100 Comments

I think this take on Kamala and her campaign is as simplistic as the take on Carville. There are so many shades of gray. But to say that "Kamala spoke to the politics of vapidity? That she expressed no conviction, but was simply a person who wanted an office?" Kamala did represent a great vision that spoke to me. And it spoke to millions of others who voted for her. One need only look at her rallies to see the millions of people engaged and filled with hope. To discount her the way you did is not fair or accurate to so many of us who were deeply inspired by her. True, we must analyze what went wrong. But the misogyny and disinformation played a huge part.

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I agree..She gave me hope and inspired me to believe that if she was elected she would keep her word and try her best.. Carter was a little bit like that too! While she may have agreed with Bidens' policies which many think did her in ..I think it was that she is a woman. Her debate with the psychopath was incredible .. that is why he refused to debate her again.

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I do not believe Maga candidates are authentic. In fact, I can't believe Steve said that. Recently before the evidence was in, they branded the New Orleans terrorist as a migrant, the act as a result of an open border. When the irrefutable evidence was in (the man was a native-born American and veteran), they continued pretending the crime rate is higher than ever due to the "open border," pretending to never have been wrong. They did the same in the case of the terrorist explosion in front of Trump's Hotel in Las Vegas. Is that authentic?

I don't think Mike Johnson actually believes the Earth is 10,000 years old and men lived alongside dinosaurs. It's all a pretense to control the gullible with false religious "morality." Is that authentic?

Trump said COVID would magically disappear in 3 weeks. Did he really believe that? During the 2016 campaign, he said he had a better healthcare plan than the A.C.A. He didn't. Was that a demonstration of authenticity?

There are far more examples of Maga inauthenticity, hypocrisy, and plain old bullshit. They won because they are better at putting on shows, lying, and inauthentically making promises they have no ability or intention to fulfill.

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Yes!!

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FYI, those who do not believe in evolution believe what Mike Johnson believes in. That alone is not a ground to discredit this crucial voting bloc. The hypocrisy of certain MAGA people does not reach the general voting public because of: immigration, crime, cultural issues and inflation. While American inflation is nowhere near of the rest of the world, how do you talk to an average housewife who sees her pocketbook week after week buy less. How do you talk to minority men who see themselves shut out of the growing economy due to illegals and the skills they do not have? The so-called elitism of the Democrats is full exposed on cultural issues exploited by MAFGA, such as those dealing with transexuals. In short, the lies of MAGA has created a trifecta of issues that the Democrats have never effectively challenged.

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I have said this repeatedly. Only the Progressive Caucus has the ideas and the ability to explain to the disaffected groups in our society how legislation establishing a caring socety and economic system would benefit us all. Key elements are drastic cuts in the bloated defense budget, including ending aid to Israel to facilitate a genocidal war and massive reductions in nuclear overkill; an end to ALL tax loopholes and deductions to be replaced by a simple and truly progressive income tax; subsidies to homeowners and school systems in impoverished neighborhoods to repair their homes and buildings; an absolute guarantee to the right of collective bargaing and strikes; federal quality day care and education for the children of all working families, including pre-school; foreign aid to third world countries to help them rebuild their economies and establish democratic institutions which have often been ravaged by American corporations; a single payer national health care system; legislation prohibiting corporations and government agencies from paying their top earners more than 10X what they pay their lowest. And much more. We need to move toward a partnership model rather than a domination model in all aspects of our lives, from family to federal government. Rather than hierarchies of authority and exploitation we need to move to hierarchies of actualization, wherein managers and workers have common goals and mutual respect, with the value of all working together for the common good creates success at all levels of life.

