Liberal Think Tank Commissions 2016 Autopsy

A Left-aligned think tank called Third Way launched a $20 million campaign Tuesday with the purpose of taking “Trumpism” head-on by “helping Democrats reconnect with voters who have abandoned the party.”

Since the party’s crushing losses to Republicans in November 2016, stunned liberals have started an intense crusade of soul-searching. As a result, the “New Blue” campaign will focus on analyzing two major components: why some key traditionally blue counties turned red during the election, and why 12 House Democrats — the “Trump 12” — carried districts that Trump also won against Clinton.

“The Dem-mobile passed the dead end sign, crashed through the guard rail, and is bobbing up and down in the lake, and its drivers still insist they know where they’re going.”

“The Democrats took a wrong turn, and they’re too stubborn to ask for directions,” Eddie Zipperer, an assistant professor for political science at Georgia Military College, told LifeZette in an email. “The Dem-mobile passed the dead end sign, crashed through the guard rail, and is bobbing up and down in the lake, and its drivers still insist they know where they’re going.”

In conjunction with its own efforts, Third Way plans to partner with “stakeholders in Washington” while also “reaching far beyond the Beltway” as it seeks “insights from elected officials, entrepreneurs, and other local leaders who understand what has happened in their communities and hearing from voters in more intensive ways.”

“But Democrats are in their worse electoral shape since Reconstruction. This has helped give us the Trump presidency, which could wreak havoc on our security, economy, environment, and social order,” Third Way’s press release states. “Only a major strategic rethink by Democrats can truly fight the danger of Trumpism in the long term.”

After gathering and analyzing these reports from rural American and from working class voters, Third Way hopes to convince Democrats to deploy their findings. Third Way, however, has some conditions.

“The New Blue campaign is about moving forward. We will to yield none of the social progress this nation has made on things like gun safety, voting rights, and choice,” the press release reads. “Nor will we stand for any backsliding in opportunity and inclusion for communities of color, LGBT Americans, and immigrants.”

If Third Way refuses to concede all of this progress, however, the think tank may never truly understand where the Trump voters came from and why they voted the way they did.

“Everyday Americans in the Midwest and around the country have felt left behind and ignored by elites and politicians in Washington, in both parties,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) saidd in an emailed statement. “Like the Freedom Caucus, Donald Trump spoke to the needs of ordinary folks, and told them that he would fight for them. That’s not a partisan message, and it’s why so many traditionally blue states voted for Trump in November.”

Trade, in particular, was a major deciding factor for the Rust Belt voters, Zipperer said.

“The rust belt states are the ones that were decimated by the loss of manufacturing jobs. Democrats used to be the champions of the working class, but then both parties sold out to globalization,” Zipperer said. “For years, no major presidential candidate was the champion of working people.  Then, Trump came along, and finally — for the first time in years — the working class had a champion again.”

Liberalism, which Zipperer calls the “political philosophy of the elite globalists,” harmed American workers when the U.S. took on what Trump refers to as “disastrous” trade deals. After watching their jobs being shipped off to foreign countries, thousands of Americans had had enough.

“Liberalism is now a the political philosophy of elite globalists. It’s about replacing American workers with undocumented workers, driving down wages, regulating small businesses out of existence, and creating ‘free trade deals’ that ensure multinational corporations can make their products without being subject to costly American labor laws and still sell those products in the American market,” Zipperer said. “The more people see this, the redder the country becomes.”

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Although the Left is often far too fond of writing off the Right as a cohort of racists, sexists, homophobes and anti-immigrant Islamaphobes, the people who cast their votes for Trump were motivated primarily by common-sense economic concerns. If Third Way’s “New Blue” campaign honestly sifts through the many factors at play in the voters’ decisions, it may come up with an honest assessment.

“Some Democrats like [Ohio Rep.] Tim Ryan understand that the party has lost its way, but most of them are so out of touch the [Democratic National Committee] may as well relocate its headquarters to the moon,” Zipperer said. “Big donors love them, so they think America loves them. The mainstream media loves them, so they think America loves them. Special interests love them so they think America loves them. Meanwhile, voters have given every branch of the federal government to Republicans and Democrats control only fivestate governments.”

Since President Obama took office in 2009, the Democrats have suffered staggering losses. Roughly 20 percent of their Senate seats and a quarter of their House seats have evaporated. If Third Way really wants answers, it needs to be open to all questions — and answers.

“The dawn of the Information Age is as destabilizing economically, socially, and politically as the Industrial Age was at the turn of the last century,” the press release reads as part of its initial explanation for the 2016 election results. “The New Blue campaign will develop a compelling economic vision for voters feeling buffeted by changing times.”