Restoring the Politics of Persuasion
Forget purity tests. Let's learn how to speak with, not at, people again.
“We have been an exclusionary tent that is shedding imperfect allies…We’re going to have a really, really miserable self-righteous, morally pure club in the gulag we’ve all been sent off to.”
“The fact that we have real disagreements, the fact that we have difficult conversations, the fact that we have painful conversations is not a bug of democracy. It’s a feature of democracy.”
—Rep. Sarah McBride
No matter what political issue keeps you up at night, you must listen to this podcast: Sarah McBride on Why the Left Lost on Trans Rights with Ezra Klein.
The title is a misnomer. The conversation’s really about how the Left - and Americans writ large - lost the plot altogether: we abandoned the politics of persuasion.
Here are some key takeaways from Rep. McBride:
“People are hungry for an approach that doesn’t treat our fellow citizens as enemies but rather treats our fellow citizens as neighbors, even if we disagree with them — an approach that’s filled with grace.”
“We became absolutist across the progressive movement — and we forgot that in a democracy we have to grapple with where the public authentically is and actually engage with it.”
“We decided that we now have to say and fight for and push for every single perfect policy and cultural norm right now, regardless of whether the public is ready.”
“We should be ahead of public opinion, but we have to be within arm’s reach. If we get too far out ahead, we lose our grip on public opinion, and we can no longer bring it with us.”
“I think grace in politics means, one, creating room for disagreement: assuming good intentions, assuming that the people who are on the other side of an issue from you aren’t automatically hateful, horrible people. I think it means creating some space for disagreement within your own coalition. I think it’s a kindness that just feels so missing from our body politic and our national dialogue.”
“One of the problems we’ve had is that we’ve gone from: It’s not my job as an individual person who’s just trying to make it through the day to educate everyone — to: No one from that community should educate, and frankly, we should just stop having this conversation because the fact that we are having this conversation at all is hurtful and oppressive.”
“You can’t foster social change if you don’t have a conversation. You can’t change people if you exclude them.”
This shedding of imperfect allies isn’t just a leftwing issue harming our democracy.
I also see it within much of the American Jewish communal establishment, which has spent far too much time, talent, and treasure towards silencing criticism of the Israeli government and/or labeling most who engage in said criticism as antisemitic.
These folks circled the wagons so much that we’re just talking to ourselves, mostly in online echo chambers that thrive on anger and fear.
This issue is especially rearing its ugly head in the wake of last night’s election in NYC. I agree with Rabbi Jay Michaelson: Mamdani’s victory is an opportunity for Jews to relearn the art of disagreement.
Just imagine how different the world would be if those self-appointed leaders celebrated pluralism and diversity of views over Israeli policy - and how much easier it’d be to challenge the failure to condemn “globalize the intifada”.
For success of embracing imperfect allies, look no further than the misogynist anti-abortion movement. They backed Trump, earning their greatest successes because they didn’t let perfect be the enemy of the good.
Of course, there’s the marriage equality fight, which succeeded by building its entirety on giving people space to change their minds. I’ve written of this before as Rep. McBride uses it as the perfect example for what progressives are capable of delivering.
As we face Middle East wars, ICE terrorizing our neighbors, millions likely being kicked off of Medicaid and SNAP, and all other kids of unpopular overreach, we don’t have the luxury of purity tests.
Meeting the public where it is will require many wings of our coalition to get uncomfortable. We’ll have to welcome those into our tent with whom we disagree on issues we hold close to our hearts.
Economic issues that Democratic donors and interest groups often support (at least on a macro level) - but get queasy thinking about - will have to take more center stage. And we desperately need younger people running for office.
Self-righteous indignation (or schadenfreude), however justified, won’t bring us the change we want to see just because it goes viral on likeminded algorithms. We mistaken online engagement for persuasion and success.
I’ve no doubt written the opposite of what I’m saying now on this very platform. How we enforce our own red lines may have to shift in order to reduce harm and create conditions for a better future. Inconsistencies will happen.
But guess what? We’re allowed to change our minds after we learn something new.
What we’re doing now isn’t working.
Forget purity tests. Let’s learn to speak with, not at, our neighbors again. Otherwise, we’ll never end this madness.