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Respectfully, I beg to differ. Understandably given the depressing magnitude of the Democrat defeat I understand why you and many others may believe the defeat may be due to the lack of commitment to the progressive platform. In my opinion, the US has always leaned to the right. The greatness of FDR was due to his ability to take the best of the progressive platform and reach out to the common man and use it to make necessary changes without radicalizing the average citizen during the depression. America was in crisis mode, and it needed to make corrections. FDR also had the wisdom to bring the best of what the progressives had without destroying the basic economy. Furthermore, he had the wisdom to defend America against the threat of fascism, authoritarianism, and Nazism. It meant dropping much of the New Deal. He supported Churchill, leader of the largest colonial powers. Then his wisdom was challenged even further to support Stalin's Russia, which was no friend of the US. Although, I would not abandon the support of states like India, there is no way to ignore the threats of encroaching Russia, China and N. Korea to us personally. It will take a Lincoln, an FDR to change the tide.

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I think we agree. We do need an FDR to inspire citizens and encourage cooperation and a belief that government is working for them, not a handful of oligarchs. In my opinion, we are "in a crisis mode."

As to foreign policy, the BRIC countries represent a serious threat to American global economic dominance. This does not frighten me. Empires rise and fall and we will have to learn to accept that the nations of the world will not always allow the U.S. the influence over the global economy it currently has. The sanctions imposed on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine were justified, but Russia skirted them by selling its oil to other BRIC nations (their numbers and economic clout are growing, even Saudi Arabia is involved).

As you write FDR "had the wisdom to defend America against the threat of fascism, authoritarianism, and Nazism." And now we have a megalomaniacal president-elect who will attempt to impose fascism on the United States of America.

I listen to many little-known political presentations on U-tube. Jamie Raskins appears on one of them frequently and I believe if the MSM would allow him to get his message out, American citizens, who have been dumbed down by MAGA BS coming from Trump and people like Alex Jones, Steve Bannon and a multitude of grifter evangelical preachers, they could be awakened to what they are doing to themselves by falling for MAGA distortions of reality, outright lies, and glorification of greed and greedy people.

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Here for the most part we agree. I do not believe we agree on some of the cultural issues, the Middle East, not only Israel, terrorism, immigration, crime, the value and purpose of our alliances, the importance of our military, and so forth. Friend and fellow traveller, I do not believe this is the time and place to explore all those differences, perhaps another column or even in person should you live nearby (smile). I truly welcome your opinions and others. I think if we are to oppose the evils and lack of vision and commonality in our legislatures, judiciaries, and public we must begin to listen and work 1:1 and building our bonds and trust. Share likes and if need be dislikes. Just remember for the most part we are in a bubble where we do not hear the voices that dislike and distrust both ou opinions and right to have them. Do not assume that people agree with you, much less respect us. While I do not believe the phenomenon of Trumpism and MAGA will fade with his passing, populism is a factor that weaves in and out of American history (politics), manyy have hitched their wagons to his for the ride. I think we need to chip away at his support, increase his frustration, and ally with his supporters when it fits our needs, Perhaps, practical politics will enable compromises that will benefit us all. Politics is not a dirty word, but it takes wisdom and a rare common sense and vision to know when to make those deals. Lincoln was a practical politician, but he knew that he could not compromise on allowing slavery into the territories, a decision that led to seccession and the civil war.

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My opinions may seem extreme, but only to those who have been blinded to the truth through decades and centuries of economic, social, and political indoctrination. If humanity can't stop resorting to war to settle national disputes, annihilation through nuclear war is inevitable. That is the hard truth.

I do, however, agree that your approach to "chip away at his support," makes sense.

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Yes, tragically, the Democrats lost because there was no primary that would have allowed a strong candidate, with possibly the second strongest candidate, to run as a ticket. Primary voters would have had a choice. Such voters vote in the general election and they rally the necessary forces. Such a ticket might have defeated MAGA, but it never saw the light of day for reasons we already know.

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Setting aside the Biden fiasco, there has to be a honest conversation about how people vote today and why. I thought Democrats in Tennessee had a strong candidate against Marsha Blackburn. Blackburn trounced her with 60 percent. Blackburn opposes equal pay for women and is ambivalent about laws that protect women from domestic violence. Why do people vote for that? Anyone? Because it flabbergasts me.

