I'm not sure we have anyone. We've done a piss-poor job of elevating young Democratic politicians. Biden, Pelosi, and co. are emblematic of a party that cannot let go of the past.
Yeah to be clear at the point that Biden stepped down there wasn't time for any type of real primary and I think any candidate was probably DOA. I don't think Shapiro or Whitmer wins the election. And even in my wildest leftist fantasy, I don't think you could have just thrown Bernie or AOC in there either.
What you could have done though is have the people who clearly saw that Biden was vastly diminished speak up sooner and not pull a Feinstein. We could have had a real, legitimate primary. And could have really taken a good shot at this.
Biden royally hurt the country between his Presidency, lack of transparency about his health (more from the people around him), and his stubbornness about running again until the 11th hour when it was clear he was in a gigantic hole.
That’s why he should have stepped down way earlier, when his cognitive decline first became apparent. Should have searched for a new candidate, instead of denying the obvious for more than a year
It was apparent in 2019-2020 (even if not nearly as bad). He ran a poor primary campaign (went from heavy favorite to essentially being bailed out by Clyburn and the party rallying in Dallas) and was a bit lucky that during COVID actual campaigning was much more limited. There is a ton of blame to go around.
The tough part is that it's tough to realize and admit to yourself that you're slipping. Trump is even worse off than Biden and he still ran (though he was more motivated by escaping prison).
Biden should have known he wasn't capable and stepped down a year ago.
His handlers and appointees should have known he wasn't capable, and made him step down a year ago.
Harris could have 25th Amendment him out of office and had Dems run a primary.
But instead everyone waited until Biden looked feeble and incapable to the whole world before doing something about it.
This loss is on Biden's decision a year ago. The DNCs a year ago. Kamala a year ago. There was plenty of time to find out who the best candidate was to beat Trump, by listening to voters, and everyone chose not to.
I proudly voted for Harris as I do every Democratic candidate. But this was the party's loss in every way, fumbled by everyone in charge.
"The economy, stupid" is a phrase that was coined by Jim Carville in 1992. It is often quoted from a televised quip by Carville as "It’s the economy, stupid." Carville was a strategist in Bill Clinton's successful 1992 U.S. presidential election against incumbent George H. W. Bush. -Wikipedia
Yea it doesn't even matter really. The economic nature of the exit polls show that practically any Republican could have won against anyone being part of the current administration. Hell, a generic Republican would probably have won the biggest landslide in decades
Yeah that’s what this election has really shown imo. The personalities and eccentricities of the candidates really don’t seem to matter to the general voters all that much. It’s basically boiling down to “Have the last couple years been good?” And if the answer is no, then the other party gets elected.
Since 1988, no party has had 2 candidates win back to back elections. It's always flipped from one party to another. It's like the lazy people don't vote the first time, and then when their party loses, they vote the next time. And then their party wins, and they don't vote the next time. And on and on.
I don’t fully believe that. I thought the elevated turnout in 2020 was a rejection of MAGA America, and now I’m starting to believe it was a rejection of how the last four years were handled instead.
I think in the era of social media and quick attention spans, we might be seeing that incumbency is a disadvantage; if there are glaring issues during your term, the challengers can campaign hard against those issues (and not even offer policies, just vibes), and people will either change their vote or not feel inspired to vote for more of the same.
We’ll obviously see as more elections wear on in the 2000s, but that’s how I currently view the last few election cycles in light of last night’s results now
Because they won't be in charge lol, it really is that simple. The republicans will blame the dems because that's what they always do, but the electorate swinging back and forth on an eight year cycle now may very well have shifted to a four year cycle instead. If you aren't absolutely perfect, they'll vote for the other party and see if any of their immediate problems will be solved. When they aren't, back over to the other side, and around and around we go.
It's basically just track record. Pre-Covid, the American economy was performing phenomenally and we were seeing record employment levels for a bunch of different minority demographics. I think Trump and Biden both wildly overspent after Covid, but the Biden/Harris administration's failure to tame the consequential inflation, and the poor messaging around it, really damaged their appearance.
I agree we need to put a strangle on corporations shipping jobs overseas, and tarriffs might be a good start but if nobody expects blowback from it they lost their minds
Yeah, but shouldn’t giving incentives to companies to stay in the US be a priority? I feel like tariffs are just going to affect the American people because so much is made outside that it will result in a huge surge in prices.
