And what part of Trump’s policies, in comparison to Harris’, made him the better candidate?
Remember, this has to be phrased in a way that purports to weigh Trump against Harris directly, not in a way that shows how people weren’t jazzed enough to vote for Harris, otherwise my points stand.
For his supporters his talk about attacking “liberals” his racist remarks about “illegals” and wanting to deport not just them but actual Hispanic citizens as well. His claims that he’ll “fix” inflation and improve the economy. All those things greatly motivate his supporters.
The only thing Harris was promising was “not Trump”, which is certainly an improvement but isn’t very motivating. Then she self sabotaged by supporting Biden’s massively unpopular Israel policy, claiming she would be tough on border security, and downplaying concerns about the economy. Making people hate you slightly less than the other guy is not the way to handle a disenfranchised and depressed base.
You know why Republicans just won’t go away? Because their supporters are motivated. They reliably show up to the polls time and time again. Trump took that and threw gasoline on the fire. Sure he’s lying through his teeth and a lot of the people he’s motivating are the worst people in the US, but their votes count all the same.
Democrats lose when they fail to motivate. Election after election they struggle with voter turnout while Republicans can reliably count on their supporters to show up.
All of this proves that Harris was better on policy by every metric compared to Trump. In a policy vs policy showdown, Harris wins, and thank you for confirming that with the short list you provided.
Listing policies that a Harris admin would perform better on compared to whatever lies Trump peddled does not further the idea that Harris was lacking in policy. It reinforces my points that they are not compared against each other. To say she was unpopular for her stance on the economy or Israel or whatever does not compare her to Trump, he would do worse. It compares her to ideals. Like I’ve been saying.
They aren’t compared against each other, that’s the entire point. For progressive voters Trumps policies don’t matter because they’re not voting for him anyway, the only ones that matter are Harris policies. Likewise for conservative voters Harris policies don’t matter, she isn’t getting their votes. The ones Harris had to convince were the progressive voters and she spent her entire campaign trying to convince conservatives that she wasn’t that progressive.
The fact Harris lost is literally the only proof necessary to demonstrate her policies weren’t good enough. If they were she would have gotten more votes.
You seem to have things completely backwards. It isn’t the voters responsibility to vote for a given party or candidate unconditionally (even though in practice that’s exactly the way Republicans operate). It’s the party and candidates responsibility to convince voters to vote for them. When a politician loses an election, barring complicating factors like gerrymandering and voter suppression, it’s the politicians fault. Full Stop.
Thank you for agreeing with my premise, that Harris and Trump policies were not compared against each other when votes were cast. I seem to very succinctly understand the issue, and you have validated what I’ve said.
Harris wins on policy when compared to Trump. Harris loses on policy when compared to ideals. And when posed with a decision between the two, I just wish voters realized this.
I do not, in any way, blame Harris for being better than Trump by orders of magnitude.
I think the point is that while you’re right that nobody cares about comparing policies to each other, what decides voter turnout is how much each candidate lives up to the ideal of their own side.
Harris had to be at least as inspiringly progressive as Trump had been inspiringly conservative to drive turnout. Instead, she did the equivalent of Trump declaring that he’s a bit of a socialist.
Then unfortunately the fascists will keep winning. You don’t win over people by telling them if they campaign hard for you then things will be just a tiny little bit better than they currently are. It’s the motivational equivalent of “Some of you may die, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make”. Just look at the voter turnout numbers this election, they were abysmal. Trump absolutely stomped Harris, yet the total votes cast for him were still only a tiny fraction of the total eligible voters. Only ~65% of the population voted. That means if Harris could have inspired a portion of that 35% who stayed home to get off their asses and actually vote she could have won instead.
And what part of Trump’s policies, in comparison to Harris’, made him the better candidate?
Remember, this has to be phrased in a way that purports to weigh Trump against Harris directly, not in a way that shows how people weren’t jazzed enough to vote for Harris, otherwise my points stand.
“I’ve got concepts of a plan…”
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/republicans-celebrate-project-2025-trump-win-1235155322/
For his supporters his talk about attacking “liberals” his racist remarks about “illegals” and wanting to deport not just them but actual Hispanic citizens as well. His claims that he’ll “fix” inflation and improve the economy. All those things greatly motivate his supporters.
The only thing Harris was promising was “not Trump”, which is certainly an improvement but isn’t very motivating. Then she self sabotaged by supporting Biden’s massively unpopular Israel policy, claiming she would be tough on border security, and downplaying concerns about the economy. Making people hate you slightly less than the other guy is not the way to handle a disenfranchised and depressed base.
You know why Republicans just won’t go away? Because their supporters are motivated. They reliably show up to the polls time and time again. Trump took that and threw gasoline on the fire. Sure he’s lying through his teeth and a lot of the people he’s motivating are the worst people in the US, but their votes count all the same.
Democrats lose when they fail to motivate. Election after election they struggle with voter turnout while Republicans can reliably count on their supporters to show up.
All of this proves that Harris was better on policy by every metric compared to Trump. In a policy vs policy showdown, Harris wins, and thank you for confirming that with the short list you provided.
Listing policies that a Harris admin would perform better on compared to whatever lies Trump peddled does not further the idea that Harris was lacking in policy. It reinforces my points that they are not compared against each other. To say she was unpopular for her stance on the economy or Israel or whatever does not compare her to Trump, he would do worse. It compares her to ideals. Like I’ve been saying.
They aren’t compared against each other, that’s the entire point. For progressive voters Trumps policies don’t matter because they’re not voting for him anyway, the only ones that matter are Harris policies. Likewise for conservative voters Harris policies don’t matter, she isn’t getting their votes. The ones Harris had to convince were the progressive voters and she spent her entire campaign trying to convince conservatives that she wasn’t that progressive.
The fact Harris lost is literally the only proof necessary to demonstrate her policies weren’t good enough. If they were she would have gotten more votes.
You seem to have things completely backwards. It isn’t the voters responsibility to vote for a given party or candidate unconditionally (even though in practice that’s exactly the way Republicans operate). It’s the party and candidates responsibility to convince voters to vote for them. When a politician loses an election, barring complicating factors like gerrymandering and voter suppression, it’s the politicians fault. Full Stop.
Thank you for agreeing with my premise, that Harris and Trump policies were not compared against each other when votes were cast. I seem to very succinctly understand the issue, and you have validated what I’ve said.
Harris wins on policy when compared to Trump. Harris loses on policy when compared to ideals. And when posed with a decision between the two, I just wish voters realized this.
I do not, in any way, blame Harris for being better than Trump by orders of magnitude.
I think the point is that while you’re right that nobody cares about comparing policies to each other, what decides voter turnout is how much each candidate lives up to the ideal of their own side.
Harris had to be at least as inspiringly progressive as Trump had been inspiringly conservative to drive turnout. Instead, she did the equivalent of Trump declaring that he’s a bit of a socialist.
And this is a situation I blame voters for. I was personally enthused to defend my country against a fascist authoritarian.
I did my part.
Then unfortunately the fascists will keep winning. You don’t win over people by telling them if they campaign hard for you then things will be just a tiny little bit better than they currently are. It’s the motivational equivalent of “Some of you may die, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make”. Just look at the voter turnout numbers this election, they were abysmal. Trump absolutely stomped Harris, yet the total votes cast for him were still only a tiny fraction of the total eligible voters. Only ~65% of the population voted. That means if Harris could have inspired a portion of that 35% who stayed home to get off their asses and actually vote she could have won instead.