(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . 2028 [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-11-24 My focus is now on winning the presidency (and other offices) in 2028. I think that should be the organizing principle of all progressives and the Democratic Party, effective immediately. Understanding the election losses this year is certainly important. But it is only important in relationship to winning future elections. And I’m skeptical that knowing why we suffered losses this time will help us win in the future. The most important thing to winning elections isn’t the right people or the right policy or the right campaign. It’s the right energy. Going into 2028 with winning energy is the key to winning those elections. And we should establish that now. We need to establish unstoppable success momentum. Every project has setbacks. So, at the beginning, it is imperative to create the right framework. The right framework is: We will have setbacks. When we do, we will fix things, and we will go on to success. We will be successful. It’s inevitable. To win in 2028, we (Democrats) immediately need to establish unstoppable success momentum. We should define the Trump Administration as a failure and remind the public at every turn we are better and we can do better. Then, we run the candidates that best embody our principles and our values. We have great principles and values. We believe in America’s core principles. Our party believes everyone is born equal and should have a chance to pursue happiness. The fascists don’t, and they should be turned out of office at every opportunity. In addition, the world in four years will be different from today’s world. Fixing problems we identify in the election this year may tell us little about how to win in 2028. Given human nature, we are seeing a lot of attempts to understand why we lost. Some people even think our losses were catastrophic. They weren’t. Painful as they are, we barely lost this election. Elections officials are still counting the popular vote (particularly in California), so we don’t know the exact outcome, but the presidential results are certainly close. As of 23 November 2024, the popular vote totals were (from The Associated Press as reported by Google): Donald Trump 76,830,069 49.987% Kamala Harris 74,318,105 48.352% Others 2,552,578 1.661% “Others” include: Jill Stein, Green Party Robert Kennedy, Independent Chase Oliver, Libertarian Party All others I consider people voting for Robert Kennedy as sympathetic to Trump, and people voting for Jill Stein as sympathetic to Kamala Harris. If we add their votes, about 50.475% were sympathetic to Trump, and about 48.856% were sympathetic to Harris. The other 1.661% are true independents who don’t appear sympathetic to either side. And I’m open to the argument that a vote for Kennedy indicated support for Democrats, not sympathy for Trump. (I gave you three decimal places, because the votes are really, really close, so the thousandths matter.) This suggests the fascists barely eked out a pathetic 0.475% majority of the votes cast, and most people casting votes probably didn’t think they were voting for fascists, anyway. Despite what you might hear in the media, this was not a convincing win. And it was further distorted by the fact that Democrats had an uphill battle defending more seats in the Senate. That won’t be true in 2026, for example. It was also distorted, as always, by voter suppression, Russian propaganda, and other factors that favor Republicans in every election these days. However, in surveying articles about the campaign, I have seen a couple suggestions why we lost that are based in fact. The economy, as actually experienced by the humans living in it, is bad. The country is too prejudiced to elect a woman President, especially a woman of color. The voters fear immigrants either because they worry about their jobs or because they worry about their safety. Voters have a negative opinion of Democrats, and President Biden in particular. Let’s talk about the economy first. One of the few helpful articles I found about the election was from Andrew Perez in RollingStone, where he says: There are plenty of factors that could help explain why Vice President Kamala Harris lost. [Long list of unhelpful ideas ignored here.] The most likely explanation, however, for why Harris lost is the most basic one: Americans are deeply dissatisfied with a brutal economy. — Why Kamala Harris Lost — And Why It Wasn’t Close By Andrew Perez, 6 November 2024 (BTW, it was close.) He cites exit polls and other statistics to back up this claim. For example: Early on in the pandemic, the U.S. Census Bureau started asking Americans questions about the state of their household — including whether it’s difficult to pay typical household expenses. When Trump lost in 2020, the percentage of Americans who said it was difficult to pay their bills was around 34 percent. That figure climbed until Congress passed new pandemic aid programs, at which point, it dropped considerably. As those aid programs came to a close, the percentage of Americans struggling to pay their bills spiked — and Biden’s approval