I think this is very correct that the right is going in on in-person events while liberals and the left are stuck chasing online spaces. I actually think this ties into the arguments around how valid polling is, in that liberals are largely chasing this imagined totality of the public by emphasizing online spaces that, in theory, could include anyone and everyone, while the right has rejected the "reality-based community" as I think Karl Rove put it 20 years ago. This strain of the right has some understanding that 1) there isn't a meaningful, coherent "public" outside of their own efforts to build cliques of elites and audiences of masses and 2) they can get good returns just by cultivating an elite of ambitious performers who know a paycheck is coming down the road.
Yeah I think this is true, it does seem like the roles have reversed in that Democrats are the ones who believe there’s a silent majority out there ready to be mobilized if they can find the right messenger. But political coalitions are constructed!
I think this is very correct that the right is going in on in-person events while liberals and the left are stuck chasing online spaces. I actually think this ties into the arguments around how valid polling is, in that liberals are largely chasing this imagined totality of the public by emphasizing online spaces that, in theory, could include anyone and everyone, while the right has rejected the "reality-based community" as I think Karl Rove put it 20 years ago. This strain of the right has some understanding that 1) there isn't a meaningful, coherent "public" outside of their own efforts to build cliques of elites and audiences of masses and 2) they can get good returns just by cultivating an elite of ambitious performers who know a paycheck is coming down the road.
Yeah I think this is true, it does seem like the roles have reversed in that Democrats are the ones who believe there’s a silent majority out there ready to be mobilized if they can find the right messenger. But political coalitions are constructed!