What did Democrats do wrong?

[dann]

If by they, you mean the Democrats, there is no evidence that this Twitter/X account is actually associated with the party; I can't even find mention of the person or persons behind the account. And my point #2 is that even if it was an official party account, Mamdani's failure to endorse Harris indicates he's not really a Democrat. He's just using the party to get elected. Of course to socialists like Dann, that's a feature not a bug.

No, to me it's neither a feature nor a bug, but it is interesting to see that Brainster thinks that Mamdani is "just using the party to get elected." Wasn't that what Trump did with the GOP? And wasn't that how he managed to radicalize the GOP in the process?
What is apparent is primarily that Democratic voters can't stand the 'Trump light' Democratic candidates they are offered by the DNC.

But, of course, to people working to inflate the prices of real estate, any candidate promising to make housing affordable for ordinary people is a bug not a feature ...

 

[dann]

From the Secular Talk video in post 2,580:

Only 21% of Democratic voters now have a positive view of Israel. 21%. That's a historic low. That means the base is simply pro Palestine. The base is seeing the genocide and they're going, "That's bad. That's wrong. We need to stop that and our elected leaders need to talk about that." Right? They're done with bipartisanship and negotiation and compromise and holding hands and singing kumbaya. They want crusaders and fighters who are going to take no and basically mirror Trumpism, but on the other side where we're the crusaders now.
We're the powerful ones now. We're the ones who don't back down.

In the Middle East situation, are your sympathies more with the Israelis or more with the Palestinians? (Gallup, Mar 6, 2025)
2001 to 2025:
More with the Israelis: 51% --> 21%
More with the Palestinians: 16% --> 59%

People are beginning to understand that Jews are not the same as Israel, and that anti-Zionism isn't anti-Semitism.
Groups like Jewish Voice for Peace help.
In the meantime, the establishment is busy trying to paint Mamdani as an anti-Semite.

 

[dann]

Vote Blue No Matter Who - unless it's a blue candidate who promises* to help the people instead of the billionaires.

Bernie Sanders on X, June 28, 2025
Democratic Party Leaders: You have talked for six months about the need to create political excitement to get working class and young people involved in the political process.
That’s exactly what Zohran did. Get behind him.

Why even bother?! The DNC will support Cuomo the next time, too.

Bernie Sanders Puts Dem Leaders on BLAST for Snubbing Zohran Mamdani: “Get Behind Him.” (Humanist Report on YouTube, July 1, 2025 - 19:42 min.)
Remember ‘Vote Blue No Matter Who’? Apparently, Democratic Party leadership forgot about that mentality now that Zohran Mamdani won their primary for New York City’s mayoral race. Leaders from New York, including Hakeem Jeffries, Chuck Schumer, and Kathy Hochul have refused to endorse Zohran Mamdani. Kirsten Gillibrand straight up slandered him in an unhinged interview. Bernie Sanders has a message for Democrats refusing to support Mamdani: “get behind him.” In this video we’ll discuss attacks Mamdani has received from fellow Democrats and explain why they’re refusing to support him.

Bernie Sanders on X, June 27, 2025
Mamdani won. The establishment is in panic.
Billionaires are raising money against him; Trump is ranting; Islamophobes are on the loose.
They know what we know: Candidates who stand boldly with the working class can win not only in NYC, but anywhere.
Let's stand with Zohran.

* If only something could make those candidates stick with their promises and try to fulfill them, but that is not what representative democracy is about. In fact, it would be downright undemocratic to demand that candidates, once elected, fulfill what they promised.

 

[dann]

What Democrats did wrong, and what they intend to continue to do wrong while adjusting the strategy, explained by James Carville.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

Dems could have stopped The Act if they had nominated people not so old as to die in the middle of their term.

 

[johnny karate]

The thing is, if that's the only problem, then there is nothing that can be done and we may as well give up. So, ok, I guess.

ETA: This really gets under my skin. Because it is defeatist and profoundly unhelpful. It also ignores the reality that most folks are low information voters. Which is mostly because they mostly go about there lives and reasonably only pay attention to politics when they have to.

Agreed on the “Trump voters are stupid” part. But until these people wake up and stop believing right wing propaganda and voting against their own interests, there isn’t a lot the rest of us can do. You let me know as soon as that happens.

 

[dann]

What Democrats did wrong in 2024 - according to a centrist critic of Trump, who retweets news about Mamdani:

Mark S. Zaid on X, June 25, 2025
Wanna know how Trump won in 2024? And why there's good chance Democrats will fail to win in 2026 or 2028? Because they vote for extreme ideologies who are susceptible to legitimate MAGA criticism, particularly on policy positions outside of mainstream, rather than seek moderates.

Zaid's retweet of Politico's news about Mamdani's election victory:

POLITICO on X, June 25, 2025
BREAKING: Zohran Mamdani is on track to become Dems' candidate for NYC mayor — toppling Andrew Cuomo's comeback dreams and putting incumbent Eric Adams on notice.
Cuomo has conceded and said he called to congratulate Mamdani.

It was just too Radical Left for a guy like Zaid to see Harris team up with the Cheneys and embrace fossil fuels (Financial Post, Sep 11, 2024).

