It sure is. When the FL acts like a high school mean girl in public and President Biden refused to face his immense fragility and vulnerability until both became showcased at the “debate” he insisted upon, and then he STILL delayed dropping out, he handed the country Trump 2.0.
Biden’s legacy won’t be the American Rescue Plan or the CHIPS Act, or Infrastructure, or an economy that is the “envy of the world”, it will be DONALD TRUMP, a monkey with a shotgun. And all of his sick degenerate cabinet “picks”.
And I love Joe Biden. In 2022, Steve predicted that if Joe Biden ran for a second term, despite his promise to be a one-term transitional president, Biden’s legacy would be Donald Trump. At the time, I was like NOOOOOOOFW.
Steve was right. And he’s right now. We need to see the situation with clarity so that we don’t defend the indefensible and make the SAME mistakes going forward.
I guess Trump is Obama's legacy too. And HRC's with that kind of thinking.
No, he is the logical result of decades of right wing/Republican attacks on the Democratic Party from the same establishment Rick was a major part of for most of hiss career.
Steve gave us Sarah Palin. Should that be his entire legacy?
I did not “give us” Sarah Palin. I suggested her because, at the time, she was the most popular governor in the country. I was NOT involved in vetting her, and ultimately, it was John McCain, not me, who chose her as his running mate. Here is what happened:
Steve, I finally read the Palin essay. Thank you for filling in this piece of history. I wasn't aware of a lot of that. I found your words sincere, humble yet also strong in placing the blame where it belonged.
What was also intriguing was the blowback of some of those comments. There will always be those who simply can't fathom the idea of someone who is truly being self-effacing. Perhaps they can't imagine that kind of bravery within themselves, and therefore it can't possibly exist within someone else.
Instead, they can only read sincerity as just another "grift," not acknowledging that your blog is actually free to read. Maybe they were mad they had to pony up a paid subscription in order to post such hate? A person must have a lot of cash to spare to pay for THAT.
The essay was terrific. I admire your tenacity to keep going when faced with that kind of thing. It HAS to hurt, but somehow you rise above to walk the higher ground. Glad I'm here.
I remember reading it when Steve first posted it, as much as I honored John McCain, and I would have walked into hell with him if he asked, he made the choice that doomed his presidential bid. I believe to this day that he would have made a fine president.
WOW. This was my first read of this incredible baring of your soul. Thank you for sharing, and for finding your way forward to the light. The truth shall set you free is not just a thought. It's a message of hope and strength from the universe.
Especially since they rejected Steve's message too. They rejected everyone who spoke the truth.
This is all on those voters. I mean come on, a guy in Scranton calls him Hitler, then says he voted for him anyway. Or the Muslim Americans, who despite his pick of Mike Huckabee who doesn't believe Palestine or Palestinians exist and that Israel has a right to the whole of the region, still believe that Trump will "hold true to his word" and protect Palestinians by getting Bibi to end the war.
You can't make this kind of idiocy up. So, no, I don't respect these voters.
Identifying what went wrong, including leveling criticism when and where needed, is actually productive and allowing problems to be identified and appropriate steps taken to address so to minimize repeating them. It's not laying all the blame on Biden, as there are a LOT of reasons. Saying it isn't the problem; ignoring it is. That doesn't diminish our respect and appreciation for his many accomplishments in his term.
In part, I believe the Democrats failed because the general public believed they stood for defunding police and woke programs like forcing women to accept transgender men on their teams and as legitimate competitors; also forcing people to refer to non-binary people by plural adjectives; some actually believed their gender confused children would be kidnapped and undergo sex change surgery and hormone therapy.
Choosing the word defund did much harm. No Democrat but the most radical wanted to defund police, and they weren't really Democrats. We wanted to re-direct some of the funds supporting the police to agencies that could deal more effectively with a crisis caused by an emotional or mental breakdown.
Most Democrats I know believe whether or not a women's league should accept transgender women is best left to the governing body of the league. I know of no one who favors a law forcing people to refer to others by pronouns not ordinarily used. If that offends the individual who wants to be called "they" and "them" they should cease to associate with those they consider bigots. Personally, I do not care about this issue, although I have no problem using a person's pronouns of choice. I do not believe anyone favored forced treatment for those of ambiguous gender. As with abortion rights, the Democrats I know simply thought that was a decision to be made by individuals and families in consultation with medical experts.
Democrats should concentrate on political and economic issues, explaining to the public how they would benefit from social democracy, including a truly progressive income tax, single payer national health care, and protecting the right of all American citizens to express their opinions and vote. They should emphasize the proper role of the judiciary in interpreting law and determining the guilt or innocence of those charged with a crime.
Much simpler than that. Harris lost due to two (2) reasons: 1). Gender, and 2) Race.
No other excuses accepted. She was prepared and ready to serve. White voters turned her opportunity down. Admit the TRUTH for once. We have had too many lies and silly excuses!
I agree those were two factors, but not the only two as there were many causes. Simplifying it to only two to meet some easy explanation or narrative overlooks much that went wrong. How big were those two things is unknown - and never will be.
That said, the other night, Bill Mahrer said we've had a black president (two terms) and a woman nominee who won the popular vote in 2016, therefore that means racism and sexism didn't play a role. That is pure ignorance to state that.
My rep NEVER used the word defund nor did nearly all of the Dems. Biden never used it nor do I believe, did Harris. This was blown out of proportion by the media as usual. Same with wokeism, trans, and every other nonsensical culture war trope the right exploits. So no, don’t blame this on Dems for such nonsense.
Harris’s whole campaign WAS on economic issues. But as a current meme says, they preferred the guy who lied about immigrants eating dogs and cats to the woman who said let us help you buy your first home.
And as for touting the benefits of social democracy most Americans are ignorant what that is and consider it socialism or communism. Why not aim your analysis at the real culprits? The lying GOP who use twisted language, lies, and fantasies to play into people’s fear? And again it comes back to how willfully ignorant Americans are. They wear their ignorance like a badge.
