In Reply to: Whoever becomes the Democratic frontrunner... posted by Gainsborough on November 05, 2026 at 11:26:08
with where the country is. Socialists and communists were the bogeyman for an entirely different generation that did not get passed down as anything beyond an abstraction since the collapse of the Soviet block.
They also tried "Arab!" and "muslim!", which are somewhat fresher in people's mind, relatively speaking, but in real terms, it's hard for them to resonate well in places that matter the most (high population centers) because those also happen to be places where muslims live side by side with non-muslim general population. These kinds of claims (including "Mexican immigrants!") work best in insulated places that have little or no immigrant and muslim populations and at best, places where they are beginning to move in. That, as opposed to, say, border states and big cities where there are plenty of immigrants already.
So they were down to "Hasan Piker!" a name that is supposedly scary, but known only to people who are already deeply invested in politics and have picked a side already. "Trans!" and "pronouns in emails!" were at least things that more people could have an emotional response to. Back then at least. Not as much effective any more, I suspect.
They were already devoid of ideas, now they are running low on bogeymen (I think).