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đŸ« Democrats’ Direction Dilemma

A party divided: echoes of disconnection and discontent.

November 20, 2024

The Flag

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Right: Pennsylvania Supreme Court Stops Attempt To Steal Votes, Salena Zito, Washington Examiner

Right: Why Progressives Don't Have Their Own Joe Rogan, Rich Lowry, New York Post

Right: Stop Feds Hiding Docs by Needlessly Classifying Them, Sean McMeekin, The Federalist

Left: Why Harris Couldn't Convince Anti-Establishment U.S., Samuel Hammond, The Guardian

Left: The Guide to Fighting Back Against Trump 2.0 Greenberg & Levin, MSNBC

DEMOCRATIC PARTY

Democrats’ Direction Dilemma

Today’s Top Story: After losing the White House, Democrats reflect on their defeat and future direction.

Reporting from the Right: Democrats privately gripe about Pelosi's 'damaging' post-election comments: 'She needs to take a seat' (Fox News)

Reporting from the Left: Hakeem Jeffries says Democrats will have a "family conversation" to "figure out what happened on election night" (CBS News)

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Democrats Infighting

The Top Argument From The Right: Democrats turn on each other after loss to Trump, W. James Antle III, Washington Examiner: “Despite an unprecedented postprimaries nominee switch, attempts by Democratic candidates in multiple races to tack to the center or erase past policy positions, and dire warnings that fascism was coming to the United States if Republicans prevailed, this month’s election was largely a bitter disappointment to Biden’s party. Democrats are undoubtedly most upset by President-elect Donald Trump’s impending return to the White House, this time with at least a plurality of the national popular vote behind him and having swept the seven battleground states. When asked by a reporter how she was doing, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) replied, ‘Terrible.’ 
 Democrats are now second-guessing whether Biden should have left the race sooner or never should have run in the first place. Or whether Harris should have had to go through a more competitive process to win the Democratic presidential nomination. Once nominated, should she have picked Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) as her running mate or someone else, such as Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA)?”

Honorable Mention #1: Joe Biden Ensured That the Democrats Were Dead before the Ship Even Sank, Jeffrey Blehar, National Review

Honorable Mention #2: The History Lesson Democrats Can’t Afford to Forget, Eli Lake, The Free Press

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Democrats Have Abandoned Working-Class

The Top Argument From The Left: Democrats, next time try fighting for the working class, Johnathan Smucker, Al Jazeera: “
it’s clear as day that if Democratic Party leaders could swap the party’s historic base of working-class voters for more affluent voters and still win elections, they would. This is not hyperbole. This is what they have shown us and told us over and over again – in their policy priorities, messaging choices, and electoral campaigns. 
 The strategy failed spectacularly in 2016 and again in 2024. 
 In a little-noticed April 2018 post on the election analysis blog FiveThirtyEight, analyst Nathaniel Rakich showed how, at that time, ‘on average (and relative to partisan lean), Democrats [were] doing better in working-class areas than in suburban ones.’ 
 But Rakich warned that such positive results could be self-reinforcing: If Democrats invested only in winning affluent suburban voters, those efforts would produce some results, and this would bolster Democrats’ resolve that they had chosen wisely. Schumer’s strategy would seem to be validated. But what about the working-class voters who weren’t prioritised?”

Honorable Mention #1: The Democrats weren’t stupid or crazy — just wrong, Ramesh Ponnuru, The Washington Post

Honorable Mention #2: What Democrats Should Learn From Their Loss, The New York Times

FLAG THIS

Who or What Is to Blame?

A recent Economist/YouGov poll reveals nuanced perspectives from Harris supporters on election outcomes, highlighting:

  • 53% attributed losses to a challenging year for Democrats, 24% blamed Biden (despite his absence from the ballot), and only 6% faulted Harris.

  • Inflation and the economy topped concerns for 64% of Democrats, followed by Biden’s age and mental state at 56%.

  • The U.S.-Mexico border situation (45%) and the June Biden-Trump debate (44%) were deemed more impactful than the Harris-Trump debate (40%) or Harris’s campaign events (35%) (The Washington Post).

If Biden stepped out of the race sooner, do you believe Harris and the Democrats would have had a better shot?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

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WATERCOOLER

Nuremberg, Existence Coincidence, Red Sweat

On This Day in 1945, twenty-four high-ranking Nazis go on trial in Nuremberg, Germany, for atrocities committed during World War II.

Today I Learned that Hippo sweat is red.

42 DAYS TO GO

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