In a new book, political scientist M. Steven Fish argues that pro-democracy forces need to deploy a “high-dominance” political style to defeat Trumpism. And, he says, they need to stop being so squeamish about patriotism.

Too long to summarize. Quotes:

We tell this story about how the working person is desperate. Listen to the rhetoric: “You poor, struggling working families. We’re here to get you a break so you can squeeze by.”

That doesn’t work for the folks where I grew up, and it doesn’t work very well anywhere else, either. Working class people, like everyone else, want to be regarded as prosperous, as forward-looking, as self-reliant and living lives that are full of possibility. The Democrats’ message often ignores the human need for respect.

  • “Own” the libs? Nobody ever owned FDR, JFK or MLK. And can you imagine Lyndon Johnson having accomplished what he did, this historic legacy of progressive reform, without his high-dominance style? We need to recover that tradition.

  • Democrats need to overmatch Trump’s dominance, not emulate his style.

  • There is absolutely no contradiction between collaboration, cooperation and empathy on the one hand and dominance politics on the other.

  • qprimedEnglish
    5·
    5 months ago

    great article, thank you.

    My take from the article…?

    confidence: believing that you are the best person for the job.

    dominance: making everyone else believe that you are the best person for the job.