From TPM Reader NL …

I just had to chime here because I am deeply worried that we will learn the wrong lessons from 2024. 

I understand Reader DS’s (#7) frustration with the outcome, but Reader AJ (#4) is much closer to the mark in my book. Look, 2024 was not a landslide for Trump. What makes 2024 so disappointing is that the map looks a lot like the House vote in 2022. Biden’s approval rating has basically been steady since late 2022. The economic conditions do not feel much different than 2022. Prices might not be rising, but they are pretty high relative to 3-4 years ago. Interest rates are high and housing is in short supply. A whopping 67% of people think the country is on the wrong track. Like many others, I thought the democracy argument would win the day. It did not. 

From TPM Reader CK …

I’ve been a reporter in North Carolina for 30 years, covering the coast and rural counties. For many months, and continuing to this day, there are millions and millions of dollars of Biden Infrastructure and IRA funds pouring into rural communities here for projects to address needs that have been neglected or ignored for decades: wastewater treatment system upgrades, removal of lead pipes in water systems;  repairs of rotting boardwalks and docks in small waterfront and fishing communities; mitigation of saltwater intrusion in farm fields, flood resilience in low-elevations; etc, etc. They’re all necessities that will result in real honest-to-god improvements in people’s lives. Virtually none of the beneficiaries — fishers, farmers, residents in communities vulnerable to sea level rise— have any idea that Biden was the reason they have those improvements, or will be getting them soon (when Trump will no doubt take credit.)  The Democrats and the administration should have been bragging constantly and everywhere about the funds and the economic recovery. Government subsidies have lifted a nascent renewables industry into a booming profitable job-creator. Again, the messaging to the public about all of these economic factors should have been short, sweet and constant.   And Kamala Harris should have included rebukes to Trump lies about the economy in her talking points. 

From TPM Reader LL …

Like everyone else in the TPM community, I’m still reeling from the recognition that a majority of voters (not just electors) chose Trump, knowing what he is and what he’s promising to bring to a second term.  Like you, I think Harris ran the best campaign she possibly could, or at least didn’t make any obvious mistakes.  I don’t know if I quite accept that she was dragged down by Biden’s unpopularity, though I also admit I still don’t really understand why Biden was so unpopular.  Was it his policies (which I for one thought were mostly really good for the country)?  Was it his inability to “message” his policies?  (a trope that’s haunted Democrats for as long as I can remember, I now see it as a bit of a canard or at least a truism.)  Was it Gaza?  

In any case, as in 2016, I see a perfect storm of factors, rather than one in particular, that led to Trump’s victory.  Some of them overlapped with those of 2016 (media complicity, information/disinformation silos, sexism), some of them were new (the pandemic; Gaza), and some of the 2016 factors weren’t present this time (mainly the long shadow of the right’s pathological obsession with Hillary Clinton).  But then, as now, the one big factor I think we on the left continue to underestimate because it’s anathema to us, is Trump’s very real, very potent reptilian appeal. 

From TPM Reader GG …

My reaction to the election results is more straightforward than I expected: I’m not in the mood for national conversations for a while. Local, sure. Regional, definitely. But it feels like for a couple of decades now we’ve been trying a float-all-boats progressivism and it’s been responded to with spite, manipulation, deception and counterintuitivity by exactly the sort of people we’ve been fighting to help. 

I HAVE good healthcare in my area – I wanted to prevent healthcare deserts for rural areas. I can likely get the reproductive healthcare I need if I need to – I wanted everyone to have that. I wanted young families to have childcare options so they can work and live, despite the fact that I can pay for it myself if I need it. I see Ukraine and think it’s the start of something much bigger and bloodier and costlier TO US if we don’t step up now. I was willing to pay higher taxes in my bracket to make those things happen.  

From TPM Reader DS …

I’m a first time writer-in, but have read virtually all of your ed blogs since 2016. First, thank you for what you do, all of it. This was the only news source I checked on election night. I have not gone deep at all into media coverage this time around, but as soon as I heard Trump won again in 2024 it felt clear to me the reason is that he had a female candidate. This unique unfit and misogynistic man can beat Hillary Clinton & Kamala Harris but not Joe Biden. I believe Biden was an average candidate, and Clinton & Harris were exceptionally good candidates, with Harris having the advantage of not being a Republican bogeyman. I think this decision is not a pure economic or incumbency one, but one that requires a large percentage of the voting population to not be willing to stand for a female president. I say this as a woman and a mom of two daughters. It reminds me of companies who have all female directors but no women in the C-suite bc each qualified woman is discounted for “individual” reasons.

The post-mortems that Dems go through every time we lose an election are brutal and stupid. Everything is thrown at the wall, we argue for months over tiny issues that we’re sure lost us the election.

This one is simple:

From TPM Reader RL …

Good morning, my name is R(***) L(***) and I’ve been a long time reader going back probably 15+ years. I really enjoy reading your content, and lately I’ve been listening to your podcast as well. I’m listening to Episode 348 and just wanted to offer Miss Riga support on her analysis – at around 19:00 – that while we should be mindful of the message and how we shape it and who we target as Democrats, whether you are a progressive Democrat or (like myself) a pro-labor Democrat. I’m really aware of the fact that as a firefighter, we have firehouse kitchen table talks daily. I am constantly finding myself saying “Where are you getting your information from?” And the reality is that people are in their own bubble because of social media and the way people consume media now. 

From TPM Reader AJ …

Twenty-two year reader here.  I came back for a visit today looking for some astute commentary with grim humor, but there’s none to be found — which is appropriate, given the circumstances.

Last night, and like many others, I felt ill upon realizing that this was the new political reality: an unabating descent into authoritarianism and autocracy.  As a lawyer, I cannot imagine what is going to happen to our federal judiciary — both the Supreme Court and otherwise.  I know that my illness has become a chronic one.  I know that it won’t go away, and it may even result in my/our demise.  Nevertheless, I feel oddly calm.

More concretely, in analyzing the election results, I want to offer the following thoughts

From TPM Reader TS …

A period of reflection and stand down might make sense.  Two things will need to happen going forward in 2025: