r/Detroit Feb 28 '25

Politics/Elections Michigan Democratic Gov. Whitmer makes direct appeal to young men after sharp shift in election

https://apnews.com/article/michigan-governor-gretchen-whitmer-young-men-e237387d0762e900f2dc7e38a1c49f7b
883 Upvotes

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206

u/space-dot-dot Feb 28 '25

Democratic Party is about 15 years too late. The normie to alt-right (now, far-right) pipeline has been in place for awhile and has a sizeable grip on the teens and young men in this country.

We're currently in a dark period in US political history but remember: it has to get worse before it gets even worse.

0

u/Available-Duty-4347 Feb 28 '25

The first step is to stop pushing gender identity issues to the front. To everyday people, this isn’t an issue and not something they get behind. People want the opportunity that their fathers had. Focus on bringing back the workforce and leave the social issues to the side. Dems are being beaten by billionaires who lie about being on the working man’s side while destroying unions and everything working men depend on.

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u/space-dot-dot Feb 28 '25 edited Feb 28 '25

The first step is to stop pushing gender identity issues to the front.

This is literally a right-wing talking point, so it's interesting to see that their propaganda worked on you.

The Republican machine finds the smallest wedge issue, amplifies it, and repeats it over and over and over until even "everyday people" repeat it. They did it with gay people 25 years ago (who are 5% - 10% of the populace) and are doing it with trans-people who are 1% - 2% of the population today. Then the Democrats have to turn around and, for whatever reason, attempt to address it and call out their lying. Which only feeds into the messaging.

But conservative voters don't really give a shit about truth or decorum. If they did, they wouldn't keep voting for Republicans. The sad truth is that the Democratic Party has to ignore their bullshit and push the actual truths that are largely economical in nature. However, there are some issues to overcome.

A) They don't have a well-oiled propaganda machine like Republicans (far-right) do. Murdoch and Stone and Ailes have been at this for 30 years. Talk radio on the AM to Fox News on TV to Breitbart/Daily Caller/Blaze on the Internet which spawned TV networks like OANN and the Twitter and podcast network of far-right talking heads such as Shapiro, Crowder, Carlson, etc. Democrats have none of that.

B) Resistance within the party. The Democratic Party is based within neo-liberal thought, through and through. While they attempt to create some solutions to the hardships faced due to the low-road capitalism here in the US, these solutions only come with the caveat that they must benefit private enterprise as well. There is massive internal resistance to candidates like Sanders or AOC who may even give the slightest hint they wouldn't bend any knee to oligarchs and the existing system, like the absolute pilfering we are seeing with Trump, Musk and his cronies.

1

u/SAKURARadiochan Mar 02 '25

Who is a "true conservative" then? The Democrat party has been the party of weird queer shit for the past 30 years, and as it turns out, this really turns off people on the right.

1

u/3rd20 Mar 03 '25

Know-it-all walls of texts do not help. Hope that helps.

-11

u/shakeitup2017 Feb 28 '25

The reason why gender identity ideology is such an effective wedge is because it is based on such an obvious and fundamental lie - that men can be women and women can be men. Everybody knows this is impossible, so when government policies and laws start trying to make people believe and go along with something that we know to be absolutely false, and forcing it by law or by threat of losing your job about speaking out about it, or a myriad of other negative consequences, it makes people think "if the government is lying to me about something so fundamental, how do I trust them about anything?"

The left created this wedge when they simply didn't have to. It is a deeply unpopular ideology, even with lots of left leaning people.

3

u/gandergoosian Mar 01 '25

Why do you call it a lie to say that this person is a man? To me, it looks like the two sides are just using different definitions. Neither one is a lie, but both sides see the other side as harmful.

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u/shakeitup2017 Mar 01 '25 edited Mar 01 '25

A really convincing lie is still a lie.

I'd happily be friends with that person and treat them how they want to be treated. I have no malice towards them whatsoever, and I wish them the best. But they're just not a man.

2

u/Unhappy_Injury3958 Mar 02 '25

so you're just a shitty person

-6

u/JiffyParker Feb 28 '25

The fact that people call you a "right wing extremist" for not believing this impossibility makes everything else mute. Such a fundamental lie you must believe or being called a Nazi is not a good look for Dems. Won't even talk about how dumb it makes Dems look.

6

u/colinshark Feb 28 '25

What is an intersex person?

-6

u/JiffyParker Feb 28 '25

Conversation is about changing your sex

2

u/Raichu4u Mar 01 '25

It's about changing your gender. Holy shit. Even trans people know it is impossible to change their sex.

-1

u/JiffyParker Mar 01 '25

And this is why you can't realize how dumb this sounds to people.

-3

u/shakeitup2017 Mar 01 '25

People with DSD are still either male or female. They just have differences in how their bodies develop.

But the presence of these people has no bearing on trans and doesn't prove that humans can change sex. They can't.

-4

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '25

They drive that wedge by amplifying the wildest perceptions of the left and painting the entire Democratic Party with that brush. Democrats have done less than nothing to mitigate this. They have built half of this “pipeline” themselves if you’re committed to that metaphor.

Identity Politics was absolutely pushed front and center by the Left. Republicans while being assholes are much more adept at winning than Democrats, and they can see how obviously toxic to actually winning an election Identity Politics is, and so they readily hung the Left with the Democrat’s own rope.

2

u/Icy-Bicycle-Crab Mar 01 '25

Identity Politics was absolutely pushed front and center by the Left.

Oh fuck off. Trump and MAGA are literally nothing but straight white male identity politics. "Identity politics" is some right-wing reactionary bullshit when all the left is saying is to treat people equally