I fully agree with your last paragraph, BUT... let's not forget several items you have not mentioned.
First of all, ignorant voters falling for the PINO orange felon's lies hook, line and sinker. He fought Kamala to a draw on Social Security, Medicare, and threats to democracy? Unbelievably ignorant.
"Overall, PINO was trusted over Harris on border security, crime, the economy, and the cost of living, while Harris was more trusted only on abortion and climate change...?" Except for the border issue, MAYBE, the Democrats were better at all the other ones than the republicons, where PINO himself and many of his ass-kissers are the biggest criminals of all. Again, unbelievably ignorant.
Then there are the lazy Democratic voters who do a lot of complaining, but never get their asses of their sofas to actually vote. And the very many young people who can't be bothered to organize or vote. These last two issues are the crux of the matter - too many Democratic non-voters.
Finally, there is the fact that a very large percentage of American voters are sexists. Way too many men will never vote for a woman, and wayyyyyy to many American women will never vote for a woman.
Some very good points. I also agree that we are STILL failing to recognize just how badly right-wing (not even FAR right-wing) propaganda has misled and outright lied to Americans. It's hard to vote in good faith when you've been fed a bushel of idiocy.
This is another article that tells the Democrats that they are wrong because they lost. It also implies that in order to win they have to become more like Republicans.
Other commenters have already pointed out that this is misguided. Does the writer mean that since so many Republican voters are bigoted and misogynistic the Dems should be more like that? The Republicans, with a lot of dark money, especially from Musk, were able to make a big issue about trans people. They still are. This is the result of their new media, including X, Fox, and social media, constantly spreading lies and divisiveness.
The only way Democrats need to become more like the Republicans is they need to be more emotionally charged, and much more aggressive. They need to frighten people about the damage the new administration is doing, and also by showing clearly, in an understandable way, how the Dems would be different,
A couple of days a go, I received a message from a new group that promised to get out there with new ads that would take-on the Republicans. The ads made me sad. What they said was accurate, true, and exactly what someone like me would want to hear. They were much too reasonable. Not Good!
The Dems need to show hospitals being closed and people dying at the ER doors. They need to show floods ripping through NC, and Trump saying he wants to get rid of FEMA. They need to show foreign born mothers with protective status who are mothers of American citizens, who are also working necessary jobs like nursing, and paying taxes, being taken away in front of their children by ICE. These things are happening, and if there are’t videos, you can do dramatizations and put that in small print. They need to show how the billionaires in Trump’s cabinet live (yes, show their houses) while they are cutting your benefits and giving a bigger tax break to themselves.
The Dems have been given the gift of Elon Musk, who is mean and crazy, and show how he has been given possession of all of your data and that he intends to use it for his own profits. Also, how the cuts he is making are not money saving they are life-threatening to people who don’t make a million dollars. Show everyone the cartoons of billionaires dropping off $1 million each to Trump to protect their fortunes. Can you do that?
ALSO: Every Democrat in Congress has to find ways to go viral by attacking their colleagues across the isle. They have to ask if after allowing the FBI to be used as Trump’s attack dog, letting foreign government bribe government officials, and also allowing our Intelligence Service to be in the hands of a Putin sympathizer, will they stand up to Trump/Musk/Vance when they declare the Democrats a terrorist organization and then send in the goons from January 6 to drag the Democrats out in handcuffs, or worse. Show them what an authoritarian state looks like! Stop being gentile and reasonable!!! Tell the truth — graphically.
Excellent points!!! The democrats need to get very aggressive. They are doing nothing, as if we are going to even have a midterm election in 2 years. Pino will have completely destroyed the government in 2 years and there will be no Democracy.
Okay. But can we shift from the problems (which I understand and appreciate) to solutions now? I am nauseated by all this never-ending post-game analysis. We have done this already, and now we are in a Constitional Crisis. Can we please act like it?