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Agree about the honest conversation. It has been one of the things bothering me the most about this election. What are they reading, watching, and listening to? Or do they not bother with the news at all?

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Trump won a huge percentage of voters who don’t follow politics at all.

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Why? Because their affinity for racism,xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, and anti-semitism overwhelms their own best interests. They vote their prejudices.

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A common denominator I have found is basically a negative: they vote against their own interest. Many of them, for instance, rely on Medicaid, but continually elect and re-elect people who despise Medicaid.

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The war against women....

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I find Blackburn (and others) so abjectly unqualified to be in government. Yet they get voted in by large numbers. So, either I am making sense or I am from another planet.

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Unfathomable

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The latter.

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There is never any mention of the spineless Republicans in the past 10 years that stuck their noses up Trump's ass. It's all the Democrats fault blah blah blah

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That is certainly part of it, but there must be other issues. Is it that important to be MAGA to the point that you vote MAGA no matter what? Is it one issue voters, such as I will vote for Blackburn because I agree on one issue? Is it conservative voters who can find zero reason to support a qualified candidate? Or is it that you support Blackburn because you agree with her that laws addressing equal pay are a bad thing?

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I feel exactly the same way. And I think the right wing echo chamber bubble has a lot to do with it. Marsha Blackburn is embarrassing to watch. I don’t understand how she could win. I’m also flabbergasted.

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If there was a way to understand why people vote like that, it might help in the long run. We cannot blame gerrymandering when it involves a statewide office. North Carolina elected Mark Robinson as Lieutenant Governor by a wide margin — 300,000 votes. It is difficult to imagine a person more unqualified for that office than him. But he won.

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People don't pay attention to details like what someone says or stands for, but vote based on the letter after a candidate's name or whomever they see as "change."

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Having trusted the Biden campaign has left me feeling gut-punched. Of course there needed to be a primary! Hindsight is 20-20. The 2024 Biden campaign: biggest screw up I've ever seen.

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Yes, ideally however there was not nearly enough time for a primary..Biden waited way too long..

We are in this sorry state because he said he intended to be a one term president..and don’t get me started on RBG…

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Yes, we're now living a nightmare because Biden's team wanted a second term.

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Completely agree.

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Lisa, with all due respect, in this case, hindsight isn't 20-20 because there were a lot of us who from the get-go didn't want a Biden/Trump contest, and after that didn't work, didn't think Harris should have been the candidate. From the get-go, there were plenty of us who said that Biden/Harris were not going to be the winners in that contest.

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Hindsight for me is 20-20. Nice to elbow me in the ribs, Mary. Thanks a lot,

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100%

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You nailed it on Carville! I have followed and listened to James Carville every time I could. His assessment a few days ago on why Democrats lost was shocking to me because of how off the wall I thought it was. Carville is anchored in his classic statement, "it's the economy stupid." IT IS, but it is SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT and Carville doesn't even give voice to all of the ways Democrats CHOSE to leave the working class behind and throw their lot with the corporate class. OR. decades of gerontocracy that keeps utterly incompetent, aged brains in Congress who have no idea how to, not just govern effectively, but fight an autocratic/fascist onslaught to protect the country. There's so much more but I need to go...but thank goodness your voice is out there, Robert Reich too....

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Yes to all of this. There are wide swaths of the county that are all but lost to Democrats. Unless the Democratic Party figures out how best to win in each state, they will continue to be on the defensive.

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I’m very disappointed in what you said about Kamala Harris. Truthfully it is wrong and overly simplistic and as another person wrote, completely disregards misogyny. It also disregards the impossible situation Biden put her in. He kept her in the background for four years. He didn’t want her to shine.

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As Steve and many others have pointed out, there are MANY reasons for the loss. Stating a few of them doesn't mean they are the ONLY ones, but it also doesn't mean they are at least one of the causes.

As far as Biden keeping her in the background, historically there have been few VPs that have been in the foreground. So, nothing really unique there.

