I really thought that the Dems would take the day and the Republican Party would have their day of reckoning (basically a full party collapse and then try to figure out who they are as they rebuild). Maybe it's the Dems who need that. Running to the right was a terrible strategy, on top of our decades of weak messaging. We need to rediscover who we are and how we can do right by the American people.
People love them some federal gubmint sociamalism, but they refuse to vote for candidates that champion it because of sociamalism. Thanks for the freebie link to the WaPo. I'd rather lose fighting for what I think is right, but that's just me.
I just have to ask you, Jonathan, if you have any idea why the Harris campaign nor anyone else pushed the fact that Trump can't be trusted with secret information. I just feel like that could have been one powerful argument against making him president again, but it just wasn't mentioned at all that I saw.
I mean, there was a whole trial about it! Given that we heard him talk about sexual abuse in 2016, and he was found liable for it last year, it's hard to imagine that more coverage -- or campaign ads -- would've moved the needle.
I briefly went to a free subscription but now I'm back to paying up because I see that you really do help me stay sane. (A scant few other journalists help, but plugging them here seems outside the bounds of the comments section)
Can you take a look at where the 15 million people difference between Biden's 2020 vote total and Harris' total. Even if we accept that a few million went to the Penguin, what do we actually know about the rest? Did voter suppression work? How or where can we find out about these folks?
Robert, thank you! I'm so glad to hear that TFN is worth it for you. Feel free to plug others, I can't very well claim this is a team effort without letting folks boost other team members! I am definitely thinking about turnout but the numbers are still coming in, so I may wait a bit till I get there. As for voter suppression, I mean...Trump won states where Dems were in charge. It was obviously an issue in some states, but I don't think enough to change the result.
Thanks for your reply. I know you are not a researcher. I'm wondering if you can keep an eye out for news on that subject because I believe it's news worth fucking.
I'm not a researcher, but it's my guess that voters just disengaged. Sure, there was probably a healthy dose of suppression, but I think a lot of people just didn't feel like voting for a non-white, non-man, prosecutor-background candidate. Because somehow "Black/Asian woman who enforces the law" is not good enough to stand against "sundowning convicted felon rapist insurrectionist who stole state secrets". Because America is broken.
Honestly, the “vast majority of Americans” did not, in fact, vote for this. The majority voted for Kamala or sat on their asses. Jimmy Kimmel had a “man on the street” thing on Wednesday night. They went out on the streets of Manhattan on the 6th to ask people who they were voting for “in today’s election” - which had obviously occurred the day before and the answers were terrifyingly hilarious. People talking about how long the lines at their polling places were TODAY. That they had a “voting plan” for TODAY. Etc. This is why we lost.
We need a 50 state campaign that starts today. Every town in America - or at least every county - has a Democratic Party apparatus of some sort. We are obviously capable of organizing volunteers. So, we need to knock on every door in our districts between now and 2026 and figure out what people are actually thinking about shit. Polls reach no one, obviously, so the only way to gather info is to physically go out and do it. I said yesterday I would do it all, but after some research into exactly how many “households” there are in America, I had to tone down my personal plan a bit. 😁 Looking forward to my local Democratic Party meeting on Monday so I can raise some hell. Ffs, even on Election Day, the GOP had a huge table, TRUMP sign, snacks, etc. The Dems apparently couldn’t be bothered aside from the guy who was trying to unseat our Republican state house rep. The party apparatus is failing. Time for new blood.
The idea of an on-going on the ground campaign is a good one. I live in a very red area of a solid blue state to the point where I didn't even know there was a Dem running for the House until the second half of October. But yeah, something like that here would be nice.
OTOH, I never give any credence to those “man on the street” things because what's shown is selected for comedic effect. In the same time as they gathered those half-dozen clips they might have gotten dozens and dozens of responses along the lines of "Today? What the hey are you talking about?" But those wind up on the cutting room floor so there's no way to know how typical those responses were.
Well said. I’m unsubscribing to those substacks that continue to lash out at Rs (and/or voters in general), picking up some IRL volunteer work (on behalf of veterans) that I hope will make me feel better about continuing to live in the US, and keeping my ear to the ground. Not sure I believe in the two party system any more and with that in mind, I’m going to withdraw from anything having to do with electoral politics.
And we concede thousands of races across the country in advance by simply not running anyone. It’s no surprise that *the message * is getting lost in all the noise. We’ve got no one (or very few people. Much love to David Pepper, Anderson Clayton and Jess Piper who do the work every day!) out there preaching the Dem gospel while MAGA has everything from an entire media echo chamber to 2 fucking social media platforms to the one guy who’s not afraid to take credit for everyone else’s work while trashing the person who’s work he’s taking credit for for not getting the job done in the first place.
It’s enough to make me want to start pulling my hair out by the fucking roots.
Would love to read the WAPO article but more comfortable creating an account with them to read a gifted article…..enjoyed your post, though
Nah. You just have a bunch of racists who like having a racist in charge.
every word about healthcare is complete nonsense.
I really thought that the Dems would take the day and the Republican Party would have their day of reckoning (basically a full party collapse and then try to figure out who they are as they rebuild). Maybe it's the Dems who need that. Running to the right was a terrible strategy, on top of our decades of weak messaging. We need to rediscover who we are and how we can do right by the American people.
