If you want to know why I think the Democrats should be offering policy proposals of their own and not relying so much on being anti-Trump, you need only consider the graph above. The Democrats are at their lowest approval rating in 35 years.
I presume the retort will be that own-Congressman approval remains higher than that. That’s true of both Democrats and Republicans and it won’t improve the Democrats’ fortunes in the mid-terms.
I should also mention that I don’t believe that banking on bad economic news for the country is a good look.
Wow. That chart is eye opening. You can see small event related shifts in the data (1990 recession, 9/11. Iraq War/Great Recession). Without the long term data you showed, I think I would have missed the big picture of what has happened.
In the book The Fourth Turning, Neil Howe talks about how America goes through long cycles (80-100 years) where there are crisis periods known as fourth turnings (Revolutionary War, Civil War, Depression/WW2). Since the book was released in 1997, Neil now argues that the latest crisis period started in 2008. During these crisis periods, there is a real possibility that a political party dies and another takes its place. Republicans replaced Whigs in the Civil War fourth turning. Elon’s timing for starting a new party may not be bad based on this chart.
One of the potential crisis triggers Neil mentions repeatedly is a budget/debt crisis. We seem to be well on our way. He predicts a crisis resolution around 2032.