"Why not aim your analysis at the real culprits?" I guess I did not emphasize it, but that is what I meant when I wrote, "No Democrat but the most radical wanted to defund police, and they weren't really Democrats."
The general public fell for Maga propaganda that associated a vote for Democrats with defunding police and forcing individuals to accept societal changes and adjust their behavior under penalty of law. The Democrats could have countered that right wing propaganda nore effectively.
"And as for touting the benefits of social democracy most Americans are ignorant..." Effective politicians need to be able to explain how their specific proposals in the economic arena, foreign policy, and government programs will help the general public and are the morally correct approaches to solving the problems confronting us.
Joe and Jill Biden, by refusing to step down when all the world could see what was happening, selfishly plowed the road for the extremist MAGA takeover we must all now endure. To ignore that fact is naive and nonsensical.
Those who voted for a racist, rapist felon who is completely unqualified to be president carry the burden, not those of us who voted for Harris. SHAME on the tRUMP supporters.
More like ass-hat runaway. It is absolutely astonishing that the majority of the voting public could vote for this idiot in full view of his ridiculous first term and think a second term would be somehow better.
We turned our country over to ignorant barbarians — and I am talking about the voters. When I saw pictures here in North Carolina of women wearing pink t-shirts that said Women for Mark Robinson, I knew we were in a deep hole with no digging out.
That may be so... but I believe that no matter how early the replacement candidate came into the game they would only have succeeded if they were a white male.
Suck it up those of you are making other bullshit excuses for not voting for Harris.
A white male crack addict could have stepped up to the plate and ALL of the white males, Stepford wives, Latino males etc. would have voted for him if they saw the danger in another RUMP presidency.
Also, 'lest we forget, Hillary Clinton got 2.9 million more votes than Trump in 2016. Were it not for our absurd electoral college system, we would long ago have forgotten about Trump; he would have been a footnote in American history.
There were many reasons people voted for Trump rather than Harris. But claiming the only two reasons were her race and gender is not true. Many people did not vote for her because she is a person of color. But, others had equally wrong-headed reasons, most having to do with economy; those who voted because of the economy do not understand how the economy works or how Trump's economy will do them more harm than they can imagine. Often, the same voter was a misogynist, racist, and ignoramus.
While I appreciate Steve’s rhetoric most of the time, his hatred of President Biden is out of bounds and seems to harken back to his days as an outspoken Republican. President Biden is not the problem. Again, I say, it is the right wing media and blogosphere. And yes, the Democratic Party needs to reach out to all socioeconomic groups. Who was the one president in history to walk a picket line??
Oh, but he was. Anyone could see that even in 2020, his mind was failing and he was struggling to hide it. I felt like he was doing an acting job of the Joe he used to be.
At the time, I said to friends, "Surely, his family wouldn't let him run if he were slipping, right? RIGHT?"
Well, clearly they did. The Biden we saw at that debate had been failing terribly for a LONG TIME. That was no cold, nor did that dementia happen overnight. And even after that disastrous performance, he STILL wouldn't step down?
Yes, he did a lot of good, but like it or not, Trump will be his biggest legacy, if not his only, mainly because of the enormity of his ego, his hubris and his wife.
To tell you the truth, I never believed Biden won the primary, just like I never believed Hilary won it. Thanks to Donna Brazile coming clean, Hilary really DIDN'T win the primary. Bernie did. So my hunch was right, and I felt the same about Biden's win.
Would we be here now had we let democracy work within our own primary? We laughed when the GOP cried foul at an election Trump actually lost, all while our own primary was hijacked for real.
It's time for a reckoning within the democratic party. Steve SHOULD be pissed at Biden. I know I am.
Biden could never have beaten trump in the last election. Never. But Biden dropped out so late that Harris had an impossible task ahead. We all know how that turned out! Sure Jill and his massive collection of family do not want to leave the WH. Actually, they all have profited from living there and have had a nice life. All the benefits of being related to the President! Nice holidays! Lovely trips, world-wide. Being waited on and basking in the scene! Who would want to give that up? Jill is ticked, huh? Not Harris’s fault!
Agreed. Why do we think that just because the left can walk the higher ground than today's GOP that they can't fall prey to the temptations of privilege, power, money and influence?
Jill's behavior after Joe's debate was cringeworthy, with her holding his hand and squealing, "you answered all the questions!" with him smiling at her open-mouthed like an infant. It was awful to witness. Just awful.
Did the Biden family put the country first in the months, or even years, leading up to the election?
And Hilary? She stole her nomination, period. Brazile never explained in that Politico article HOW it happened, just that it did.
I agree. The old GOP did more damage than than the old Dems. Where is their backbone? I wish I could get a refund on this channel because Steve doesn't hold the GOP accountable. Joe Biden was my favorite President and he accomplished more in 4 years than previous Presidents. I'm SICK of Steve's bashing President Biden!
I believe a party needs to be accountable to be the best of what it represents itself to be. That means to acknowledge its mistakes and prevent them from being repeated. I would never want to be a member of a party, either Democrat, GOP or MAGA that would not want to be accountable to itself. Accountability is not bashing when facts are all that are being assessed.
No person not currently aligned within leadership of the GOP or MAGA can be responsible for them to be accountable to themselves. Of course from the MAGA viewpoint MAGA operatives are only accountable to be totally loyal to Trump, alone. constitution.
I disagree. The criticism that Biden deserves will serve well to illustrate future sound political changes and adjustments that have to be made, one of many that need to be made to correct the listing ship that the Party has become. While barnacle Democrats do not know this, the country does. The game has changed, and only the MAGA fascists cannot be the ones allowed to set all the new rules. The party in these changed times needs to recognize a whole new game is afoot. Spare-the-boo-booers with enabling sentiment does not rationally strengthen the Party, it is just repeating a weakness that has weakened it for far too long. Maudlin sentiments to Biden and to general Party loyalties will contribute only to further weakening. Have you heard? The fascists are now in power.
So, you subscribe to all's fair in politics? Should governing this country be a battlefield, republican versus democrat ? Biden did his best given a republican contigent in Congress who blocked every good bill he introduced. POTUS is only one branch of the US government. The rest need to sign on in order for beneficial legislature to pass.
