What did Democrats do wrong?

[d4m10n]

There's a new book out called "Original Sin" by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson. It's generating some stories.

Halfway through it now; the authors make a pretty strong case that "letting Biden run in the first place" (in @ahhell's words) was the biggest mistake of that election cycle.

Here's a paraphrase of the warning from Democratic Party operative Bill Daley back in 2023:

If they waited too long, the inevitable moment when Biden bowed out would saddle the Democratic Party with Vice President Harris as the nominee, and she was even less popular than Biden.​

It's worse than that, of course, since she was given only 107 days to convince us that she could affect positive change despite operating with essentially the same principles and personnel as the unpopular incumbent.

 

[ahhell]

To be fair, once he decided to run, they were pretty much screwed. There isn't much the Dems could have done that wouldn't have alienated some portion of voters to get rid of him.

It also confirms what I'd been saying for a year prior to the election, so I might be biased. Nah, probably not.

 

[dirtywick]

i'd agree the combo of running, showing the world exactly why he shouldn't have ran, and then dropping out so late was a poor decision. jill biden getting on national tv and telling him he answered all the questions like a toddler was the second worse decision made.

i do take issue with the idea that the dems let him run or not run though. as the sitting president, incumbent, and leader of the party, it was biden's decision to make. there's really not a way for the dems to change that imo

 

[d4m10n]

there's really not a way for the dems to change that imo

The second half of the book is largely about how top-level Democrats did change it, albeit too late to make enough of a difference.

Had there been a general understanding that Biden needed to follow through on his promise to be a bridge to the next generation of party leadership, and had all the same players pushed that narrative from the jump (after the 2022 midterms) the outcome might well have been much better for the Dems.

 

[dirtywick]

The second half of the book is largely about how top-level Democrats did change it, albeit too late to make enough of a difference.

Had there been a general understanding that Biden needed to follow through on his promise to be a bridge to the next generation of party leadership, and had all the same players pushed that narrative from the jump (after the 2022 midterms) the outcome might well have been much better for the Dems.

i haven’t read the book.

does the book present it as biden was forced out against his will or convinced to drop out? i’m of a mind his debate performance was a huge factor in his decision for example. but ultimately it was his decision.

 

[ahhell]

i haven’t read the book.

does the book present it as biden was forced out against his will or convinced to drop out? i’m of a mind his debate performance was a huge factor in his decision for example. but ultimately it was his decision.

I haven't read it but I've heard lots of interviews with the authors. It seems various powerful Dems went to Biden and told him he had to drop out. After a week or so, he did but he wouldn't have if not for the pressure.

ETA: Which in my opinion, they should have done as soon as he announced. The polling was never good for him and it was his age that was the biggest problem*. Which, I know, Trump only a few years younger but Biden seemed a lot older. Its all hindsight now, I don't think they Dems will run an octogenarian next time around so. They've probably learned that lesson, now they just need to get some of the old farts in congress to retire. David Hogg is right about that but is plan to do it wasn't great. They've got to convince them to leave not force them out via primaries.

*Up until inflation became the big problem but that was later.

 

[dirtywick]

I haven't read it but I've heard lots of interviews with the authors. It seems various powerful Dems went to Biden and told him he had to drop out. After a week or so, he did but he wouldn't have if not for the pressure.

i think that’s reasonable. i also think they would have had a more difficult time convincing him to agree before the debate

 

[johnny karate]

"Biden is old and feeble and Harris has not convinced me that she's qualified, therefore I'm going to vote for the unqualified sociopath who is also old and feeble."

- No one

 

[arthwollipot]

 

[dann]

What the Democrats did wrong according to Bernie Sanders

From this video:

Chris Cuomo SINKS In Unhinged AOC Meltdown Over Democratic Party Surge (The Damage Report on YouTube, June 29, 2025 - 6:46 min.)
Chris Cuomo loses it on NewsNation over the Democratic party and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's rapidly growing popularity with voters and within the party after his brother Andrew Cuomo's defeat by Zohran Mamdani in the NYC election. John Iadarola breaks it down on The Damage Report.
Read more here:
"NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo stunned by ‘deranged Democrat’ AOC’s strong polls: ‘Killing her party' https://nypost.com/2025/06/26/media/c...
NewsNation anchor Chris Cuomo was stunned by recent polls crowning “deranged” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a top Democratic Party leader as he tore into the left over its embrace of extremism.
“I’m not picking on AOC. I respect her success in developing a following. I just think she’s killing her party,” Cuomo said Tuesday as he discussed the Democratic Party’s shift to the left.
“She is a deranged form of Democrat and I’m pointing her out because she’s at the top of the food chain.”
A CNN poll earlier this year found that Ocasio-Cortez came out on top when Democrats were asked which leader best reflects the core values of the party."

Bernie Sanders:

3:28--> He [Zohran Mamdani] ran a brilliant campaign, ... to run a brilliant campaign you have to run a grassroots campaign, so instead of taking money from billionaires and putting stupid ads on television, which the people increasingly do not pay attention to, you mobilize thousands and thousands of people around the progressive agenda that speaks to the needs of working-class people, and you go out and you knock on doors ... [which he very much did]. And if somebody like a Kamala Harris had not listened to her consultants and done that, she would be president of the United States today.

