Even if they Pod Save libs *are right* (big if) that anti-trans sentiment swung the election, the idea that we should abandon justice when it’s unpopular is so repugnant and regressive I can’t even get my mind around it. We fight for justice because it’s right, not because it’s popular.
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I don't know if some people are just too young to remember or what.
None of their “warnings” have turned out to be true, why should we believe them now?
Certainly the Trump campaign exploited transphobia.
But when did Pos Save suggest that the appropriate response is to abandon trans people?
I suspect he will comment on the reaction his words have gotten.
Dem leadership doesn't realize how spineless and insincere this kind of talk makes them look.
And a lot of this conversation is about messaging foundations.
One banner might be "normalize transness everywhere", another might be "everyone should be able to live their life as they want even if it's weird to you."
Which one wins?
As Hasan has pointed out, you can also often find surveys that display seemingly opposed sentiments.
Just taking some survey at face value, and imagining that it defines an issue like a chisel in stone is just plain stupid and malfeasance.
And it's not like voters are lying about this.
"Trump is for you, Harris is for (they)/them" IS A CLASSIC ECONOMY AD disguised as an anti-trans ad.
It needed a good response, not abandonment of anyone.
And on the technical side, so frustrating to watch another cycle of "GOP lie which is also a perilous trap" not get disarmed & dismantled.
Like, yeah -- Reality-based messaging is harder. But it is doable & 100% crucial.
If she caves, she also looks weak.
She may not have chosen this ground to fight on. A lot of Dem consultants think they can just ignore Rep attack ads. But they can't.
Gore, Kerry, Hillary Clinton, and Kamala Harris were all done in by attack campaigns.
I know limited time & too much to do was a HUGE problem, but that ad was counterable.
They stir up sentiment/policy and it easier for people to attack and demonize Trans people, which makes good people go on the offensive-defense, which then gets spun by bad faith media as neglecting "important" concerns.
"always wrong"
Your last point is spot on - what if the abolitionists had given up?
What do you do about the fact that voters don’t understand prices don’t return to pre-inflation levels without a painful recession?
This is why the coverage of the Bud Light boycott pissed me off. Every time someone wrote “Bud Light misstep” without including “didn’t realise their customers include a large number of bigots” I wanted to scream.
https://glaad.org/lgbtq-candidates-win-in-texas-despite-cruzs-anti-equality-reelection/
What could Democrats do?
Now there was that ad with the “paid surgeries in prison” thing. That was damaging
Pointing out that it's fucking weird to be this fixated on strangers' genitals and anatomy was a great message. What happened to that?
I - and many of my friends - are quite certain that misogyny and racism swung the election. No one is saying we should abandon women and POC though.
That matches what they were saying right up to the election.
Not saying you're wrong, btw. 🌷