“There is not a thing that comes to mind.” — Candidate Kamala Harris
By Jack Bernard, contributing columnist
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. | Kamala Harris was on The View when asked whether she would have done anything differently from President Joe Biden. She answered with the statement above.
Democratic elites are now rightfully complaining about Trump. But they helped elect him a second time by anointing a weak party loyalist tied to Biden rather than a more acceptable and popular candidate not hampered by Biden’s failures on immigration and inflation. The GOP benefitted by Democratic Party leaders not pushing Biden out of the race sooner, and the Democratic National Committee for not having a primary.
The 2024 election was all about the public being dissatisfied with traditional politics. But political alienation and apathy are not recent phenomena. I wrote about these factors in two pieces in The New York Times, published way back in October 2013. So, it should come as no surprise that Trump won. As awful as he may be, Trump is certainly not traditional.
Almost the same thing happened in Trump’s first election in 2016. The authors of a Time magazine column issued before the election (Oct. 31, 2016) accurately pointed out many of Clinton’s flaws:
- She was tone deaf;
- Ignored both her advisers and the public;
- Clinton did a horrible job with media relations;
- Was paranoid and secretive;
- Failed to understand the populist movement in her party; and
- Clinton abandoned her “Four Fights” issues oriented strategy she put forth in 2015.
This latter point may have been the most important. The “Four Fights” strategy was designed to focus on: “the economy; stronger families; national security; and getting money out of politics.” If she would have run on this plank, versus “Trump is worse than I am,” (just like Harris did) she would probably have won the election despite her obvious weaknesses and faults. The same can be said for Harris, who failed miserably on items like immigration and blue-collar concerns. Voters did not know what Harris or Clinton stood for.
Hillary treated Reagan Democratic blue collar workers as pariahs, and “deplorables.” This miscalculation sunk her in enough of the Rust Belt states for Trump, the most unqualified presidential candidate in history, to win the job of leading the free world. These folks never returned to the fold.
As Bill Clinton once said when he ran for office “It’s the economy, stupid.” He could have added: “it’s not losing our traditional base, stupid.”
Even stranger, the Democratic Party elites still seem lost. Due to dissatisfaction with the Re-Trumpican Party, the Democratic establishment is now becoming giddy about its prospects for turning the House blue in 2026.
But they still refuse to acknowledge the obvious problem that clearly exists between the woke progressive wing and the moderate traditionalist wing. The recent New York City election, won by a Democratic Socialist (who supports Hamas) is a case in point. Some in the party are saying he is the new face of the party. He is in New York City, but not in swing states.
The real question remains: “Can the Democratic Party’s elite learn from its past mistakes enough to win in 2026 and 2028?” The jury is out.
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