Agreed. But how many voters know what a constitutional crisis is? They had to google (if indeed they did) the meaning of the word ‘oligarchy’ when Biden used it in one of his last speeches.
Yeah, the Democratic Party needs a reset alright. I'm a little skeptical of the usual reliance on polls of opinion to guide the process. Many people have said exactly why they didn't like the Democratic platform and the campaign, but the party leaders are still trying to shoehorn it into the categories of policies they feel comfortable with. People felt unheard and unseen, while the party continued to push what most people consider irrelevant to their lives. Worthy efforts, and I support them, but most people are not LGBTQ, or disabled, or homeless, or undocumented, or any number of other disadvantaged groups. While people were complaining about being unable to make a decent living, or pay all their bills, or even being able to find a good job, the Democrats just pointed to their statistics and charts and said things were better than we thought. No wonder they couldn't get traction.
I completely agree. Let me add this controversial thought: Democrats seem to be perceived as the party that serves “niche interests.” LBGTQ must be addressed and taken seriously, so must trans issues. But we cannot allow those issues be the dominant ones in the perception of voters. Also, for a long time Democrats took the Hispanic and Black vote for granted. I think we finally know that is no longer working. The bottom line, in my view, is to return to bread and butter union issues, front and center. Most voters don’t understand the concept of international trade, heck, most don’t even understand what a democracy really is. The fish does not notice the water it swims in until it is drained from the aquarium. A huge failure of the brilliantly effective Biden presidency was the lack of clear and aggressive messaging. They tried, but they did not succeed.
How could anyone succeed when the citizens in Red American have been lobotomized for 34 years by Murdoch’s propaganda, straight out of Hitler’s?
These people have been saturated in hate for anything Dem, I know, I used to be a Republican. These people will not change even when Trump cuts their SS and
Medicaid, child care, Head Start; it will be “Biden’s fault”.
The Democrats need to reach those who did not vote and greedy high earners
who are seating buckets now.
In the meantime, the Ds need to step up and oppose everything that Johnson needs. That includes no votes on the budget without concessions that will hold up in court.
Otherwise, let the nation crumple. It will be on Trump’s time. The government
is already failing, and the House refuses to do their job as a third branch of
I agree with you that most Trump voters are so indoctrinated into his cult that they will blame Democrats when Trump cuts their federal heath and education benefits.
But there were between five to ten million Trump voters in 2024 who switched over from Biden in 2020. Somehow, along with reengaging the 19 million 2020 Biden voters who did not vote in 2024, these Americans will need to be reengaged as well, that is assuming there are any more free and fair elections held in the U.S.
The two main issues that turned
voters away from Democrats in 2024, according to the polls I saw, were inflation and the situation in the Middle East. Their idiotic preoccupation with LGBTQ+ issues and pronouns was just an aggravating factor.
But the consequences of Trump 2.0 are likely going to be so catastrophic that Democrats will have an easier time in 2026 and 2028. Trump got fired in 2020 for his disastrous handling of COVID. This time it will be COVID times 10 on steroids.
David, I hear what everyone is saying but only Arkansas Blue hits the nail on the head...'Finally, there is the fact that a very large percentage of American voters are sexists. Way too many men will never vote for a woman, and wayyyyyy to many American women will never vote for a woman.'
This is the real reason people did not vote for Kamala because she is not only a woman but also a POC.
And Please do not fool yourself into thinking 2026/28 Ds will win back the House or Senate. I think people are thinking this will happen but don't be surprised if it doesn't.
I think you are missing a very important point. Democrats are and have always been the party of working people. Biden created low unemployment, low inflation, passed the Infrastructure Act which will create good union jobs, passed the Chips and Science Act to try to build an economy for the future, got BigPharma to negotiate prescription drug prices, reduced insulin to $35 a month for seniors, reduced inhaler costs to $35 a month, Harris had a plan to address price gouging on groceries, had a plan to get new homebuyers a $25K tax break, had a plan to give new parents a 6K tax break. Democrats are the party that want unions to have the power to collectively bargain for safer workplaces and better wages and benefits. The problem isn't the democratic party's platform or ideals. The problem is the press. They didn't cover any of this. And here we are.
