What, you mean on the losing side?
I guess I am the rare liberal who is not a Jon Stewart fan. I don’t hate him, and he’s done some cool and brave things, but I’ve never found him to be particularly funny or insightful. So his persona by itself doesn’t make me enthusiastic. Sure, he’s in the right politically, for the most part, and while that’s a necessary condition for being a Democratic presidential candidate, it’s not sufficient.
His fame, admittedly, could be helpful.
I think the real problem, however, is that he’s used to being an outside sniper, which is a useful social role when the sniping is at the right targets, but it’s still a much different function that being one who proposes, empowers, inspires, and delegates on the inside. He doesn’t strike me as having that vibe, so I don’t think he would work as a candidate.
Guardian did not rate us high in 2024, but I felt the Democrats were unified. We can certainly unify in 4 years. But the problem is our candidates are politicians. They have a job. Not senior golfers running rallies with some billionaire funds. Trump could run for years. We will have a race starting the 2026 election. New faces. New to most of social media. I know every likely governor by now.
Understood. There’s an argument that could be made against a person such as Jon Stewart. I would note that Zelensky was a comedian in Ukraine before he entered politics. Stewart also has spent hard time successfully lobbying our congress to help 911 responders with healthcare issues.
And Trump was an outsider when he entered politics, and he’s now taken over a party.
I’m not sure how good Stewart could perform in an election. Not sure how well he’d campaign. Not sure if he would want the spotlight and pressure. But I wouldn’t mind the Dems have a choice between career politicians and sniper outsiders.
A huge plus for Stewart is that he’s witty and quick on his feet. He would be able to come up with viral and headline grabbing zingers that keep him front-and-center during the election. On top of that, he has a solid foundation of government and political knowledge. He seems like he really cares about the country and would be serving to benefit the people. He’s an unconventional candidate, but I can imagine a path where he wins.
Andy Beshear seems to me the most likely Democrat at this point who could have a chance of winning in 2028. Others have made the point but as a Democrat who has won statewide office twice in a deep red state he could have a shot. The only shot the Democrats will have is if they nominate a heterosexual, white, Christian male. I’m very sad this is where we are as a country but it is clear to me this is true.
As a footnote I would say I think this thread is a bit premature. The focus for Democrats at this point should be on taking either the House of Senate in 2026 rather than 2028.
I don’t think it’s premature. Whoever runs for president in 2028 has to be a household name by then. Which means that name has to be put before the public very soon.
I don’t buy it. The Democrats need a star, not a generic white guy with zero charisma. It doesn’t matter who they are… although I’ll concede that gay and/or atheist might be a bridge too far. Hell, we got a guy with the middle name ‘Hussein’ elected. Twice
Harris and Clinton didn’t lose because they are women. As candidates, they weren’t very inspiring. A bit like Kerry and Gore. All of them capable and experienced, and none of them charismatic or terribly relatable.
We need someone to catch fire and it really doesn’t matter if it’s Beshear or Whitmer or Gallegos or whomever.
However, he has not been vetted, and has never served in a significant public office.
Harris lost due to inflation.
Whole lotta electoral dooming in this thread after an extremely close loss, during a world-wide incumbent backlash, where the current president is implementing things that are extremely unpopular.
Sure, if you assume that propaganda and shenanigans will win out, but then why does it matter if the Dems have a generational rockstar vs a generic competent person?
eta: If the Dems win the WH in 2028, they’ll likely need to a shit ton of unfucking / rebuilding. Someone with bureaucratic experience is going to be very important. i.e. not Stewart.
Yep, and the loss was due to inflation. Not to mention- Right Wing Populists made a lot of wins worldwide recently. This happens in cycles- the RWP makes fantastic promises- gets in. Promises are not kept- gets voted out. Rinse and repeat.
Yep.
Where the hell is this coming from?
The Democrats need a superstar straight white guy with boatloads of charisma.
I’ll repeat it: We won’t need a white guy in 2028, as we won’t be running against Trump, which could be the only justification for saying that, as the GOP has no one good* to run after Trump. (Which is not to say that only a white guy could have beaten Trump; probably no Democrat could have beaten Trump in 2024.)
*I don’t see anyone good at all, but there will still be a war for the future of MAGA, which will weaken the field overall and preclude any normal (for a Republican) non-MAGA candidate from succeeding.
There might not be any non-MAGA candidates at this point. MAGA is the Republican Party and the Republican Party is MAGA. They’re now one and the same. The normies have either been run out of the party, or sidelined and told to shut up and retire.
I agree 100%.
The only hope for the GOP in 2028 is for Vance to take over from Trump early on and do a stellar job and return the GOP to some semblance of normalcy, since he is not charismatic and not popular except with the far right.
If Trump goes the distance or Vance steps in too late, MAGA and the GOP will be completely tainted while still trying to create a MAGA future with a new candidate. No bueno, no winno. I think an average Democrat will be able to win.
In my experience the normies have become MAGA. I’m currently (like in this very moment) having a discussion on WhatsApp with a former Never Trumper who is banging on about the homeless being behind the California fires, and about Biden getting payoffs from Ukraine for the aid we sent over.
He went from “He’s only joking about annexing Canada” to “It’s not something we should write off as an option” in less than two weeks!
Yeah, the other side talks about the “woke mind virus.” Well what about the “mindless fuckhead virus”? That seems to be causing a lot more trouble. And so, so many people on the right who resisting either partially or completely have folded like a cheap suit.
Only if they were willing to lie and say they could fix inflation with a signature.
Pretty much. But no one on our side is able to lie all that believably.
I agree they need to be a household name but for now the focus needs to be on 2026 or we will see the GOP increase their margin in the Senate and House. Ossoff in NC is almost certainly a goner and Gary Peters in MI is going to have an uphill climb to keep his Senate seat.