> Their message for the last ten years (plus or minus some) has been that if you think that an unborn baby deserves legal protection, if you don't think that trans people belong in womens' restrooms and on womens' sports teams, if you don't think that gay marriage is a good idea, then you are an irredeemable moral leper, and their goal is a complete destruction of your culture. If you're, say, poor and white and blue-collar, they still are totally against you, even though you're the people that they have, historically, represented.

The opposite of your point is that I recall the GOP frequently calling anyone in favor of abortions murderers, people who are gay or transgender pedophiles and that non-whites are destroying our nation. This isn't even a recent phenomenon either, this was all stuff I heard decades ago just slightly less overt.

Mind you, I don't disagree that the Democratic Party is a complete waste, because they are. But you're arguing simultaneously that they had toxic core principles which alienated their voting base, but the reality is that they've never had any principles at all. They've had no issue for as long as I've been alive negotiating and watering down their platform into absolutely nothing for the sake of trying to cater to the people who vote for the GOP which is the actual reason why we're here today. And their plans for the future mostly involve doing the same thing: making concessions on abortion, throwing minorities under the bus etc for the sake of trying to appeal to people that will sooner vote for Bootstomper Jr provided that they make a pinky promise that they won't stomp on their head too hard.

It always bugs me when I see people saying "unborn baby" - it's a foetus if it hasn't been born. There are exactly zero unborn babies getting killed by abortion services as they don't become babies until they are born.

> The opposite of your point is that I recall the GOP frequently calling anyone in favor of abortions murderers, people who are gay or transgender pedophiles and that non-whites are destroying our nation. This isn't even a recent phenomenon either, this was all stuff I heard decades ago just slightly less overt.

Yes, and they attract independent voters with that. (Though a big reason is that the GOP has exceptional information dominance - they can convince a large part of the public of whatever they want to say; the Dems are effectively silenced.)

> At least partly because the Democrats have totally abandoned being the party of the working class.

Who do the Dems represent? Milquetoast moderates who favor hiding their heads in the sand rather than address critical issues like freedom, democracy, rule of law, hate, disinformation, tech, etc ... ?

The Democrats are so afraid of conflict that they stand for nothing (quick, name what they stand for) - so afraid that the attack members of their own party, progressives, who fight for anything. So they are left with the above demographic, and with weak support from them because, it turns out, cowardice and ineffectiveness doesn't inspire people. And they get votes from people whose dislike of the GOP is enough that they'll vote for the Dems regardless.

They are also absurdly ineffective at communication. They can't even overcome the people who say Dems are child molesters and Obama was from Kenya. I read that a Dem Congressional livestream about the shutdown peaked at 1,000 (one thousand) viewers. :D

In the NY Times in recent days is a debate over what milquetoast policies will win a few extra percent of the vote - they say that moderation is the way! The Dem elite don't realize that the problem isn't policy - Trump does great with all-time bad, all-time extreme policy - the problem is them.