I get wanting to point fingers. The fact of the matter is that there is nothing Harris could've done. Trump is a convicted felon. Everyone knows that. White America made a choice. The GOP is almost 90% white people. And America has always catered to white people. To put the blame on Harris or the Democrats or democratic voters is doing Trump's dirty work for him. You want someone to blame? Blame your neighbors, blame your family. White folks did this and white people have to be the solution. (There is a difference between white folks and white people. You'll get it if you think about it for even 2 mins.) Stop demanding that non-white people save America all the time.
Oh no this is 100% the Democratic Party's fault. They spent literally the last *year* staunchly refusing to even consider policies that would have energized and motivated Democratic voters in a historically stupid, misguided attempt to chase the middle. They turned their backs on a majority of Americans and took their continued support for granted. They absolutely cost themselves this election, and we're all going to pay the price for it.
I guess I meant "middle" in the sense of "in between the typical Dem and GOP bases" rather than between the Right and and the Left. 😅 That's a valid and an important distinction to make, though!
Spare me🙄 The Democrats have held power for 26 of the last 32 years and things have only gotten worse here. Clinton repealed the Glass-Stegall act which led to the housing market crash. He signed NAFTA decimating blue collar regions nationwide. He gutted the social safety nets. The Democrats have also had 50 years to codify Roe and chose not to. They're complicit in this nightmare.
"Stop demanding that non-white people save America all the time."
I agree with this part. I don't agree with the rest. This is absolutely the fault of the dems (whose power brokers I would definitely put in the "white folks" column). As was pointed out in the article, turnout was down quite a bit in 2024. That's on the dems for putting forward a boring-ass center right candidate.
She could have offered tangible, material benefits for voting for her, like Medicare For All. She could have sworn to cut off funding to our beloved genocidal ethnostate in the ME. She could have outlined a plan for court reform.
Ms. Harris ran for President twice. She was not drafted or press-ganged into it. She spent her campaign promising to be tougher on immigrants than Trump had been and to finish the border wall. She defended our underwriting Israel's genocide of Palestinians. These policies, among others she embraced, disproportionately hurt non-white people. Policies that disproportionately hurt non-white people are racist policies. You can say that this was somehow necessary to appeal to white people, but polling shows these are also not popular policies. If you think America can be "saved" by voting for a more poised, attractive, "reasonable"-seeming and intelligent representative of racist policies, I don't agree that what is being saved is worthwhile.
I think Kamala ran a pretty good race. Perfect? No. But pretty good (Looking at you, John Kerry or Kerrey - not going to bother to look it up). I believe that what we need to do is take a good long look at the country as a whole and admit to ourselves that maybe the good people that make it up are not that good after all.
I agree that Kamala ran about as good a 3 month race as anyone could. But she didn't hit the marks regarding what the Democratic base wants. Don't we want to protect trans kids, expand Medicare, defend Ukraine, stop the slaughter of Palestinians, raise the minimum wage, and protect reproductive health? Also she could have countered Trump's revenge drug with one of her own. "If we defeat Trump, he goes to trial. Don't you want to see him stand trial?" Her campaign's failure to connect with Hispanic voters was replaced by a lobbying effort to rehabilitate the Chaneys and make Liz Chaney her Secretary of State.
Hmm.
So no, actually. She ran a terrible campaign.
And now the old people who run the Democratic party, starting with Chuck Schumer, need to GO.
Not "protect reproductive health"? Abortion rights was >the< cornerstone of her campaign, man! I could go forth and find references to counter many of your concerns, though I'm not sure how to address "failure to connect with Hispanic voters".
Concur about Gaza/Palestinians, mind - I think it was a simple calculation of there are more fans of Israel voting than fans of Palestinians, so she had to soft-shoe her way around that. And I liked your point regarding "Lock Him Up", though I tend to ignore rally rhetoric, I would swear that I remember seeing that.
