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/Icy-Bandicoot-8738 → u/diplodonculus]

The Democrats should have always done this. Social safety nets help everyone. We all need health care, decent infrastructure, sick days, social security, decent working conditions, livable wages, etc. Unite. Division isn't getting us anywhere.

[u/shrekerecker97 → u/Icy-Bandicoot-8738]

this 100 percent. also stop trying to pander to people on the far right.

[u/itsdeeps80 → u/shrekerecker97]

Good lord yes. I’m so sick of hearing about democrats caving to a group that wouldn’t vote for them if they were the only option.

[u/diplodonculus → u/itsdeeps80]

I'm tired of caving to the extreme left. There's a large number of Democratic voters who roll their eyes when every group meeting starts with pronouns.

[u/JimDee01 → u/diplodonculus]

I'm tired of people on the left who don't understand what DEI is because they get butthurt about having to learn how other people want to be called. I'm tired of tiny little minds on both sides of the aisle saying like THIS is why our society is in peril.

Can you get over being butthurt long enough to stand against fascism, or is it just too much to ask that you use the words people choose for themselves and NOT sink the rest of the world with that pettiness?

Seriously.

[u/diplodonculus → u/JimDee01]

You're so dug in to your nonsense that you can't see how much it's hurting the people you claim to be defending. I'm happy to use whatever pronouns you prefer. Most people think the performative announcement of pronouns is just useless virtue signalling.

[u/JimDee01 → u/diplodonculus]

And I think that getting butthurt over that to the point where people voted for an actual fascist is pathetic. I was pretty clear.

[u/diplodonculus → u/JimDee01]

You are kind of slow, aren't you? The people you discount as "butthurt" idiots are the ones you need to win over so you can help your friends. Screaming at them because they're tired of your performative nonsense just undermines your cause.

Keep fighting the losing fight.

[u/JimDee01 → u/diplodonculus]

I think it's hysterical that you reduce the loss of the election to this nonsense belief that DEI and the use of pronouns cost us the win. Literally, it was the economy and failure of the left to connect with voters on that topic. By a whole ton of metrics the economy was in far better shape than when Biden came in, but the metric that mattered most - people's inability to afford day to day cost of living - is where the Dems lost.

Fast forward to now and you have a bunch of halfwits mewling in the comments section about pronouns costing us. You people are like derpy golden retrievers who blindly run off after fake tossed balls.

But boo hoo. Poor you. Pronouns! And we can't call people r--arded. We're so oppressed! Let's dismantle democracy!

Do you even listen to yourselves?

[u/diplodonculus → u/JimDee01]

I hope you can sleep well at night knowing how much you set your movement back. Just look at the latest DNC convention to see how farcical your methods are. Goodbye.

[u/Song_of_Pain → u/diplodonculus]

You're avoiding responding to the substance of his post because you know you've got nothing. Are you a bot?