People love them some federal gubmint sociamalism, but they refuse to vote for candidates that champion it because of sociamalism. Thanks for the freebie link to the WaPo. I'd rather lose fighting for what I think is right, but that's just me.
“…that has cost them the presidency and us the next four years…”
Without eucatastrophe, not just the next four years. Decades, perhaps. If we’re lucky.
I just have to ask you, Jonathan, if you have any idea why the Harris campaign nor anyone else pushed the fact that Trump can't be trusted with secret information. I just feel like that could have been one powerful argument against making him president again, but it just wasn't mentioned at all that I saw.
I mean, there was a whole trial about it! Given that we heard him talk about sexual abuse in 2016, and he was found liable for it last year, it's hard to imagine that more coverage -- or campaign ads -- would've moved the needle.
I briefly went to a free subscription but now I'm back to paying up because I see that you really do help me stay sane. (A scant few other journalists help, but plugging them here seems outside the bounds of the comments section)
Can you take a look at where the 15 million people difference between Biden's 2020 vote total and Harris' total. Even if we accept that a few million went to the Penguin, what do we actually know about the rest? Did voter suppression work? How or where can we find out about these folks?
According to the Independent's data correspondent, the number of eligible voters between the 2020 and 2024 elections shrunk by 15 million (from 260M to an estimated 245M). Which I find bizarre, considering that the total U.S. population increased by 6 million over the same period. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/presidential-election-senate-house-results-b2642817.html
If accurate, how did the eligibility of those 15 million+ voters disappear, when, and in which states did it occur?
Strange indeed
I don't think so many Biden 2020 voters disengaged for the reasons you've speculated on.
Agreeing that they disengaged, if there were other reasons, what do you think some of them were?
Robert, thank you! I'm so glad to hear that TFN is worth it for you. Feel free to plug others, I can't very well claim this is a team effort without letting folks boost other team members! I am definitely thinking about turnout but the numbers are still coming in, so I may wait a bit till I get there. As for voter suppression, I mean...Trump won states where Dems were in charge. It was obviously an issue in some states, but I don't think enough to change the result.
Thanks for your reply. I know you are not a researcher. I'm wondering if you can keep an eye out for news on that subject because I believe it's news worth fucking.
I mean, I do SOME research! But yes, I'm keeping my eye on it, thank you.
I'm not a researcher, but it's my guess that voters just disengaged. Sure, there was probably a healthy dose of suppression, but I think a lot of people just didn't feel like voting for a non-white, non-man, prosecutor-background candidate. Because somehow "Black/Asian woman who enforces the law" is not good enough to stand against "sundowning convicted felon rapist insurrectionist who stole state secrets". Because America is broken.
Honestly, the “vast majority of Americans” did not, in fact, vote for this. The majority voted for Kamala or sat on their asses. Jimmy Kimmel had a “man on the street” thing on Wednesday night. They went out on the streets of Manhattan on the 6th to ask people who they were voting for “in today’s election” - which had obviously occurred the day before and the answers were terrifyingly hilarious. People talking about how long the lines at their polling places were TODAY. That they had a “voting plan” for TODAY. Etc. This is why we lost.
We need a 50 state campaign that starts today. Every town in America - or at least every county - has a Democratic Party apparatus of some sort. We are obviously capable of organizing volunteers. So, we need to knock on every door in our districts between now and 2026 and figure out what people are actually thinking about shit. Polls reach no one, obviously, so the only way to gather info is to physically go out and do it. I said yesterday I would do it all, but after some research into exactly how many “households” there are in America, I had to tone down my personal plan a bit. 😁 Looking forward to my local Democratic Party meeting on Monday so I can raise some hell. Ffs, even on Election Day, the GOP had a huge table, TRUMP sign, snacks, etc. The Dems apparently couldn’t be bothered aside from the guy who was trying to unseat our Republican state house rep. The party apparatus is failing. Time for new blood.
The idea of an on-going on the ground campaign is a good one. I live in a very red area of a solid blue state to the point where I didn't even know there was a Dem running for the House until the second half of October. But yeah, something like that here would be nice.
OTOH, I never give any credence to those “man on the street” things because what's shown is selected for comedic effect. In the same time as they gathered those half-dozen clips they might have gotten dozens and dozens of responses along the lines of "Today? What the hey are you talking about?" But those wind up on the cutting room floor so there's no way to know how typical those responses were.
Well said. I’m unsubscribing to those substacks that continue to lash out at Rs (and/or voters in general), picking up some IRL volunteer work (on behalf of veterans) that I hope will make me feel better about continuing to live in the US, and keeping my ear to the ground. Not sure I believe in the two party system any more and with that in mind, I’m going to withdraw from anything having to do with electoral politics.
When I lived in northern Florida the Dem party & candidate couldn’t even bother to send the local Dem office any campaign signs.
And we concede thousands of races across the country in advance by simply not running anyone. It’s no surprise that *the message * is getting lost in all the noise. We’ve got no one (or very few people. Much love to David Pepper, Anderson Clayton and Jess Piper who do the work every day!) out there preaching the Dem gospel while MAGA has everything from an entire media echo chamber to 2 fucking social media platforms to the one guy who’s not afraid to take credit for everyone else’s work while trashing the person who’s work he’s taking credit for for not getting the job done in the first place.
It’s enough to make me want to start pulling my hair out by the fucking roots.
Re not running anyone, it's what I call "preemptive capitulation," surrendering before the battle has even begun.