The 40 Democratic Party Moments That Led to Their Epic Loss (Full Edition)
This will be my last article about the 2024 Election and the DNC, because quite frankly every time I research and reminisce about the political events that has shaped the current situation, we find ourselves in, I just get mad and overly stressed out. I’m just tired of battling against the MAGA cult for so long only to see them end up in the White House again. What makes this all the more frustrating is how this had been in the works for years, this was a very preventable situation (on multiple instances) but the Democratic Party just don’t know how to properly govern or properly read the political room.
It is going to be awful moving forward, this I can guarantee, unless you are in the upper class.
Smaller states are going to suffer immensely, the in-fighting that will occur within the White House will stall any semblance of progress or governing. I fully expect the Elon Musk/Donald Trump relationship going south very early in 2025. I fully expect the slew of poor decisions affecting those who voted for him in the first place. I have zero positive thoughts concerning the upcoming Trump Administration. But like I said, if the Democratic Party had not been so ridiculous, we wouldn’t even be here today. Everyone is now writing their think pieces as to where it all went wrong, when there really isn’t any main thing to point to. Personally, I believe many MANY decisions and events led to the disastrous 2024 results, with some having more impact than others but overall providing a package of inevitability that gives us Donald Trump 2.0.
I am going to provide a list of 40 events, decisions, circumstances, moments, and inactions surrounding the frustrating Democratic Party that has taken us directly towards the path of more political ridiculousness under a deranged, bigoted, narcissist, Christian supremacist cult.
For the record: there are many people and circumstances to blame outside of the DNC, and there are many MANY elements within American culture and American history also responsible for Trump winning. I’m not here to deny the sexism, racism, bigotry, extremism, post-Manifest Destiny-isms that persist within our ecosystem that also results in large swaths of people to always seek ways to harm the more vulnerable and our most maligned minorities, as a reminder. Nonetheless, with proper planning and decision-making we could have been able to overcome those major obstacles to move towards a more progressive, inclusive, and joyful country.
Chapter One: Before The Obama/Biden Era
Source: Wikipedia
1) The Formation of The Electoral College (and the eventual misinterpretation of Trump’s “shift”)
Let’s get this out of the way: we have to stop talking about the election results as if -everyone- voted. Voter turnout constantly hovers between 50% to 70%, which is still significantly lower than it has any right to be. Even the 2020 election which saw record numbers, only experienced 67% voter turnout, barely 2/3rds of all registered voters. By the looks of it the 2024 election will hit numbers close or just under 2020’s results.
If 70% of the country shows up to vote in the midterms and general elections, the Democrats would likely win every single election and can likely kill the Republican Party for eternity. Donald Trump despite his wins remains a very unpopular candidate, there is no widespread satisfaction at him returning to the White House. That being said, even in 2020 the satisfaction of a Biden win wasn’t as big as it was the relief that Donald Trump was no longer in charge as the pandemic ravaged on and kept its killing streak going. I think the last time a country had an elongated happy streak at the results was Barack Obama back in 2012, and even then there were underbellies of frustration.
The entire political process to electing our future leaders remains fundamentally broken. Most of the White House don’t understand how technology works, there’s a non-zero chance that Donald Trump even stays alive during the next four years because of his advanced age and his increasing dementia, and we see many politicians remaining in government only to collect fat checks while ignoring their constituents. But the biggest culprit as to why we’re in such a muck politically is because the electoral college still exists.
I have screamed for decades about how the Electoral College needs to be Bin Laden’d, as in killed quickly and unceremoniously, then tossed into the ocean so that nobody can find it and attempt to memorialize it. The Electoral College produces poor candidates, it allows many more opportunities for fraud, it disincentivizes voters in larger states or “Solid Red” or “Solid Blue” states, and it sometimes produces results that doesn’t properly reflect the wills and desires of the people.
