I think there is often a racial component. Blacks (and Hispanics?) voting against whites. Chicago’s last two mayors have been terrible. The latest (and worst) is Brandon Johnson, a black former Chicago Teachers Union honcho. I have read that his second biggest campaign contributor (after the teachers union) is a rapper/gang member/thug. Johnson (whose only talent seems to be rabble-rousing) defeated an experienced, “progressive” white candidate. Johnson plays the race card at every opportunity.

Also, the Chicago Democrat machine reportedly uses gang members to get out the vote.

Recently some Chicago blacks have turned to Trump because they are angry that illegal Hispanics have been given preference in government resources.

For the last few years I’ve been following the work of James Lindsay and more recently Karlyn Borysenko regarding the far left aka Marxists and their efforts to usher in their Revolution. Borysenko regularly emphasizes they have four goals. One of which is to destabilize/disrupt our society. The New Marxists *want* people to be divided and upset. So that instead of thinking we can fix our social and economic problems through the democratic process they conclude our society is irredeemably broken and unjust because of capitalism.

The problem with this take (which I think is basically correct) is it’s unclear how much Democrat politicians in “blue” cities or “blue” states are consciously aware of this. I think most of them inherited this mindset from the genuine far left without realizing what it is or what it represents. Which is preparing the way for Socialist Revolution.

Tammany and other Democrat machines catered to the working class, showering them with taxpayer money in a sort of proto-Welfare. They fanned and exploited ethnic, labor, and political violence.

This was calculated to drive the middle class out of the city, into the suburbs. The Democrat machine was left with captive voters. There was no core of principled, independent citizens around which an opposition could coalesce.

The old Democratic machines were already engaging in the divisive populism that the Reds would later adopt. It is a moot point which group absorbed the other.

There were even wealthy bien-pensant proto-progressives and dabblers in social reform who romanticized the poor from afar…. All the parts of this parasitic coalition were already in place in the mid-late 19th century.

Great question and answers by commenters. My thoughts:

1) Party “ownership” of a block of voters. For decades the Dems had a lock on black voters. That’s beginning to crumble now, although the Dems probably still have 70+%.

Here’s my assertion: The Dems are pro-criminal simply because they will “own” that segment. The average citizen won’t believe that’s true, but criminals know that it is true and will vote accordingly. If the number of career criminals is very small it doesn’t make any difference. But what if… we import a large block of criminals. Then it gets interesting and valuable.

2) How is it possibly that cities like Detroit and Chicago have been on a downward spiral for decades and yet people vote Dems into office for decades? Crime, chaos, and destruction spur the general desire for more government action. If people were smart (often they are not), they’d be carefully considering the kinds of government action. It’s a bit like medical treatments that can either ameliorate a few symptoms temporarily versus a treatment that cures the disease. The former keeps them coming back for more.

3) …seem aimed at harming the US. – Bill

They want to destroy western civilization. – Crystal

a generalized, deep-seated hate, proof against any facts, of this country, society, history and its citizens. – Richard Aubrey

Their motivation is indeed the dissolution of western society’s cultural autonomies. – Geoffrey Britain

This one is sort of hard to accept for many people, but I believe there’s truth to it. At the simple reflexive level, some of it is just that many people resent very successful people. Remember also that the origin of many of these toxic social influences began as Marxist efforts to degrade western civilization.

The Marxist sees wealth as coming from land and natural resources and sees wealth and income as a zero sum game. If some people have a lot, they must have robbed others from those resources. Of course, they miss the fact that real innovation and progress and collaborative efforts really does create wealth from “thin air” as it were.

3b) An anecdote: Saul Alinsky, an uber leftist, learned his early tradecraft from Frank Nitti, an uber organized crime boss.

He didn’t come right out and say it, but the gist was that these people would tell ICE where the illegals were. Many people in the cities where the illegals are in abundance don’t like what they see and are ready to help ICE get rid of them.

Homan knew that ICE was gathering that intel. They were ready to roll after the inauguration.