The election was not the Democrats' Fault

Politics & Elections
1

So help me out here. Let’s look at two hypothetical situations.

In one situation there’s a 9th grade class president election with two candidates, Cathy Smith, and Preston Kreap.

Cathy’s platform includes a promise to liaise with the teachers about their satisfaction with the various courses, validity of the various tests and exams, and the suitability and usefulness of the provided school supplies.

Preston’s platform, on the other hand, promises a Trans Am or a Corvette for everybody along with free detailing and all the booze and cigarettes that they want.
Unsurprisingly, the 14 year olds of 9th grade elect Preston as class president.

In the second scenario, the two presidential candidates promise essentially similar things, except the voters range in age from 18 and older. This is analogous to this election but, for some reason the majority voted for Preston Kreap.

In no way is any of this the Democrats’ fault. For some reason, a predominantly adult population elected a chronologically old, high school bull-shitter and bully.

This is something that is not fixable without a complete overhaul of the education system. Without starting now, to teach kids, from kindergarten onwards into high school and university, about logic, honesty, and critical thinking, this will never change.

All the efforts, a la Bernie Sanders et al, are bull shit. No normal, moral and ethical person would watch a big standard Trump rally calling everyone juvenile names and insults, would vote for him over Harris.

We are truly fucked for the next 20 years, if Republicans don’t push back on needed educational changes as “social engineering”.

No normal adult (as opposed to a high school student) would be bamboozled by someone like Trump. It’s shocking that there are so many apologists for this man and his voters. Even if their concerns and fears about the border and economy were valid, no normal adult would listen to someone like Trump.

2

It’s all moot. Enough people did.

We’ll have to live with it.
I can see no other way around it, that is reasonable, legal or helps me be alive.

This is beating the proverbial dead horse.

3

True enough, but I am so pissed off about people beating around the bush about something so fucking obvious that I had to rant.

It is so bad that it is like having a candidate in a clown suit, holding a bloody knife, smeared in feces, while everyone looks on and says that that candidate’s policies - of which there are none but a bunch of bullshit and/or extremely dangerous promises - make a lot of sense.

4

Unfortunately, we have an electorate which is apparently dominated by abnormal adults, either ones who fell for the world’s most obvious long-con, or those who will cut off their nose to spite their face “because fuck democracy, that’s why!” I think the Harris campaign, Biden, and the DNC in general made a number of unforced errors but I’m not sure it really mattered because American society just seems primed for fascism at this time.

Your plan to educate new voters “…from kindergarten onwards into high school and university, about logic, honesty, and critical thinking,…”, while appealing, has at least three fatal flaws which will be left as an exercise for the reader to puzzle out.

Stranger

5

It’s the fault of the 16M Dems that voted for Biden in 2020 but didn’t show up to vote in 2024.

6

I can definitely agree with that as well. But, I still can’t accept the ignoring of the painfully obvious by Trump voters and apologists and all the bullshit excuses and rationalizations.

That fucker could potentially destroy the whole postwar world order. He’s already floating the idea of MTG as Homeland Security, and a potential DOJ secretary who is promising to put her “fat ass in prison”.

None of this should be surprising to anyone, and those who think that this is acceptable have to be colossal ass holes.

This situation is completely unimaginable and unacceptable.

7

Of course it is the Dems fault. How can it be anyone else’s fault?

There were (basically) two candidates. The person who lost did not do enough to win. And, in this case, given who the dems were running against says a lot. Clinton lost too and that says a lot. They did not learn…Biden did more of the same and here we are.

If you think the dems should continue with the notion they did nothing wrong don’t be surprised when they keep losing.

Dems need to change course big time. They’ve done this bit for over 30 years and here they are with republicans in complete control of everything. Bill Clinton started the dems on this neoliberal policy and it has failed epically and completely.

Dems will be lucky to ever recover now. If they do it will have to be a big change from the usual.

8

That was about as insightful as a broken telescope on a foggy day. I think I lost 5 IQ points just in reading that.

Stranger

9

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10

I don’t think winning this election was ever going to be easy for the Democrats. A lot of people stuck with Trump despite everything, and these people were never going to be easily persuaded now. Harris had the Biden albatross. Plenty of people sympathetic to the Dems have said “it’s hard to see how the economy could be much better”. But markets are not the economy, inflation stings, times are hard for many. Since Trump cares deeply about their personal situation and understands how to rebuild economies and other complex policy, things will definitely go better for them.

But that doesn’t mean the Democrats could not have done something different and won. Don’t know specifically that is though. More negative? More attacks? More humour? Addressing more salient issues? Another candidate? Better spending? The answers are not obvious. And what does knowing the answers change? I do think Barack Hussein Obama could have beaten Trump in theory.

Trump will actually try to do much of what he said he would do. I think and hope some of the more dramatic suggestions will prove unpopular or unwise, and that there will be a reasonably fair election in four years time. Perhaps the Constitution, Supremes, media, military, moguls and movie stars will not prove to be purely silent or supplicant.

