking points... Almost three out of five white respondents judged the message convincing. More surprising, exactly the same percentage o…

I think this sort of response to the interview misses the forest for the trees.

This is the best article on elections I have ever read. When I first read it I felt for the first time I understood how the game is scored. These two quotes stand out and are what matter:

> Persuadable voters trust the parties on different issues. And there’s a pretty basic pattern — both here and in other countries — in which voters view center-left parties as empathetic. Center-left parties care about the environment, lowering poverty, improving race relations. And then, you know, center-right parties are seen as more “serious,” or more like the stern dad figure or something. They do better on getting the economy going or lowering unemployment or taxes or crime or immigration.

> So I think Democrats need to talk about the issues they are with us on, and try really hard not to talk about the issues where we disagree. Which, in practice, means not talking about immigration.

That's the game for both sides: Talk about issues non-partisan voters trust and/or agree with your side on, and avoid the opposite.

Simple in theory. Impossibly hard in practice.

Re: David Shor’s Unified Theory of American Politics

#19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which group(s) do you assert he is racist towards? As a White formerly-enthusiastic-supporter, I would now consider Trump the most openly racist anti-White president in US history. His promises of securing the border have been entirely unfulfilled (he even promised more immigration than ever in the face of a rapidly declining and disenfranchised White population); his contributions to Israel from the predominantly-Wh…

This comment lives in an alternative reality. Calling someone a Karen is racist? Please.

It depends how you define racism! According to "Defining Racism" by Beverly Daniel Tatum, it isn't. But in other interpretations of the word, it would be. I don't think it's far fetched to assume it might rightfully feel like a racist slur to the grand-parent.

Whether racism or not, it's probably an -ism of some sort. Despite disagreeing with the GP, at least their painting of "Karen" as an -ism gave me pause and made me consider that usage again. In truth, it's probably not a great and useful practice in discourse. e.g; do you believe calling someone a Karen will increase your chances of reconciling with them or coming to a favorable outcome with that person?

Re: David Shor’s Unified Theory of American Politics

#20
post #2

> And I think the real synthesis of these views is that Obama-to-Trump voters are motivated by racism. Hmm. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/18/opinion/biden-latino-vote... > We began by asking eligible voters how “convincing” they found a dog-whistle message lifted from Republican talking points... Almost three out of five white respondents judged the message convincing. More surprising, exactly the same percentage o…

Trump is obviously racist and divisive.

I mean... I thought so in 2016, but four years later, I simply do not believe this. There is no evidence to support this. He has constantly condemned white supremacy. He obviously is a nationalist, but for America, being a multi-racial nation, saying one is a nationalist does not mean you are a racist.

Trump has delivered insane results for minority groups, and has done things even supposed 'progressive' candidates wouldn't do. All this has convinced me that the man is clearly not a racist, despite constant claims otherwise.

Also, I suppose I am somewhat immune to the racism claims against trump. My parents are immigrants, as is my entire family. My parents were the first ones on the Trump bandwagon in 2016, followed by the rest of my family. I thought they had gone off their rocker and thought the man was nuts, despite being a Republican leaning voter. I voted against him in 2016. I thought he was clearly a racist and would hurt immigrants, like my uncle. However, Trump became president, and my uncle's case suddenly went faster. All this talk about how he was delaying immigration simply didn't pan out for anyone in my family. My uncle became a citizen a few years ago, and now the entire family is voting Trump. My sister-in-law (who is Hispanic) is also voting Trump, along with a bunch of her family. They didn't 4 years ago.

Funnily, enough, most of my friends growing up (who are mostly non-white) are either Trump voters or are okay with Trump (like they do not believe people who vote for him are racist). I do have friends who believe that all Trump voters are nuts, and they are mostly the white friends I made in my super-elite college. I do have non-white friends from college who are also against Trump, but given how few non-whites there are in elite colleges to begin with, that's the minority for me.. Even more amazingly, despite my own immigrant family and my sister-in-law's supporting Trump, the only family I have that is rabidly anti-Trump are my white relatives (who are more highly educated than anyone in my non-white family, I suppose).

The fact is Hacker News and most of these elite media outlets cater to an audience of mostly white, educated, coastal liberals. Their experiences do not match the reality of every day Americans, including black and brown and immigrant ones. I would not be surprised to see massive black and brown turnout for Trump. Perhaps not majorities, but enough to give the democrats real cause for concern.

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