President Donald Trump

Your solution for nearly every problem is for federal troops to imprison or murder people, shut the **** up about "decentralization," you fascist jizzmopper.

I didn't assume you were. I know where you're coming from, and I don't totally disagree. But I think right now, Republicans have their underbellies showing (and they are big), and we need someone to go in for the kill. I don't see anyone else on the democratic tix capable or actively doing that effectively, other than Newsom.

Do you love NYC? Do you think an amazing state like that should be so easily dismissed by calling it, "elite"? Or how about re-framing it as a model for modern societies? That's where we need to head imho... not live in fear of the corner right-wing politics has painted democratic states and ideas as.

No more fear. We need to be proud. The data is in my friend... they are better ideas, and they work better and create better communities w/ more opportunity for everyone. That's why they thrive. We shouldn't be cowering from this, but embracing it and talking about it all the time.

Nope it isn't. My solution for the fertility problem is to accept it and stay out of it because nothing constitutional can be done for it.

My solution for people not reading enough books is to accept it

My solution for trolls like you in social media is to accept they exist

My solution for people putting pineapple on pizza is to accept it

My solution for AI being potentially lethal for all of humanity is to accept it

My solution for climate change is to accept it

My solution for the vast majority of problems, risks and so on is to accept them and deal with them privately without limiting anyone *negative rights*

It's only when facing direct violence from someone else (and that includes violence against property) that i ask for violence to be used to fix it. Your problem is your side is exceptionally violent so you feel like the solution to fix your side violence is fascist. Which it isn't. It's just the normal reaction we should have against violence.

FWIW, I am not advocating for just running it back on the Democratic platform and strategy of ten years ago. If I were to give a general prescription for the Democratic party, it would be:

1. Devote far more resources to local politics for the next 20 years. A lot of the harm that we are seeing now is the result of Democrats being outworked for decades at the local and state levels.
2. Focus far more heavily on economic issues. Do everything you can to reclaim your status as the party that cares about the working class.
3. Run younger politicians at the national level. No exceptions. Back it up by pushing issues like mandatory retirement ages for presidents and SCOTUS justices.
4. Dramatically improve social media engagement. Whatever you think about AOC's policies, people like her do a far better job of forging connections with voters through a variety of media than the old dinosaurs do.
5. Run candidates at the national level who are willing to be exceptionally blunt. Don't worry if that bluntness appears rude or intemperate. Don't try and convince people that they can have everything without sacrificing anything. It's a recipe for underdelivering.
6. Go big on infrastructure repair and development.
7. Don't give up on states that seem unwinnable at the moment. States realign politically more rapidly than most people imagine. People like to vote in the same way as their neighbors.
8. Ditch any connection to Hollywood. Don't fish for celebrity endorsements. They don't work.

I certainly am not in favor of implicitly endorsing GOP narratives about coastal elites. But I also don't want to ignore the political sentiment in the country to the detriment of winning elections. I don't think you have to nominate Gavin Newsom in order to take on bullshit narratives about coastal elites.

Just some AI Fyi's I just punched in. I asked gpt5 if there are any red states, that outperform the AVERAGE blue state in quality of life, life expectancy, education, health outcomes, infrastructure, cost of living, and the economy.

Answer:
No red state currently outperforms the average blue state across all of those dimensions.

Why?
1. Life Expectancy & Health

Life expectancy is consistently lower in red states than in blue states.

States like Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma anchor the bottom of national rankings for obesity, diabetes, and infant mortality.

Even stronger red states like Utah or Idaho lag behind the top blue states (Hawaii, California, Massachusetts, Minnesota) in health outcomes and life span.

2. Education

Blue states dominate higher-education attainment. Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut are at the top in bachelor’s and advanced degrees.

Red states like Mississippi have improved K–12 outcomes (“Mississippi Miracle”😉, but they still don’t surpass blue states across the board in graduation rates, college readiness, or adult degree levels.

3. Economy & Infrastructure

Some red states (Utah, Texas) shine in economic growth and fiscal stability.

But when you fold in infrastructure quality (roads, transit, environmental sustainability) and median household income adjusted for cost of living, blue states overall still average higher.

4. Quality of Life / Human Development Index

A 2023 Journal of the American Medical Association analysis showed that blue states have higher “state human development” scores (life expectancy, income, education combined).

The red–blue gap has widened since 2000, largely due to healthcare policy differences (like Medicaid expansion and public health investment).

So some can excel in one area or the other, but combined metrics, they all suck compared to the blue state AVERAGE.

But what does AI know?

I think this is the part you're missing though. You're falling prey to exactly the thing that gets someone like Trump, and similar conservatives elected. They lean in to their platform unabashedly, for better or worse... and it's worse... quantitatively so.