I subscribe to any suscess for the Democratic Party, a weak premise now lies in the future, not the past. The country rejected Biden as evidenced by. the Harris surge when Biden was finally honest enough to stand down. Defending Biden now is wallowing sentimentally in the past. I personally do not defend Biden at all, not so much for what he,'s done, but what he didn't do while MAGA fascism grew like a tumor. I see anybody believing that Biden politics will survive and prevail while the fascists have now gained all the branches of the governnment is blind to reality. As to the "all's fair" troll, fascism has set that agenda, and to ignore that (AGAIN) will continue to make them rejoice as they imprison your neighbors for Trumped up charges. What worries me most are those who refuse to realize what fascism really means to their lives.
I would add that it’s not productive to “continually” criticize the Bidens. Enough has been said about both of them to fill a freezer full. Time to get on with the job at hand which is to find a path forward to get the Dems on the winning side of the equation for 2026 if possible and if not, then a full assault to win in 2028.
For years I've been saying that old white men should step down. Now we have yet another old, white man with despicable motives bringing in white racists and bigots and power-hungry mad men that are younger and hope to control the country for a long time. This gray-haired old lady will resist! For my children, grandchildren and my country, I will resist. Is there really any other choice?
“It is important that those people are welcomed with respect, not contempt.”
Sorry, Steve. Not me.
It is clear to me now, Steve, that you are absolving half our population for electing the loathsome Trump. Voters have the responsibility to educate themselves on the issues before voting. They, and they alone, are responsible for this. To put the blame on Joe and Jill Biden and Chuck Schumer is just absurd.
Here's a fact, and i have the chart. In the days after the election, the search term 'Trump's Tariff Plan" saw a 1650% spike on Google. God knows how many variations of that term were also searched. But they all were searched AFTER the election.
As others have suggested, let them simply find out what's coming. Trump ran on tariffs, and tariffs on China alone will be between 60 and 100%. That's up from 10% in his first term, and they didn't work then. Americans paid for them, but Trump never acknowledged that. These numbers will be far worse and destroy businesses, but there is no one around Trump now to tell him the truth, so they WILL happen.
Once any cult starts to crack, you don't flaggellate the people for being in it. You welcome them back. In this instance, the dems need to look at our own shitty party that illegally denied Bernie his hard won nomination, so that we have something better to welcome them back to.
The British voters did they same thing after the 'inadvertently' voted for BREXIT (which was a Russian Psy-Op). Yeah....our electorate can't be underestimated.....another highly looked up concept was....'Can I change my vote'? JHFC.
I sincerely hope that Trump’s decisions and policies are scrutinized as thoroughly as Biden’s were. We know that Fox will spin and omit any negative aspect - nothing unusual there.
This is Steve’s sentence that should be framed: “ the Democratic Party has fundamentally been the force in American life that has been able to light the lamp towards better over the last 100 years.” And remember that Steve was a Republican!
Let’s remember that and stand up for democracy. The starting point is disbanding the circular firing squad, then get to work. I do agree that Schumer/Clyburn and the golden oldies have to go.
I think you are putting too much of the blame just on Joe Biden and his circle. Certainly, they are to blame, But as you elude to at times, the political consultant complex that has been running the Democratic Party for a generation is very much to blame. Howard Dean talked about a 50 state strategy 20 years ago, but that was too much work. The party needs to start reorganizing at the state and local levels to bring the next generation of leaders to the fore. The people who got us here are not going to be able to fix the mess.
Ron, I understand what you are saying, but "intelligent choices" based on what exactly? Keeping in mind that most of them are exposed to different news, siloed in right wing media and SM echo chambers where they haven't heard what you, I, and most everyone here has heard. It's repeated over and over and then amplified with algorithms that support their confirmation bias. The implication of saying they "should make intelligent choices" implies they are ignorant, but doesn't account for the different media they consume that is powerful, relentless, and completely the opposite of what we see.
Mike -- I understand what *you're* saying. By "intelligently" I mean being open to reputable news sources. Lord knows many of them have been confronted by friends and/or family telling them they are being misinformed, but they don't care. The fact that they silo themselves does not absolve them of responsibility for poor choices.
If we are to survive as a democracy following the Maga assault, we must pass laws criminalizing mis-dis-and malinformation, deliberately spread by journalists, cable news, social media, newspapers etc. in the same way speech is criminal when it presents a clear and present danger, as in "yelling fire in a crowded theatre."
Such a charge brought against a person or organization would be adjudicated in court and the decisions would make concrete the meaning of law. That is why we say courts "interpret the law."
They question our news sources as much as we question theirs. Being siloed by definition and implication kind of absolves them of what we view as "poor choices". Sadly, they don't feel they're poor choices. It's an entirely different situation for them. We feel we're right and making more informed and better choices. They feel exactly the same, as weird and messed up as that is.
And hopefully this is clear, Ron. I'm not absolving them of their choices, just saying to them they aren't poor choices. Some may end up with "buyer's remorse", but many went into this with eyes wide open and saw what he did in his first term and said, "yea, give me 4 more years of that!" Not trying to be disagreeable, just looking at it from a different perspective. To them, their news sources are reputable.
Imagine being told hundreds or thousands of times for 5 years that the charges against Trump were a manufactured witch hunt by his political opponent and attacking his 1st amendment rights. Over and over and over you hear this. And your "news" platforms echo this and provide you with supporting "evidence" over and over. And if the awful "they" can attack a president, imagine what they can do to you? Again, over and over. It's brain washing and bullshit, but effective as hell. Just one easy example.
Joe was moderate. The greater public has been brainwashed. You tell them what is actually being done and they see the opposite through trope colored glasses. Even some of the smartest non red necked people in my family are doing this. It's mass insanity. Granted the purists in the Democratic party abandoned ship over Palestine or whatever issue they couldn't get a perfect solution on. The people that believe in democracy certainly don't hang together for the big goal like the GOP does. I will give you that.