Take this election for example: Donald Trump clearly won and I’m not going to dispute that, but his “gains” in New York and other Blue regions are fake---these are states already essentially guaranteed to be Blue States so combine that with the annoyance of the process and the disappointment in what the Biden Administration has become, and you’ll find many democratic and progressive voters skipping the process altogether.
The Democratic Party continues playing checkers when the game is chess, they continue playing battleship when its actually monopoly, they think they’re playing Gran Turismo when the game is actually Mario Kart. Popular vote does not actually matter, it never has, and the Dems need to understand how to appeal to the widest range of voters in select states while also tossing a bone to the strongholds to ensure the guarantee remains. New York got zero attention from Kamala Harris, and it makes sense because Trump will forever be unpopular there. At the same time, they have also basically abandoned the states of Florida and Texas despite their combined total of registered/identified liberals and progressives can likely outnumber the totals of all of New England---all because of the Electoral College.
The Electoral College will never allow us to have the best candidates and representatives of the nation, and this is a huge reason for why we’re stuck with Trump again---even with him winning the popular vote, its an unearned popular vote that is a result of millions of voters giving up altogether or not voting in guaranteed Red or guaranteed Blue states. Mississippi only saw 50% voter turnout, same with Tennessee, these are frustrated people never showing up. The Deep South has a significantly more diverse population than you may think, but you’d never know it because those minority groups don’t see the point. And soon, Florida will also join those ranks of being Solid Red states with low turnouts moving forward.
Kill the Electoral College. And I would have said this even if Kamala Harris had beat Trump while losing the popular vote.
2) 22nd Amendment Not Expanding its Rules
This is one of my more unpopular takes among the progressive circles despite associating myself with the Far-Left, the Bernie Bus folks, but I think presidents should be allowed to continue running past a second term, instead setting the limit at four. I understand why the 22nd Amendment was passed, but I’m pretty sure they never anticipated the ridiculousness happening in the 21st century, but there’s a bigger problem at hand.
The 22nd Amendment never expanded its idea of term limits to the Supreme Court justices and House/Senate members. The lack of term limits has produced some of the grimiest politicians to walk this earth, which includes the likes of Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham, Nancy Pelosi, and the died-without-an-impact Dianne Feinstein. Not ensuring that there’s always a rotation of politicians within all branches of government (ESPECIALLY THE SUPREME COURT) has also greatly participated in what we’re seeing today. The Democratic Party of the 20th century of course is very different from what it is today, but either way they never cashed in on such an opportunity as they rode of FDR popularity all the way to the 1950s era of Eisenhower.
But imagine a third term of Eisenhower, imagine a third Bill Clinton term, imagine if Obama had been allowed to run against Donald Trump instead of Hillary Clinton. I’m not saying they should be president forever if voters desired, but part of what harms these administrations (on BOTH sides) is the strategies of the House and Senate members trying their damndest to outlast the president’s term by stonewalling and tossing political obstacles while hoping all the inaction will turn the political tides on their favor. But if everyone had term limits and the president had the longest allowed time to serve, then you’ll see fewer old guards doing basically nothing while collecting checks and while the American people suffer.
3) Citizen’s United
Bernie Sanders has constantly screamed about how this is likely the biggest game-changer in American politics today. I feel like we have completely forgotten about the Colbert Report shenanigans that revealed how dangerous and how ridiculous this all is. Unlimited money poisoning the political process has definitely been the linchpin to necessary change desperately needed in the election systems. The superpacs, the giant corporate donations, the billionaires pulling the strings has screwed us all, and will continue screwing us all for as long as the citizen’s united decision continues existing.
The Democratic Party’s catastrophic 2024 loss can actually be directly traced to this decision, as multiple times Big Money tossed their influence in Democratic primaries involving progressives trying to stop Israeli government’s ongoing war crimes and even had a hand in kicking out Biden after the awful debate performance.