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I was a paid subscriber here since the beginning, I shutdown all my subscriptions on Substack and elsewhere to get a better handle on my financial health heading into the new year. I have since returned as a paid subscriber. There is much that I get out of The Warning, some of it I don’t like, but that is exactly why I’m back as a paid subscriber . What I gat is the truth!

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Welcome back, Sam.

We’ve missed hearing from you. I am grateful for your support.

Steve

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Agree!

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Welcome back, Sam!

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Thanks Mike, it’s good to be back. I am glad I was able to manage it! Stormy seas ahead.

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Wow Steve that's some Blunt honesty and I always thank you for that. I agree with you though. From crazy Mike Johnson to the reasons we lost to Kamala Harris's lack of a grand vision you hit the nail on the Head!!

Sorry I haven't been around much. Mom has been in the hospital again so it's been crazy. Now we are preparing for 10 inches of snow. Fun fun. Stay warm everyone!!

Great podcast Steve. Enjoy your weekend. Thanks for keeping me informed. ❤️🇺🇸💙

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Wishing your mother a speedy recovery.

Steve

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Thanks dear friend. ❤️😘

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Do I agree with Carvell? No. I think your point Steve, about honesty, is spot on. (It will be a point of common cause when I next engage with my construction worker, Trump voter friend.)

To be honest means one will stand out, and that takes courage. The Dems need to go to Courage Boot Camp… and I know just the person to run it.

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I agree with you on the Leader of the Boot Camp Friedrike. Steve is perfect for the job!!!

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Except Steve has played politics many times. That was his job on certain occasions. Running a campaign, as Steve has said, is cutthroat and dog eat dog. The most difficult ticket in the world with the most consequence. I do think he is honest when he shares information, history, his thoughts but running a campaign is a whole different ball of wax. You are paid to help your candidate win on the biggest stage. I don’t necessarily think playing politics means lying but sometimes you and I might think it is a fine line.

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Glad to see you back here, Lisa, and best to your mom's recovery. Stay warm!❤️⛄️

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Thanks GF. I appreciate that. 🙏

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Lisa, I hope your Mom and the weather are better today.

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Thanks Libby!! ❤️

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Totally agree about Biden. Your last sentence is the best statement of his historic legacy. I felt it was over when he decided to stay on for 2024.

Total betrayal of the party and blatantly dishonest. Kamala was a weak primary candidate and a barely visible VP who was selected to mollify the demands for gender and ethnicity. She is smart and competent but not a connecting campaign.

I actually agreed with Carville’s disgust for how Dems were communicating.

I also was crushed when Team Kamala decided to stick with Biden’s mediocre comms team. Old school, not forward thinking and not reading the electorate accurately. I figured we were lost when she stuck with that team.

Going forward: time for the dinosaurs (talking to you, Chuckie!!) to move aside and for Dems to take a good honest look at the electorate. And the numbers.

Vance will be a tool of the SV overlords and oligarchs who paid his way thus far. They own him. Peter Thiel et.al. He is dangerous only because he is infinitely smarter than Trump and will have unlimited funding to support him. He is overtly power-obsessed and will do whatever it takes, play whatever role is required, to get the White House.

Trump will be looking over his shoulder at Vance at his back and also Elon at his side. He may have made a bad deal with the Devil in letting Elon’s money own him. This will be entertaining. Watching our institutions and global standing crumble will be tragic.