Dems confused and talk “down” to and around the electorate. Nobody wants to hear details on policy. Don’t broadcast that stuff. They never created a compelling story. And they paid no mind to where the electorate had gone
Stop totally blaming Democrats and take a look at the types who were swept up into thinking Dumpf was the answer. The 50.1 percent of voters who selected them have various axes to grind: you have the anti-abortion zealots, the misogynists (including Latino men who are brought up Catholic and very macho where they are ahead of all women) The Evangelicals whose religious beliefs trump all else, the homophobes, the white christian nationalists, etc. kamala did a very good job explaining what she wants to do: of course those earning over $440,000 a year arent going to vote for someone telling them they must pay their fair share of taxes. She was a vice-president, she did as the president directed her to. (What the hell did Mile Pence ever do of note?) But of course the anti-black women constituents complained she "did nothing" as VP. That's pure BS!
Agree with a lot of this, but to not address any of the shortcomings or concerns by the Democrats is overlooking a significant part of this. There are many factors and combined, they led to a loss. Kamala's campaign did the best it could under the circumstances. That Biden's refusal to do what he said (one term) and then refusal to drop out left her 107 days, 3 and 1/2 months, to execute a full presidential campaign that most have 1 and 1/2 years to do. And, Biden's running also meant effectively no primary. We may or may not have ended up with Kamala, but pretending those weren't factors as well is living in denial.
And my final point: her campaign team was Joe's bungling team. She had a difficult time distinguishing herself from Biden's policies. If you think telling people who don't understand the economic indicators and factors OTHER than their ability to pay for food, gas, and other requirements for daily living that the economy is fine, don't pay attention to your struggles is an effective message, well I'll just agree to disagree with you about that.
When I saw that Kamala kept Biden’s comms and campaign people, I knew she was finished. Huge mistake to keep mediocre staff. Lots of reasons why Dems lost but having a rickety, mediocre team behind her did not help.
Good luck with that. I called Mark Kelly’s office a few times. Sent some emails. The reality is that they’re all over everywhere all at once when they want your money and your vote and then afterwards, they disappear into the ephemera.
Do we give our power to the Cabinet of Clowns And Putin acolytes? Should I sit back and witness the destruction of our institutions? Witness an abortion ban? Witness the upheaval of NIH? The CDC?
Not me. I still believe in the power of We the People and our constitution.
We all need a break from the outrage. It’s been almost 2 weeks since the election and we’re still outraged. I want my life back, I’m tired of being angry. I don’t have a vote in all of this but I care deeply about the final outcome, but I have to chill out to gain a better perspective and to regain a more balanced personal life. We’ve been consumed by the election and its outcome. Let’s give it a break for a while. I suggest reading Joyce Vance and Timothy Snyder - they’ve got their anger under control.
You are not helping. People want to know positive steps to take to fight Trumpism, not hear blame and vituperative rhetoric. I won’t bow either, but I want positive ways to fight, and ways to encourage my less involved friends and relatives to take action! I understand your anger, but we MUST turn it into positive action!
You can have both as they aren't mutually exclusive. We need to identify what went wrong and develop a better more effective strategy going forward. They are, in fact, related.
I believe that we’ve gone around the who’s to blame game ad nauseum. It’s time to act or to get off the merry-go-round. As most people would say “poop or get off the pot”.
I'm not angry atJoe Biden and i'm not angry at any old Democrat. Some of them pissed me off but i let that go. I am sixty seven years old and disabled so my energy needs to be focused. Energy is too valuable of a resource to waste on anger.
Let's use our energy to fight against Trumpism. We also need to fight back against the media that's giving Trumpism free power.
I agree with you Steve. Keep writing as you are. Many Americans do not realize this is a fight for our lives.
I remember during the 60's the drills at school, the nuclear scares, the Bay of Pigs, et al. I was taught what a fight for life was all about. My Grandfather and uncles fought in WWI and WWII.
you can not play nice any more folks. The Rvssian backed group in charge right now have all the marbles, and they plan to keep them. We may have only one or two chances to come out of this.
Thank you Steve for your clear eyed explanations! I admit that I too have a hard time putting the blame for this on the Bidens when I truly believe that all he tried to do was help get America back on her feet after the pandemic and 4 years of Trump put us on our backs. But I will add that what he ALSO did was cling to power.... but as you say... he is "an institutionalist".... so that is what they ALL do!! Washington... and especially the Senate... is chock-a-block with nothing but OLD WHITE GUYS clinging to power. Why in the world would Joe Biden do any different. Trying to do things the way they have "always been done"..... trying to play by some archaic set of rules....... carrying on like there still exists some set of "norms" that will be followed.... THAT!! is why we are here. Trump should never have been able to be on any ballot... not for dog catcher in Florida.... he should be in jail. He was impeached twice!!!!! This goes all the way back to Susan Collins voting against impeachment..... saying... "he's learned his lesson"..... what an idiot. This is Merrick Garland refusing to open a special counsel investigation until the J6 committee put so much evidence out into the public... that he was forced to. OMG.... they are ALL to blame.... epic failure to protect the country. And I love!! how MAGA spells it all out for us.... saying exactly what they will do either directly or with their propaganda gaslighting spotlight machine. "The enemy within" LOL..... they are the enemy within..... and now they are here to wreak havoc and destruction. I'm 69 years old and not exactly sure what a substack is.... but very thankful to have figured out how to subscribe and be here for this conversation.
It is also not productive to direct criticism toward Joe or Jill Biden.
It sure is. When the FL acts like a high school mean girl in public and President Biden refused to face his immense fragility and vulnerability until both became showcased at the “debate” he insisted upon, and then he STILL delayed dropping out, he handed the country Trump 2.0.
Biden’s legacy won’t be the American Rescue Plan or the CHIPS Act, or Infrastructure, or an economy that is the “envy of the world”, it will be DONALD TRUMP, a monkey with a shotgun. And all of his sick degenerate cabinet “picks”.
And I love Joe Biden. In 2022, Steve predicted that if Joe Biden ran for a second term, despite his promise to be a one-term transitional president, Biden’s legacy would be Donald Trump. At the time, I was like NOOOOOOOFW.
