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Notes -
Oh certainly, I'm old enough to remember seeing Forty More Years on the shelves at Borders.
But, to take that as a clear analogy, the Republican party that came back and proved Forty More Years and the Obama Coaltion of the Ascendant false, was very different from the Dubya-McCain era party that was defeated. Not as different as some would have you believe, many of the same guys are still involved, and many of the same aims are still pursued. But the changes are obvious and manifold.
The hypothetical Democrats who come back and win the 2026 midterms and then run the table in 2028 against JD Vance would probably look very different from the Harris campaign. Quite likely in ways we don't quite know about yet! McCain was perceived as a bit left of Dubya on social issues, civil and bipartisan, focused on getting money and corporations out of politics, but hawkish and interventionist on national security; the McCain strategy was certainly not the one that lead Republicans to victory in 2016 or 2024.
I mean there are two radically different timelines that result in a Dem win in those years. The Dems winning because they retolled and redid there messaging looks way different from the dems just winning because the worst-case scenario about the amount of damage Trump could do to the economy came true and they just win by default.
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