Last night on Stephanie Ruhle's show, she had a good long discussion on "what went wrong." You should look it up on YouTube if you missed it, because there is some valuable insight there.
Tim Ryan said that Democrats "misread the room." Micheal Steele said they forgot to ask the most important question - WHY do the voters they want to reach want to vote?
It's pretty obvious that Ryan is right when you look at the results: Harris lost by 3 percent EVERYWHERE. Places she won, places she lost - she was 3 percent down from Biden's 2020 totals. This left her in a place like Pennsylvania with no margin to cover unexpected losses - there wasn't enough votes in Philadephia to cover losing northeastern Pennsylvania.
If we want to start turning things around in 2026, we need to ask WHY that 3 percent of 2020 Biden voters didn't want to vote for Kamala Harris in 2024. Since they voted for her in 2020 as VP, the lefty blahblahblah about white supremacy and misogyny are obviously not the total answer. Finding the answer to the question is crucial to any future success for us.
Unfortunately, looking through the self-righteous bleatings of the educated white upper middle class (the new heart of he Democratic Party) over at Heather Cox Richardson's comments section last night was a good lesson in how that's not going to happen. "Emotional sugar highs" of declaring oneself in favor of secession, or declaring one is going to thoroughly weed out MAGAs from their friendship lists, and all the rest of White Liberal chest-beating WILL NOT put us on the road to anything but further losses in coming elections. Having said many of those things myself, I completely understand where they come from. But having been involved in politics for 60 years, I know how useless that shit is if one is serious about climbing out of a hole.
I disagree that racism and misogyny are not the total answer. Running for president is totally different from VP. If racism & misogyny are not the total answer, they are 99% of it. Just MHO.
This has to change for the Dems: There is nothing beyond a time-worn coalition of the educated, the corporate apparatchiks, Wall Streeters, the consultant and meritocratic class, disintegrating racial and ethnic "base", and the "progressives"...continue with that mix, and guarantee minority-party status for the years ahead.
Reorienting my primary news sources from WaPo/NYT subs to The Guardian and Le Monde Diplo, with a couple of Substacks thrown in...oh, of course, a paid-up TPM sub!
One of the first consequences of tRump 2.0 is concentrated attacks on the media, particularly reporters' freedom of news-gathering from "sources" that displease tRump and his WH. Some excellent write-ups on CJR point toward much further clamp-downs on reporters, including intensive surveillance, threats of jailing, "espionage", and the like.
As the historian Timothy Snyder has foreseen, we are entering the era of "anticipatory obedience", and deviations from that new norm will be punished. Here comes the "darkness", followed by the "dying of democracy". And a majority of our citizens are fine with that.
Inflation is a fact of life. It must be iterated, and reiterated that inflation has been coming down during this presidential term, and that we escaped a *major* pandemic relatively well. I think we have to be careful talking about the why's, partly because I don't think people are even honest with themselves about it.
“Democracy is a luxury when you can’t pay your bills.” What an autocratic statement. They just love how it sounds to be so definitive, without discussion or question. Makes them sound so tough, so smart, so confident. We shall see. Calling other people dumb does not mean that you are smart.
I'd like to hear from Urban just exactly how anyone living in a country with NO democracy (or internal stability) pays bills anyway. What a stupid statement.
Everyone who can leave, should leave. No one who can see and who has humanity should lend support to the coming cruelty and brutality. We are on notice.
One thing that could be good about Smith closing down the cases without waiting for trump to do so is that Special Counsel Report that we hope he WILL make with all the i's crossed and t's dotted. It needs to be released while Garland still can---it will be buried by Aileen Cannon or whoever the next AG is. I think it would be cool if it were released on Friday, January 17, just in time to possibly affect crowd size the following Monday.
And because I like irony: hitler was put in power, he was not elected Germans to lead them. We chose this, we willingly rejected the Democratic Party.
And a correction or clarification re the post: what happened on the federal level Tuesday will be with us for decades at least. There’s no way out. (States and localities are something else entirely.)
Thank you David, again, for
your opening remarks. Stay
safe.
It Can't Happen Here (Unless Bacon Costs Too Much)
Yep.
I will participate in a nationwide zoom tonight as progressive women grieve and plan ahead. The fight is already beginning.
Great article, but please, for the sake of God, do not post pictures of the orange Cheeto right now. It's too triggering!!!
Last night on Stephanie Ruhle's show, she had a good long discussion on "what went wrong." You should look it up on YouTube if you missed it, because there is some valuable insight there.
Tim Ryan said that Democrats "misread the room." Micheal Steele said they forgot to ask the most important question - WHY do the voters they want to reach want to vote?
It's pretty obvious that Ryan is right when you look at the results: Harris lost by 3 percent EVERYWHERE. Places she won, places she lost - she was 3 percent down from Biden's 2020 totals. This left her in a place like Pennsylvania with no margin to cover unexpected losses - there wasn't enough votes in Philadephia to cover losing northeastern Pennsylvania.