We clearly need to figure out how to break thru the constant drumbeat of their narrative. But I dislike people saying we need to become the party of workers when our policies are already worker friendly.
I agree with most of this as well. The R's have successfully defined who the D's are and used their expertise with media to promote their version of the D brand. Time to smash that false D brand and "flood the zone" with powerful and emotion-based communication that builds universal appeal.
Please send this to Ken Martin, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. Many Dems I know wonder why they keep getting business-as-usual emails and texts asking for money rather than setting forth effective strategies for communicating and building a worthy opposition.
Maybe buy media outlets like the Rs have done, and get beautiful &/or entertaining people to shill for us 24/7 - like Fox, but for Dems. And with the truth, but well told. Beat them at the propaganda game - that’s the one game they’re actually winning.
Yet another “blame the democrats” for the results of the election article. This is the Contrarian. Let’s stop ignoring the most important facts and answer the more pressing question: how was a man of such extremely poor character - a proven danger to the country who was impeached twice and who clearly incited an insurrection - elected? Let’s talk about rampant misinformation. Let’s talk about white nationalist anger.
Its all about communication which is something the democrats keep failing on because they listen too much to consultants and not enough on coming across as a normal human being. Waltz for example was working well when he said they were weird. when he stopped because of attempts to get the mythical moderate republican, they started losing traction. The other aspect the democrats have to follow is direct communication with voters. The media are in decline because they must bend the knee and hence can’t report accurately on what is going on, until it’s probably too late. So go round them.
The Dems have to be in person in the communities now. They can't wait until next fall or later. They have to show that their candidates are there, and that they know what the issues are in that community, and that they know the voters personally. Listen -Understand- Deliver. All while showing that the Republicans are taking your money and your benefits and giving them to the billionaires.
Agreed. Ds are poor at communicating. Harris started red hot with the Brat summer and the coconut memes + Waltz and his weird comment. Then post convention, they ran not to lose rather than to win. They lost of joy, the "happy warrior" that had so many people energized. Why?
Unforced error.
Ds had the right idea when they invited the social media influencers to the convention, gave them access to H&W. They were starting to reach people who don't listen to MSM or conventional media sources. Post convention, they cut them off. Why? Some consultant told them to and that an interview on 60 Minutes or Face the Nation would make up the difference. Please don't hire that consultant ever again. Harris should have made the Joe Rogan podcast happen.
Unforced error.
D leadership should be listening to Ds who have won in purple, reddish areas and those who out performed Harris in the elections. DNC could lean a thing or two from them.
Lastly, Ds must do a better job of listening (active hearing) what their main issues, concerns, fears are, what they are facing on a day-to-day basis. Too often voters feel ignored or talked down to. Ds have to get better at acknowledging people's concerns, make them feel heard and work to address them. Stop with the policy white papers. Have real conversation with them
I believe the problem is less about platforms but more about where voters get their information. More and more voters get virtually all of their information from social media. People who rely on social media are easily manipulated by foreign agents as well as bad actors. I also believe that unlimited dark money in politics is problematic for fair elections. It doesn’t matter what platforms Democrats put forth, when oligarchs control social media platforms they are the ones choosing who gets elected.
I disagree that it's a problem with policies. Biden did a LOT for the working class, and it did not earn him their votes. There was little coverage in the media about the massive measures he got passed that were helping the working class, so they didn't help him at all. What this proved to me is that it doesn't even matter if you do attend to working-class voters' concerns and well-being. What you do won't register. Especially if what you're doing is going to take time to work (like infrastructure and transportation projects), forget it. There is NO incentive for our leaders to do good policy when the voters aren't informed enough to notice. And really, that's on the voters.
