Have we really said enough about how much the Democrats are in a really bad place right now? Seriously, they are in a state of disarray after suffering a string of stinging defeats in the 2024 elections. They not only lost the presidency, but Donald Trump will take office with majorities in the House and Senate. But electoral defeats are the symptom, not the cause of their problems.
The Democratic Party has long prided itself on being a voice for the working class, yet the message those voters sent was clear: you don’t represent us anymore.
Even the New York Times, typically a stalwart defender of Democrat policies, hosted a virtual postmortem to dissect what went wrong. The discussion brought together opinion writer Frank Bruni, campaign consultant Anat Shenker-Osorio, strategist Lis Smith, and former Congressman Tim Ryan. Their conclusions were anything but flattering, underscoring the magnitude of the Democrats’ problems.
Smith didn’t mince words when she declared that the “Democratic brand is in the toilet.” She went on to criticize the party for being so unappealing that many of its successful candidates avoided aligning themselves with the party.
"Many of the Democrats who succeeded this cycle — our best over-performers in House races, for instance — are people who ran against the Democratic Party brand," she pointed out. "Trump tore down the blue wall in the industrial Midwest, but he also expanded his vote the most in our bluest and most urban areas."
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Bruni was a bit taken aback by the characterization, but Smith didn't relent. "When the best way to win as a candidate is to run against your own party, it’s that bad."
This sentiment isn’t just coming from insiders; voters in focus groups, who described the party as “complacent and lazy,” “not a friend of the working class,” and married to radical, failing progressive ideas, echo it as well.
The sense of disillusionment runs deep. Lindy Li, a former DNC Finance Committee member, recently resigned from the party and didn’t hold back in her criticism. She likened the Democrats to a “cult” and branded them a “loser” party, predicting political irrelevance for years to come.
Cheers to that!
Shenker-Osorio took the metaphor even further, suggesting that comparing the Democrat Party to a toilet might actually be too kind. “Well… toilets have clear utility, so perhaps the comparison is even ‘generous,’" she said.
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Let’s be honest: this is a damning indictment of the Democrats, and they have no one to blame but themselves. While Democrats cling to an increasingly radical agenda, Trump’s Republican Party has not only exposed that radicalism but also redefined the political landscape. By connecting with working-class voters who feel abandoned by the left, the GOP has flipped key states in the industrial Midwest and even gained ground in traditionally blue urban areas, challenging Democrat dominance where it once seemed entrenched.
in the end, the ultimate question remains whether Democrats will figure out that they have to abandon the radical left to win again.
