Last week's post, The Damage From Free Trade Helped Elect Trump also goes through the details.
A number of things combined to cost Clinton the election, including voter suppression, the FBI's strategic interference, the massive amount of free and uncritical media exposure Trump received, the absolute and complete lack of policy issue and substance in media "horse race" election coverage and the deaf ear of the "centrist" Democratic wing. But Obama's stubborn continuation of his push for the widely unpopular TPP helped undermine Clinton's credibility as she said to oppose the agreement. (Clinton's refusal to break with Obama and fight hard to kill the agreement also contributed, of course.)
Progressives warned that TPP and trade would be important in the election. They were right. The "corporate wing" of the Democratic party paid a real price for not listening. Obama fell in line with international conventional establishment wisdom and that tied a noose around Hillary's neck. And that tied a noose around all of our necks.
So What Are The Lessons?
What does the TPP fight say about how to win these battles? How does it inform the fights ahead? It's early, and we need time for a full post-war analysis because this was a major, multiyear fight with many players, which led to a major victory.
But it's clear that in the TPP battle Progressives set the stage by:
-- working over an extended period of time,
-- forming coalitions of aligned organizations to educate their audiences,
-- educating "grasstops" organizers activists and supplying them with educational and collateral materials and well-researched arguments to help them speak to and engage the public,
-- reaching out through media and social media channels to drive wider public awareness,
-- and organizing opposition to pressure politicians.
And more.
We also learned that there is a better path forward on trade. Next we work together to make our government renegotiate trade deals like NAFTA. But not the Trump way.
We must insist that labor, environmental, consumer, LGBT, human rights, health and other "stakeholder" groups from each country have a seat at the table along with business interests. We must insist that it be demonstrated how any benefits outweigh costs. We must insist that trade deals never be written to override policies that sovereign governments might later decide are best for their people, culture key industries and the environment.
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