It's one of the best deep dives The New York Times has done on Democrats since the 2024 election, and by that—I mean they exposed all the division and rot that's infected the party. The organizational aspect of the Democratic Party is in total disarray, with lofty predictions being used as a crutch for some. In contrast, others give a sensible answer only to have the succeeding sentences undercut their initial points. It's the classic one-step forward, two-steps back mindset that's kneecapped the party, which doesn't know what to do. In a way, Trump has truly broken the Democrats so thoroughly that the exhaustion is palpable amid the recent moves by the president.
Sure, we know liberals hate it, but the level of the intensity of the meltdowns is nowhere near where they were during Trump's first presidency. The article revealed the three things hamstringing the party: the internal chaos about how to fight Trump and the revelation that Democrats don't understand that their current state is beyond unpopular with voters, but they'd rather die on the woke hill than win again.
New DNC chair is conducting a post-election review to see why Dems lost
— John Hasson (@SonofHas) February 3, 2025
…and he's focusing on "tactics and messaging," NOT policy
They've learned nothing 😂 pic.twitter.com/QKoLeYY1wP
It's truly brutal stuff, and it's unlikely they'll be able to get this fixed by the time the midterms start rolling. There are too many factions engulfed in the niche and the minutiae of virtue signaling and expounding of hyper-left-wing and illiberal initiatives that a full-blown civil war is likely. Congressional Democrats may show a united front. It's hardly that behind the scenes, where Democrats describe themselves as "leaderless, rudderless, and divided" (via NYT):
As Democrats face the reality of President Trump's second term, they share a fundamental belief: This moment calls for an inspirational message from their party.
They just cannot decide what, exactly, that should be.
In private meetings and at public events, elected Democrats appear leaderless, rudderless and divided. They disagree over how often and how stridently to oppose Mr. Trump. They have no shared understanding of why they lost the election, never mind how they can win in the future.
[…]
Democrats broadly agree that they need to do more to address the issues that powered Mr. Trump's campaign, like grocery costs, inflation and immigration. But there is little consensus on how — or even whether — to prioritize the party's traditional concerns like abortion rights, L.G.B.T.Q. equality and climate change. Some Democrats fear that even as those issues continued to animate the party's base, they failed to resonate among a broader swath of voters in the last presidential election.
"We have no coherent message," said Representative Jasmine Crockett, Democrat of Texas. "This guy is psychotic, and there's so much, but everything that underlines it is white supremacy and hate. There needs to be a message that is clear on at least the underlying thing that comes with all of this."
[…]
The tepid race for D.N.C. chair illustrated the lack of a broad party message that goes beyond attacking Mr. Trump to offer a new vision.
As party members gathered in Washington this weekend, they heard from candidates for chair who offered largely tactical solutions and fiery attacks on Mr. Trump that echoed the party's message eight years ago. The eventual winner, Mr. [Ken] Martin, offered a diagnosis that was all about how the party communicated, rather than what it was saying.
"The policies that we support and the message that we have is not wrong," Mr. Martin said in an interview after his victory. "It is a messaging problem and a brand problem. Those voters are not connecting our policies with their lives."
[…]
Many Democrats believe any evolution will come not from leaders in Washington but from what many see as a strong bench of governors, attorneys general and state legislators. Mr. Martin acknowledged that the party's 2028 presidential primary race — probably two years away from fully beginning — would go a long way toward determining an affirmative Democratic message. Mr. Martin sees his job largely as reshaping the party's infrastructure — including Democratic ad spending, data collection and state party resources — for a future in which the Sun Belt becomes more politically dominant than the Rust Belt.
In private discussions, former President Barack Obama has compared this moment to early 2005, after Democrats had lost the White House and control of Congress, according to a person briefed on the conversations. Two years later, Democrats gained control of Congress. And two years after that, Mr. Obama became the country's first Black president and re-energized the party.
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The new DNC chair doesn't think their policies are wrong—their messaging is off. Tonto, if your policy is terrible, the messaging won't work. You can't polish a turd. No matter how hard you may try, gay porn in school libraries is still gay porn in school libraries, and no one likes that.
Also, is it arrogance or delusion that another Obama is on the horizon in two years? Who is that going to be? It cannot be Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who has been aptly called “Temu Obama” on social media. Obama and Trump are both generational political talents. There is no Democrat who can revive the Democrats to the days of their political strength under Obama, and we’ll see if JD Vance can corral enough Trump supporters to support his eventual presidential campaign.
Nothing is certain. Waiting it out while Trump accomplishes what he set out to do and further entrenching non-white and white working-class support for Republicans is not a smart move for Democrats, but don’t tell them that. Or maybe you should, and they’ll ignore you because they’re too triggered that there wasn’t a transgender or a Muslim running for DNC chair. We’re not dealing with serious people.
The Woke virus resists the antibiotic cocktail relating to accountability and plain facts. You got beat. You lost ground with every key demographic in the country, with young voters now drifting toward Trump. The Obama coalition has been obliterated, and there’s nothing to replace it. Not having an inspirational candidate since 2012 is a problem, and it’s rearing its ugly head right now.
I’m amazed this didn’t work. https://t.co/hf6UChSTvF
— memetic_sisyphus (@memeticsisyphus) February 3, 2025
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