Rightwing playbooks used in past election campaigns are being dusted off for an all-out assault on the vice-president
For Barack Obama there was “birtherism” and a name they said sounded like a specific Middle East terrorist. For Hillary Clinton there was “Lock her up” and merchandise that said, “Trump that bitch”, “Hillary sucks but not like Monica” and “Life’s a bitch: don’t vote for one.”
Rightwing playbooks deployed in past election campaigns are being dusted off for an all-out assault against Vice-President Kamala Harris, the de facto Democratic nominee aiming to become the first Black woman and first person of south Asian descent to be US president.
“It’s obvious that the Republicans are going to play the race and gender card, which we’ve seen already in some of the attacks on social media,” said Tara Setmayer, a Black woman who is co-founder and chief executive of the Seneca Project, a women-led super political action committee. “It may be catnip for their Maga base but it will be a turnoff for the moderate voters in the battleground states that will determine this election.”
I mean democrats categorically support unions, support reproductive rights, support protecting the environment… They do have a platform that isn’t “not Republican”. It’s just that republicans know their platform (project 2025 really) is so wildly unpopular they have to focus not on that, they have to focus on tearing down the opposing candidate.
In terms of helping the working class: taxing the wealthy and wealthy corporations more will help the working class. Improving access to low cost / affordable healthcare will help the working class. Having strong unions will help the working class.
The problem is that “access to low cost / affordable healthcare” is such a limp dick policy. Yeah, I can “afford” healthcare, but it still costs me thousands of dollars every year and I’m tied to my employer for it. Then I’m still not getting very good care and I have a chronic mental health disorder. That cop just executed that schizophrenic woman in Illinois and I’ve been arrested and mistreated due to my own mental health. Nobody is helping people like me and her. Local jails are filled with people who are there because of the lack of mental healthcare. I’m lucky that I get to see a p-doc for 5 minutes a month without paying full price. Full price is $200 per visit, just to get a refill on a prescription that makes me feel like shit all the time. I got my appointment mixed up one time and couldn’t get a refill until I saw the doc a week later and had to restart on a lower dosage. Nobody wanted to help me get a refill, I talked to multiple people at the office and at the pharmacy and couldn’t get it and kept getting different answers from different people. The doctor told me I should have came in to see him without the appointment. I was afraid to do that because I didn’t want to get kicked out and lose access to my doctor. The healthcare system in this country is a mess and a joke due to shitty scum sucking MBAs taking over every aspect of it. They’re working for the private healthcare industry and doing nothing to help us.