ratings fell. He says, “Exit polls and other survey results coming out of the 2024 election are incredibly clear that this contest was, as is often the case, about the economy, stupid.” I admit I was wrong about this. I believed that Americans, though complaining about the economy, were actually doing pretty well because of recent increases in wages, which were outpacing inflation. It turns out this was not enough to put them back in the position where they could meet their living expenses as well as before the rampant inflation that came with the pandemic. And even though intellectually they may have known that this was because of Republican policies, they still blamed it on Democrats because that’s who was in office. The actual state of the economy isn’t the entire explanation, though. The Biden Administration was just objectively better about the economy than the Trump Administration. Of course, they could not make it as easy for people to pay their bills in 2022 as it was in, say, 2018. But how people feel about their lot and what they expect from their politicians is also shaped by messaging. The Biden Administration could have said, “Gas prices are high because Russia invaded Ukraine, and we are releasing oil from the national reserve to stabilize prices. Times are tough because the civilized world is under attack by barbarians. But, hang in there with us. We are using the tools at our disposal to help you out, because we care about you. (Unlike the Republicans.)” As the government, the President can’t be too partisan. But at the same time, Democrats should not unilaterally disarm. The President is within his rights to talk about the reason gas prices went up and what the Administration is doing about it. Thus, the part up to the phrase “stabilize prices”. But then, the party should pick that up and add the other part, the part about barbarians attacking and how little Republicans care about people. It’s opinion, of course. But it’s true opinion. This is where Democrats lost the election to the Republicans. On each of these points, we didn’t fight back and win. So, let’s talk about how to win in 2028. Let’s start with our brand. If I read it once, I read it a thousand times, people saying that they blamed their economic struggles on Biden. Here is a guy who literally walked the picket lines to get them higher wages, and they still claimed the economy was poor and blamed that on him. Here’s a guy who literally got their pensions restored, and they still blamed him. And here is Kamala Harris, who got billions of dollars for homeowners, and they still think she’d be bad for their pocket books. This goes back to our brand. Billions of dollars of propaganda have convinced Americans that Republicans are better on the economy. There’s no objective evidence to back up that claim. In his book, Japanese in Action, Jack Seward says that some people have what he calls a “fool valve”. This is a faulty concept that prevents them from experiencing the truth. In his case, his Japanese ryokan host repeatedly bypassed him to converse in Japanese with his companion, who didn’t speak Japanese. This, despite many examples of Seward understanding and speaking Japanese in his presence. Finally, in exasperation, Seward contrived to have him observe him giving a ryokan maid a lesson in Japanese. This experience was so far beyond the guy’s comprehension that it spun his fool valve around until it landed in a new position. The man deeply apologized to Seward, saying he didn’t realize Seward’s ability to speak Japanese. Democrats need to spin voters’ fool valves around, so that they can stop in a new direction, a direction commensurate with REALITY. With regard to the economy, we need a unified message: “Democrats are better on the economy than Republicans.” This message should be part of every discussion our team has in public about anything related to the economy. It should be as ubiquitous as “a noun, a verb, and 9/11”. More prevalent, in fact. This goes to a more profound reason why Democrats lost many offices this year. We are living in an environment rigged to elect Republicans no matter the reality. Democrats are better managing the economy than Republicans. The Biden Administration (with Democrats in Congress and the Federal Reserve System) were enormously successful in restoring the economy. All the people who feel like they lost ground in the economy would be vastly worse off right now if Trump and Republicans had stayed in power. It’s just hard for them to believe that because their experience is with the economy we have, not the economy Republicans would have given them. The Biden Administration (with Democrats in Congress and the Federal Reserve System) were enormously successful in restoring the economy. All the people who feel like they lost ground in the economy would be vastly worse off right now if Trump and Republicans had stayed in power. It’s just hard for them to believe that because their experience is with the economy we have, not the economy Republicans would have given them. Kamala Harris is by just about every measure better suited to be President than Donald Trump. On both foreign and domestic