dems didn’t snuff the issue out and kept pandering to the trans community as if they had any legitimacy or reasonable political demands. At no point should dems have allowed the sports thing to continue. It’s a core violation of the normie coalition.
The thing about the trans issue is that it’s like finding out mid-argument that someone thinks the earth is flat. At that point, it supersedes any other ability for you to take the other person seriously or value their opinion in any way to reach common ground if they refute such a fundamental aspect of reality by even entertaining such a ludicrous thought. It pollutes your credibility in irreparable ways.
Nope, I hear your POV but there was no significant way blunt the issue without throwing trans folk under the bus. Harris did not make that a central or even peripheral issue during her campaign as she explicitly moved center in after the debate. Right-wing media nonstop made it, immigration, and economy a focus that did not stop because a Democrat countered it.
Immigration: Trump publicly torpedoed a bipartisan bill crafted by a lifelong hardcore republican and STILL Dems got blamed. Crossings went down, Republicans still yelled about them being high. Crime is at decade lows but Republicans still ran with it.
The most damning ad, the “they/them vs us” commercial quoted a 2018 interview and did not include any context. Its ok to admit that the echo chambers won this round and the only way to get around it is a stronger leftist media because the right has podcasts, terrestrial radio, and major media arms who are lockstep. They are not big tent. While Kamala's talking about 30 different subjects, Trump could scream about migrants eating pets and no amount of pushback got it out of the collective consciousness. Trans issues were used in place of a real platform. They didnt know how well it would work hence “there is cheating in PA” Truth Social post. There was no way to know that something so idiotic and easily disproven would actually make a difference to so much of the electorate. Misinformation and disinformation is stronger than ever, and people can make up their own news and never accept the possibility of getting the truth.