 

[Susheel]

I guess folk are going to realise soon enough that it wasn't the Dems who did anything wrong. The Repug deplorables are going to definitely going to be slapped by the realisation full in the face that it was they who did it to themselves. And all those self righteous un-wokes who proudly claim you didn't vote for either...you guys are just as culpapble.

 

[arthwollipot]

In my opinion the only thing that Democrats did wrong was to assume that this was a normal election, where politics was the focus, and they could win by playing the political game the normal way, like they had done forever, following all the rules and using all the usual strategies. The Republicans under Trump did not play that game the way it had traditionally been played. They upended the board and scattered all the pieces, loudly declaring victory, and enough people agreed with them that by the rules of the game they weren't playing it became real.

 

[Hercules56]

I guess folk are going to realise soon enough that it wasn't the Dems who did anything wrong. The Repug deplorables are going to definitely going to be slapped by the realisation full in the face that it was they who did it to themselves. And all those self righteous un-wokes who proudly claim you didn't vote for either...you guys are just as culpapble.

Do you also believe Hillary did nothing wrong?

 

[Ziggurat]

I guess folk are going to realise soon enough that it wasn't the Dems who did anything wrong.

Fascinating. They ran a perfect campaign, with no mistakes at all. And yet, they still lost. Which means they never had a chance to win. Nothing they could have done differently could possibly have led to victory, or even a narrower loss.

That's a very remarkable assertion.

 

[dann]

In my opinion the only thing that Democrats did wrong was to assume that this was a normal election, where politics was the focus, and they could win by playing the political game the normal way, like they had done forever, following all the rules and using all the usual strategies. The Republicans under Trump did not play that game the way it had traditionally been played. They upended the board and scattered all the pieces, loudly declaring victory, and enough people agreed with them that by the rules of the game they weren't playing it became real.

Teaming up with the Cheneys wasn't "the way it had traditionally been played."

 

[arthwollipot]

Teaming up with the Cheneys wasn't "the way it had traditionally been played."

Of course it was! Are you kidding?

 

[dann]

What Democrats did wrong, and what they intend to continue to do wrong while adjusting the strategy

For Democrats, Mamdani is a Wake-Up Call—and a Bad Example (Congressman Tom Suozzi, July 2, 2025)

Morning Joe Refuses To Say Zohran Mamdani's Name (The Majority Report on YouTube, July 8, 2025 - 6:42 min.)
1:24--> Joe Scarborough: And why is it that in the Democratic party the three most compelling figures, uh, the mayoral candidate, uh, Bernie Sanders and AOC, the three most compelling figures since the election have been, uh, far left of, let's say, the mainstream of of a lot of Americans?
Sam Seder: Pause it for a second! 'The mainstream of a lot of Americans'. What positions do they have that are inconsistent with the mainstream of the Democratic Party?
Every other member of the Democratic Party is out of step where the Democrats are in terms of uh Israel and Palestine at this point, according to the polling. What is it that, what is their positions that are extreme? I mean, you're talking about three people who are essentially FDR Democrats. That's it. But they they have to hide this notion because they don't, there's, they're talking about nothing.
Joe Scarborough:
Why, why can't moderate Democrats, why can't conservative moderate Democrats like you uh make that same compelling message?

Why can't they make that same compelling message?! The message that the USA is an oligarchy that exploits ordinary people?
They can't make that same compelling message because that's not the message the oligarchs pay them to make!


So I guess the solution for "conservative moderate Democrats" like Tom Suozzi is to pretend to make the same message as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders and Zohran Mamdani: pretend that they are saying what they are saying, i.e. something that sounds like what AOC, Sanders and Mamdani are saying.

 

[dann]

Of course it was! Are you kidding?

No, it wasn't. The Harris campaign actually took it a step further by embracing the Cheneys and Big Oil vociferously.
And that campaign is what 'moderate centrists' are now presenting as being too Radical Left. See post 2,587.
Moderate centrist Democrats are the Republicans of yesteryear.

 

[arthwollipot]

No, it wasn't. The Harris campaign actually took it a step further by embracing the Cheneys and Big Oil vociferously.
And that campaign is what 'moderate centrists' are now presenting as being too Radical Left. See post 2,587.
Moderate centrist Democrats are the Republicans of yesteryear.

Do you really think this isn't business as usual for the Democrats?

 

[Pixel42]

Fascinating. They ran a perfect campaign, with no mistakes at all. And yet, they still lost. Which means they never had a chance to win. Nothing they could have done differently could possibly have led to victory, or even a narrower loss.

That's a very remarkable assertion.

I'm not for a moment suggesting the Democrat campaign was perfect but when you're dealing with an electorate the majority of whom make no attempt to properly inform themselves about the candidates and issues, but are instead happy to swallow the most blatant and transparent of lies provided they suit their prejudices, then what can you do to reach them? Such an electorate is easily manipulated into voting against their own best interests, and in the interests of those doing the manipulating. It's the one drawback of democracy, but it's a huge one.

 

[Ziggurat]

I'm not for a moment suggesting the Democrat campaign was perfect

Susheel was.

 

[d4m10n]

They upended the board and scattered all the pieces, loudly declaring victory

Was this before or after they actually won the popular vote?

 

[Reformed Offlian]

Was this before or after they actually won the popular vote?

Did you read the rest of the sentence?