Steve was right. And he’s right now. We need to see the situation with clarity so that we don’t defend the indefensible and make the SAME mistakes going forward.
As painful as it will be.
That was pitiful by Jill Biden. Sad to see that.
I guess Trump is Obama's legacy too. And HRC's with that kind of thinking.
No, he is the logical result of decades of right wing/Republican attacks on the Democratic Party from the same establishment Rick was a major part of for most of hiss career.
Steve gave us Sarah Palin. Should that be his entire legacy?
I did not “give us” Sarah Palin. I suggested her because, at the time, she was the most popular governor in the country. I was NOT involved in vetting her, and ultimately, it was John McCain, not me, who chose her as his running mate. Here is what happened:
https://open.substack.com/pub/steveschmidt/p/no-books-no-money-just-the-truth?r=4ml5ti&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Steve
Steve, I finally read the Palin essay. Thank you for filling in this piece of history. I wasn't aware of a lot of that. I found your words sincere, humble yet also strong in placing the blame where it belonged.
What was also intriguing was the blowback of some of those comments. There will always be those who simply can't fathom the idea of someone who is truly being self-effacing. Perhaps they can't imagine that kind of bravery within themselves, and therefore it can't possibly exist within someone else.
Instead, they can only read sincerity as just another "grift," not acknowledging that your blog is actually free to read. Maybe they were mad they had to pony up a paid subscription in order to post such hate? A person must have a lot of cash to spare to pay for THAT.
The essay was terrific. I admire your tenacity to keep going when faced with that kind of thing. It HAS to hurt, but somehow you rise above to walk the higher ground. Glad I'm here.
I remember reading it when Steve first posted it, as much as I honored John McCain, and I would have walked into hell with him if he asked, he made the choice that doomed his presidential bid. I believe to this day that he would have made a fine president.
WOW. This was my first read of this incredible baring of your soul. Thank you for sharing, and for finding your way forward to the light. The truth shall set you free is not just a thought. It's a message of hope and strength from the universe.
Especially since they rejected Steve's message too. They rejected everyone who spoke the truth.
This is all on those voters. I mean come on, a guy in Scranton calls him Hitler, then says he voted for him anyway. Or the Muslim Americans, who despite his pick of Mike Huckabee who doesn't believe Palestine or Palestinians exist and that Israel has a right to the whole of the region, still believe that Trump will "hold true to his word" and protect Palestinians by getting Bibi to end the war.
You can't make this kind of idiocy up. So, no, I don't respect these voters.
Identifying what went wrong, including leveling criticism when and where needed, is actually productive and allowing problems to be identified and appropriate steps taken to address so to minimize repeating them. It's not laying all the blame on Biden, as there are a LOT of reasons. Saying it isn't the problem; ignoring it is. That doesn't diminish our respect and appreciation for his many accomplishments in his term.
In part, I believe the Democrats failed because the general public believed they stood for defunding police and woke programs like forcing women to accept transgender men on their teams and as legitimate competitors; also forcing people to refer to non-binary people by plural adjectives; some actually believed their gender confused children would be kidnapped and undergo sex change surgery and hormone therapy.
Choosing the word defund did much harm. No Democrat but the most radical wanted to defund police, and they weren't really Democrats. We wanted to re-direct some of the funds supporting the police to agencies that could deal more effectively with a crisis caused by an emotional or mental breakdown.
Most Democrats I know believe whether or not a women's league should accept transgender women is best left to the governing body of the league. I know of no one who favors a law forcing people to refer to others by pronouns not ordinarily used. If that offends the individual who wants to be called "they" and "them" they should cease to associate with those they consider bigots. Personally, I do not care about this issue, although I have no problem using a person's pronouns of choice. I do not believe anyone favored forced treatment for those of ambiguous gender. As with abortion rights, the Democrats I know simply thought that was a decision to be made by individuals and families in consultation with medical experts.
Democrats should concentrate on political and economic issues, explaining to the public how they would benefit from social democracy, including a truly progressive income tax, single payer national health care, and protecting the right of all American citizens to express their opinions and vote. They should emphasize the proper role of the judiciary in interpreting law and determining the guilt or innocence of those charged with a crime.
But, alas, it may be too late.
Much simpler than that. Harris lost due to two (2) reasons: 1). Gender, and 2) Race.
No other excuses accepted. She was prepared and ready to serve. White voters turned her opportunity down. Admit the TRUTH for once. We have had too many lies and silly excuses!
I agree those were two factors, but not the only two as there were many causes. Simplifying it to only two to meet some easy explanation or narrative overlooks much that went wrong. How big were those two things is unknown - and never will be.
That said, the other night, Bill Mahrer said we've had a black president (two terms) and a woman nominee who won the popular vote in 2016, therefore that means racism and sexism didn't play a role. That is pure ignorance to state that.
Notice the first two words in my comment, "In part."
Agree
My rep NEVER used the word defund nor did nearly all of the Dems. Biden never used it nor do I believe, did Harris. This was blown out of proportion by the media as usual. Same with wokeism, trans, and every other nonsensical culture war trope the right exploits. So no, don’t blame this on Dems for such nonsense.
Harris’s whole campaign WAS on economic issues. But as a current meme says, they preferred the guy who lied about immigrants eating dogs and cats to the woman who said let us help you buy your first home.
And as for touting the benefits of social democracy most Americans are ignorant what that is and consider it socialism or communism. Why not aim your analysis at the real culprits? The lying GOP who use twisted language, lies, and fantasies to play into people’s fear? And again it comes back to how willfully ignorant Americans are. They wear their ignorance like a badge.
"Why not aim your analysis at the real culprits?" I guess I did not emphasize it, but that is what I meant when I wrote, "No Democrat but the most radical wanted to defund police, and they weren't really Democrats."
The general public fell for Maga propaganda that associated a vote for Democrats with defunding police and forcing individuals to accept societal changes and adjust their behavior under penalty of law. The Democrats could have countered that right wing propaganda nore effectively.
