I have my issues with Sen. John Fetterman these days. He’s certainly marching to his own drummer. But he’s right about one thing: Democrats need to chill out about their “rebrand” or whatever the hell they are obsessing over today. It’s premature, tiresome, probably unnecessary (at least to the extent they seem to think it is, Trump didn’t win a landslide and his coattails were pathetic. Dems turned more House seats than they did!)
Anyway, the NY Times inteviewed him and he has a lot to say, only ;some of which I agree with. He does go on and on about how to appeal to the “bros” which reminds me of earlier laments about how to appeal to “soccer moms” and Nascar Dads.” It’s always somebody that Democrats are allegedly condescending to and looking down on. This time, it seems to me that the “problem” as these guys see it is too much woman stuff. Abortion was a loser and all those women at the convention and a woman nominee as just too much. No more women! It appears to me that Fetterman more or less agrees with that which doesn’t surprise me.
This is the specific part I’m referencing above:
Senator John Fetterman wasn’t in Washington for the first Trump administration. But he has a few ideas about how Democrats should handle the second.
He wants his party to accept its losses. He wants his party to chill out a little. And he wants his party to please stop with all the hot takes about what went wrong in November, since Democrats have four long years to figure it out.
[…]
How do you think the Democratic Party needs to change right now?
I don’t give advice except on fashion. Again, I want to thank your publication for putting me on the best-dressed list, so you understand why I am a fashion plate.
Do Democrats need to do an analysis of what went wrong? And, if so, who should do it?
We’re not even at Thanksgiving, and Democrats just can’t stop losing our minds every fifteen minutes. We really need to pace ourselves, or, you know, for FFS, just grab a grip. Realize that this is how elections go. At least for the next two years, they’re going to have the opportunity to write the narrative and to drive the narrative.
Trump is assembling a cabinet of people many Democrats find deeply objectionable. How do you think Democrats should respond?
I’m just saying, buckle up and pack a lunch, because it’s going to be four years of this. And if you have a choice to freak out, you know, on the hour, then that’s your right. But I will not. I’m not that dude, and I’m not that Democrat. I’m going to pick my fights. If you freak out on everything, you lose any kind of relevance.
Do you think Democrats have done too much freaking out when it comes to Trump?
It’s symbiotic. One feeds off the other. The Democrats can’t resist a freakout, and that must be the wind under the wings for Trump.
It sounds like you want Democrats to be quiet and let Republicans have their own fight.
All I’m saying is, the freakout and all the anxiety and all that should have been before Nov. 5.
Does clutching the pearls so hard — does that change anything? Did it work? Did it change the election? Was it productive? And, like, I can’t believe the outrage. That has to be candy for Trump.
You said Democrats needed to pick their battles. What’s one you’d choose?
I’m not going to pick one before Thanksgiving.
One analysis of the election that we’ve heard from your colleague Senator Bernie Sanders is that Democrats failed to recognize how bad people were feeling about the economy, about the country generally, and failed to name a villain. Do you agree with that analysis?
I do not.
Why?
I think there was a lot of other issues. I would even describe them as cultural. Walk around in Scranton, tell me what an oligarch is. I think it’s like, “Whose argument is the closest match to the kinds of things that are important to me?” And I think some of them are rooted in gender and worldviews, and even backlash of things like cancel culture.
I witness people, now there’s specific kinds of clothing. They call it Blue Collar Patriots. I’m willing to bet you know who they’re voting for.
And why is that? I don’t think it’s because we haven’t talked enough about oligarchs, and how it’s rigged.
What do you think Democrats need to do to bring about the kind of cultural shift you’re talking about?
For a party that’s had way too many bad takes, we should take our time.
This I agree with. I wish everyone would just take a beat and let the data come in and think a little bit. There’s just way too much of everyone (including me) fitting what needs to be done to their priors. We need to let things settle. Focus on immediate problems we may be able to affect, which isn’t much.
We all need to relax for a bit. It’s going to be a long four years.