Good notes from the outside. Here are some from the inside:
First, once the Democrats decided to remove Biden from the ticket the party lost whatever argument they had about Trump being a threat to democracy. How can you argue that Trump will overthrow the government when you decide to remove the President AFTER the primaries, disregarding the will of people who voted for him just a few months earlier? I grant the box the Democrats were in and I'd give it more merit if it weren't for the fact people wanted Biden gone A FULL YEAR before the debate.
Second there was no real difference between Harris' campaign in 2024, Hilary's in 2016 or Biden's in 2020. At the end of the day the Democrats argument is the same: no rational person would vote for Trump. The fact that millions of people have voted for Trump and were willing to do so as early as the 2016 primary has made no impact on that. They can't understand why people would vote for him. I don't confess to understanding it myself. But I know that calling the people who do deplorable and racist will not convince them to vote for you in November.
Third, and I know this will not register with the left any more than it ever has, the average voter does not care about the things they do. The left has never been able to come up with a way to make an outreach for the working class voter. Indeed an article in the Atlantic acknowledged that after the Depression working class voters voted overwhelmingly for Democrats and the college educate,d, elitist voted Republican. Now the college educated vote for dEMOCRATS OVERWHELMingly and the working class overwhelmingly Republican. The lesson would seem to be obvious but rather than acknowl;edge what it means, the left does what it was always does - blame the working class for not seeing the wisdom of voting Democrat. They'll acknowledge things are tough for the woking class but Daily Kos (the DEMOCRATICALLY ALIGNED PROGRESSIVE blog, mind you) says Democrats have no ability to make it better for them.
Part of me wonders how many of the people at this blog (aside from people like you who do seem to get this) really apprciate these problems that the average person who is working class, has a family, makes above minimum wage but is still struggling to make ends meet, might not have their top priorities being about what's happening in Gaza. People may struggle economically but they might not have student loans to cancel. They don't see how taxing the top one percent helps them pay their mortgage today. And the priorities of LGBTQ+, women and minorities are abstract ones to them. Being able to pay the power bill, that's a reality. And it's not one that the people who complain about from their phone on social media seem able to comprehend might matter more. They think in abstractions. I don't thnk for the record Democrats are elitist, priveleged and preachy. But progressives are - and they've increasingly become the loudest voices of the democratic Party.
I'm glad you do see the logic of this. I can assure you the left will spend the next several months licking their wounds and convincing themselves (who are the only ones they talk too) is that the recent they lost the election was not their fault. No the fault is with America who isn't smart enough to understand why its more important to care about moral abstractions then the problems in your day to day life. That's been their message before Trump came to power and rest assured, it was their measuring during the last four years.
And a little side note leftists: when you spend half a century calling every Republican from Nixon to Romney a fascist either in practice or in waiitng, then call the two parties basically the same, when an actual fascist comes along, you shouldn't be shocked when the average person doesn't take your seriously any more. I'm more inclined to believe you than most. Doesn't make the larger point any l;ess true.