"And as for touting the benefits of social democracy most Americans are ignorant..." Effective politicians need to be able to explain how their specific proposals in the economic arena, foreign policy, and government programs will help the general public and are the morally correct approaches to solving the problems confronting us.
But being an adjudicated a convicted felon felon 34 times over are acceptable?
Absolutely counterproductive.
Agree with you. 100%
Joe and Jill Biden, by refusing to step down when all the world could see what was happening, selfishly plowed the road for the extremist MAGA takeover we must all now endure. To ignore that fact is naive and nonsensical.
Those who voted for a racist, rapist felon who is completely unqualified to be president carry the burden, not those of us who voted for Harris. SHAME on the tRUMP supporters.
Voting for trump was herd mentality! Red hat runaway!
More like ass-hat runaway. It is absolutely astonishing that the majority of the voting public could vote for this idiot in full view of his ridiculous first term and think a second term would be somehow better.
We turned our country over to ignorant barbarians — and I am talking about the voters. When I saw pictures here in North Carolina of women wearing pink t-shirts that said Women for Mark Robinson, I knew we were in a deep hole with no digging out.
That may be so... but I believe that no matter how early the replacement candidate came into the game they would only have succeeded if they were a white male.
Suck it up those of you are making other bullshit excuses for not voting for Harris.
A white male crack addict could have stepped up to the plate and ALL of the white males, Stepford wives, Latino males etc. would have voted for him if they saw the danger in another RUMP presidency.
Also, 'lest we forget, Hillary Clinton got 2.9 million more votes than Trump in 2016. Were it not for our absurd electoral college system, we would long ago have forgotten about Trump; he would have been a footnote in American history.
There were many reasons people voted for Trump rather than Harris. But claiming the only two reasons were her race and gender is not true. Many people did not vote for her because she is a person of color. But, others had equally wrong-headed reasons, most having to do with economy; those who voted because of the economy do not understand how the economy works or how Trump's economy will do them more harm than they can imagine. Often, the same voter was a misogynist, racist, and ignoramus.
While I appreciate Steve’s rhetoric most of the time, his hatred of President Biden is out of bounds and seems to harken back to his days as an outspoken Republican. President Biden is not the problem. Again, I say, it is the right wing media and blogosphere. And yes, the Democratic Party needs to reach out to all socioeconomic groups. Who was the one president in history to walk a picket line??
Oh, but he was. Anyone could see that even in 2020, his mind was failing and he was struggling to hide it. I felt like he was doing an acting job of the Joe he used to be.
At the time, I said to friends, "Surely, his family wouldn't let him run if he were slipping, right? RIGHT?"
Well, clearly they did. The Biden we saw at that debate had been failing terribly for a LONG TIME. That was no cold, nor did that dementia happen overnight. And even after that disastrous performance, he STILL wouldn't step down?
Yes, he did a lot of good, but like it or not, Trump will be his biggest legacy, if not his only, mainly because of the enormity of his ego, his hubris and his wife.
To tell you the truth, I never believed Biden won the primary, just like I never believed Hilary won it. Thanks to Donna Brazile coming clean, Hilary really DIDN'T win the primary. Bernie did. So my hunch was right, and I felt the same about Biden's win.
Would we be here now had we let democracy work within our own primary? We laughed when the GOP cried foul at an election Trump actually lost, all while our own primary was hijacked for real.
It's time for a reckoning within the democratic party. Steve SHOULD be pissed at Biden. I know I am.
Biden could never have beaten trump in the last election. Never. But Biden dropped out so late that Harris had an impossible task ahead. We all know how that turned out! Sure Jill and his massive collection of family do not want to leave the WH. Actually, they all have profited from living there and have had a nice life. All the benefits of being related to the President! Nice holidays! Lovely trips, world-wide. Being waited on and basking in the scene! Who would want to give that up? Jill is ticked, huh? Not Harris’s fault!
Agreed. Why do we think that just because the left can walk the higher ground than today's GOP that they can't fall prey to the temptations of privilege, power, money and influence?
Jill's behavior after Joe's debate was cringeworthy, with her holding his hand and squealing, "you answered all the questions!" with him smiling at her open-mouthed like an infant. It was awful to witness. Just awful.
Did the Biden family put the country first in the months, or even years, leading up to the election?
And Hilary? She stole her nomination, period. Brazile never explained in that Politico article HOW it happened, just that it did.
I want answers.
I agree. The old GOP did more damage than than the old Dems. Where is their backbone? I wish I could get a refund on this channel because Steve doesn't hold the GOP accountable. Joe Biden was my favorite President and he accomplished more in 4 years than previous Presidents. I'm SICK of Steve's bashing President Biden!
I believe a party needs to be accountable to be the best of what it represents itself to be. That means to acknowledge its mistakes and prevent them from being repeated. I would never want to be a member of a party, either Democrat, GOP or MAGA that would not want to be accountable to itself. Accountability is not bashing when facts are all that are being assessed.
No person not currently aligned within leadership of the GOP or MAGA can be responsible for them to be accountable to themselves. Of course from the MAGA viewpoint MAGA operatives are only accountable to be totally loyal to Trump, alone. constitution.
I disagree. The criticism that Biden deserves will serve well to illustrate future sound political changes and adjustments that have to be made, one of many that need to be made to correct the listing ship that the Party has become. While barnacle Democrats do not know this, the country does. The game has changed, and only the MAGA fascists cannot be the ones allowed to set all the new rules. The party in these changed times needs to recognize a whole new game is afoot. Spare-the-boo-booers with enabling sentiment does not rationally strengthen the Party, it is just repeating a weakness that has weakened it for far too long. Maudlin sentiments to Biden and to general Party loyalties will contribute only to further weakening. Have you heard? The fascists are now in power.
So, you subscribe to all's fair in politics? Should governing this country be a battlefield, republican versus democrat ? Biden did his best given a republican contigent in Congress who blocked every good bill he introduced. POTUS is only one branch of the US government. The rest need to sign on in order for beneficial legislature to pass.