Meanwhile, immigration is not a problem, and the only reason people thing it is is that they've been fed a false narrative. I think it's not unlike the Nazis harping on "the Jewish problem" for years and making people believe Jews were somehow a problem. They weren't, and neither are immigrants.
Why would you depend on some else to carry your water. The WH and the DNC failed. Every time on of these huge bills was passed, there should have been a full court press, singing to the high heavens of what an AMAZING accomplishment this was. Every department secretary and under secretary should have been out pumping the living hell out of these bills. Interviews, rallies, podcasts. It should have been treated like this was the best thing since sliced bread.
Where was the DNC putting build board and bombarding sm at every ribbon cutting for a new or completed infrastructure project? Why did they highlight that these bills got ZERO R votes. The message is simple. Ds are working for you. This bridge is brought to you by Ds.
As for immigration, it was a major issue to the voters. Therefore should have been a major issue to the candidate.
I think the unspoken elephant in the room is RACE. Trump’s first acts were to attack, in every way possible, DEI, which is the latest code-word for Blacks. Throughout his campaign, Trump promised white voters that he would make sure they regained and maintained their white superiority. A Black Kamala Harris could not compete against this promise of white supremacy. As for Blacks and Latinos, the history around Caste shows how we have been socialized to believe in and strive for the ultimate prize - whiteness. Harriet Tubman once said: I freed a 1,000 slaves, but I could have freed a 1,000 more if only they had know they were slaves.
Once again this analysis ignores the likely real reasons we lost, which are deep seated racism and misogyny. If we can admit that, perhaps we can work to address it.
Pamela, I agree 100%. I have been saying that all along and find it very sad that the legacy news media has done so much to surpress the truth. They have failed us.
I think it’s hard to reach voters because people in ’news’ spin their own opinions as facts. I think it was wrong for Biden to be allowed to start a campaign for a second term, especially with the people around him knowing he had signs of dementia. WTF! That was a selfish power grab that really hurt the Democratic Party! I don’t like being lied to and I’m really pissed that we didn’t have a proper start to the election season with debates and a field of candidates. Trump lied and was not called out from the media because everyone was afraid of his toxic wrath. Why is it that adults in the media and politicians can’t defeat a lying bully?? Democrats were playing by the old nice rules when the dump figured out that a loudmouth lying bully gets more free airtime from the media for his performance!! And he used edible sound bites for social media. So much has changed in communications and the Dems missed the class.
Harris was a very good candidate but she was a woman who was afraid to be too aggressive. She was too nice with that joy crap. She needed to be mean against Trump,. and get people more worried about how dangerous he could be. She was grat in the debate, she went right after him.
Harris was a great candidate and would be a great president. Because she didn’t get a good running start and the process was truncated, she wasn’t able to fully show her strength and leadership skills. Biden going for a second term was a big mistake and we paid for it. Now we have to figure out solutions and fight against the autocracy. If we don’t figure out how to strategically fight the beast, we will lose our country.
I agree, Biden did not keep his committment to being a 1 term president. I know he did a lot of good things for the country but not keeping that promise has given us what we are now stuck with and sadly this is the end of our democracy. Yes, we will continue to fight and be the opposition but I am not sure of a win for democracy
Disagree. Harris laughing at PINO was great. It is the ultimate insult. She and here campaign was at their best, when she was the happy warrior/ brat summer/ coconuts memes. The campaign was radiating energy and had momentum.They were on the front foot and the Rs were in trouble. Post convention, the campaign switch to a safe don't lose mode and what did they do? They lost.
I fully agree with your last paragraph, BUT... let's not forget several items you have not mentioned.
First of all, ignorant voters falling for the PINO orange felon's lies hook, line and sinker. He fought Kamala to a draw on Social Security, Medicare, and threats to democracy? Unbelievably ignorant.