I don't think I see the connection between connecting with Hispanic voters and touting Cheney, but as her basic strategy was to pull over centrists and anti-Trump Repubs, it seemed like a reasonably good move to me. I had no idea that Kamala was planning to put Cheney in at State - most likely better than Blinken, who should have been Uncle Joe's Chief of Staff.
Y'know, one thing that just occurred to me: Trump is going to take all the credit for Old Man Biden's stabilizing/normalizing the country after Trump's first term.
Elections don't happen in a vacuum. She talked a lot about what she would supposedly do if elected instead of actually taking those actions now. She's the VP, she could have started on any of that months ago instead of pledging to do it at some point in the future if she gets elected.
Similar to Democrats begging people in Georgia to vote for Harris & claim that "democracy is on the line." The Democratic Atlanta Mayor & City Council disenfranchised 116k people to block a voter referendum on cop city.
Well, you can change the campaign strategy, but you can't change the voters. You work with the voters you have. If she failed to mobilize people to come out to vote, the only variable you can change is what you do to mobilize those people. The people are a constant variable. The campaign is not.
Any choice Harris would've made costs her votes in a different direction. Blaming Harris and Dems for this racist, sexist country is missing the entire point. Trump ran on a platform of malice and revenge. White folks turned out in droves. They ate up a herrenvolk platform. Overwhelming majorities of minority votes ain't enough for yall, apparently. Dems have to embrace YOUR favorite idea because that would've worked. Embrace Gaza? Get branded a terrorist. Embrace Israel? You're a warmonger (true). Bottomline is Harris has to answer for every failing and Trump has to answer for none. If only there was a word to describe a society that gives preferential treatment to a white man. If only there was a world in which the commenters scolding me truly understood that word. Ahh, well, nevertheless...
Instead of double-commenting, I'll just reply to my own.
One of the many things I think we miss about the American electorate is that a significant number of us is just ANGRY. What we're angry about varies widely, from income inequality, bigotry, and war to inflation, unease, and general societal upheaval that runs counter to everything we were taught or thought about the world (that's a polite way of saying racism and sexism, but still). Trump and Vance, clumsy and addled though they are, acknowledge that anger, stoke it, and use it.
Remember how Bernie came THISCLOSE to toppling the Dem establishment in 2016 and 2020? He did that because he tapped into that anger on the left! The Clintons and Pelosis and Clyburns and Bidens of the world didn't know how to deal with that, so they squashed it and pretended it didn't exist. And then we got a campaign in 2024 that was all about joy and positivity and moving forward, making slight nods to some hardships some people might be facing, but refusing to tap into the anger and fear that drives people. This genteel shit is done, and we're going to pay a price for the people in power not realizing that.
The Democratic Party wanted us all to know they've learned nothing since 2016, + spent 3+ years showing us their power was not our power.
And now their power isn't theirs anymore.
Now we have to leave them behind, + start thinking about the party where our power will be ours.
In the meantime, everyone should thoroughly acquaint themselves with a guy named Peter Thiel, bc he owns the White House now. He's a billionaire (of course), + he got there by spying on people.
Make him the most "famous" man in America. It's the last thing he wants.
Love you Jack, Katherine and everybody else. I am selfishly terrified for all my trans brothers and sisters, but also conscious that this feeling should be directed towards love, empathy and action for all those suffering through needless war, hate and mendacity. I'm so upset that as a non-American, this is going to drive global politics down a dreadful direction. But we will all breathe, live, and fight. Love you all and anybody reading this xxxxx
Currently, I'm in the "America Politically Jumps The Shark" stage of dealing with last night's electoral disaster. But yeah, give me a day or two to get back to keep pushing forward mode.
I get wanting to point fingers. The fact of the matter is that there is nothing Harris could've done. Trump is a convicted felon. Everyone knows that. White America made a choice. The GOP is almost 90% white people. And America has always catered to white people. To put the blame on Harris or the Democrats or democratic voters is doing Trump's dirty work for him. You want someone to blame? Blame your neighbors, blame your family. White folks did this and white people have to be the solution. (There is a difference between white folks and white people. You'll get it if you think about it for even 2 mins.) Stop demanding that non-white people save America all the time.
