Blue MAGA strikes again

Sit down, do what we tell you

Every so often, I stop by my old stomping grounds just to see what it is that Democrats are up to, what the mood of the party is and so on. Daily Kos is not the whole of the Democratic Party by a long shot, but it represents a very active, very particular wing: liberal, middle-class, formally educated. As a certain nucleus of thought, Daily Kos serves as a window into the thinking of this branch of American liberalism. So I stop by, on the outside looking in.

Yesterday I peeked in and saw a story on the trending list, claiming that Michigan was in the win column for Kamala Harris — and the author of this piece asserted this from a base on the western side of the state. As a Michigander, that didn’t compute to me, as West Michigan is notoriously conservative. So I decided to give it a glance.

I kind of knew by the frame of the title that I was not going to find the piece particularly enjoyable or perhaps even very persuasive, because it pitted the garnering of votes against the political issue of Gaza. I don’t like this frame because it necessarily reduces the anguish of Gaza into a packaged domestic political issue. That in itself is a falsification.

The title of the piece is “No, we are not going to lose Michigan ‘because of Gaza. We will win because of West Michigan,” and the author basically claimed that he or she lives on the west side of the state. Due to an influx of Chicagoans, this person claimed, a subtle but sweeping change was occurring in the area.

This, the blueing of West Michigan — due to migration from Chicago  is the big political story in Michigan. In 2020, Joe Biden actually won Kent County and got 36% in our very, very red county (Allegan — which includes the outskirts of Holland where my people live). Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Dems have built on this strength and our numbers are going to go up much more in 2024 (because the area is getting more and more progressive and less conservative).

I just spent the last week canvassing in Ottawa County (downtown Holland is in Ottawa) and was amazed at the level of support for the Democrats.  Last Saturday, one voter who we had lit dropped chased after us to give us our lit back because she had already voted for Harris and wanted to be sure we could give it to someone else. The neighborhood — formerly the bastion of Dutch conservatives — was now filled with Harris Walz signs. South Shore Drive — a beautiful waterside road by Lake Macatawa — now has giant Harris Walz signs along with giant Trump flags.  Our local rep- Hillary Scholten, is a Democrat. 

I went to the Harris Walz rally on Friday at Riverfront park in Grand Rapids and joined a line of thousands waiting to enter the grounds (which made national news).  The fact that our nominee would  stop in Grand Rapids in late October is just incredible and a sign of changing times.

So, if you are from out of state and are worried about Michigan because you read an article about some folks mad at the ticket because of Gaza and then made the leap that this means we are going to lose Michigan, don’t be. These folks, who most likely have never step[ped] foot in the state, don’t understand Michigan or know about (or write about) what is happening in West Michigan.

This is the totality of the argument that western Michigan, a conservative bastion, was bluing in front of our eyes.

Now, it so happened that just a day earlier, people were complaining that too many essays (“diaries,” as they’re called there) were doom-and-gloom and/or fearmongering, and several diaries had demanded that the site feature more encouraging pieces. This diary, though not one written by paid staff, fit the fare that people there desired. They want to be fed information that tells them that swing states are winnable or that polls are wrong. So it goes.

I looked through the comment section, which was fairly extensive, and of course there were some people there debating points of the Palestine-Israel conflict, rather than if west Michigan might turn Democratic. This is to be expected. There also were people talking about domestic politics in a more meta way, as to whether the Democratic Party addressed the issue of Gaza in the way that it should have.

I’m sure people there would not appreciate me calling them Blue MAGA, but the enforced conformity is there. It’s palpable. The same people who swore to avenge Joe Biden for coming under pressure to step aside (even though he was headed for almost certain defeat) are now firmly in Harris’s corner, proclaiming outright that she is running a “perfect” campaign. It’s enough to give a person whiplash. But those people are intent that no one should second-guess the strategy of the Democratic Party.

One person brought up the fact that President Biden could have done more to rein in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In response, someone posted this as a rejoinder:

Now, I lived through May. I was paying attention. I knew that what this person asserted simply is not true. Biden never tried to stop sending defensive weapons to Israel. This is a complete fabrication.

If I were being charitable, I would say that the person was simply snookered by the wording of the CNN headline to which he or she linked. However — and this is something I’ve mentioned to a friend of mine who still is active on that platform — the information under the link does not match what the person is claiming. 

This happens a lot. My friend speculated that people feel reassured that a link is there, even if they never click on it. It gives the appearance that the claimant has done their due diligence, when in fact they’re misleading the reader.

If a person were to click on that CNN link, they would see that the article is about the House of Representatives jumping the gun and doing a performative end-run around Biden so as to take the decision out of his hands were he ever to contemplate it. 

Excerpt of CNN article “House passes bill to prevent Biden from withholding weapons to Israel as GOP ramps up pressure on Democrats,” May 16, 2024.

But he never did. He never mentioned restricting defensive weapons to Israel. In fact, he and others in his administration were adamant that Iron Dome and other components of Israel’s defense were not being considered for any scaleback. Indeed, the only item that Biden has restricted is the transfer of 2,000-lb. bombs (as well as 500-lb. bombs, but those transfers have since restored). That type of ordnance is not a defensive weapon. Even that bit of restraint brought whines from Netanyahu.

Biden never even breathed about restricting what the House ultimately mandated. But here’s this person at Daily Kos, trying to pass it off as though Biden did everything in his power to keep Netanyahu from his worst instincts. Biden has done nothing of the sort and in fact has been an eager partner, his occasional profane language (leaked to the press) to the contrary notwithstanding.

It pains me to see members of the place that built a reputation on being a “reality-based community,” one that did not allow for blatant distortions, to engage in such deceptive cheerleading. 

I’m even more discouraged to see thirteen people uprate that comment, because that shows that they didn’t read the article under the link. The headline sounded good to them, and so they approved what it told them, about themselves and the Democratic Party. Moreover — and what’s so ominous about this — they did so in order to shut down the good-faith argument of the person pointing out the short-sightedness of Democratic strategy.

The issue of Gaza has altered the Democratic Party. It’s off its axis. People have stifled discussion because they have been afraid of how the issue might affect the election.

I don’t think there’s a way from here to get back to where we were.