This is what Newsom is understanding and embracing. These guys want alpha's right? Or someone who at least pretends to be one like Trump. Cowering away from your successes is what losses the respect of voters... that's part of what this current climate should be teaching you.

If you have provably better ideas... and you're losing... then you need to fix the perception, right? You need to be the aggressor on what defines red and blue states, and conservatives have done a masterful job of hiding their failures and creating caricatures of blue states.

If blue states are so much better than red states, why are americans voting with their feet to move out of blue states into red states? ask gpt 5 that

I don't think framing these sorts of issues in a comparative way (blue states v. red states) is an effective way to appeal to red state voters, many of whom are super sensitive to what they view as condescension. "Your state is here, but it should be here (raises hand)" is a better way to frame the message.

people living in red states don't consider poors (especially of other ethnicities) living in the same state as a measure of any "failure" on their side. Nor they care about life expectancy for them, or education, or income.

Evaluating the performance of a state by basically how much it invests on it's worst residents is already claiming an ultra-collectivist approach that isn't shared by a lot of people in the USA.

What non-leftist people care about is "how can a decent hardworking person do in that place"? they do NOT care if the drug addict wife beater dies sooner, they are probably happy if he does die sooner.

Why? We all the answer is going to be cost of living.

Cost of living is the main issue, as the federal government has allowed foreign entities to buy up unlimited property, and these REI groups buying up all the blue state properties to airbnb or rent. It's a serious problem that need to be addressed, I agree. But the issue is the demand is the highest in blue states.

I can tell you, literally every single person I've known that has moved from the blue state to a red state, regrets it... and has only done so because they can't afford it. And I mean, every single person, many of which eventually moved back.

I wasn't suggesting to frame it as a vs situation... definitely not. But democrats need to lean into their success.

Do you acknowledge they historically haven't been doing this? They've allowed conservatives to frame their successes as failures.

This is not remotely responsive to what I wrote. I also am skeptical of your soul read on how people in red states think. I grew up in one of those states, and I don't feel like I could speak as confidently on that point as you feel you can.

I agree that Democrats should not fall prey to apologizing for American cities, Ivy League universities, etc., as if they are some sort of disaster.

I think pointing to new things as future successes is more likely to be effective than pointing to past initiatives as historical successes. That's why I cited infrastructure investment as a valuable component of future Democratic platforms.

Lucy knows everything, though... all from Italy.

Both sides of my family are conservative and many now live in red states. My wife's family is from S. Carolina, and most live in Texas now, which I have to begrudgingly go to at least once a year. And every year I have to hear them talk **** about CA, while their power goes out and their generators kick in... I mean literally, this has happened in the middle of dinner convos because their horrible energy infrastructure gets overloaded. It's funny AF.

So you can’t name a single thing I “cheer” for? It should be easy if it’s meme-worthy. Go on.

I’ve lived in SF, NYC, and have now spent a decade in TX. We moved primarily to be close to my wife’s family, but the cost of living aspect was the a big driver.

On a day to day basis it is appreciably cheaper. But there’s a lot of stuff that you don’t think about that adds up. Schools suck, so gotta to private. Zero zoning or community services so your house/neighborhood is more likely to get ****ed up and you gotta fix it yourself. My wife had a miscarriage at one point, and the procedure to remove the fetus was coded as an abortion, and the insurer isn’t allowed to pay for those in TX, so I got a 75K bill out of nowhere 9 months later that I had to spend countless hours fighting.

Anyways, point is that the upfront costs are lower but I feel like all the negatives of shitty underfunded local and state public services end up overrunning that, keep poor people on the verge of ruin.

Well the list written by the AI / freakdaddy points to the failure to expand medicaid right? that's pretty much what you need to know to gauge my soulread?

Legislatures keep voting not to extend medicaid, even if 90% of those costs would be paid by the federal government, and the politicians voting for that keep getting re-elected.

What else do you need to prove that the median voter there really doesn't give the slightest **** about helping non disabled / non minor poors?

Sorry about your wife's miscarriage, and that's awful it's handled that way.

But yes... this is pretty much exactly what I hear across the board. Cheaper, but once you have to use a public service, you start to appreciate blue state models. My wife's parents moved from CA (san diego) to just outside of Houston to retire. Cost of living being the main driver. But they had to use health services there frequently, and some other public services, and complained to no end how bad it was.

But you can shoot real tanks in Texas, so.... it all evens out.

omg you buy into every conspiracy you read really

Thanks. This seems like a fair and honest assessment.

So life in red states is just great if we disregard poverty, drug addiction, and the plight of various people Lucio considers undesirable.

Education, violent crime, life expectancy, and so on...

What I stated is a fact.

Name one conspiracy I've bought in to. I think my facts are starting to get to you, as usual, and you're projecting.