The Democrats are trying to understand why they lost. Looking at their election review, they never will.
After Mitt Romney’s loss to Barrack Obama in 2012, the smart people of the Republican Establishment huddled and thought. Reminds me of an episode of The Three Stooges. Moe says, “I must think,” and Larry declares, “Quiet everyone, genius at work.” Now these were the movers and shakers of the GOP, the ones who knew how to win (I’m insulting great men like Moe and Larry by comparing them to these idiots). But it is right, after any major event, to assess what went wrong and use it to plan the future.
After the geniuses of the party got together, they determined the reason the Republicans lost was…we were not Democrat enough. The Growth and Opportunity Project did make some legitimate points (too many debates, weak ground game, GOP flawed computer planned campaigns). However, it focused again on what the RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) use as their litmus test: amnesty.
Both parties have a litmus test. A Democrat will never come close to the nomination if he is not radically pro-abortion. A pro-amnesty Republican (McCain, Romney) can win the nomination but never win the general election. A disgusted GOP base will say, “What is the difference?” and stay home.
Now the smart people knew how to win, by expanding the appeal of the GOP to more voters. So they would be pro-amnesty and in 2016, give us a winner: JEB! Fortunately the GOP base rallied around an aggressive candidate and nominated Donald Trump. In spite of the best efforts of the Roves and Priebuses, Trump saved us from a President Mrs. Bill Clinton (Thank you God!).
Back to the smart people of the party, they were right in needing to broaden the appeal. Their thinking was “We’ll be Democrats light.” They said to the voter, “You know the Democrats will drive this country off the cliff in fifth gear. Vote for JEB! (or Kasich…or Christie…or Graham). They will do it in first! How about that?” Never occurs to them the greatest landslide in modern history was Reagan 1984, when he won 59% of the popular vote in a 49-state rout. Call Rawhide many things, he was not Democrat Light.
Donald Trump went out and courted minorities in ways not done by Republicans in the past. He famously appealed to black voters, “What do you have to lose by trying something new, like Trump? You’re living in your poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your youth is unemployed — what the hell do you have to lose?” Appealing to voters and the issues they are concerned about. What a concept, and it worked.
In 2016, 8% of blacks voted for Trump, 12% in 2020, and 16% in 2024. Hispanics moved from 29% in 2016 to 42% in 2024. For the candidate who was the most pro-border security candidate in ages, that says a lot.
The Republican intelligentsia don’t care what their base thinks. It’s difference with the Democratics is in degree, not kind. They are quite content to lose with their candidate then win with someone they cannot control. The RINOs will nominate the same milquetoast candidate and give voters the choice, “This or the Democrat.” Fortunately the voter had a choice and they chose Trump.
Now the Democrats are looking at being (relatively) out of power until at least January 2027 and have written their own autopsy of 2024. It’s bad when even the NY Times calls this review a joke. From the article (emphasis mine):
Party officials described the draft document as focusing on the 2024 election as a whole, but not on the presidential campaign — which is something like eating at a steakhouse and then reviewing the salad.
The Democratic review does bring up some legitimate issues from 2024, such as uncontrolled spending (one hundred thousand for an interview set), allowing millions to be spent on advertising in safe areas, neglecting the get out the vote efforts. No where is one of the larger donkeys in the living room discussed, the selection of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as running mate. Selecting a weak number two man, from a state that has not voted from a Republican since 1972, added nothing to the ticket.
Selection of Pennsylvania governor Joshua Shapiro would have helped with a critical swing state. Governor Shapiro is not known for foot in mouth disease, is a disciplined politician, and put forth the image of an able executive. He would be more of a president than Harris. But he’s Jewish, and that’s another litmus test for Democrats. As the party is more Anti-Semitic every day (but they do like Jewish money, wait, did I just say that?), that’s a bridge too far. Joe Lieberman need not apply today.
Without question, the disaster for the Democratic Party last year was Joe Biden. He was a pathetically weak candidate in 2020 and the question of election theft is still open (where did 15 million votes disappear to?). Biden’s refusal to withdraw and allow a nomination prevented the Democrats from fielding a stronger candidate. His departure four months before the election left the Democratics with an impossible task. Take a candidate who was gifted the nomination and sell her to a very skeptical voting public.
The powers that be in both parties need to read/reread the bible on elections, What It Takes: The Way To The White House, by Richard Ben Cramer. Campaigns are not organized in weeks or months, but years. Ronald Reagan, Joe Biden, Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Ted Cruz, Bob Dole, George and George W. Bush all had one thing in common. A desire for the highest office in the land, and they spent decades in preparing for one, two (or in the case of Reagan, three) shots at bat.
Kamila Harris has many weaknesses, as a politician and office holder. While iron sharpens iron, she wasn’t honed by wood or paper before being thrust into this campaign and it showed. A competent candidate would have an excellent staff discipling her organization, keeping it focused. More importantly, they would groom the candidate, keeping her focused and on target. She didn’t have it and appeared to not even care.
The Democrats, if they believe this campaign after action report, have a similar issue as the Republicans in 2013. The must broaden their appeal to the general public, and in that, they are failing. Democrats have completely written off the working-class voter, preferring to appeal to college educated liberals on the coasts. Granted, the coasts (for the moment) has large populations, but they are losing people to more conservative regions (Texas, Florida).
Critically Democrats have taken minorities for granted for decades. As Trump as shown, blacks and Hispanics are concerned about the same issues as whites (crime, economic opportunity, border security). And hearing then Vice President Harris lie about border security (“The border is secure…”) while illegal aliens force wages down and commit crimes without recourse is not appealing to a broad audience.
The Republican Party has a strong bench for 2028 (DeSantis, Cruz, and Vance started their campaigns right after Trump won his second term) and has a broadening base. The Democrats have old white liberals (see Bernie), radical leftists (Mamdani), educated women without children (AOC), and angry college graduates with worthless degrees and mortgage size college debt. Not much to base an election on. Until Democrats have a reformation to refocus on issues Americans care about (jobs, crime, etc.), they will continue to be a minority of opinion. For the betterment of the country and the world, let’s hope they spend two, three or four decades in the desert trying to figure themselves out.
Michael A. Thiac is a retired Army intelligence officer, with over 23 years experience, including serving in the Republic of Korea, Japan, and the Middle East. He is also a retired police patrol sergeant, with over 22 years’ service, and over ten year’s experience in field training of newly assigned officers. He has been published at The American Thinker, PoliceOne.com, and on his personal blog, A Cop’s Watch.
Opinions expressed are his alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of current or former employers.
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