I subscribe to any suscess for the Democratic Party, a weak premise now lies in the future, not the past. The country rejected Biden as evidenced by. the Harris surge when Biden was finally honest enough to stand down. Defending Biden now is wallowing sentimentally in the past. I personally do not defend Biden at all, not so much for what he,'s done, but what he didn't do while MAGA fascism grew like a tumor. I see anybody believing that Biden politics will survive and prevail while the fascists have now gained all the branches of the governnment is blind to reality. As to the "all's fair" troll, fascism has set that agenda, and to ignore that (AGAIN) will continue to make them rejoice as they imprison your neighbors for Trumped up charges. What worries me most are those who refuse to realize what fascism really means to their lives.
What is a barnacle democrat?
I would add that it’s not productive to “continually” criticize the Bidens. Enough has been said about both of them to fill a freezer full. Time to get on with the job at hand which is to find a path forward to get the Dems on the winning side of the equation for 2026 if possible and if not, then a full assault to win in 2028.
For years I've been saying that old white men should step down. Now we have yet another old, white man with despicable motives bringing in white racists and bigots and power-hungry mad men that are younger and hope to control the country for a long time. This gray-haired old lady will resist! For my children, grandchildren and my country, I will resist. Is there really any other choice?
“It is important that those people are welcomed with respect, not contempt.”
Sorry, Steve. Not me.
It is clear to me now, Steve, that you are absolving half our population for electing the loathsome Trump. Voters have the responsibility to educate themselves on the issues before voting. They, and they alone, are responsible for this. To put the blame on Joe and Jill Biden and Chuck Schumer is just absurd.
I say, let them stew in their own juices for 6 months, then offer a bowl of soup and a better plan.
Here's a fact, and i have the chart. In the days after the election, the search term 'Trump's Tariff Plan" saw a 1650% spike on Google. God knows how many variations of that term were also searched. But they all were searched AFTER the election.
As others have suggested, let them simply find out what's coming. Trump ran on tariffs, and tariffs on China alone will be between 60 and 100%. That's up from 10% in his first term, and they didn't work then. Americans paid for them, but Trump never acknowledged that. These numbers will be far worse and destroy businesses, but there is no one around Trump now to tell him the truth, so they WILL happen.
Once any cult starts to crack, you don't flaggellate the people for being in it. You welcome them back. In this instance, the dems need to look at our own shitty party that illegally denied Bernie his hard won nomination, so that we have something better to welcome them back to.
The British voters did they same thing after the 'inadvertently' voted for BREXIT (which was a Russian Psy-Op). Yeah....our electorate can't be underestimated.....another highly looked up concept was....'Can I change my vote'? JHFC.
I sincerely hope that Trump’s decisions and policies are scrutinized as thoroughly as Biden’s were. We know that Fox will spin and omit any negative aspect - nothing unusual there.
They wont be.
This is Steve’s sentence that should be framed: “ the Democratic Party has fundamentally been the force in American life that has been able to light the lamp towards better over the last 100 years.” And remember that Steve was a Republican!
Let’s remember that and stand up for democracy. The starting point is disbanding the circular firing squad, then get to work. I do agree that Schumer/Clyburn and the golden oldies have to go.
Well said...I agree!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I think you are putting too much of the blame just on Joe Biden and his circle. Certainly, they are to blame, But as you elude to at times, the political consultant complex that has been running the Democratic Party for a generation is very much to blame. Howard Dean talked about a 50 state strategy 20 years ago, but that was too much work. The party needs to start reorganizing at the state and local levels to bring the next generation of leaders to the fore. The people who got us here are not going to be able to fix the mess.
The voters are to blame! They are adults that should make intelligent choices.
Ron, I understand what you are saying, but "intelligent choices" based on what exactly? Keeping in mind that most of them are exposed to different news, siloed in right wing media and SM echo chambers where they haven't heard what you, I, and most everyone here has heard. It's repeated over and over and then amplified with algorithms that support their confirmation bias. The implication of saying they "should make intelligent choices" implies they are ignorant, but doesn't account for the different media they consume that is powerful, relentless, and completely the opposite of what we see.
Mike -- I understand what *you're* saying. By "intelligently" I mean being open to reputable news sources. Lord knows many of them have been confronted by friends and/or family telling them they are being misinformed, but they don't care. The fact that they silo themselves does not absolve them of responsibility for poor choices.
If we are to survive as a democracy following the Maga assault, we must pass laws criminalizing mis-dis-and malinformation, deliberately spread by journalists, cable news, social media, newspapers etc. in the same way speech is criminal when it presents a clear and present danger, as in "yelling fire in a crowded theatre."
Such a charge brought against a person or organization would be adjudicated in court and the decisions would make concrete the meaning of law. That is why we say courts "interpret the law."
They question our news sources as much as we question theirs. Being siloed by definition and implication kind of absolves them of what we view as "poor choices". Sadly, they don't feel they're poor choices. It's an entirely different situation for them. We feel we're right and making more informed and better choices. They feel exactly the same, as weird and messed up as that is.
And hopefully this is clear, Ron. I'm not absolving them of their choices, just saying to them they aren't poor choices. Some may end up with "buyer's remorse", but many went into this with eyes wide open and saw what he did in his first term and said, "yea, give me 4 more years of that!" Not trying to be disagreeable, just looking at it from a different perspective. To them, their news sources are reputable.
Imagine being told hundreds or thousands of times for 5 years that the charges against Trump were a manufactured witch hunt by his political opponent and attacking his 1st amendment rights. Over and over and over you hear this. And your "news" platforms echo this and provide you with supporting "evidence" over and over. And if the awful "they" can attack a president, imagine what they can do to you? Again, over and over. It's brain washing and bullshit, but effective as hell. Just one easy example.
Joe was moderate. The greater public has been brainwashed. You tell them what is actually being done and they see the opposite through trope colored glasses. Even some of the smartest non red necked people in my family are doing this. It's mass insanity. Granted the purists in the Democratic party abandoned ship over Palestine or whatever issue they couldn't get a perfect solution on. The people that believe in democracy certainly don't hang together for the big goal like the GOP does. I will give you that.
