https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/08/democratic-governors-emerge-as-party-power-in-washington-collapses/ (sorry, I resubscribed at a 50% discount.)

https://preview.redd.it/v8h7t7lb0zzd1.png?width=1938&format=png&auto=webp&s=e0bed477ad961654e159b99765c69b57c4717c79

And

https://preview.redd.it/jsfo8lu10zzd1.png?width=1959&format=png&auto=webp&s=3a89a1f67087c342af67522b64d43e8e741dbabc

Congressional Democrat Leftist Tracker - Google Sheets (US House)

I mean, there are discussions happening that US Representative Hakeem Jeffries may not be the next US House Democratic Leader or US Speaker.

I've always maintained that he and the other post-Pelosi US House Democratic leadership should have never been the new US House Democratic leadership. They are all around just as 'conservative' and 'corporate' as US Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. The Democratic Party has moved to the Left since 2019 and 2021.

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These 2 were Trending New York Times articles Friday night:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/08/us/politics/marie-gluesenkamp-perez-interview.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/01/magazine/marie-gluesenkamp-perez.html

They are both good articles.

It's going to be a FIGHT to keep the Democratic Party from moving to the Right. But, overall, it seems the Democratic Party may well move in the direction of economic working-class populism.

Here's David Brooks 'moderate' Republican: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/06/opinion/trump-elites-working-class.html

https://preview.redd.it/ekks97x61zzd1.png?width=1818&format=png&auto=webp&s=cba7530ee7db7273e886bbf76df97971e63f05a2

It's literally the first David Brooks article I was even ever aware of in which I agree and consider a good article and analysis.

David French at the NYT also had a good article.

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The reality is that the American people and the United States were doing well with higher personal income taxes and higher corporate taxes. And the country was far more economically stable.

In the wake of the election everyone is of course doing all kinds of analyses on what went wrong with lots of valid points, discussing the difference between legislation and vision, social vs economic justice, populist vs establishment etc. I think a lot of people are making points that are correct. But I can't help but think all of these points of contention would've been resolved naturally if the Democrats had been allowed to have a completely democratic primary process, which we arguably haven't for 3 cycles straight.

2016 primary: DNC puts their finger on the scale at every turn and plays every dirty trick in the book, not even hiding their disdain for Bernie in their internal emails, so much so that the DNC chair had to resign in disgrace when it came to light. Corporate media shaping the race before it even truly started by showing misleading graphics that include super delegates to present Hillary as far ahead of where she actually was.

2020 primary: What the hell happened in Iowa? Bernie gets the most votes but Pete "wins?" That's how the media presented it. How is it that the so-called party of democracy has such an antiquated and undemocratic victory process? Why were they flipping coins at voting locations to decide the winner? Why did Buttigieg's campaign pay the company that created the vote counting app that was used by precincts? I'm not even suggesting there was anything "conspiratorial" going on here. At the very least, we were so disorganized, under-prepared and using outdated methods that it just became a huge cluster fuck. Other primaries cancelled or botched due to COVID, party elites making phone calls behind the scenes to coordinate the dropping out of candidates to their advantage. Media presenting South Carolina, a deep red state, as if it's the only state that matters in a democratic primary. It's all a huge mess. None of this is free or fair.

2024 primary: Nonexistent because of Biden's hubris. They apparently had internal polling results early on that showed disastrous results if Biden stayed in. There was plenty of time to have an open primary process, but Biden overrode this and nominated Kamala as some sort of "move" to own his detractors I guess? What the hell is that? Zero respect for the base, zero respect for the party. Party leadership shares a lot of blame as well for waiting until after the debate to pressure Biden to drop out, after it was impossible to pretend any longer that he was coherent enough to continue (after gaslighting the base for years).

I don't think there's "one simple trick" that would fix all of our problems, but I am a believer in the idea that healthy, free, fair, democratic primaries produce stronger candidates in the general. We haven't had those, so we keep losing.

If we do nothing this will happen in the 2028 primary. They will switch the first state that votes to SC, fund and push their preferred candidate to ensure a victory there, then have the media do the rest. They will flood the field and coordinate the dropping out of candidates at a time of their choosing to benefit them. This WILL continue to happen unless the entire DNC is basically cleared out and replaced by people who actually value and respect democracy and voters.

I'm a leftist Texan, so perhaps my perspective is warped. Buuut...

We all could guess the post election commentary even as the ship was rapidly sinking on election night. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought, "Oh boy, I can't wait to see how this is spun around to target progressives".

What are your thoughts with the commentary since then?

Personally, I've seen much more voter-blaming and critique of the media-sphere than any constructive criticism or introspection on tthe part of what seems to be the going narratives (yes, it's just the media or social media, but if anything Biden/Trump presidencies have given us alarming views of how connected and insular they are).

