People of the left, can we learn some lessons from Trump's win please?

[Outandinbout]

And other things, like Brexit, the disaster that was Jeremy Corbyn and his campaign.

Whilst there will be multi-factorial reasons for the way all these votes went, one of the reason, imo, is that far too many people on the left think anyone who disagrees with them is thick and racist. Do you remember that mock advert for Labour during JCs campaign? ' You are thick and racist - Vote Labour!'. That raised laughs because it resonated with how people felt about the Left.

Just stop being so bloody certain you are right and everyone else is wrong and start bloody listening to people who voted the way you don't want them to. Figure out why that is. Realise they actually have some legitimate concerns. Find ways to address these.

Because, and I can't believe I actually have to point this out, insulting people is not the way to win them over. Addressing their concerns is.

Because its not smart to sit there smugly thinking you are always right, even when voters are repeatedly disagreeing with you. It feels nice to think that, yes. But all that means is that you lack the courage to move yourself out of your psychological comfort zone. Its lazy, not smart. And it shows a distinct lack of intellectual curiosity.

I'm pretty pissed at Trump winning as I support Ukraine. I think the Left in America needs to look pretty hard at itself as to why a candidate such as Trump has won. And the left in the UK has lessons to learn too.

I entirely agree.

People will vote for those they hold in contempt before they vote for those who hold them in contempt.

Nope, I still can’t think of a good enough reason that I could use to justify voting for him. There seems to be non stop berating of the democrats and their supporters on here. How Trump and his repugnance is all our fault. How people who vote for him do it because of us. Honestly, no. Take some responsibility for your choices. We will all be on the receiving end. The whole world. If I were religious I’d say god help us.

Hear, hear, OP.

I agree. I'd widen this message out though as politics overall has become ridiculously polarised. If you vote Tory you're a racist, who hates poor people. If you vote Labour you're a leftwing idiot who is obsessed with competing in a death spiral for who has the best and most pure ideology.

Dismissing someone because of their voting intentions, and mocking them for their beliefs, doesn't magically make that person re-think everything. For the majority, they just keep their heads down but it doesn't change their vote. Hence people being surprised when elections don't go the way they thought.

I agree. As someone who has voted both Labour and Conservative in the past, the very left left are the absolute worst thing for Labour and put people off of the party and voting anything but conservative. Those that are as you describe, push centrists away from Labour and to the Conservatives/Reform for sure.

I agree, though I admit to being too reactionary at times. It's hard to keep tempers in check but we absolutely need to now more than ever. Perhaps this is where having Starmer as PM will be handy, he doesn't seem to react to much outwardly.

I know people in the US who voted for Trump. They still thought he was a better option than Harris. I don't agree, but their decision was based on various factors and it was a considered decision. I understand why they have voted the way they have, even though I would have voted differently myself.

I somewhat agree. But I feel the Democrats and the UK left are miles apart in terms of this as well as in terms of their politics generally. This year I felt like Labour had learnt the lesson of not sneering at supporters of other parties, and not always working on the assumption that they’re right and everyone else is wrong and stupid.

This is interesting-but I'm not sure what people think Harris could/should have done differently. @Outandinbout- what do you think she should have done?

I like Jeremy corbyn!

This is such a good way of putting it.

How did the pollsters get it so wrong , too close to call , really .

But why is it ok for the right to sneer at the left and call them elite educated as though the left is totally divorced from the real world? As opposed to clearly being as much a part of it as they are

Why is one sneer ok and the one something to flog people with ?

I agree.

I don't think she was a good candidate. From what I saw of her she gave vague positive sounding messages. Saying she would not have done anything differently from Biden was a huge mistake when Biden had low popularity and people wanted things to change. And saying 'vote for me I have no ideas of my own' was not a great idea.
All that calling Trump supporters nazis stuff just hardened voters against her. You can't win someone over by calling them a nazi.

Some of the adverts the democrats put out just insulted the people they were trying to get to vote for them.

The Democrats really should have fielded a man. There's a load of men and women in America who were automatically against a female candidate. The fact that Harris is not white also went against her.

Any white man who had all his faculties (not Biden then) would have had a better chance of winning.

Then again as incumbent party there was a good chance that the chances were stacked against Harris.

People will at push vote for someone they dislike. They will not vote for someone they believe dislikes them Tolerance seems to have disappeared, tolerance means putting up and / or respecting rights to hold views you disagree with or find difficult etc if there is no disagreement there's no need for tolerance as you agree. Just like a peace treaty you don't have treaties between friends but between enemies.

The man reason is that supporting Trump is vilified by the mainstream media and vocal opponents so that in a poll voters prefer not admit that they are Trump supporters, however in the privacy of the polling booth it's different.

I agree.

Bad news education, zero life chances and living in miserable circumstances usually results in people voting for those who hold them in contempt because they don't see the fucking contempt

People desperate for change do extreme things.

🤷 and the left refusing to even pretend to listen is turning more and more people away.

Have you heard of Dawn Butler?

Biden clung to power far too long when it was obvious he was unfit. The people who should have dealt with that by easing him out and looking for a better candidate failed in their duty.

Kamala made it all about Trump. Her main message was that she was not Trump instead of being constructive, clear and consistent about her own policies and intentions.

I did hope she would win, I thought she gained some momentum, but apparently not.

And I think all the celebrities support didn’t help, it pushed voters away.

But I’m not American and I’m not a voter there.