2/2 They began fumbling the ball with the rise of the Tea Party and were completely verklempt as to how to deal with MAGA. If MAGA were China, the Dems were Tibet. The response was never enough. There was always so much more to do that was never done. And here we are.
Perhaps in general we might say many "circumstances conspired" to leave us in the hell where we currently reside. But Dem party flaws and particularly their handling of the Trump phenomena have been written about extensively. 1/2
This is exactly right. And, for the umpteenth time I’ll ask, who exactly would this magical candidate have been who would have emerged from the primary? We know all the potential candidates, maybe an Bill Clinton type could have appeared out of nowhere, but I’m not seeing it.
Pelosi would have taken Harris out. She’s been trying to do that since 2023. Scrap the whole ticket. Harris was never the CA darling she wanted. It was always white guys and her pet Newsom. To the manor born and all that because how dare a peasant no-name like Harris rise up the ranks like that.
MAGA are bonded in hating people that don't follow their orange Lord. They are part of a cult. It is no longer just tied to politics, but it has become the very fiber of their being. Many are my neighbors or family members who used to be rational and good people, so it's scary to watch it take hold.
Serious question: Why are so many people focused on the fact that the Democratic primary wasn’t “normal” when Donald didn’t participate in the Republican primaries at all?
Agreed. The issues don’t predominantly lie with the process followed, but the opposing vantage points. Running with joy against hate is an uphill battle, even more so in these societally darkened times
I think a primary would have been good b/c the nominee, even if it was Harris, would have been able to shake out the answers to questions before it got to Trump. She did a great job given the short runway, but an adversarial primary would have been good.
I have a question: who are these central think tanks that generate basic strategy or direction for republicans and democrats? In both parties they are surprisingly single voiced from variety of media. That can only indicate single source.
George, I’m so glad someone is finally putting the blame where it should lay. At the Republicans feet.
What happened wasn’t the fault of a pro democracy movement. It was the fault of the ushering in autocracy with glee. It was the hate outpacing the joy.
It all comes down to this…..republicans win on message and would lose on policy. Democrats would win on policy but lose on message. Im a blue collar democrat and I 100% believe every blue collar worker is a democrat, they just don’t know it yet. We lose everything on message.
I think voters like the message. We just don't have the rmeans to get it to them. Once upon a time we all sat down after dinner & all got the same news, same view of the world. Now the RW echosphere is largely fact free, & ALL the MSM normalises Trump and repeats his propaganda lies endlessly.
Yes. No way you could have a presidential party primary and have the winner run a campaign in 3 months. The winner would have be slaughtered by trump in even bigger numbers.
IF delusional narcissist Joe Biden dropped out a year ago, or even 6 months ago you could. Fascist trump will be his legacy
I think both racism, sexism, and misogyny exist outside of politics . So his statement can be true, and the underlying problem with over half of voters can also be true.
Thank you George. I was beginning to question my own beliefs. I now know that in the last quarter of my life, I will still fight for my beliefs with guidance from freedom fighters like you.
I think the fault is simply that Harris ran fairly. Trump played a really dirty game and his media bubble swallowed good people whole. And the lack of critical thinkers in this country. But that’s another convo.
But the ascent of BRICS and the descent of our geopolitical status may not endure the orange pendulum, regardless of whatever social damage is amenable to repair.
I get what he's saying but if we don't recognize the heavy baggage that Democrats carry by supporting tinderbox issues then 2026 and 2028 will look the same as this election.
This is why it's a good time for me to do self care. I'll be better to handle the fight. I couldn't do anything to help out this last time because of how sick I am. I can get involved when I'm not dealing with pain and nausea. (Unless I have to have chemo.)
The difference here, however, is the Supreme Court has chosen to empower a criminal president. So even though we may be on the right side of history, we have no means of course correcting politically given Trump’s now limitless power. Elections are heretofore meaningless.
He is right, Mr. George, but how do you fight against such ingrained ignorance. I suspect that a lot of their success is based on Trump himself, and once he is out, they will lose that advantage. I hope things are bad enough that we gain in the midterms. I’m all in but not sure what to do.
I couldn’t be any more proud of Kamala for fighting the good fight in 107 days. It dawned on me during Trumps first term that if I knew nothing about either party I wouldn’t be a Democrat. I saw so much public criticism between elected members and between registered voters. Not unified
Co-sign. All of the post election takes seem to fail to take into account that this was a normal Democratic Party vs a lying, fascist Republican Party. Not even terms at all, and does not make Dems rubes or losers (in the figurative sense).
What top democrats must stop doing is shoving their preferred candidates down our throats. They blocked Bernie in favor of Hillary. Now Harris was hand picked. In 2022 in NC Beasley was handpicked.