"Overall, PINO was trusted over Harris on border security, crime, the economy, and the cost of living, while Harris was more trusted only on abortion and climate change...?" Except for the border issue, MAYBE, the Democrats were better at all the other ones than the republicons, where PINO himself and many of his ass-kissers are the biggest criminals of all. Again, unbelievably ignorant.
Then there are the lazy Democratic voters who do a lot of complaining, but never get their asses of their sofas to actually vote. And the very many young people who can't be bothered to organize or vote. These last two issues are the crux of the matter - too many Democratic non-voters.
Finally, there is the fact that a very large percentage of American voters are sexists. Way too many men will never vote for a woman, and wayyyyyy to many American women will never vote for a woman.
Some very good points. I also agree that we are STILL failing to recognize just how badly right-wing (not even FAR right-wing) propaganda has misled and outright lied to Americans. It's hard to vote in good faith when you've been fed a bushel of idiocy.
This is another article that tells the Democrats that they are wrong because they lost. It also implies that in order to win they have to become more like Republicans.
Other commenters have already pointed out that this is misguided. Does the writer mean that since so many Republican voters are bigoted and misogynistic the Dems should be more like that? The Republicans, with a lot of dark money, especially from Musk, were able to make a big issue about trans people. They still are. This is the result of their new media, including X, Fox, and social media, constantly spreading lies and divisiveness.
The only way Democrats need to become more like the Republicans is they need to be more emotionally charged, and much more aggressive. They need to frighten people about the damage the new administration is doing, and also by showing clearly, in an understandable way, how the Dems would be different,
A couple of days a go, I received a message from a new group that promised to get out there with new ads that would take-on the Republicans. The ads made me sad. What they said was accurate, true, and exactly what someone like me would want to hear. They were much too reasonable. Not Good!
The Dems need to show hospitals being closed and people dying at the ER doors. They need to show floods ripping through NC, and Trump saying he wants to get rid of FEMA. They need to show foreign born mothers with protective status who are mothers of American citizens, who are also working necessary jobs like nursing, and paying taxes, being taken away in front of their children by ICE. These things are happening, and if there are’t videos, you can do dramatizations and put that in small print. They need to show how the billionaires in Trump’s cabinet live (yes, show their houses) while they are cutting your benefits and giving a bigger tax break to themselves.
The Dems have been given the gift of Elon Musk, who is mean and crazy, and show how he has been given possession of all of your data and that he intends to use it for his own profits. Also, how the cuts he is making are not money saving they are life-threatening to people who don’t make a million dollars. Show everyone the cartoons of billionaires dropping off $1 million each to Trump to protect their fortunes. Can you do that?
ALSO: Every Democrat in Congress has to find ways to go viral by attacking their colleagues across the isle. They have to ask if after allowing the FBI to be used as Trump’s attack dog, letting foreign government bribe government officials, and also allowing our Intelligence Service to be in the hands of a Putin sympathizer, will they stand up to Trump/Musk/Vance when they declare the Democrats a terrorist organization and then send in the goons from January 6 to drag the Democrats out in handcuffs, or worse. Show them what an authoritarian state looks like! Stop being gentile and reasonable!!! Tell the truth — graphically.
Well said! The Ds are operating as if there are rules. No, order is out the window and they/we need to adjust opposition to be aggressive.
Excellent points!!! The democrats need to get very aggressive. They are doing nothing, as if we are going to even have a midterm election in 2 years. Pino will have completely destroyed the government in 2 years and there will be no Democracy.
https://www.familiesoverbillionaires.org/
https://www.fairshareusa.org/
Okay. But can we shift from the problems (which I understand and appreciate) to solutions now? I am nauseated by all this never-ending post-game analysis. We have done this already, and now we are in a Constitional Crisis. Can we please act like it?
Agreed. But how many voters know what a constitutional crisis is? They had to google (if indeed they did) the meaning of the word ‘oligarchy’ when Biden used it in one of his last speeches.