Of course the Democratic Party doesn’t have to rely on big donors to make decisions or fund their campaigns, instead relying on the progressive strategy of accepting donations from everyday Americans, or at the very least they could have limited the amount they’re willing to accept from anyone willing to give them funds. Bernie Sanders in 2015 infamously turned down the donation of a CEO that wanted to obstruct his efforts to lower drug prices. But Big Money will always come out on top, it has become hard to find loyalty when millions are being waved in front of your face.
The funny thing about loyalty is that those with the most money will also have the worst loyalty when their bottom line suddenly is being threatened to start decreasing ever so slightly. Joe Biden will learn this lesson the hard way in 2024. But first we have to discuss other moments leading up to the 2020 election that shaped the Democratic Party’s inner turmoil and controversies and questionable decisions that would lead them down a dark path they didn’t realize would doom them badly.
Chapter Two: The Obama/Biden Era
4) Learning Nothing From Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street was a very disorganized movement that nonetheless brought up a lot of excellent points that was promptly ignored by the Obama Administration and the White House entirely. A giant slew of young, fed-up New Yorkers decided to cause a ruckus in the Wall Street territory after seeing all the bailouts and none of the culprits of the destroyed economy getting punished. Even though there wasn’t a clear endgame and there were no organized actions to do some true damage to those the protesters felt anger towards, the influence of the movement would inspire future movements for the next several years---including when a certain senator from Vermont decided to shock the world.
Similar to how the Tea Party Movement eventually gave us MAGA, the Occupy Wall Street Movement would give us Bernie Sanders’ 2016 run and the rise of a certain Puerto Rican candidate we’ll discuss later. The Democratic Party had a great opportunity to embrace them, and as history will show, it never actually happened.
P.S. Nancy Pelosi signaled her support for Occupy Wall Street, years later she’d be worth over $80 million thanks to obvious insider trading. Fun world we live in. .
5) RBJ Not Dropping Out
Ruth Beth Ginsberg not dropping out had some significant consequences that will harm the rights of women and minorities for decades to come---barring a significant change in the number of justices we have. Call it brave, call it defiance, I call it selfishness and cowardice to not let your ego aside in the midst of potential political turmoil. So of course, she passes away and in less than one month, we get Amy Coney Barrett representing the conservative Supreme Court justices undoing everything RBJ had worked so hard for.
6) Bernie Sanders Being Told to Not Challenge Barack Obama in 2012 Election
Legend has it, Bernie Sanders was prepared to challenge Barack Obama in the primaries, but was talked out of it by then-Senate leader Harry Reid. Bernie Sanders was so close to actually doing it that it frightened the re-election team around Obama, leading to plenty of behind-the-scenes drama and begging to reconsider. Bernie is notoriously stubborn with his decisions, so it mist have taken an entire army to pull him away from the possibility of being on that ticket. But the 2012-2016 Obama Administration must have angered him even further, because we all know what happened afterwards. Once again, the DNC fearing his 2012 run is a sign of things to come.
7) Bernie Sanders’ Shocking 2016 Run and Challenging the DNC
If you want an example as to how unexpected his run was, look at the minimal fanfare when he first announces his run, look at the lack of attention and pizzazz. He’s just a simple man, in front of a microphone, finally being fed up with everything happening and wanting some significant changes. Bernie believed that none of his colleagues were willing to do the work and changes needed to truly help the middle class. Being in politics since the 1970s, Bernie Sanders has just about all the experience needed to see what needs fixing and how it would be accomplished.
Of course Hillary Clinton didn’t take him seriously, hell most of the media didn’t take him seriously, and boyyyyy oh boyyyyyyy was that a mistake.
Months later when the debates started, Bernie Sanders started making significantly more leeway than anyone ever expected. The Independents were strongly backing him, and it was becoming clear that Hillary Clinton might have a problem if the cracks around her political armor continue showing. Then Hillary Clinton loses Michigan in the primaries, and this particular loss might have been the biggest piece of evidence that unless her campaign makes sweeping changes she’s losing to Donald Trump later that year.