Food for Thought
Why claims of antisemitism didn’t stop Zohran Mamdani, Arno Rosenfeld
“‘What happened over the last three weeks is fair to understand as a class war, and the wealthy reached for something that typically works,’ said Spencer Ackerman, a journalist and political analyst who supported Mamdani. ‘They made it a referendum on anti-Zionism being antisemitism and they lost.’”
Down Goes Macbeth of Manhattan, Charlotte Clymer
“Last night would have been very different if NYC Democratic centrists and center-left folks got together a year ago and decided: You know what? We can’t possibly support a man who’s a serial sexual harasser. In fact, we should do everything we can to block him.”
“[Mamdani] eventually had 50,000 volunteers crisscrossing all five boroughs (that’s a lot) and knocking on more than 1.5 million doors (that’s a hell of a lot). His campaign messaging strategy placed particular emphasis on affordability policies, language outreach, social media engagement, and again: being in just about any space that would have him. It was an exceptional campaign.”
“The Democratic Party nationally—let alone in New York—is getting one hell of a wake-up call right now. Democratic voters are tired. We are frustrated. Many of us are anxious and exhausted and unnerved by the stubborn refusal of the Democratic Party to evolve beyond the stale political strategies of the past.”
What Chris Murphy Learned From the New Right, Gilad Edelman
“‘The race is really a matter of whether Republicans become more genuinely economically populist before Democrats open up their tent and accept in folks who aren’t with us on every single issue, from abortion to climate to guns,’ [Senator Murphy] said.”
“His critique is more about tone and emphasis.”
“Climate, guns, choice, gay rights, voting rights: Every single one of those issues is existential for an important community. But I think right now, if you aren’t driving the vast majority of your narrative around the way in which the economy is going to become corrupted to enrich the elites, then you aren’t going to be able to capture this potential realignment of the American electorate that’s up for grabs.”
Maybe It is Time for Israel to Mature, Nadav Tamir
“Trump’s approach is no longer about unconditional support. If Israel wants the full backing of the U.S., it must be willing to shoulder more of the burden, whether in the form of military investments or of diplomatic concessions….Israel must be prepared for a future where American military intervention is not guaranteed, and the nature of its strategic alliance with the U.S. may look very different from what it has been in the past. No more unconditional love. Maybe it is an opportunity for Israel to mature.”
Trump Ended the Israel-Iran War. Now Saudi Crown Prince MBS Can Do the Same for Gaza, Nimrod Novik
"When it came to Iran, Trump undeniably succeeded in helping Netanyahu avoid prolonged entanglement in an exhaustive war of attrition, to exploit Iran's degraded capabilities and current weakness to extract concessions at the negotiating table. However when it comes to Gaza, the president seems to prefer taking his time. It is with this reality in mind, that the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammad Bin Salman is the leader who can tip the scales. He can undertake a two-part game-changing initiative, which both Trump and Netanyahu might find difficult to ignore."
How the Transgender Rights Movement Bet on the Supreme Court and Lost, Nicholas Confessore
“In private meetings of L.G.B.T.Q. legal-advocacy groups, many lawyers expected a loss almost from the moment the court agreed to hear the case….On the outside, I heard rising criticism of the strategic and political judgments animating the A.C.L.U.’s litigation — muted by fear that voicing those criticisms more openly, amid the depredations of Trump’s second term, would only give the right more ammunition.”
“Yet taking Tennessee to the Supreme Court was also risky. The court has not recognized a new protected class in decades. And unlike the civil rights law in Bostock, the Constitution does not contain language about sex discrimination that a conservative judge like Gorsuch could extend to trans people.”
“But many L.G.B.T.Q. advocates expect that states like Tennessee will now target gender medicine more broadly. That possibility has left some trans people wondering if it is time to build a new, less dogmatic politics to defend their rights. A movement that could grapple more honestly with scientific uncertainty and the real-world complications of self-ID, they believe, might be more capable of defending their health care and a legal path to transition.”
“‘You help trans people by telling the truth,’ Brianna Wu told me. ‘You help trans people by making sure the health care they get has solid science behind it.’ Like many older trans people, Wu told me, she transitioned after puberty, a continuing journey of hormones and grueling surgeries. In fighting to save future generations of trans adults from the same pain, Wu argued, the L.G.B.T.Q. movement failed to confront the complexities around pediatric care.”
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