But What About Real America, Con't

Another red state Democrat complaining that the national Democratic party doesn't care enough about the HEARTLAND and it's getting tedious at this point to see Dems slagging themselves.

 

"I honestly don't think the Democratic Party can be a majority party unless we start appealing to Middle America a lot more. I'm talking about the area between the two mountain ranges, the Appalachians and the Rocky Mountains. And if we're able to do that, I think it will provide success," Tester, who is also a farmer, told David Axelrod on an episode of CNN's "The Axe Files" podcast released on Thursday.

The comments from Tester come as Democrats seek to hold on to their majorities in Congress in the 2022 midterm elections and amid low approval ratings for both Congress and President Joe Biden. Failures on key issues on Biden's agenda, including passing voting rights legislation, also have Democrats rethinking their strategy for the upcoming elections. The President's approval rating is 42%, with 55% disapproving, according to CNN's average of six recent national polls.

Democrats hold a narrow majority in Congress, where the Senate is split 50-50 and Vice President Kamala Harris' power to cast a tie-breaking vote gives them the advantage. Democrats have struggled among rural American voters in the polls while Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, have found solid footing among rural Americans. CNN exit polls from the 2020 presidential election found that among rural voters, 42% voted for Biden and 57% voted for Trump.

Tester, who was critical of Democrats' messaging and appeal to rural Americans following the 2020 presidential election, also told Axelrod rural Americans view the Democratic Party as "toxic."

"It's toxic. The national Democratic brand in, I think in rural America generally, is toxic, and it's because, quite frankly, we don't show up," he said when asked how his Montana neighbors view the Democratic Party. "I'm talking about national Democrats. We're not willing to go places we're not wanted and answer questions."

He continued, "I think it's critically important if you're going to win, you've got to go to those places, as miserable as it might be, you still go. You still contact the people, and you still let people know that you're a human being and you have a view for this, a vision for this country."

 

To recap:

 

• White rural Americans don't want to hear what Democrats have to say.
• When Democrats show up in White Rural America, they are attacked. 
• Visits to White Rural America are loudly called pandering.
• Democrats are told by White Rural Americans not to bother to visit.

 

This is the fault of Democrats, somehow.

 

When someone refuses to respect you as a human being, let alone vote for you, you're wasting your time dealing with them.  There is no point...and your limited time and resources are coming at the direct expense of the people who did vote for you, and are counting on you to actually fix their problems.

Look, nobody did more for White Rural America than Joe Biden in the last 12 months, passing a massive infrastructure bill, a child tax credit, more stimulus for COVID relief and an economic policy that put back more than six million jobs nationally, and that was greeted with a loud raspberry from anyone in a red district. They took the money, and then the Republicans who voted against every part of that then took credit for it.

You can spend all the time on Earth explaining to people, but if they refuse to listen, eventually you give up on them and help who you can.

 

Remember, Trump's farm tariffs wrecked White Rural America. They voted 75%+ to reelect him even through he destroyed their livelihoods.

They made their choices and still continue to do so. Now that the consequences are here, I feel no sympathy towards saving them when I have my own damn problems.

You cannot have reasonable conversations with fanatics who want to see you dead.