Members stevenkesslar Posted February 19 Members Posted February 19 I've probably said half a dozen times in posts here that the American media is completely ignoring the fact that while Trump barely won in the US, and is now looting it for his special interest donors like Musk, the exact opposite happened in Mexico. Instead of getting swept out, the incumbent party won in a landslide. Well, now we have a really good article. And it figures it would be in The Nation. Morena and Claudia Sheinbaum Have Kept Up Mexico's Move to the Left Incumbent parties around the world keep losing to upstart challengers. Yet Mexico’s López Obrador defied the trend, handing off his presidency to Sheinbaum. What’s their secret? Quote I think that phrase from López Obrador—“First, the poor”—is fundamental to understanding the need to focus on people’s most basic needs. This is crucial because, without it, people can’t stop worrying about living day to day. I mean, if I have to spend half the month figuring out how to put food on the table or pay the rent, I won’t be able to focus on the rest of my needs. In a nutshell, I think that is their secret. And after we have a really good American looting so that Elon Musk and Trump's special interest right wing donors can be richer still, it could work in the US. That article reinforces things I thought I knew. AMLO focused like a laser on working class kitchen table economics. As the article states, the first thing you do is: NOT TALK. You get money in people's hands. Like senior pensions. That is what AMLO did. Trump is going to do the same thing. He'll blow up the deficit again by rewarding his billionaire special interest donors. I think one of Biden's biggest mistakes was letting those child tax credits that cut child poverty in half for one year die. He should have fought like hell, and talked about it every day. In a period of global high inflation, those tax credits helped tens of millions of working class families every month. AMLO did similar things in Mexico, and look what happened. I read one poll at the time that when the child tax credits ended, voters who had been getting them moved 7 points to the Republican Party. It was one poll. But what all this reinforces is that people want help with basic stuff like buying food. AMLO delivered consistently. Did I mention Republicans plan to cut SNAP and food assistance so they have more money for Musk tax cuts? Smart Republican House members are already warning it will cost them their seat in 2026. Does anyone believe Trump and Musk give a shit, other than trying to figure out how to distract people with bullshit so they don't notice the looting? Sadly, our own Pavlov's dog, @BarknAway, will post 20 TikToks to get his Trump treat. What a good doggy! The first half of the article talks extensively about AMLO's daily press conferences. It may be an interesting lesson in political communication. My bias has always been that results matter, not talk. Get money in people's hands. Put food on their table. You can talk all you want, and if inflation is raging you are still gonna lose. This election to me mostly confirmed that. Young voters who don't own homes and minority working class voters who rent could not help but notice their rent was soaring while they heard about "Bidenomics". This article makes a good case that AMLO's daily communicating to his voters made a difference and built support and loyalty. I buy that. Biden has always sucked at communicating. I think Harris mostly did a good job digging Democrats out of a deep hole in a short time. She almost made it to the top. But she has never been a conviction politician, like Paul Wellstone or Bernie Sanders. Or Donald Trump. Democrats gained one House seat and lost the Presidency by a little more than 1 % nationally. I don't buy the bullshit about how the Democrat Party is dead. Trump won't be able to lie to people when he takes food off their table and loots the government for Musk and his rich donors. What we need more than anything is a messenger who can do what AMLO did. Talk to, and fight for, the working class. Quote