Oh no this is 100% the Democratic Party's fault. They spent literally the last *year* staunchly refusing to even consider policies that would have energized and motivated Democratic voters in a historically stupid, misguided attempt to chase the middle. They turned their backs on a majority of Americans and took their continued support for granted. They absolutely cost themselves this election, and we're all going to pay the price for it.
All of this except I would have said the dems were chasing "moderate" GOP/Haley voters, not even the middle.
Madness.
I guess I meant "middle" in the sense of "in between the typical Dem and GOP bases" rather than between the Right and and the Left. 😅 That's a valid and an important distinction to make, though!
I get that.
🎯🎯🎯
Spare me🙄 The Democrats have held power for 26 of the last 32 years and things have only gotten worse here. Clinton repealed the Glass-Stegall act which led to the housing market crash. He signed NAFTA decimating blue collar regions nationwide. He gutted the social safety nets. The Democrats have also had 50 years to codify Roe and chose not to. They're complicit in this nightmare.
I don't think you're going to get any pushback on Clinton being a sub-par President in this commentariat.
👍
Yeah, Clinton was awful🤮
"Stop demanding that non-white people save America all the time."
I agree with this part. I don't agree with the rest. This is absolutely the fault of the dems (whose power brokers I would definitely put in the "white folks" column). As was pointed out in the article, turnout was down quite a bit in 2024. That's on the dems for putting forward a boring-ass center right candidate.
She could have offered tangible, material benefits for voting for her, like Medicare For All. She could have sworn to cut off funding to our beloved genocidal ethnostate in the ME. She could have outlined a plan for court reform.
Ms. Harris ran for President twice. She was not drafted or press-ganged into it. She spent her campaign promising to be tougher on immigrants than Trump had been and to finish the border wall. She defended our underwriting Israel's genocide of Palestinians. These policies, among others she embraced, disproportionately hurt non-white people. Policies that disproportionately hurt non-white people are racist policies. You can say that this was somehow necessary to appeal to white people, but polling shows these are also not popular policies. If you think America can be "saved" by voting for a more poised, attractive, "reasonable"-seeming and intelligent representative of racist policies, I don't agree that what is being saved is worthwhile.
I disagree.
I think Kamala ran a pretty good race. Perfect? No. But pretty good (Looking at you, John Kerry or Kerrey - not going to bother to look it up). I believe that what we need to do is take a good long look at the country as a whole and admit to ourselves that maybe the good people that make it up are not that good after all.
I agree that Kamala ran about as good a 3 month race as anyone could. But she didn't hit the marks regarding what the Democratic base wants. Don't we want to protect trans kids, expand Medicare, defend Ukraine, stop the slaughter of Palestinians, raise the minimum wage, and protect reproductive health? Also she could have countered Trump's revenge drug with one of her own. "If we defeat Trump, he goes to trial. Don't you want to see him stand trial?" Her campaign's failure to connect with Hispanic voters was replaced by a lobbying effort to rehabilitate the Chaneys and make Liz Chaney her Secretary of State.
Hmm.
So no, actually. She ran a terrible campaign.
And now the old people who run the Democratic party, starting with Chuck Schumer, need to GO.
All. Of. This.
Not "protect reproductive health"? Abortion rights was >the< cornerstone of her campaign, man! I could go forth and find references to counter many of your concerns, though I'm not sure how to address "failure to connect with Hispanic voters".
Concur about Gaza/Palestinians, mind - I think it was a simple calculation of there are more fans of Israel voting than fans of Palestinians, so she had to soft-shoe her way around that. And I liked your point regarding "Lock Him Up", though I tend to ignore rally rhetoric, I would swear that I remember seeing that.
I don't think I see the connection between connecting with Hispanic voters and touting Cheney, but as her basic strategy was to pull over centrists and anti-Trump Repubs, it seemed like a reasonably good move to me. I had no idea that Kamala was planning to put Cheney in at State - most likely better than Blinken, who should have been Uncle Joe's Chief of Staff.