11

I would have no problem accepting a Dems loss against a normal, functioning adult. But million of Americans chose someone so spectacularly dysfunctional, vile and sick and who behaves so far outside the bounds of acceptable adult behaviour.

Pre-2016 (or maybe give years earlier perhaps), anyone behaving like him would be shamed and laughed out of contention. Now, because of millions of uncritical, appeased by bullshit entertainment, voters have opened up a Pandora’s box that could unleash unparalleled toxicity, chaos and violence upon the world, all because they’re too stupid, selfish, short-sighted and thoughtless to make an intelligent decision.

12

Amen to that. I agree 100%.

13

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14

Well, the oligarch-owned corporate media already flipped belly up weeks before the votes were even counted, there are only so many satire videos that George Clooney and Matt Damon can team up on, and the Supremes (I assume you mean the Court and not the Motown sensation telling use to “Stop—in the name of love!”) have pretty much compromised themselves like a British politician on a bender. The military is a hierarchical organization dependent upon an explicit rules-based order which ultimately answers to the president, so unless he gives an explicitly unlawful order you can’t expect much pushback there, and the Constitution, as much as many adore it, is words on parchment which requires principled people to stand up and enforce it, sometimes as peril to their own well-being, which has become a rare quality. So, I’m not to confident on that regard. But I agree with the rest of your post, and particularly that all of this speculation about what “The Democrats” or Harris should have done to win is a bunch of clawing at spiderwebs with no clear answer, and I got a chuckle out of your subtle dig about Trump caring deeply about anyone but himself and understanding complex policy, so a sincere thanks for that.

Stranger

15

True BUT regarding the Not Dems Fault premise in the thread, (general) you Republicans to cross party lines but give a pass to your side that didn’t even vote?

Here is something to think about. People actively hated Clinton. I mean I said many times on this board that I’d rather have a leperous wombat as President than Clinton. And Trump talked a big game but at a certain level he was still an unknown. Did we honestly expect he’d be the same President as candidate. Fast forward to 2024. Harris was not as hated as Clinton and ran a much MUCH better campaign. Sure the schoolkid mentality of teasing and bullying from the MAGAs may make you think she was hated but no where even close to Clinton. Plus we knew exactly who Trump would be as President. He as so bad that Biden got 15M votes more popular votes than Clinton and picked up 306 EVs. I’m not sure how many Republicans for Harris voters (like me) ther were but it seemed significant. AND she picked off a lot of 3rd party votes as I predicted. So why did Harris get the same number of votes as Hillary?

I said that in 2016. Apparently 2020 told Dems they were doing everything right.

In the music industry, bands and singers either change or die as an act. It seems to be the same in politics because the Republicans did it and look at them today.

Mission 2028

16

Harris ran a very good campaign. She was hobbled by Biden and there was nothing she could do to change that. Biden was basically Clinton. More of the same neoliberal policies. Keep doing what has always been done for 30 years.

The middle-class felt a pinch and no amount of telling them things are actually better changed how they felt buying expensive, shrinkflated groceries every few days. Young people who see no way to buy a home. They were reminded constantly that they are doing better but they never saw it or felt it. Harris could not change it in the couple months she had but, to be fair, she’d likely have been Biden 2.0 with no real help for the middle class.

Make no mistake, I voted for Harris. Trump is a disaster and I despise the man. But I kinda get why people weren’t flocking to the polls for Harris.

17

The pendulum swings. Sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right. But inevitable it swings and it will swing again. That’s what happened. I don’t think Kamala could have done very much differently. This would be the inevitable result.

And Trump/the orange shitgibbon saviour getting grazed by a bullet didn’t help either.

18

Project 2025 suggests republicans will do their best to see that pendulum not swing again.

Will they pull it off? I don’t know. But I am sure they will try and they have complete control of the government so they have a good chance at making it happen.

19

Trump doesn’t even like Project 2025 and he sure as hell doesn’t give a fuck about their agenda. He threw them under the bus as soon as he realized they were getting attention that he thought he deserved, and even if some of its authors get themselves appointed into his admin they won’t last long.

20

Axios: “Trump’s MAGA allies gloat Project 2025 ‘is the agenda’"

Trump may or may not “like” Project 2025 (I guarantee he hasn’t actually read it because he’d never read 900 pages of something that doesn’t constantly tell him how strong and powerful he is) but he’s definitely going to have some of the boosters such as Stephen Miller in his inner sanctum, and they’ll pick the policies will appeal to Trump (a lot of them, actually, are already on his list of things he wants to cut).

And frankly, the odds are against Trump making it through an entire term, and I guarantee that JD Vance loves the Project 2025 a way that is unhealthy that isn’t between a Man and a Woman Cleaved Together Under the Watchful Eyes of God. Go in grace.

Stranger