We Democrats have played too nice and they ate us!
Dems confused and talk “down” to and around the electorate. Nobody wants to hear details on policy. Don’t broadcast that stuff. They never created a compelling story. And they paid no mind to where the electorate had gone
Stop totally blaming Democrats and take a look at the types who were swept up into thinking Dumpf was the answer. The 50.1 percent of voters who selected them have various axes to grind: you have the anti-abortion zealots, the misogynists (including Latino men who are brought up Catholic and very macho where they are ahead of all women) The Evangelicals whose religious beliefs trump all else, the homophobes, the white christian nationalists, etc. kamala did a very good job explaining what she wants to do: of course those earning over $440,000 a year arent going to vote for someone telling them they must pay their fair share of taxes. She was a vice-president, she did as the president directed her to. (What the hell did Mile Pence ever do of note?) But of course the anti-black women constituents complained she "did nothing" as VP. That's pure BS!
Agree with a lot of this, but to not address any of the shortcomings or concerns by the Democrats is overlooking a significant part of this. There are many factors and combined, they led to a loss. Kamala's campaign did the best it could under the circumstances. That Biden's refusal to do what he said (one term) and then refusal to drop out left her 107 days, 3 and 1/2 months, to execute a full presidential campaign that most have 1 and 1/2 years to do. And, Biden's running also meant effectively no primary. We may or may not have ended up with Kamala, but pretending those weren't factors as well is living in denial.
And my final point: her campaign team was Joe's bungling team. She had a difficult time distinguishing herself from Biden's policies. If you think telling people who don't understand the economic indicators and factors OTHER than their ability to pay for food, gas, and other requirements for daily living that the economy is fine, don't pay attention to your struggles is an effective message, well I'll just agree to disagree with you about that.
When I saw that Kamala kept Biden’s comms and campaign people, I knew she was finished. Huge mistake to keep mediocre staff. Lots of reasons why Dems lost but having a rickety, mediocre team behind her did not help.
Yes, Mike!!! Jen O Malley and gang . Mediocre during Biden and abysmal for Kamala. No creativity and locked in on everyone being 1950’s nice guys
John Thune needs to be reminded what being an American really is: not bowing to autocrats.
Im calling his office.
Good luck with that. I called Mark Kelly’s office a few times. Sent some emails. The reality is that they’re all over everywhere all at once when they want your money and your vote and then afterwards, they disappear into the ephemera.
I never give up. If we give up we lose.
We the People is who we are.
Do we give our power to the Cabinet of Clowns And Putin acolytes? Should I sit back and witness the destruction of our institutions? Witness an abortion ban? Witness the upheaval of NIH? The CDC?
Not me. I still believe in the power of We the People and our constitution.
I'm calling.
I’m tired and not quitting but am cocooning until spring. Am organizing locally to keep my community blue.
We all need a break from the outrage. It’s been almost 2 weeks since the election and we’re still outraged. I want my life back, I’m tired of being angry. I don’t have a vote in all of this but I care deeply about the final outcome, but I have to chill out to gain a better perspective and to regain a more balanced personal life. We’ve been consumed by the election and its outcome. Let’s give it a break for a while. I suggest reading Joyce Vance and Timothy Snyder - they’ve got their anger under control.
I’m not giving up, but I need a break. My mental health is already suffering and we’re only 10 days out from the election.
You are not helping. People want to know positive steps to take to fight Trumpism, not hear blame and vituperative rhetoric. I won’t bow either, but I want positive ways to fight, and ways to encourage my less involved friends and relatives to take action! I understand your anger, but we MUST turn it into positive action!
You can have both as they aren't mutually exclusive. We need to identify what went wrong and develop a better more effective strategy going forward. They are, in fact, related.
I believe that we’ve gone around the who’s to blame game ad nauseum. It’s time to act or to get off the merry-go-round. As most people would say “poop or get off the pot”.
"it also makes me incandescently angry"
Yeah, that...
I'm not angry atJoe Biden and i'm not angry at any old Democrat. Some of them pissed me off but i let that go. I am sixty seven years old and disabled so my energy needs to be focused. Energy is too valuable of a resource to waste on anger.
Let's use our energy to fight against Trumpism. We also need to fight back against the media that's giving Trumpism free power.
I agree with you Steve. Keep writing as you are. Many Americans do not realize this is a fight for our lives.
I remember during the 60's the drills at school, the nuclear scares, the Bay of Pigs, et al. I was taught what a fight for life was all about. My Grandfather and uncles fought in WWI and WWII.
you can not play nice any more folks. The Rvssian backed group in charge right now have all the marbles, and they plan to keep them. We may have only one or two chances to come out of this.
Proceed accordingly.
Thank you Steve for your clear eyed explanations! I admit that I too have a hard time putting the blame for this on the Bidens when I truly believe that all he tried to do was help get America back on her feet after the pandemic and 4 years of Trump put us on our backs. But I will add that what he ALSO did was cling to power.... but as you say... he is "an institutionalist".... so that is what they ALL do!! Washington... and especially the Senate... is chock-a-block with nothing but OLD WHITE GUYS clinging to power. Why in the world would Joe Biden do any different. Trying to do things the way they have "always been done"..... trying to play by some archaic set of rules....... carrying on like there still exists some set of "norms" that will be followed.... THAT!! is why we are here. Trump should never have been able to be on any ballot... not for dog catcher in Florida.... he should be in jail. He was impeached twice!!!!! This goes all the way back to Susan Collins voting against impeachment..... saying... "he's learned his lesson"..... what an idiot. This is Merrick Garland refusing to open a special counsel investigation until the J6 committee put so much evidence out into the public... that he was forced to. OMG.... they are ALL to blame.... epic failure to protect the country. And I love!! how MAGA spells it all out for us.... saying exactly what they will do either directly or with their propaganda gaslighting spotlight machine. "The enemy within" LOL..... they are the enemy within..... and now they are here to wreak havoc and destruction. I'm 69 years old and not exactly sure what a substack is.... but very thankful to have figured out how to subscribe and be here for this conversation.