John Kasich is the Last Person Democrats Should Listen to.
By: Lauren Elizabeth
Tags: Election 2020, Elections, Politics, Democrats, Government

John Kasich is the Last Person Democrats Should Listen to.

A response to his advice to Joe Biden, and the Democratic party.

Kohn Kasich, via Associated Press

As of November 7th, 2020, Joe Biden is officially the President-Elect of the United States. Naturally, amidst the justifiable sighs of relief at the thought of Donald Trump being a one term President, I and I’m sure many others have been reflecting not only on how we landed in this pivotal moment, but where we go moving forward. Among those with analysis and words of advice for the soon-to-be President Biden, was former GOP Ohio Governor and Biden ally John Kasich. As predictable as it was that the left was going to be blamed for any losses and their roles diminished and sidelined in any victories for the Democratic party, it was perhaps just as inevitable that Mr. Kasich would be one to perpetuate these harmful, infuriating narratives.

In a series of tweets, The Daily Beast Reporter Hannah Trudo wrote:

Top @JoeBiden GOP surrogate @JohnKasich: “Now is the time for Democrats … to begin to listen to what the other half of the country has to say.”

which was followed by:

Just a stunning statement from, again, Biden surrogate John Kasich: “The Democrats have to make it clear to the far-left that they almost cost him this election.”

While I don’t at all expect that Joe Biden will agree, but the very last person any Democrat should listen to — if they want to be successful, and deliver for the people — is a Republican.

The left almost cost Joe Biden the election?

What progressive in office lost their seat? Considering he would find himself unable to name a single proponent of the Green New Deal or Medicare for all in either a swing or safe blue seat who didn’t get re-elected, hearing a man that added nothing to this race tell Democrats how to win is amusing to say the least.

How, exactly, did John Kasich, or even the Lincoln Project with their Bush era Republican operatives, help Joe Biden in this race? Where is the data to suggest that they were actually an asset, and did little more than ensure that they themselves remain relevant? Considering the fact that there was record turnout among the GOP base, and even more Republicans voted for Donald Trump in 2020 than in 2016, what exactly did these people contribute? Who listened to them and enjoyed what they had to say, other than liberals who merely reveled in the fact that a few old school Republicans didn’t like Trump?

John Kasich, who didn’t even get close to helping Joe Biden win his state of Ohio, has a lot of nerve arguing that the left nearly cost this election when Joe Biden inarguably has Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and their tireless get out the vote efforts to thank for the states of Michigan and Minnesota. After exit polling in the 2020 election showed that 72% of voters overall were in favor of a Government run healthcare plan, I do not have the time or patience for anyone who would suggest that the left and our ideas are fringe, only existing along the margins, and are not worth acknowledging let alone fighting for. Who is John Kasich to suggest that we need to be ignored and set to the side, when he undeniably represents an age of American politics that is dying?

It wasn’t the John Kasich’s of the world who had anything to do with Biden’s victory, but young people did. Young people who overwhelmingly support policies like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. That being said, make no mistake, we did not turn out to vote because we “support” Joe Biden. We turned out in record numbers because we despise Donald Trump, and everything he represents. A vote against Trump does not constitute support for a candidate who has promised nothing would fundamentally change.

If the Democratic party hopes to have a prayer of electoral success in 2022, and 2024 in particular, then the very last thing they should do is ignore the people who objectively salvaged this election. Salvaging it for a party who has spent months, if not years treating them as though they were just naive and idealistic. Well, when data continues to prove in ever-growing numbers that these goals aren’t as idealistic as they would lead us to believe, how much longer is the Democratic party going to get away with running away from them?

Perhaps no one summed up the circumstances better than Benjamin Dixon, who wrote:

“The Lincoln Project got $67,000,000 to do literally nothing and the Black organizers that helped Biden win probably are short on rent this month.”

I sincerely hope — from the bottom of my heart — that every single Democratic lawmaker who heeds John Kasich’s advice, and abandons their base to appeal to the likes of him is primaried out of existence. I sincerely hope they know we see them as the enemies of progress that they are. I hope they know that there is no more patience for their games. But more than anything else, I hope they know that their days are numbered, because now that the easy part of defeating Donald Trump is over with, we can focus our energy on them.