I see a lot of scolding in terms of stupid people electing a felon rather than why they did. Aside from that, I'm not sure many of these post-election talking points are even all that relevant outside of insular Democrat social circles.

What i see nothing about, however, is how to resist or work toward immigrants protections. It's infuriating to me. There are quite a few people that I have connections to that are not only hanging in the balance, but are sorta doomed at this point. These people have provided massive amounts of wealth for the corporations and to us as a whole (eith little to no protection, at a fraction of tgeir worth). They are afraid to go outside of their own routine and stay very local for the fear of deportation. They are captive to the realities of their situation and share in none of the wealth they've helped create.

That's why the focus on immigration was a stupid and reckless move. There are no voices to speak up now. Yall have already all moved on from accepting that these people have done something wrong to that they will now suffer the consequences. Now that Democrats have ceded the entire issue, there's is not a second given to the possible deportation of a lot of people that I care about personally.

I'm done. And I will stand up to this madness when it happens even if it means standing alone. If democrats want to continue to support disgusting policies than I have no problem fighting them too.

This person like, many MANY, other libs. Has been very mad at the American electorate. He was very confused on me saying "Dems have a messaging problem". When on the same "rant-euqse" we have heard every lib in our lives has said.

He said, "The American People are stupid. How are they tricked by Trump, isn't it obvious?" Proceeded to list a bunch of statements that addressed economic anxiety on the campaign trail.

I asked, "Why wasn't every Dem sticking to three talking points like Republicans do? That is how you message." Then the real kicker that made him pause, "Yes the American electorate is fucking stupid. Yes the Democrats are the serious and "smart" party. But if we are smart, and we can't trick a bunch of stupid people. Then I guess we ain't that smart, after all."

Basically every "Liberal" around us is listening to these consultant idiots on MSM who are just trying to justify their own existence. Our Liberal friends and family are off kilter enough, currently, to be open to our narrative. I think getting liberal primary electorate head on straight about the "messaging problem" is prio one in this immediate aftermath. So I found it prudent to share my engagement, I assume, ALOT of us are having. Frankly if business as usual occurs I find it pointless. That tidbit I shared was part of a two hour conversation l had. Arguing Leftist Populism is the ONLY path forward, and I will tolerate nothing less from the party.

Because if these Libs in our lives think we are as fucked, as we very well might be. Quibbiling over "is left messaging scary" is irrelevant. Join your God damn DSA, and never stop annoying the Liberals around you about volunteering to the organization.

Hey all, my SO suffers from past traumas. She's made a lot of progress compared to when we started dating.

She recently asked about wanting to get some self help books, specifically ones that can help with anxiety and dealing with stress. She doesn't want to get into one that's right leaning a la that dick lint, JP.

Does anyone have recommendations? It doesn't have to have a leftist leaning; she's trying to avoid the right wing pipeline stuff.

In these rather dark times I just wanted to point to something that I find hopeful. And something that might interest some of you. An incident where labour beat back authoritarianism and defeated an army.

I'm a huge history nerd and in German history, between WWI and WWII, there is something called the "Kapp Putsch" the "Kapp Coup." You can find out more about it from this excellent video, but in brief: Someone lead some of the armed forces to overthrow the social-democratic government. The leader of that government then called for a general strike. The people listened and a general strike occured and it brought down the coup.

No government can stand without the support of labour. It's important to remember that.

I've been looking at autopsies of Harris' campaign all over, and I'm seeing a very frustrating and worrying thing continue to pop up.

Since some anti-trans ads were seen as persuasive, there's a lot of people, including sitting congressman, pointing the finger at "wokeness," identity politics, and trans issues for Harris' loss. Despite the fact that none of this was even mentioned on the campaign.

In fact, the only time it was ever mentioned is in regard to Tim Walz, who had the "weird" line that actually disabled a lot of those talking points by pointing out how ridiculous they were. But the main people talking about trans issues and wokeness was the Trump campaign. The Democrats have mostly sidelined LGBTQ issues in their messaging since Biden's term, even as conservatives ramp up attacks against trans people in 2022/23.

It's so frustrating that the lesson people are learning is that they weren't conservative enough on certain issues, and that the Dem's answer is to potentially throw LGBTQ people to the wolves to pursue the mythical GOP vote they crave. LGBTQ people represent 8% of the population, and were one of the strongest parts of the Democratic coalition this year. Yet, if some of these losers within the Obama/Clinton camp have their way, they'd cut them off for a voting block they lost votes with from 2020.

I'm tired, upset, and generally done with politics. The Democrats could have been taking the past year to counter the bullshit anti-LGBTQ messaging from the right, but instead slinked back and let conservatives control the narrative.

T

Simple question, but with presumably a complicated answer: Could Harris have won against Trump if she'd continued the campaign strategy she had before the DNC?

Please also explain why you think that.