Yeah, the Democratic Party needs a reset alright. I'm a little skeptical of the usual reliance on polls of opinion to guide the process. Many people have said exactly why they didn't like the Democratic platform and the campaign, but the party leaders are still trying to shoehorn it into the categories of policies they feel comfortable with. People felt unheard and unseen, while the party continued to push what most people consider irrelevant to their lives. Worthy efforts, and I support them, but most people are not LGBTQ, or disabled, or homeless, or undocumented, or any number of other disadvantaged groups. While people were complaining about being unable to make a decent living, or pay all their bills, or even being able to find a good job, the Democrats just pointed to their statistics and charts and said things were better than we thought. No wonder they couldn't get traction.
I completely agree. Let me add this controversial thought: Democrats seem to be perceived as the party that serves “niche interests.” LBGTQ must be addressed and taken seriously, so must trans issues. But we cannot allow those issues be the dominant ones in the perception of voters. Also, for a long time Democrats took the Hispanic and Black vote for granted. I think we finally know that is no longer working. The bottom line, in my view, is to return to bread and butter union issues, front and center. Most voters don’t understand the concept of international trade, heck, most don’t even understand what a democracy really is. The fish does not notice the water it swims in until it is drained from the aquarium. A huge failure of the brilliantly effective Biden presidency was the lack of clear and aggressive messaging. They tried, but they did not succeed.
How could anyone succeed when the citizens in Red American have been lobotomized for 34 years by Murdoch’s propaganda, straight out of Hitler’s?
These people have been saturated in hate for anything Dem, I know, I used to be a Republican. These people will not change even when Trump cuts their SS and
Medicaid, child care, Head Start; it will be “Biden’s fault”.
The Democrats need to reach those who did not vote and greedy high earners
who are seating buckets now.
In the meantime, the Ds need to step up and oppose everything that Johnson needs. That includes no votes on the budget without concessions that will hold up in court.
Otherwise, let the nation crumple. It will be on Trump’s time. The government
is already failing, and the House refuses to do their job as a third branch of
government.
Deidre,
I agree with you that most Trump voters are so indoctrinated into his cult that they will blame Democrats when Trump cuts their federal heath and education benefits.
But there were between five to ten million Trump voters in 2024 who switched over from Biden in 2020. Somehow, along with reengaging the 19 million 2020 Biden voters who did not vote in 2024, these Americans will need to be reengaged as well, that is assuming there are any more free and fair elections held in the U.S.
The two main issues that turned
voters away from Democrats in 2024, according to the polls I saw, were inflation and the situation in the Middle East. Their idiotic preoccupation with LGBTQ+ issues and pronouns was just an aggravating factor.
But the consequences of Trump 2.0 are likely going to be so catastrophic that Democrats will have an easier time in 2026 and 2028. Trump got fired in 2020 for his disastrous handling of COVID. This time it will be COVID times 10 on steroids.
David, I hear what everyone is saying but only Arkansas Blue hits the nail on the head...'Finally, there is the fact that a very large percentage of American voters are sexists. Way too many men will never vote for a woman, and wayyyyyy to many American women will never vote for a woman.'
This is the real reason people did not vote for Kamala because she is not only a woman but also a POC.
And Please do not fool yourself into thinking 2026/28 Ds will win back the House or Senate. I think people are thinking this will happen but don't be surprised if it doesn't.
I think you are missing a very important point. Democrats are and have always been the party of working people. Biden created low unemployment, low inflation, passed the Infrastructure Act which will create good union jobs, passed the Chips and Science Act to try to build an economy for the future, got BigPharma to negotiate prescription drug prices, reduced insulin to $35 a month for seniors, reduced inhaler costs to $35 a month, Harris had a plan to address price gouging on groceries, had a plan to get new homebuyers a $25K tax break, had a plan to give new parents a 6K tax break. Democrats are the party that want unions to have the power to collectively bargain for safer workplaces and better wages and benefits. The problem isn't the democratic party's platform or ideals. The problem is the press. They didn't cover any of this. And here we are.