We all know what happens afterwards, Bernie refuses to drop out until the bitter end when his campaign felt like they were fighting an extremely uphill battle with mistreatment and the superdelegates having way more power than the regular delegates that would otherwise pledge for him. Yes Hillary Clinton ultimately won, but the Democratic National Convention is going to have to face the Bernie Bros after damning information would be revealed to the press just a few days before the event.
8) The WikiLeaks Fiasco
This event at the time was already massive, but its impact wouldn’t even be measured until after the 2016 election is over and it has become clear that the Democratic Party has some major problems they need to confront. The e-mails revealed by WikiLeaks would display the disdain the DNC has towards Bernie Sanders, his campaign workers, his fans, and the overall campaign. The optics are enhanced by the fact that Bernie ran an anti-corruption campaign that discussed how higher powers with money are getting in the way of the needs of the American people.
So imagine how Bernie supporters felt when they saw that their fears turned out to be true; imagine the feeling of finally feeling like you can defeat Big Business years after Occupy Wall Street’s failures, years after the economic crash that took everyone’s homes and livelihoods, only to see a long-running politician take the prize because the entire political party demanded it to happen that way.
The Democratic National Convention became a hotly contested event with many angry people protesting, voicing their displeasures, and it led to a nomination that didn’t feel earned, a nomination that may not be strong or supported enough to take down the obvious threat happening on the other side: Donald Trump.
For the record, Hillary Clinton is a better candidate than Donald Trump every day of the week. However, the DNC definitely tipped the scales and this kind of behavior would continue for the next several elections, despite all the grumblings and warnings against behaving in such a manner. If the people that politically think like you feel like they don’t have a voice, why would they vote? Why would they want to participate? 2016 Bernie Sanders was always a longshot, but this was only the beginning of the massive infighting that is to follow in the years ahead.
9) Hillary Clinton’s Stupid Book Continuing the Infighting
In 2017, Hillary Clinton would release a book about the 2016 election, and let’s just say this did nothing to fan the flame of “Bernie Would Have Won,” and did nothing to potentially mend some of the broken bridges between the growing progressive movement and the centrist Democrats who are still shell-shocked at losing all branches of government for at least two years.
The book details a blame game in which shots were taken at Bernie Sanders and his campaign. Hillary essentially blamed Bernie for campaigning very hard against her, and unexpectedly opening the door for the Donald Trump win. The book never went into detail as to why they felt like never campaigning in the Midwest, why they assumed her experience and name recognition would have been enough to become president. Instead, shots at Bernie would only further anger those who wanted him as the Dem ticket.
10) Andrew Gillum’s Epic 2018 Run (WE WERE SO CLOSEEEEEEE)
This one hurt immensely, but it also showcases the proof of how the margins can truly take us in different paths. Imagine Ron DeSantis never winning, imagine Gillum blessing Florida with some much-needed democratic socialism after decades of Republican rule in Tallahassee. Imagine finally actually making progress instead of seeing Florida as a giant cash cow for tax-dodging selfish millionaires and billionaires. But most importantly, imagine seeing Diet Trump defeated and preventing the “Red Wave” from continuing to engulf Florida.
While Bernie Sanders has always provided the blueprint on how to defeat people like Donald Trump, Gillum became a great example on how to handle the MAGA bullies by calling DeSantis a racist to his face. If a state like FLORIDA was so willing to embrace major changes, what would prevent other states from seeking the same? I truly believe that Gillum winning would have strongly propelled the democratic socialist movement, but I also did remember seeing not too much support from the Democratic Party because of his ties to Bernie. And yes, I acknowledge some of the things that happened to him afterwards, but who is to say that he behaves the same way had he won? I severely doubt he ends up in that infamous Miami party if he were running the state in Tallahassee.