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I’ve been reading and listening to you since you were on MSNBC and have enjoyed your sarcasm, intelligence, ability to strip history and politics to the bare bones with your commentary. You have paid a price about your honesty on the McCain family. You have worked hard to become a Democrat which alienated you from many colleagues. You have built a great following on the Bulwark. Yet I haven’t read or listened to you as much since we Democrats lost the election. I am no longer able to bear the burden I feel after hearing you tell us in yet another way how blinking stupid we are. I used the small amount of agency I still have, as did many, but it wasn’t enough. I’ve listened to you lambast us on every level, to tell us we were complicit in Biden staying in the race so long, to Kamala being the wrong person, to not doing enough, to doing too much, etc. I am affected by all of this deeply, just like many because this election was seminal. My mental health doesn’t feel so healthy right now. It doesn’t help that a person who lied and faked his way through another election cycle with nary a policy but plenty of threats, bullying, and demeaning all Americans will become this nation’s first dictator. He forced a national news blanket of cover, and he was able to garner, through his acquaintances with MSM, Republican legislators and party sycophants, and CEO’s silence about his behavior. The judicial branch even was part of his conspiracy. Bless the courageous Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, the Jan 6 committee, the honorable military leaders, past trump administration members who risked much to speak their truth, and political wonks. He must have made a boat load of money as the leaders and oligarchs from around the world and this country kissed his ring at Mar a Lago and filled his personal off shore accounts in hope of favor and silence about secrets he uses to manipulate. He was shielded from almost everything he did and said. But still we did lose the election, of that there can be no doubt. As a Democrat do you ever include yourself in that failure or is it just all of “us” because that is what I hear you saying. I do think you have every right to speak as you see fit, always. You are correct and astute on many issues. I just won’t be listening/reading your work as much. I need to feel strong for what is ahead.

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I have to say I agree with you about Biden . I feel so angry. He is a complete fuckhead. I don't care. MSNBC was one of the worst for insisting that Biden was fine. I could see he wasn't up to it for a long time. George Clooney coming out and saying... the Biden you see is the one who showed up at the fund raiser in California .. George you were a day late and a dollar short. I like Kamala a lot . I thought for the time she had to put together a run she did an excellent job. I would love a woman in there .I see Hillary is getting the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Where I differ from you Steve is I don't believe the country is ready for a woman. And I really believe had Biden allowed there to be open primaries and we got a Newsom or a Schapiro we wouldn't dealing with the worst psychoapth president in the history of the republic.

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Totally. Biden really fucked up. It’s been painful to watch him speak and struggle for over two years. He needed to NOT run and let the primary process play out. We wouldn’t be here now, facing this actual SHIT STORM upcoming.

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Amen.

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I did not see it because it was covered up. In general, I wanted to believe in Biden. I liked Harris in 2020 and less so in 2024. As time went on, I thought she could win, except that she ignored the bread-and-butter issues. For the same reason in 2016, I knew Clinton would lose when she stopped campaigning in key battle states like PA presuming that she had it locked up.

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I hope that the Biden legacy is not what you predict. My anger has not reached the same level of self-righteous judgment. My political knowledge and experience do not hold a candle to Steve's and I admire his insight. This one is too much for me. Mistakes were made, obviously, but often the trait that wins one moment will sink the ship the next. Biden's close advisers needed to place the country before the president. Their entire careers were based on counseling and protecting him. As humans, they could not be that nimble.

Steve backing Representative Dean Phillips is a testament to his savvy and knowledge about campaigns. Many of us, including me, were appalled by his announcement. We would have had the needed primary if Phillips had been a decent candidate. I applaud Steve's foresight.

Once again, I can't overlook the pitiful media coverage, the Russian involvement, Musk's 273m, the nonstop MAGA lies, Garland's pathetic worry of appearing partisan, Aileen Cannon, and on and on. This overlooks and denigrates Biden's remarkable achievements. Go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Joe_Biden. He, IMHO, finally made the long overdue move to support working people and call out corporate greed.

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Wholeheartedly agree Kathleen. I believe history will include Biden’s major achievements against all odds. As humans we hold contradictions, he was exceptional in many ways And made the mistake of going for another term. That’s being an adult, holding multiplicities.

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Agree with many of your points, Kathleen. But we would have had an actual primary only if Biden had kept his word and not run for a second term. Nothing to do with Phillips' qualifications. Nothing. Not very often the sitting president is primaried, and even less so where it is beneficial. Biden needed to keep his word. Period full stop. The DNC was forced to have Harris as the nominee or forfeit over $100M when Biden finally bowed out. An actual primary may or may not have chosen her (I personally doubt it), but she was left with 107 days to run against a person who ran for 2 years. And she said she would do "nothing different than Biden". Clueless messaging when so many people felt that current situations were not working for them.