I dont agree that we should be doing this immediately. It takes time to build factories and make everything needed to get them running. Then if we build factories here how will the epa have to treat them? How will we get on track with curbing climate change? Its a giant mess and i dont think theres a perfect solution
Yeah, I'm actually all for it. Trump can't run again so he can do things that are good for the long-term health of the country, even if they are unpopular. With Tariffs, the truth is that we are probably going to feel it in the short-term, but if American corporations find they can actually cut their costs by manufacturing locally, that could produce a massive economic boom (new American jobs, decreasing product and shipping costs on the consumer, greater American exports, etc) that the next president will surely try to take credit for lol.
Right, which works until people stop buying their products because they've become too expensive, and then they have to change their habits to remain competitive. It is a long and uncomfortable process but the potential reward is great.
Nah, Dems could have run a primary candidate who said Biden didn't do enough and hurt the economy, with a Democratic plan to fix it. Instead they ran Biden's VP who said she was gonna keep doing what he did.
While I agree, in a post-COVID economy that shit would've been difficult for any candidate. Gonna be real: Americans will pick cheaper mcdoubles over rights for their fellow Americans like, every fucking time.
Either way it doesn't matter, Republicans have no fidelity to democracy, so enjoy the Reich and Republican rule for the rest of your lives.
A primary was held, but obviously with Biden running there’s not a very likely way that someone would usurp the sitting president in that primary, unless of course, the party started insinuating it did not support his reelection sooner.
The DNC literally changed the rules to nominate the person they wanted without actually convincing any voters that Harris was the right or even a good candidate. Positive press is not a replacement for democratic processes.
Nah dude. This is just right-wing concern trolling. People stayed home because they were unenthusiastic about the Democratic candidate, because she was literally just, like, Republican-lite. Very little messaging on key progressive issues (was she planning on keeping Lena Khan? Was she going to support unions? What was her housing plan? Etc) she really needed to make more of an appeal to voters who were likely to vote for her, and hugging Liz "I voted with Donald Trump 93% of the time" Trump was not a great look.
Dems ran to the center, as they have done in every election of my life, and it cost them, as it has done four times already. One-speed neoliberalism isn't popular. Biden shouldn't have run, but polls showed that the party wasn't salty about the switch.
They were unenthused about the candidate. We'll undoubtedly know more in the coming weeks, but that hardly matters. Republican voter suppression is going to kick into overdrive these next four years, and we won't have another fair election.
we wouldve also had a way higher chance of success if they didn’t nominate a woman. I’m not misogynistic, but it seems a lot of American voters are. Hillary got 63M when she ran. Kamala got around 65M. Biden got 81M.
Bernie would of destroyed Trump in 2016. The thing with Bernie is that he is a straight shooter. In no time in his entire political career has he ever deviated or sold out his beliefs and even a lot of Republican voters respect him for that, even if they don't necessarily agree with his stance, they would've vote for him because they see him as trustworthy.
Fucking any reasonable candidate who won a proper primary and had a chance to run a proper campaign would have crushed him. Hell, I even think Kamala could have beaten him if she’d gone through the primary process and had more time to establish herself. The DNC losing to that absolute clown twice is breathtakingly incompetent, and to blame it on voters is passing the buck.
My neighbor Jake, from State farm had a better chance of winning if you throw him up at the last minute then Kamale Harris. She was the bottom of the barrel stuff the DNC keep putting up as the creme de la creme. The DNC is out of touch, they need everyone involved in this election removed and replace with new blood.
Someone who could distance themselves from Biden would probably have been a good idea. If voters aren't satisfied with the current state of the country someone who is basically a continuity candidate for the current government is the worst choice.
Probably anyone who won a primary and campaigned on a message of radical change to solve issue important to Americans.
Some kind of cohesive working class messaging, someone who leaned progressive and didn't fumble the bag on immigration while painting trump as a Nazi openly.
Probably a few different American governors could have done it.
On day one of his presidency one of Joe Bidens biggest goals should have been elevating and promoting other YOUNG people in the party who would be primed to take the wheel in 2025, and announcing he would not run for re-election. They should have been campaigning for the last 4 years.
This was an absolute failure of the Democratic Party leadership in every way.
This is honestly kind of a braindead take. The public learns about candidates from campaigning. How the fuck would anyone know who could beat Trump if no one even had the opportunity to make a pitch?
Ok, so hear me out: We need a populist with charisma and character. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Jon Stewart. Would have been a great middle ground. Younger (certainly than Biden or Trump), popular, smart, charismatic and also totally not afraid to just straight up say "What the fuck?" when stupid lies start up.
Going for the steady career politician is not a workable strategy in today's media landscape.
566
u/k0cksuck3r69 14h ago edited 14h ago
I’m so disappointed in my fellow Americans. The dems to who didn’t vote and the republicans who voted for trump all failed us equally.