Carville might be a grumpy old man, but he might also be right about winning elections in 2022, which is what he was getting at. He was talking shop and explaining why a racist buffoon did so well.

And beyond that, if Democrats want power, they have to win in a country where 18 percent of the population controls 52 percent of the Senate seats. That’s a fact. That’s not changing. That’s what this whole damn thing is about.

On the flipside of ample identity options, my friend is a prof at a large public university. He recently shared an email his department sent him regarding pronouns he might select for their website:

Here's the list of options:

ae/aet/aers

e/em/eirs

fae/faer/faers

he/him/his

per/per/pers

she/her/hers

they/them/theirs

ve/ver/vis

xe/xem/xyrs

ze/hir/hirs

He found it hilarious that these very intelligent people tried to compile an exhaustive pronoun list. This was not a university-wide effort, just departmental. What % of the department is xe/xem/xrys, and is it greater than the % that would be offended not to find their pronoun on this list? He did not believe this awkward effort was sincere, and I can understand his point. This friend is very progressive, a reliable Democratic voter, and he spans millenial/GenX.

I can sympathize with both the need to destroy the patriarchy and racism, and with the need to win elections that help do it. Also, in general, old people are always going to be out-of-step. The Overton Window leaves us all.