Mara, agree. The loudest jerk got the press. Trump could not care less about “working” people. But these people think he is their avatar because he is
obnoxious, crude and bellicose. LOL, they also think he has a keen “business” mind.
They are unreachable. Others are not. We’ll see what happens but the Ds need new,young leadership now.
We clearly need to figure out how to break thru the constant drumbeat of their narrative. But I dislike people saying we need to become the party of workers when our policies are already worker friendly.
Sorry Deirdre! I meant to reply to someone else! My apologies!
I agree with most of this as well. The R's have successfully defined who the D's are and used their expertise with media to promote their version of the D brand. Time to smash that false D brand and "flood the zone" with powerful and emotion-based communication that builds universal appeal.
It’s time for new faces! Schumer, Pelosi and the other “faces” are now rally points for the GOP.
Raskin, Crockett and the other firebrands need to get to the front. You know who comes across well!
Please send this to Ken Martin, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. Many Dems I know wonder why they keep getting business-as-usual emails and texts asking for money rather than setting forth effective strategies for communicating and building a worthy opposition.
Yes, this infuriates me.
Maybe buy media outlets like the Rs have done, and get beautiful &/or entertaining people to shill for us 24/7 - like Fox, but for Dems. And with the truth, but well told. Beat them at the propaganda game - that’s the one game they’re actually winning.
Yet another “blame the democrats” for the results of the election article. This is the Contrarian. Let’s stop ignoring the most important facts and answer the more pressing question: how was a man of such extremely poor character - a proven danger to the country who was impeached twice and who clearly incited an insurrection - elected? Let’s talk about rampant misinformation. Let’s talk about white nationalist anger.
Its all about communication which is something the democrats keep failing on because they listen too much to consultants and not enough on coming across as a normal human being. Waltz for example was working well when he said they were weird. when he stopped because of attempts to get the mythical moderate republican, they started losing traction. The other aspect the democrats have to follow is direct communication with voters. The media are in decline because they must bend the knee and hence can’t report accurately on what is going on, until it’s probably too late. So go round them.
The Dems have to be in person in the communities now. They can't wait until next fall or later. They have to show that their candidates are there, and that they know what the issues are in that community, and that they know the voters personally. Listen -Understand- Deliver. All while showing that the Republicans are taking your money and your benefits and giving them to the billionaires.
Agreed. Ds are poor at communicating. Harris started red hot with the Brat summer and the coconut memes + Waltz and his weird comment. Then post convention, they ran not to lose rather than to win. They lost of joy, the "happy warrior" that had so many people energized. Why?
Unforced error.
Ds had the right idea when they invited the social media influencers to the convention, gave them access to H&W. They were starting to reach people who don't listen to MSM or conventional media sources. Post convention, they cut them off. Why? Some consultant told them to and that an interview on 60 Minutes or Face the Nation would make up the difference. Please don't hire that consultant ever again. Harris should have made the Joe Rogan podcast happen.
Unforced error.
D leadership should be listening to Ds who have won in purple, reddish areas and those who out performed Harris in the elections. DNC could lean a thing or two from them.
Lastly, Ds must do a better job of listening (active hearing) what their main issues, concerns, fears are, what they are facing on a day-to-day basis. Too often voters feel ignored or talked down to. Ds have to get better at acknowledging people's concerns, make them feel heard and work to address them. Stop with the policy white papers. Have real conversation with them
I believe the problem is less about platforms but more about where voters get their information. More and more voters get virtually all of their information from social media. People who rely on social media are easily manipulated by foreign agents as well as bad actors. I also believe that unlimited dark money in politics is problematic for fair elections. It doesn’t matter what platforms Democrats put forth, when oligarchs control social media platforms they are the ones choosing who gets elected.
