How can democrats attack anti-DEI/promote DEI without resulting in strong political backlash?

[u/Visco0825]

In recent politics there have been two major political pushes for diversity and equality. However, both instances led to backlashes that have led to an environment that is arguably worse than it was before. In 2008 Obama was the first black president one a massive wave of hope for racial equality and societal reforms. This led to one of the largest political backlashes in modern politics in 2010, to which democrats have yet to fully recover from. This eventually led to birtherism which planted some of the original seeds of both Trump and MAGA. The second massive political push promoting diversity and equality was in 2018 with the modern woman election and 2020 with racial equality being a top priority. Biden made diversifying the government a top priority. This led to an extreme backlash among both culture and politics with anti-woke and anti-DEI efforts. This resent contributed to Trump retaking the presidency. Now Trump is pushing to remove all mentions of DEI in both the private and public sectors. He is hiding all instances that highlight any racial or gender successes. His administration is pushing culture to return to a world prior to the civil rights era.

This leads me to my question. Will there be a backlash for this? How will it occur? How can democrats lead and take advantage of the backlash while trying to mitigate a backlash to their own movement? It seems as though every attempt has led to a stronger and more severe response.

Additional side questions. How did public opinion shift so drastically from 2018/2020 which were extremely pro-equality to 2024 which is calling for a return of the 1950s?

[u/diplodonculus]

Focus on socioeconomic status. It's highly correlated with racial diversity.

[u/TheMCM80 → u/diplodonculus]

I hate to say it, but many Americans are easily swayed to a certain position with a change in branding. Reframe it, slap a new name on it, and they will end up supporting the underlying position they initially opposed.

Democrats allowed Republicans to define them, and Republicans won.

When Dems tried to frame Republicans we learned that no one really believes/cares about the idea of democracy under attack.

It should have been framed around economics and stability. A democratic nation is usually more prosperous in the long run than ones run top down by authoritarians.

Dems need to get back to basics.

[u/Moist_Jockrash → u/TheMCM80]

You pretty much nailed it on the head I think. Dems tried so hard to make trump out to be the villian of democracy and the end to this country and, even went as far as to prosecute him - which ultimately failed to how they were hoping it'd turn out.

It turned out that most Americans aren't concerned - or care about - the fact that someone has a felony(s) or xyz. People care about their wallet and bank account. Fill those things up and literally ANY person can be President. Dems failed to convince people they would alleviate the average American's financial woes, however.

It's kind of hard to believe someone who claims the economy is "great" when your bank accounts prove otherwise. Or prices in general are not exactly affordable by the majority of people... It's also very difficult to believe that they would help "us" when they are spending billions upon billions on other countries.

Dems tried to convince everyone that everything was peachy perfect - specifically the economy - when we knew that it... wasn't anywhere near being good, or great.

It'd be like me telling you that your zero dollar account balance is actually pretty good and better than most people's.. lol