I voted for all and they all lost. ISA is too racist to elect a female president.
Very well said. Thank you for posting this. I hope the people who need to read this do. And the ones who need to understand this do. I worry more about our society. We have a cancer intent on taking over. This loss made it stronger.
Yes, he is. Call me naive, but I think avoiding the nominating process, where people of the same party take cheap shots at each other, is a good thing in general. We have a strong group of young leaders going forward. Harris ran a remarkable campaign under the circumstances.
Among the very best and absolutely correct. The house will be very close and Trump has just pulled two Congressman off the board - Stefanik and Waltz. They don’t get replaced overnight. The midterms will be here very quickly.
There’s no way Joe Biden could have won after that disastrous debate; she was the better choice. Too many Americans aren’t willing to vote for a woman for POTUS, especially one who isn’t White.
I agree 100%. This further solidifies my belief that Nancy Pelosi made mistake in not strongly getting behind Biden after the debate. Trump gets away with far worse things because Republicans close ranks and excuse his behavior.
Trump didn't get any more votes than he got in 2020. If he figured out how to win and/or cheat the system with his minority than I understand why he suggested we won't have to vote again in the future. The system works. Votes vanished.
I’m exhausted. Don’t get me wrong, I’m in the fight to continue pointing out Trump’s flaws—the narcissism, grifting, favors for his pals, lying—but, I’m exhausted. I’m regrouping here on BlueSky because X puts me in a bad place.
Unless we can figure out how to keep the oligarchs from controlling the dominant media spaces, and hence the discourse, we will have a hard time winning.
We beat trump & trumpism in 2018 & 2020 & 2022 - we will do it again. We have lessons to glean from this loss, but the lesson is NOT that it's time to give up.
Question: For a passage like Conway posted, if it won’t allow you to cut and paste it into alt text, what are you supposed to do? I’ve had this happen and ended up discarding the post.
We cannot give up the fight. We should take time to gather ourselves & get back into the fight. We also must not dive into conspiracy theories about the election. It was free & fair. Full stop. https://youtube.com/live/9Zk-wacS800?feature=share
Thank you George. For those of us in Florida, well along this path already what do you suggest? Even our long held bulwark blue counties have shifted more right. Living near maralago in particular I see proximity shifting us even further. Thx to Desantis we’ve got real challenges here in Florida.
good read but...will there really be elections in 2026 and 2028. I don't think so. I think we lost future elections to those who will be taking over the government. I guess we'll see in two years.
For those who wanted a primary race (Pelosi 😡), it just wasn't feasible. Biden dropped out in July, and the convention was the next month. Can you imagine if 15 had stepped up? Utter chaos.
Seems the mourning time was much longer in 2017. Not so much this time. My acquaintances and family know my politics and I know theirs. Thank god I don't drink any more and old enough now not to feel obligated to attend functions where I know the gloating will anger me.
Better COLA for SS next year.
AND they are just figuring out that what they thought they were voting for -isn't.. There's interviews. What my legal nanny is getting deported? their plan is to denaturalize citizens. Watch the interviews. they on x.. not sure if here. The plan has to include feeling their pain.
We created a Dem. womens group to deal with the misogny posts and violent rhetoric here in Oh. We're doing zooms starting this week. Talking strategy on how to deprogram our family and get them away from MAGA.
And IF we even get a vote. I can't reach my own sister. Didn't even realize she was brainwashed until July. she wouldnt believe me, even when I gave her non partisan websites to check what she was saying. They criss-crossed the country with conferences , their tv, radio. told them no MSM.
You didn't address that 50m people are brainwashed. She lost BEcause of that. Scroll through Gen Mike Flynns X He wrote a letter showing what they did. If you don't address that and connect with them and feel their "pain" you wont win anything-
People who voted for Trump used excuses to vote for him, so they wouldn't have to admit they voted for a repulsive person. They said "Economy" or "The Dems anointed her" or any one of hundreds of other excuses. The reality is, they were voting for Trump all along.
What makes him think we will have a fair and free election in 2028 given everything the POS has said and done? He told everyone they won’t ever have to vote again. The GOP isn’t giving up power anytime soon.
I agree the GOP isn’t going to willingly give up power but I don’t think Trump”s mental acumen is going to make it much longer and for certain the next presidential election. I guess the next best thing is to let the complete incompetence of those being chosen to high offices fail at every level.
Stuart is great and his analysis is far better than any cable news pundit. Which is why I stopped watching. I don’t plan on going back for a very long time.
What makes me uncomfortable is the general acceptance that there will be normal elections after this. Trump's team cheated in this election, it's who they are, I just hope it is detected. Trump's depravity & willingness to do anything to get what he wants is underestimated & played down.
I agree that there were irregularities in this election.
