First, one encouraging thing I find in coming to DBIS is the comments of Healthcliffe.  He is like our elder statesman and he continues to maintain optimism in our collective long haul.  I hope for morsels of that sort of optimism to enter my own life in more worthwhile endeavors at some point as we all move forward.

Now, here is the troubling question I have:

After the Nov elections, there were pundits, pols, and other observers that kept making comments about how Democrats need to learn to "talk" to rural people.    This is what gets me to my troubling question - just how do 74 million people willing to follow Donald Trump need to be talked to?  I mean, how does a political party address that many people of whom are so willing to follow someone like Donald Trump?

Do Democrats and Progressives need to lie and make shit up to this group of people that bought a whole line of bullshit from Trump and his people?  I mean, how do you speak to, or do you even want to speak to, a crowd that finds nothing wrong with a white supremacist that drives over a young woman protesting white supremacy? 

Or, how do Democrats and Progressives speak to a crown that misbelieves science and facts?  Do they lie more or lie better? 

Yes, Dems won the White House and kept the House, but think of it - what would have happened if say the asshole factor within Donald Trump was cut in half (you know, say he was fifty percent less of an asshole than he actually is)?  My point is, if Donald Trump had been a minimally different President, the Dems and Progressives could have, and most likely would have, been pulverized in the Nov elections.  

I mean, my belief is that Donald Trump lost because of Donald Trump and the people that voted against Donald Trump because of who he is - this includes, first time voters, Republicans, disgusted Republicans, and many good people that voted for him the first time, but while also voting against him, still chose to vote Republican down-ballot. 

So my point is, the ONLY reason Biden/Harris received more votes was because of Trump being an asshole and Dems dodged only dodged a bigger loss because of that and to me, they hugely missing the point of this past election and it's not doing them any good to shun the Progressive wing of the Dem party at all.

So my trouble comes from,  is there really any positive and worthwhile way to communicate with 74 million people that support Donald Trump? Especially after these 74 million people were able to observe Donald Trump as president for four years.