Y'know, one thing that just occurred to me: Trump is going to take all the credit for Old Man Biden's stabilizing/normalizing the country after Trump's first term.
Elections don't happen in a vacuum. She talked a lot about what she would supposedly do if elected instead of actually taking those actions now. She's the VP, she could have started on any of that months ago instead of pledging to do it at some point in the future if she gets elected.
Similar to Democrats begging people in Georgia to vote for Harris & claim that "democracy is on the line." The Democratic Atlanta Mayor & City Council disenfranchised 116k people to block a voter referendum on cop city.
As of 11.07.24: Harris lost Georgia by 116,625 votes https://results.sos.ga.gov/results/public/Georgia/elections/2024NovGen
Well, you can change the campaign strategy, but you can't change the voters. You work with the voters you have. If she failed to mobilize people to come out to vote, the only variable you can change is what you do to mobilize those people. The people are a constant variable. The campaign is not.
🤡
Any choice Harris would've made costs her votes in a different direction. Blaming Harris and Dems for this racist, sexist country is missing the entire point. Trump ran on a platform of malice and revenge. White folks turned out in droves. They ate up a herrenvolk platform. Overwhelming majorities of minority votes ain't enough for yall, apparently. Dems have to embrace YOUR favorite idea because that would've worked. Embrace Gaza? Get branded a terrorist. Embrace Israel? You're a warmonger (true). Bottomline is Harris has to answer for every failing and Trump has to answer for none. If only there was a word to describe a society that gives preferential treatment to a white man. If only there was a world in which the commenters scolding me truly understood that word. Ahh, well, nevertheless...
https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/after-election-day
Instead of double-commenting, I'll just reply to my own.
One of the many things I think we miss about the American electorate is that a significant number of us is just ANGRY. What we're angry about varies widely, from income inequality, bigotry, and war to inflation, unease, and general societal upheaval that runs counter to everything we were taught or thought about the world (that's a polite way of saying racism and sexism, but still). Trump and Vance, clumsy and addled though they are, acknowledge that anger, stoke it, and use it.
Remember how Bernie came THISCLOSE to toppling the Dem establishment in 2016 and 2020? He did that because he tapped into that anger on the left! The Clintons and Pelosis and Clyburns and Bidens of the world didn't know how to deal with that, so they squashed it and pretended it didn't exist. And then we got a campaign in 2024 that was all about joy and positivity and moving forward, making slight nods to some hardships some people might be facing, but refusing to tap into the anger and fear that drives people. This genteel shit is done, and we're going to pay a price for the people in power not realizing that.
This is spot fucking on. Thank you.
The Democratic Party wanted us all to know they've learned nothing since 2016, + spent 3+ years showing us their power was not our power.
And now their power isn't theirs anymore.
Now we have to leave them behind, + start thinking about the party where our power will be ours.
In the meantime, everyone should thoroughly acquaint themselves with a guy named Peter Thiel, bc he owns the White House now. He's a billionaire (of course), + he got there by spying on people.
Make him the most "famous" man in America. It's the last thing he wants.
And also, make yourselves less "spy-able upon".
How about the 15 million who sat this out, who voted Biden but not Harris. And Trump lost 3 million votes from 2020.
Love you Jack, Katherine and everybody else. I am selfishly terrified for all my trans brothers and sisters, but also conscious that this feeling should be directed towards love, empathy and action for all those suffering through needless war, hate and mendacity. I'm so upset that as a non-American, this is going to drive global politics down a dreadful direction. But we will all breathe, live, and fight. Love you all and anybody reading this xxxxx
Currently, I'm in the "America Politically Jumps The Shark" stage of dealing with last night's electoral disaster. But yeah, give me a day or two to get back to keep pushing forward mode.
Never forget what Mike Davis said about times like this: “Fight with hope, fight without hope, but fight absolutely.”
Pretty sure it is over. Would say it has been a good run but that isn't true.