i know it sounds unbelievable, but here in brazil the same thing happened to bolsonaro
this is referring to the additional votes that he got this time and excluding the ricardo von hausstoffens, obviously
american workers (and minorities are usually the most exploited of them), like brazilians, associate their livelihoods to being able to work and have no trust that the government would ever truly help them pay their bills
trump and bolsonaro's propaganda tying responsible handling of the pandemic to "shutting down the economy and destroying millions of jobs" is extremely effective
this is especially bad for biden because he admitted he wasn't even trying to reach latino communities, so i bet all they got was republican propaganda saying biden would shut everything down and they wouldn't be able to pay their rent
it works and partially explains why bolsonaro's approval rating actually went up during covid, despite how much he fucked up
and of course it doesn't help that every time we talk about china and vietnam being successful the fucking libs join the fash saying both are lying commies
Or it could have just been the $1200 from May, minorities are poorer on average, that kind of money matters
i just assumed it wasn't the case because i saw no significant inflection point in the graphics for that period
but i could be wrong, it's not like i have the opportunity to talk to many US workers - i'm only comparing the two because both presidents framed the issue very similarly (even regarding hydroxychloroquine), dealt with it very similarly (including the money thing), and workers and small business owners in both countries are highly dependent on a functioning economy, as they have lower savings and fewer (if any) alternative sources of income
This rings true and sounds a lot like what Matt said in his stream yesterday. Politics has degraded to tinkering within the system and there will be no effort to change the system. Like the ACA, politicians can tinker within the employer-based insurance system but never functionally change or abolish it.
So within the system of capital, the worker must work or starve. We cannot pay people to stay home even amidst a pandemic so if you provide an essential service you must risk your life to get that bread. Democrats promised to tighten up covid restrictions so material conditions dictated that workers vote Trump and keep their shitty job or go hungry and die anyway.
also like an immigrant is not the same as a mexican american who was born in america like latin america is in no way a unified thing all countries have their own racial and economic background so to assume that the latino that was born in america will see themselves as the people trying to come to america instead of the people in america that believe that they are stealing their jobs and stuff
Trump's "handling" of the Pandemic had ZERO effect on this election. The only effect Covid had is that it stolen the spotlight from Trump, and it let Biden get away with not making any public appearances.
Trump's gains with working class voters of color are simple to explain. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats offer any real material benefit for voters. Who you vote for is purely aesthetics and culture bullshit. Increasingly precarious working class men are prime targets for the Right by appealing to a sense of lost masculinity. This cuts across racial lines btw. The Dems are the soft, nice, college educated, enlightened party. The Republicans are the fuck you, strong, dominance alpha mindset party.
While I agree with some of what you're saying here, I don't think this adds up to covid had zero effect on the election.
I think you're making a separate, unrelated point to what op is saying.
it's actually 100% related, because my point stems from his
Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats offer any real material benefit for voters.
true, and they know it. but this is a reason to not vote
but in that context, and the current situation, if the other side says "they're gonna take away your jobs" - and reality has given you good reason to believe they'll end up doing that - now that's a reason to go out and vote
I accept what you're saying and I agree with it, but your point was referencing Trump's framing of covid, while they're saying it had zero effect. It's kind of a pedantic point, I just think covid certainly affected the election.
true, though i'd say he's kinda arguing a little bit everywhere tbh
The online Left vastly overestimates how much people give a shit about Covid, and how much people blame Trump for a "failure". Trump's failure is the exact same failure as every European nation who are spiking just as hard as the US. It's a structural issue with neoliberalism and its inability to make any sort of collective action stick or come up with any new ideas.
The online Left vastly overestimates how much people give a shit about Covid
"online Left" nice assumption there
what we've been hearing from workers here is literally "yes i'd like to stay home, but i'd rather risk getting covid than not buying food"
it's not that they don't care, it's that they can't
Yeah, everybody would love a vacation from work, no shit.
A lockdown only works if you use the time to build the capacity for mass testing, targeted quarantines (outside of the home), contact tracing, and hospital capacity. That's what Asia did, and that's why they succeeded. "Stay the fuck home" is a strategy to buy time, not an actual cure.
The US and Europe did a lockdown, and it was a fucking disaster because we learned nothing and did nothing during that time. You can shut everything down until the end of time, but if you don't actually invest in productive solutions you just end up right back where you started.
