If your post starts out with “I don’t know why Harris lost,” I might read it.

Also: the mainstream media is generally worthless. I think Molly White listed some good alternatives in her recent post.

(«ProPublica, 404 Media, and Flaming Hydra are a couple of great publications, or the Institute for Nonprofit News has a great directory of many more. Subscribe to and/or financially support independent solo writers like Parker Molloy (The Present Age), Erin Reed, Marisa Kabas (The Handbasket), and Seamus Hughes (Court Watch). Pay for a subscription to your local newspaper. Maybe also subscribe to a non-US paper while you’re at it.»)

https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/who-is-allowed-to-practice-identity

«So how does Dowd, Weiss, Stephens et al confidently assert the identity politics claim? These takes exist because this is a lazy pre-existing narrative to be sold, not because of any actual analysis of the electorate. These are writers who for various reasons have committed to an anti-woke narrative. And once you have committed to that narrative, you are determined to force it into every story, no matter how misleading.

…

It could be that Dems lost support because they did not throw vulnerable groups under the bus, but that is a different argument than claiming they campaigned on those topics.

You know who did run on identity politics? The person who will be President next January.

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For example, Nick Kristof of the NY Times said that: “Democrats can compete if they focus more on minimum wages and child care than pronouns and purity.”


Which is weird, because Harris supported a $15 minimum wage, has proposed lowering the cost of child care for the working poor and even notched some progress on this topic as Vice-President, while supporting a child tax credit expansion. Kristof might say that voters were not aware of this, but **it doesn’t much help if their nominal allies in the media can’t get it right.** [Emphasis mine. – John.]

…

To be sure, there are differences in types of identity politics.

Identity politics is sometimes about establishing empathy and respect for less powerful groups, people who are different from you. This is the kind of identity politics that Harris was accused of engaging in.

Identity politics is also about increasing the salience of shared group markers in order to celebrate that identity while also excluding and dehumanizing outgroups. This is the populist model of identity politics, which requires some outgroups to demonize, and which Trump engaged in repeatedly throughout his political career.

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Right wing politics that emphasize male, Christian and white identity is not defined as identity politics. As the perceived natural order of things, it is seen simply as politics.»