How Dems Are Politically Playing the Wrong Game
The Democrats are playing the wrong version of the game.
Let me explain with a story.
I got a Switch Lite for Christmas, and had been using it to play Nintendo Switch Online, which features over 100 games made in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. Also included with the online package is Tetris 99, which is a battle royale version of the popular puzzle game. Basically, your goal is to be the last one standing with the blocks not ever hitting the top of the screen. At the same time, while clearing lines you can toss clutter to other opponents by performing combos, performing tricks with the T-shaped block, and clearing out multiple lines simultaneously.
I know we’re deviating a bit from the main topic, but Tetris 99 is almost perfect. It a fun addicting game with some actual required depth and strategy for survival, and remains one of the best Switch games ever made.
Last December, Nintendo Switch Online included another Tetris game, which is Tetris DX. This is a Game Boy Color version of the 1989 masterpiece with a couple additional features. One of these features is the option to play Tetris against the CPU, clearing out lines and therefore tossing some clutter to the computer opponent.
I’m getting -wrecked- in this game, and I even have it on “normal” difficulty.
It has become almost a Moby Dick-like obsession, as I continue to play this mode of Tetris and I keep losing wildly. I have lost 98% of the matches. I couldn’t understand it for a while, and then realized what was happening…after another loss. This Tetris and modern-day Tetris are very similar, but the differences are strong enough so that the games are different and therefore your strategies while clearing out the lines and battling the competition also changes dramatically.
Tetris 89 and Tetris DX doesn’t reward you for T-block tricks, as a matter of fact the amount of time you have to seal the block’s position on the grid is significantly shorter compared to the more-forgiving Tetris games of the 9th gaming generation. Even consecutive clearing of lines doesn’t warrant a reward, unlike in Tetris 99. Then, today’s Tetris allows you to save a piece that you might want to use later, and most of the games in the franchise released in the last 15 years has a display somewhere in the screen that reveals the next several blocks that are coming up. In all the Tetris games from 1989 until at least 2000, you only know the -next- piece that is approaching, which gives you less ability to plan your next few moves, and leaves you at the mercy of hopefully getting the piece you desperately need to clear out some lines and clean up mistakes.
In conclusion, all the strategies I’ve used to compete in Tetris 99 doesn’t work with Tetris DX; it’s the same skeleton of a puzzle game but the rules, challenges, and margins of effort are very different. I can’t beat Tetris DX with Tetris 99 moves, and I’ve had to adjust accordingly to even have a chance to not continue getting routinely embarrassed by a game that is over 25 years old.
Let’s talk about that infamous standoff at the entrance to the Department of Education last week.
A slew of Democrats from the House of Representatives publicly stated they were going to visit the building to figure out what’s happening, so of course the media is already there. And of course, people were hired to barricade the door and refuse to let them in. The Democrats then start confronting the one gentleman blocking the door, and then turn to the media and list off all the good that the Department of Education provides and all the necessary services under threat if the DOGE people continue their spending slashes. These politicians believe that this action will help turn the tide against the Trump Administration and Elon Musk.
Only one problem, this political strategy no longer works, this political theater is now viewed as hollow.
This theatrical faction of the Democratic Party continues behaving like everything was fine before DOGE and Trump took over. These politicians are pretending like the Department of Education, Department of Labor, USAID, and other industries at the risk of being gutted were at maximum efficiency. Its part of the frustrating narrative that the Dems are behaving like the Biden Years were perfectly fine and everything was fixed post-pandemic. But that’s not the truth, so therefore why would the frustrated voters who sided with the bigot who stole from charities be swayed by the Dems trying to preserve the *checks notes* Department of Education?
The American voters selected the loudmouth bully to the presidency, while also voting closer to the leftist side on many of the smaller positions of political power. Just look at North Carolina’s turnout and results. Therefore, you need to respond to DOGE and Musk’s stupidity with bullyball. Send out lawsuits and perhaps even warrants for his arrest all over the country for his ongoing theft of private information and firing people only to support tax cuts and government contracts that benefits him. Show back up to these threatened agencies with some paintball guns and water guns and protestors and humiliate these folks.
You already don’t have the advantage in any branch of government in Washington D.C. so you have to battle harder, you have to fight dirtier, you have to use new and unique tactics without resorting to actual violence and without actually taking it out on the vulnerable. As a reminder, the prices still haven’t gone down but backlash to that reality has yet to happen. You have to understand why.
Discuss what will happen if you gain back control, discuss loudly the ideas of what will actually help voters, discuss the prospects of taxing these obscenely rich people so they can stop hoarding wealth. Discuss the problems that have angered Americans into once again handing their trust to the felon as opposed to running it back with a Bidenomics Democrat. Discuss the actual problems associated with these services and provide actual solutions that doesn’t involve destroying the thing entirely.
Most importantly, talk about how all of these wild changes will only damage the most vulnerable, and will make it harder for the literal states that helped give Trump the presidency in the first place. Without the Department of Education, it means you’re at the mercy of the leaders of your state; so folks in California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York are not as screwed as people living in Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virgina, and the Dakotas.
Bernie Sanders has been on the prowl with this relentless message of necessary change and refusing to give up, and has even suggested supporting independents over Democrats in the next election cycle if necessary to steer closer towards his agenda, an agenda with wide bipartisan American support. Bernie has gone on talk shows, podcasts, extensive interviews, and has even written for a wide variety of magazines and websites, with even Fox News printing some of his words. They know Bernie is willing to work with anyone on the actual issues while providing substance, and also know he’s not going to show up to berate someone outside a building with media behind him just to make a scene. This is why Bernie Sanders has the strongest approval ratings in this country, this is why Bernie remains one of the most popular politicians in the entire world---even if the two-party system and his strongest anti-capitalist ideas angering rich politicians in power have ruined his chances of ever becoming president.
On the other hand, Hakeem Jefferies’ loudest noise comes from complaining about the voters yelling at him. We also got Schumer even telling his collegues to vote for the less-extreme Trump-picked cabinet folks so that way they have *checks notes* some leverage for the more-extreme members? By the way that didn’t work. These old strategies and the frustrated backlash are proof that we’re tired of the theatrics, and proof that they are realizing that just using words won’t be enough to gain the support of your voters. Playing fair, trying to be cordial, just won’t cut it in a United States that has 60% of Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck and being one bad month away from being homeless.
Most Americans are clearly struggling, and these same Americans need to see those suits worn by Democrats garner some dirt, some dust, some sweat, maybe even a little blood if the situation demands it. We need more fight, loudly complaining about Elon Musk isn’t enough. You need to find ways to bring Elon closer to wearing handcuffs, even if its temporary.
The rich people have won as they’ve seen their p(r)ick complete his political comeback, making them all become billions richer in just a couple months. The solution is not mending fences with the techbros, the solution is not being kind to the billionaires who have helped create this ridiculous situation. Dems need to stop the pandering, stop the left vs. right angle of the conversation, it’s the 1% versus everyone else regardless of their affiliation, but the politicians who are supposed to be in our team continue to not show any political teeth.
Tetris 99 allows you to target whomever you want while tossing carnage, it’s technically the first Tetris game that actually allows you to decide how to attack and who to attack.
Democratic Party needs more focused, direct attacks, needs to be more aggressive in their messaging. Otherwise, they will continue losing a game that has repeatedly been harming Americans left and right---literally and figuratively.