The American people deserve a hand recount in the swing states!
Call members of Congress,and write to Biden and Harris
#Recount2024 https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
I will be rested and ready. By then my resolve will have been tempered like fine steel so nothing can hinder me from fighting for my country… at my age I only have so many fights for justice left in me but will be more important than ‘26 and ‘28. We don’t give up, we just regroup #Democracy
My struggle is realizing that this is a long- term struggle and I’m old. So anything I do won’t have an impact in my lifetime. Where do I place my efforts?
It’s a voter problem, not a party problem. Dems IMO need to stop catering to the left flank (which I think they’ve improved on) and let America have what they voted for. We must have a civically engaged public to have a properly functioning constitutional republic/democracy. Period. Time to wake up!
James Carville said on Tim’s bonus Bulwark weekend pod that we should have a mini-convention in the summer of 2026. O say why wait that long! Let’s hold it in the spring of 2025 and start creating a narrative early.
While I do appreciate the words of comfort, I can’t help to question myself about being correct, “Am I wrong? Am I missing something?"
You can’t help but question yourself, if only for a moment. I believe I am on the right side of history.
Therapists are gonna make good money the next four years.
The Republican party is officially dead. It's MAGA v. Democrats, maybe we should just say Democracy. Much of the division between the R & D parties was manufactured by small interest groups to polarize the people (think divide and conquer) to achieve their own goals. It's well past time to fix that.
George, I don’t know if you read our comments. But I don’t think we realistically will get to 2026 or 2028 intact. A war will likely break out to help Trump, Putin, and the fascists within and abroad to end democracy for good, with a mushroom cloud likely somewhere, and RepubliKKKLans in total power
The Republicans had a machine built the moment after they lost on 2020.The Dems have to step up their game and get meaner, become warriors and be totally united to speak as one. Nice doesn't win.
One area where I'm starting to agree with @aoc.bsky.social ever more is the rejection of big money in the campaign - it might just be detrimental and lose us elections.
yes! i want a tv cale station with you, stu stevens, matt dowd and about three other people. i figure i will check back in a year to see if it is watchable. now, not really at all.
That's assuming there will be future elections. And even if there are, who's to say they won't be sham elections like other dictators already have, to give the appearance of a "democracy"?
Stuart is a steady presence in this chaos. I always look to him for guidance. Thanks for all you people who put in the work and ran a brilliant counter campaign against MAGA we will never giving up! When you lose we will “role model” how to be humble and gracious in that loss and accept the election
I just feel so many who voted for him are low info voters . They’re not doing the research. It’s not that hard. Add to that, January 6th was not talked about enough in the media !
100% and Trump is inheriting a great economy and a large deficit to manage. It's much more likely that he'll have a recession by the end of his term than not.
One thing dems need to change is their media strategy though. Legacy media has be proportional to its reach.
I’m more resolved than ever that I’m on the correct side. I have no egotistical need to be right; I just need to look in the mirror and know I have morals that guide everything I do. I know a lot of moral equivocators.
I’ve said the same to many folks that wished for a normal primary. I think it’s very likely we would have gotten Harris but weakened by the process. She was a great candidate. The electorate sucks.
This! She had 108 days to overcome Team Felon’s advantages in planning time plus entrenched misogyny, racism, billionaire oligarchy, organized voter disenfranchisement, and, oh yeah, *ideological purity tests from those who don’t understand or care that voting is harm reduction.*
Comments
peace.
They already had bsky analysis showing troll/shithead accounts that get mass blocked early are quickly abandoned.
What happened wasn’t the fault of a pro democracy movement. It was the fault of the ushering in autocracy with glee. It was the hate outpacing the joy.
IF delusional narcissist Joe Biden dropped out a year ago, or even 6 months ago you could. Fascist trump will be his legacy
Although it won't. Not any more.
These were the last.
All future _procedures_ would be profanation ruzzian-style "elections" with predefined results
Self care and recoup! The fight starts!
Definitely a possibility.
I voted for all and they all lost. ISA is too racist to elect a female president.
It had never been done that close to the Election.
This is what I’ve been waiting to hear.
For those who wanted a primary race (Pelosi 😡), it just wasn't feasible. Biden dropped out in July, and the convention was the next month. Can you imagine if 15 had stepped up? Utter chaos.
Better COLA for SS next year.
We all know who is on the wrong side of history. The question is how long do we have to wait before they have their come to Jesus moment?
The American people deserve a hand recount in the swing states!
Call members of Congress,and write to Biden and Harris
#Recount2024
https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
You can’t help but question yourself, if only for a moment. I believe I am on the right side of history.
Therapists are gonna make good money the next four years.
One thing dems need to change is their media strategy though. Legacy media has be proportional to its reach.
Just curious.