policy, her policies are better for the country. She’s more stable and more competent. She’s more grounded in reality. She better represents the American people to the world because she’s an actual American with actual American values, not a fascist kook. But the American people were not willing to look past her race and gender to pick the better candidate. This demonstrates why we need to get rid of racism and sexism in this country. It’s bad for us, and it’s bad for the world. On both foreign and domestic policy, her policies are better for the country. She’s more stable and more competent. She’s more grounded in reality. She better represents the American people to the world because she’s an actual American with actual American values, not a fascist kook. But the American people were not willing to look past her race and gender to pick the better candidate. This demonstrates why we need to get rid of racism and sexism in this country. It’s bad for us, and it’s bad for the world. Voters fear immigration, even though Democrats are better at handling immigration than Republicans. Constant Republican propaganda has vilified immigrants to the point where there are people who actually believe some of them are eating our pets. Republicans are now in a position to deport immigrants, seriously harming our economy. The racism behind this fear will cause damage to the United States. But that racism is so ingrained that Republicans were able to run this scam (again) enough to pick up votes, maybe enough to win the presidential race. All this goes back to how we have let Republicans define reality in our culture and game our elections. If we are going to win in 2028, we need to address the political environment. It’s only four years, so we are probably not going to change our culture radically or establish significantly more effective democracy. But remember that the net difference in the presidential popular vote was only 1.634% as of the latest tally. A shift of less than 0.9% would have given us victory. (Yes, of course, that change would have had to happen in swing states.) Just to put too fine a point on it, getting another 1% of the votes in our column by taking them from their column would have won. My recommendation: Start changing the political landscape. Shape the battlefield for 2028 as much to our advantage as possible. Specifically: Attack Republicans on their economic performance. They promised the public a pony. There isn’t any way for Republicans to give them a pony, especially while giving increased tax breaks to the wealthy. Every campaign promise, from raising tariffs to deporting immigrants, is a recipe for raising inflation. Attack everything they do as bad for the public. They promised the public a pony. There isn’t any way for Republicans to give them a pony, especially while giving increased tax breaks to the wealthy. Every campaign promise, from raising tariffs to deporting immigrants, is a recipe for raising inflation. Attack everything they do as bad for the public. Attack racism. It is un-American. Show how each of the things Republicans try to do is racist at its core. Their attack on DEI is racist. We need DEI to get us access to the best people for every task. Racism, sexism, bigotry, and all the other synthetic prejudices exclude the best people, weakening the U.S. and making us less competitive in the world. It is un-American. Show how each of the things Republicans try to do is racist at its core. Their attack on DEI is racist. We need DEI to get us access to the best people for every task. Racism, sexism, bigotry, and all the other synthetic prejudices exclude the best people, weakening the U.S. and making us less competitive in the world. Attack misogyny. The current transition team picked numerous sex pests and outright rapists. The point is that this administration wants to abuse women. If they can’t even respect the human rights of women, how can we expect them to respect human rights for other marginalized groups? The current transition team picked numerous sex pests and outright rapists. The point is that this administration wants to abuse women. If they can’t even respect the human rights of women, how can we expect them to respect human rights for other marginalized groups? Set the record straight. Republicans have been gaming every election for years. The moment someone mentions “voter fraud”, we need to hit them with facts. The phrase “voter fraud” is racists. It doesn’t mean they think there was voter fraud. It means they think Black people voted. Republicans have used voter suppression and gerrymandering to prevent our government from implementing the will of the people—which is the essence of democracy. We need fair elections. Even though that would mean fewer Republicans in office. We should be on the offensive these next few years. The Democratic Party has been soft on Republicans. I’m looking for officeholders and candidates who attack Republicans and stand up for our American values. That’s where I plan to put my time, my energy, and my money. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/11/24/2288456/-2028?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/