I woke up on the morning of Nov. 5 with cautious excitement. Our nation had the chance to rid itself of a scourge that preyed on fear and hate, defeating a demagogue with a Democrat who had hope for a future that lifted every American.
But that didn’t happen. Instead, former – and, once again, future – President Donald Trump won, beating Vice President Kamala Harris by an embarrassingly-wide 312-226 electoral college score.
This was not a fluke. Harris didn’t lose because of wonky Floridian ballots or alleged Russian hacking. The Democrats lost because they couldn’t get out of their own way.
It was clear when then-77-year-old President Joe Biden took office four years ago that he would be a one-term president and that the DNC would need to field a competitive primary of candidates who could win against an ever-popular Trump. At least, it was clear to everyone except the DNC.
Rather than try to replace Biden, who by November last year had a 37% approval rating, according to Gallup, the DNC thought it best to retread the octogenarian who was rapidly appearing to be unfit for office.
It took until late July, following a disastrous debate, for the DNC to pull Biden. That left the Democrats just over 100 days to generate enough momentum to win what dozens of outlets called “the most important election in history.” It shouldn’t take hindsight to realize that the blue didn’t stand a chance.
I write this believing Harris is a qualified, charismatic and strong leader – the DNC should not have handed her the keys to the campaign without first checking to see if there were any better drivers. In an ideal scenario, voters could choose the best candidate who represents their beliefs. Instead, the party spoke for their constituents, hand-picking Harris without first asking Americans what they thought.
It takes one look at polling about the Biden administration, which, according to Gallup, says hasn’t had a positive approval rating of since July 2021, to realize that neither he nor Harris were the best bet. No matter how many ads Democrats ran, voters thought Harris was an extension of an unpopular administration, so they didn’t feel inspired to go to the polls.
Additionally, the DNC didn’t understand who it needed to appeal to. They wasted time getting endorsements from the likes of former Vice President Dick Cheney, who many blue voters once viewed as the arch-Republican. Rather than appealing to the opposition, they should have done more to appeal to the 8 million voters that didn’t show out for Harris.
Americans had a choice this election. In their view, it was the unpopular political machine versus a populist who promised change. Clearly, they didn’t care how many felonies Trump has been convicted of or how many times he’s been alleged of rape. They would rather go for the billionaire slumlord than the Democrat.
The DNC should use this critical failure as an opportunity for change, re-angling the party’s strategy. But I predict they’re going to do little more than rearrange the deck chairs of the Titanic, and we’re all going to go down together.