I disagree that it's a problem with policies. Biden did a LOT for the working class, and it did not earn him their votes. There was little coverage in the media about the massive measures he got passed that were helping the working class, so they didn't help him at all. What this proved to me is that it doesn't even matter if you do attend to working-class voters' concerns and well-being. What you do won't register. Especially if what you're doing is going to take time to work (like infrastructure and transportation projects), forget it. There is NO incentive for our leaders to do good policy when the voters aren't informed enough to notice. And really, that's on the voters.
Meanwhile, immigration is not a problem, and the only reason people thing it is is that they've been fed a false narrative. I think it's not unlike the Nazis harping on "the Jewish problem" for years and making people believe Jews were somehow a problem. They weren't, and neither are immigrants.
Why would you depend on some else to carry your water. The WH and the DNC failed. Every time on of these huge bills was passed, there should have been a full court press, singing to the high heavens of what an AMAZING accomplishment this was. Every department secretary and under secretary should have been out pumping the living hell out of these bills. Interviews, rallies, podcasts. It should have been treated like this was the best thing since sliced bread.
Where was the DNC putting build board and bombarding sm at every ribbon cutting for a new or completed infrastructure project? Why did they highlight that these bills got ZERO R votes. The message is simple. Ds are working for you. This bridge is brought to you by Ds.
As for immigration, it was a major issue to the voters. Therefore should have been a major issue to the candidate.
I think the unspoken elephant in the room is RACE. Trump’s first acts were to attack, in every way possible, DEI, which is the latest code-word for Blacks. Throughout his campaign, Trump promised white voters that he would make sure they regained and maintained their white superiority. A Black Kamala Harris could not compete against this promise of white supremacy. As for Blacks and Latinos, the history around Caste shows how we have been socialized to believe in and strive for the ultimate prize - whiteness. Harriet Tubman once said: I freed a 1,000 slaves, but I could have freed a 1,000 more if only they had know they were slaves.
Once again this analysis ignores the likely real reasons we lost, which are deep seated racism and misogyny. If we can admit that, perhaps we can work to address it.
Pamela, I agree 100%. I have been saying that all along and find it very sad that the legacy news media has done so much to surpress the truth. They have failed us.
The legacy news media's role in those perceptions seems a significant factor.
I think it’s hard to reach voters because people in ’news’ spin their own opinions as facts. I think it was wrong for Biden to be allowed to start a campaign for a second term, especially with the people around him knowing he had signs of dementia. WTF! That was a selfish power grab that really hurt the Democratic Party! I don’t like being lied to and I’m really pissed that we didn’t have a proper start to the election season with debates and a field of candidates. Trump lied and was not called out from the media because everyone was afraid of his toxic wrath. Why is it that adults in the media and politicians can’t defeat a lying bully?? Democrats were playing by the old nice rules when the dump figured out that a loudmouth lying bully gets more free airtime from the media for his performance!! And he used edible sound bites for social media. So much has changed in communications and the Dems missed the class.
Harris was a very good candidate but she was a woman who was afraid to be too aggressive. She was too nice with that joy crap. She needed to be mean against Trump,. and get people more worried about how dangerous he could be. She was grat in the debate, she went right after him.
Harris was a great candidate and would be a great president. Because she didn’t get a good running start and the process was truncated, she wasn’t able to fully show her strength and leadership skills. Biden going for a second term was a big mistake and we paid for it. Now we have to figure out solutions and fight against the autocracy. If we don’t figure out how to strategically fight the beast, we will lose our country.
I agree, Biden did not keep his committment to being a 1 term president. I know he did a lot of good things for the country but not keeping that promise has given us what we are now stuck with and sadly this is the end of our democracy. Yes, we will continue to fight and be the opposition but I am not sure of a win for democracy
Disagree. Harris laughing at PINO was great. It is the ultimate insult. She and here campaign was at their best, when she was the happy warrior/ brat summer/ coconuts memes. The campaign was radiating energy and had momentum.They were on the front foot and the Rs were in trouble. Post convention, the campaign switch to a safe don't lose mode and what did they do? They lost.