But that didn’t stop the Bernie Bus movement from earning a shocking victory elsewhere---
11) Joe Crowley, the 4th Ranking Congressional Democrat, Losing in New York to AOC, Launching a Massive Fissure
There’s a popular episode from the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond called The Angry Family, which had a pivotal moment that should have carried more weight, but because of the sitcom structure it doesn’t create much progress in the narratives of the main characters. The family are sitting with their priest and the teacher as they try to figure out why the son of the main character wrote a book called “The Angry Family,” which strongly implies he is seeing a lot of friction within his parents and the in-laws.
Hang on, I’ll get to the point soon.
Main character Ray’s father finally loudly proclaims the reason for all the friction that had existed throughout the entire show’s run: Ray’s mother Marie still hasn’t accepted the fact that Ray had chosen Debra as his wife as opposed to other potential prospects over the years that Marie may have preferred. It had been a running joke and the source of a vast majority of the conflicts and battles the show had crafted. To see such a direct statement from Ray’s father of all people was a very pivotal moment, and Marie responds by changing the entire topic and throwing a smokescreen at the accusation. Funny enough the show never really circles around that moment ever again, even when there was a small story arc with Marie and Debra not speaking to each other for multiple episodes.
I personally believe Joe Crowley’s unexpected loss was truly the moment in which the Democratic Party became irreversibly upset at the Leftist block, at the Bernie Bus members, and I don’t think this moment in political history gets discussed enough.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez basically crushes Crowley at the primaries and completely wrecks the DNC’s gameplan moving forward. The unabashed democratic socialist from the Bronx arrived, took everyone by surprise, got everyone’s attention, and pretty much revealed herself as someone who was going to align with Bernie Sanders moving forward. This would open the door to AOC receiving significantly more press, hate, attention, and power that a typical House member would typically never see, and it has been this way for several election cycles. AOC is arguably the most-discussed House member of the Democratic Party in Fox News and right-wing media.
Joe Crowley was a long-running Democrat who was rumored to be next-in-line to replace Nancy Pelosi for when she would retire from the House of Representatives. Then, he was still on the ballot in the general election under a different political party despite AOC’s pleas for him to drop out and not potentially split the vote. Split slightly happened but it wasn’t enough to reward her the win and complete the titanic upset.
Now Pelosi sees herself not wanting to retire because the door is open for a Far-Leftist to take the throne, and these centrists would rather die than see such a thing occur. Notice that as of 2024, Nancy Pelosi is STILL trying to maintain political clout when 6 years ago retirement was seemingly in the cards. This can’t be a coincidence.
The Democratic Party is one that enjoys having their long-running members, they like to reward extensive loyalty. This is how Hillary Clinton ends up as the basically-guaranteed nominee in 2016, this is how 2020 plays out with Joe Biden (more on that later), and this is why the Leftists (mostly younger) continues to get blamed for whenever the Dems can’t secure a win.
12) Nancy Pelosi Leading the House of Representatives and Fighting the Squad
Nancy Pelosi becoming the leader was annoying, it was a mess, and it was stupid. I’m sorry, but I truly don’t like this woman. Her behavior towards Trump was so much posturing, her behavior during Black Lives Matter was also ridiculous posturing, and her battles and denouncement of The Squad would disrupt so much potential progress that they would create long-term damage including losing the 2024 election.
13) Bernie Sanders’ Wild Win in Nevada and the Following Backlash
I have talked about this at length over the years, but the 2020 Democratic Primaries were rigged, they were absolutely biased against progressives, especially Bernie Sanders. The DNC re-wrote some rules to allow Michael Bloomberg to continue running and debating, they allowed Big Money to infiltrate the process, but Bernie Sanders was still in the lead at the polls and via donations. No more unexpected surprises, Bernie is back and this time prepared to actually win the whole damn thing.
It would be revealed years later that the DNC ultimately towards the end of the primary process had stopped looking for someone to defeat Trump, they were looking for someone to defeat Bernie. And look at who was among the first major politicians to predict that chaos was about to begin:
Trump is a lot of awful things, but every once in a while he absolutely nails it.