From here: 'That's how you win': Bernie Sanders scolds Kamala Harris after NYC upset (MSN.com/Raw Story, June 26, 2025)

Sanders continued:

You do not win elections, in my view, by begging billionaires for huge amounts of money ... That's what Cuomo did: put stupid ads on television that nobody paid attention to. We need an agenda that speaks to working-class people, activates millions of people around this country to get involved on that agenda. Take on the billionaire class, take on oligarchy. That's how you win elections.

 

[Safe-Keeper]

Yeah, I increasingly don't think it's about what the Democrats did wrong as much as people deciding they were fine with racist, mysogonist authoritarianism over liberal democracy.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

People are upset that Democrats didn't save them from themselves.

 

[dann]

Yeah, I increasingly don't think it's about what the Democrats did wrong as much as people deciding they were fine with racist, mysogonist authoritarianism over liberal democracy.

'Liberal democracy'?! Like this?!
This is what the Democrats did wrong!
And a lot of them would like to get the opportunity to do it again ...

People are upset that Democrats didn't save them from themselves.

And who do you expect to save them from the Democrats???

 

[ahhell]

Yeah, I increasingly don't think it's about what the Democrats did wrong as much as people deciding they were fine with racist, mysogonist authoritarianism over liberal democracy.

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.

 

[dirtywick]

in that vein i guess we should all think about all the times we mocked and ridiculed anyone for being hyperbolic and over reacting when they brought up the various pieces of evidence of the significant threat to democracy and american life trump and maga posed over the years, while we clung to the critical importance of stopping things like cancel culture or dei or trans athletes

in any case, we probably are doomed. the dems don’t have what it takes

 

[dann]

What the Democrats haven't stopped doing wrong!

Ken Klippenstein on X, July 1, 2025
Remember this

 

[Brainster]

What the Democrats haven't stopped doing wrong!

1. Who is Democratic Wins Media other than a Twitter/X account and a Substack?
2. If indeed Mamdani didn't endorse Kamala (from a quick search it appears that the DSA doesn't typically endorse presidential candidates), when the only other realistic candidate was Trump, don't you find that a significant negative for a Democrat?

 

[ahhell]

1. Who is Democratic Wins Media other than a Twitter/X account and a Substack?
2. If indeed Mamdani didn't endorse Kamala (from a quick search it appears that the DSA doesn't typically endorse presidential candidates), when the only other realistic candidate was Trump, don't you find that a significant negative for a Democrat?

I thought that was kind of the point, attacking a Mamdami is a thing they continue to do wrong.

 

[Brainster]

I thought that was kind of the point, attacking a Mamdami is a thing they continue to do wrong.

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.

 

[dann]

1. Who is Democratic Wins Media other than a Twitter/X account and a Substack?
2. If indeed Mamdani didn't endorse Kamala (from a quick search it appears that the DSA doesn't typically endorse presidential candidates), when the only other realistic candidate was Trump, don't you find that a significant negative for a Democrat?

1. Democratic Wins Media is a "a Twitter/X" account, one with a pretty impressive number of views: https://x.com/DemocraticWins
And it's in no way in favor of Trump and MAGA. It appears to be in favor of the kind of candidates the DNC prefers, which is in line with the tweet I quoted. I don't know what is "a significant negative for a Democrat." I am not a Democrat.
2. I can't see Mamdani endorse Harris anywhere. Why would he? Say, for instance, that he is not in favor of drilling, drilling, drilling, why would he endorse Harris? Why would anybody endorse Harris? Unless they're into the strategy of voting for the slightly less bad of two terrible options! And that strategy is what DNC has been relying on in its attempts to make Democrats vote for its 'Trump light' candidates.

However, I noticed who endorsed Mamdani.
I also notice that people who tend to vote for Democratic candidates are fed up with what they're being offered by the current DNC and its billionaire backers. You know, the guys who paid for Cuomo's campaign and will probably do so again.

“DEMOCRATS ARE OUT FOR BLOOD” (Secular Talk on YouTube, July 1, 2025 - 10:17 min.)
Democrats Who Say Their Party Leaders Should Be Replaced:
Yes: 62%
No: 24%
(...)
Democrats Who Identify as Liberal:
1994 25%
2004 33%
2014 43%
2024 55%

If you prefer it as text:

Transcripts: One World with Zain Ashe (CNN, June 25, 2025
Democrats who say their party leaders should be replaced, get this number, 62 percent nationally. My goodness gracious. We're dealing with
congressional approval of Democratic leaders in Congress among Democrats at record-low levels. And Mamdani was able to take advantage of the fact that
Democrats are fed up with their party leadership. They are fed up with the party establishment who gets behind candidates like Andrew Cuomo.
But it's not just about being upset with the party establishment. It is also the fact that Democrats are far more liberal than they used to be.
They would actually support a democratic socialist for mayor in a place like New York.