If we want to start turning things around in 2026, we need to ask WHY that 3 percent of 2020 Biden voters didn't want to vote for Kamala Harris in 2024. Since they voted for her in 2020 as VP, the lefty blahblahblah about white supremacy and misogyny are obviously not the total answer. Finding the answer to the question is crucial to any future success for us.
Unfortunately, looking through the self-righteous bleatings of the educated white upper middle class (the new heart of he Democratic Party) over at Heather Cox Richardson's comments section last night was a good lesson in how that's not going to happen. "Emotional sugar highs" of declaring oneself in favor of secession, or declaring one is going to thoroughly weed out MAGAs from their friendship lists, and all the rest of White Liberal chest-beating WILL NOT put us on the road to anything but further losses in coming elections. Having said many of those things myself, I completely understand where they come from. But having been involved in politics for 60 years, I know how useless that shit is if one is serious about climbing out of a hole.
I disagree that racism and misogyny are not the total answer. Running for president is totally different from VP. If racism & misogyny are not the total answer, they are 99% of it. Just MHO.
This has to change for the Dems: There is nothing beyond a time-worn coalition of the educated, the corporate apparatchiks, Wall Streeters, the consultant and meritocratic class, disintegrating racial and ethnic "base", and the "progressives"...continue with that mix, and guarantee minority-party status for the years ahead.
Yep.
The dumbest people in America voted for a felon and a fraud.
That is great! Thanks. Will be sharing.
Janet, we watched that a few days ago. It was very well explained. Many folks are just happy to get into a cult; way too hard to think critically 😩😥
Reorienting my primary news sources from WaPo/NYT subs to The Guardian and Le Monde Diplo, with a couple of Substacks thrown in...oh, of course, a paid-up TPM sub!
Haven't watched cable/network noos for years.
ditto. no corporate cable/network for years, no intention of returning to it.
One of the first consequences of tRump 2.0 is concentrated attacks on the media, particularly reporters' freedom of news-gathering from "sources" that displease tRump and his WH. Some excellent write-ups on CJR point toward much further clamp-downs on reporters, including intensive surveillance, threats of jailing, "espionage", and the like.
As the historian Timothy Snyder has foreseen, we are entering the era of "anticipatory obedience", and deviations from that new norm will be punished. Here comes the "darkness", followed by the "dying of democracy". And a majority of our citizens are fine with that.
🤬😱😭😭😭
Thank you for this compilation…we will ban together and hope for a correction in 2 years 💪
Biden has two more months in office. It’s time for him to expand the “Supreme” Court.
Coney Barrett was shoved in after trump lost the 2020 election.
Inflation is a fact of life. It must be iterated, and reiterated that inflation has been coming down during this presidential term, and that we escaped a *major* pandemic relatively well. I think we have to be careful talking about the why's, partly because I don't think people are even honest with themselves about it.
Capitalism is never questioned hence we accept inflation as a fact of life.
Browsing for reading of better future as we enter this fascist time, I found a nice book. FYI. No More Fairy Tales: stories to save our planet…
“Democracy is a luxury when you can’t pay your bills.” What an autocratic statement. They just love how it sounds to be so definitive, without discussion or question. Makes them sound so tough, so smart, so confident. We shall see. Calling other people dumb does not mean that you are smart.
I'd like to hear from Urban just exactly how anyone living in a country with NO democracy (or internal stability) pays bills anyway. What a stupid statement.
Totally!
"White Women Doomed Harris"??? I cancelled my TNR subscription over that one.
Well, it's kinda true...according to poll results 52% of white women voted for Trump. It sickens me.
It sickens you? Do you have different expectations for white women than any other random group?
I expected women to support other women and resist being made into Handmaidens and second class citizens , so yes.
Everyone who can leave, should leave. No one who can see and who has humanity should lend support to the coming cruelty and brutality. We are on notice.
Unfortunately, those who are most vulnerable can't possibly leave.
One thing that could be good about Smith closing down the cases without waiting for trump to do so is that Special Counsel Report that we hope he WILL make with all the i's crossed and t's dotted. It needs to be released while Garland still can---it will be buried by Aileen Cannon or whoever the next AG is. I think it would be cool if it were released on Friday, January 17, just in time to possibly affect crowd size the following Monday.
Recommended reading (if recommended is the word):
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/trump-election-inequality-meant-that-us-democracy-was-doomed-by-jason-stanley-2024-11
And because I like irony: hitler was put in power, he was not elected Germans to lead them. We chose this, we willingly rejected the Democratic Party.
And a correction or clarification re the post: what happened on the federal level Tuesday will be with us for decades at least. There’s no way out. (States and localities are something else entirely.)
More another day; it can wait.