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How's this for IRONY? Today the two most inspirational leaders we Democrats can come up with are (were) Republicans! Steve Schmidt and Adam Kinzinger.

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Isn't that the TRUTH?!! Wow. Add Charlie Sykes in too. And everyone at The Bulwark.

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Yes Steve the Dems had four years to prop up several candidate choices and they fell asleep at the wheel! Harris included!! She was basically invisible the entire term!

I do believe that even with only weeks before the election, we would have had a better chance to defeat the orange man if we at least had an open convention!

The Dems lose because they like to anoint their candidates. They tried to do it with Hillary vs Obama in 2008 but “the people” weren’t having it!

I’ve heard a lot of dems say that when the gop saw that Donald was popular they abandoned trying to oust him and went all in on him an won. The dems could have tried that with Bernie. In 2016 he was gaining momentum in the primary but the Dems didn’t choose to go all in with him the way the gop did with Trump. It would have been interesting to see the outcome of a Trump/Bernie race in 2016. “Free healthcare, education and tax the top one percent vs “lower taxes on the top one percent .”

Anyway anointing candidates doesn’t seem to work and they decided last minute to anoint Kamala despite that fact that we hadn’t seen her the entire four years she was VP. Also sorry but Walz was a poor choice. They needed Pennsylvania and Shapiro is a stronger candidate. If they were afraid to go with him because he is Jewish then she should have taken a stronger stand on the Gaza/Israel conflict. She waffled on that and it lost her both Jewish votes and also Muslim votes in Michigan.

Just my opinion.

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I don’t think they “fell asleep at the wheel” but rather, they put on blinders.

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The only reason I believe they fell asleep at the wheel instead of putting on blinders is that I see their actions as they were being more negligent than intentional.

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Not ever Bernie. Maybe someone younger but not Bernie.

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I do not see why the Muslim voters did not vote for Harris and bought the Trump message of peace. Harris had pro-Palestinian advisors. Biden had one in Blinken. Just an opinion. My real question is whether an open convention would have unified the party rather than weakened it. I still believe that the Democrat candidate must be strong and still be able to come to the center. If the American economy blows up under Trump, as many expect, all bets on the Democrats if the candidate is reassuring and strong.

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So...According to Mike Johnston, "The Flintstones" was actually a documentary?

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😆😆😆

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Here's my question for the next Schmidt Storm: What do you foresee for shifts in the balance of power if Trump dies while president? Obviously, Vance would take the reins, but wouldn't there be a huge rearranging of the Congressional chess pieces? What part would Musk and Vivek play? I assume Vance would get to make changes in cabinet positions. Would he make more qualified choices? Thanks for considering this question, Steve. I think the liberal leaders out there need to be scouting out the options.

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No. Vance is even more of a threat than Trump. Because he isn’t stupid like Trump.

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I spent a lot of time wondering who could have been the Democratic candidate if Joe Biden had dropped out in time to have a real primary. Running against Trump is really challenging. To counter all the lies alone is a monumental task! And then there was the strong "bro" element this time. People seemed to really go for it! Any woman or any halfways evolved man would have been met with misogyny or accusations along the lines of "Tampon Tim". (Oh, what an insult!) I'm reading Sinclair Lewis 1935 book, "It Can't Happen Here". So prescient! In it, a dimwit demagogue defeats Roosevelt in the 1936 election. His henchmen are called "The Minute Men", and are akin to the Proud Boys. The only ray of hope is voiced by one character, who says the fanatics will go too far, and be thrown out.

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Unfortunately, we will never know. One could argue that Biden gave us both trump terms. I know he was mourning his son, Beau's 2015 death and didn't run on the heels of a very popular Obama presidency. And not allowing an actual primary for 2024 directly led to this bastard becoming president again. Many other factors played a part, but sexism played a part in both 2016 and 2024 and mix in some racism in 2024 and now we get Elonald Mump. Sigh.

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There was no one,I believe.

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