PODCAST: Post-election recombobulating with Angela Lang
Donald Trump won Wisconsin and the presidency. Angela Lang and Dan Shafer try to make sense of what just happened.
The Recombobulation Area is a thirteen-time Milwaukee Press Club award-winning weekly opinion column and online publication founded by longtime Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. The Recombobulation Area is now part of Civic Media.
It’s been a week since Election Day, and we’re all still processing the results of what just happened. Donald Trump is headed back to the White House, and to make sense of what just transpired, Angela Lang, executive director of Black Leaders Organizing for Communities and award-winning contributor to The Recombobulation Area, joined The Recombobulation Area podcast.
You can listen to the podcast here on Civic Media or on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, embedded below.
Topics discussed include:
How close the results were in Wisconsin
Why 2024 is different from 2016
What the Democratic Party could have done differently
How some people see Trump as genuine and Democrats as inauthentic
Why Democrats need to stop trying to sanitize every message
Did Biden doom Democrats by running for re-election?
Did Kamala Harris run a good 107-day campaign?
Reflecting on the RNC, and wondering how the convention impacted the results in Wisconsin
Where do Democrats stand on immigration?
Why Democrats shouldn’t move right on LGBTQ rights
Plus, ICYMI:
Dan Shafer is a journalist from Milwaukee who writes and publishes The Recombobulation Area. In 2024, he became the Political Editor of Civic Media. He’s also written for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Heartland Signal, Belt Magazine, WisPolitics, and Milwaukee Record. He previously worked at Seattle Magazine, Seattle Business Magazine, the Milwaukee Business Journal, Milwaukee Magazine, and BizTimes Milwaukee. He’s won 18 Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards. He’s on Twitter at @DanRShafer.
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Follow Dan Shafer on Twitter at @DanRShafer.
I enjoyed listening to the conversation you two had. One of the things that came to mind as I listened was the following:Â
Many commentators say the Biden administration didn't communicate their successes well enough. That there was a "messaging problem". But that assumes voters would be excited about the successes. I find most Democrats express far too much enthusiasm for policy wins many voters view as blasé. Inflation Reduction Act -- scratching the surface. CHIPS Act -- yawn. Respect for Marriage Act -- you mean this didn't exist already? The policy vision Democrats articulate has become so timid. Many of us find Medicare-for-All, tuition-free public education, or nationwide rent-control to be moderate stances. To hear a candidate advocate expanding the child tax credit as if it's bold is just totally dispiriting. We want societal transformation goddammit. Not wishy-washy incrementalism. To be sure, the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS, and Respect for Marriage Act will improve lives. And Republican obstructionism obviously impedes bolder policy. But now that we know courting conservatives with Cheney has little effect, it's time to expand the Democratic electorate with policies that will bring in non-, irregular, and third party voters. It's time for the Democrats to follow in, and with, the footsteps of BLOC and take seriously the ideas from the many communities so often neglected -- and those folks who aren't so easily regarded as part of "a community". There may be some discordance in the wisdoms of many communities. But in the discordances' common threads, I think the roots of consistent electoral success can be found.Â