14) The March 2020 Stonewalling of the DNC—from Elizabeth to Joe
I don’t cry often, but I admit I cried when Bernie Sanders dropped out in April 2020. His entire lead, all the momentum, were completely undercut by all the other candidates dropping out and bending the knee towards Joe Biden, including center-lefts and progressives like Kamala Harris and Andrew Yang. When the false rhetoric crafted by a desperate Elizabeth Warren about Bernie being sexist wasn’t enough, one by one everyone started dropping even before Super Tuesday when they could have gained some momentum.
It all felt so unfair, it felt like such an intricate plan to undo the will of the American voters. It felt like for a moment, a progressive truly had a good shot towards the main prize, it felt like we really had an opportunity to bring some of the European policies and ideas that have been proven to work to make its way here. We finally had our opportunity to join the rest of the world in a wide variety of measures other nations would take for granted. And in one month it all became undone, and this was in the middle of a deadly pandemic caused by the very same greed that convinced Bernie to run in the first place. Elizabeth Warren refusing to side with Bernie Sanders remains a thorn on my side, even though they had similar ideas and policies. It will never ever ever make sense to me.
This was likely the moment when voters began turning on the Democratic Party, even if it wasn’t going to be so instantaneous. It was around here when many disenfranchised voters likely felt done, spent, emotionally drained. And I’m sure the Latinos on the West Coast, especially California, Colorado, and Nevada were feeling absolutely crushed when all of Bernie’s appeal with them was being downplayed by the entire DNC. But this disillusionment also affected some of the other politicians running for president as well, whether its for nefarious or for legitimate reasons. Andrew Yang would become Independent and distance himself from the Democratic Party, Tulsi Gabbard, a Bernie supporter in 2016, would end up on the Republican Party and even earned a position in Trump’s cabinet come 2025.
Yet this is where Bernie’s legacy shines, because he would spend the rest of the year strongly campaigning for Joe Biden, despite knowing how close he was to earning the nomination, and how likely it was that the entire party turned on him because of the demands of the rich donors behind-the-scenes.
I have never deviated from the Democratic Party because I will always stand by where Bernie and The Squad stands. But if there’s a moment in which I wanted to quit following politics entirely, if there was a moment in which I would have been willing to let Trump win just out of selfish angry spite, it was this exact moment. I was crushed.
“I have cast some lonely votes, fought some lonely fights, mounted some lonely campaigns. But I do not feel lonely now.” - Bernie Sanders.
15) Bernie Sanders and the Infamous Mittens
Bernie Sanders was also crushed. Even if he was never going to admit it, he was also undeniably pissed. There was no better visual of his emotions as Joe Biden won the election (barely) over Trump than during the inauguration ceremony. We saw all these celebrities, famous singers and performers, and familiar faces showing up at the historic event. It was a joyful occasion, as the country was recovering from the Jan 6th attacks and all the chaos that followed. Let’s remember we had our first woman vice-president, and a Black South Asian vice-president at that. And then here’s Bernie sitting on his seat, obviously cold, obviously disgruntled, became a massive meme for several days.
Memes are a fascinating phenomenon because they always pop up organically, and will pop up for different reasons to unveil different emotions from the population participating in the humor. Sometimes its anger, sometimes its laughing through the pain, and in the case of Bernie, it was out of sympathy and endearment. Regardless of your stances of his ideals and ideas, it has become well-known among all Americans participating in the political process that this is a man who is always about doing the job, he doesn’t care much about the fireworks and the optics.
A Bernie Sanders inauguration would not have been riddled with celebrities, it would not have had a singer performing before the ceremony. It would have been him showing up, making his speech, accepting his pledge, and immediately starting his work with the limited time and resources he is given.
This is the appeal of Bernie Sanders, its not about him, its about doing the job to help as many Americans as possible. Even his apparel is usually about the movement, not about him, its “Not Me, Us.” Bernie’s selfishness is confined to his rhetoric and refusal to budge from it. It will always be medicare for all. It will always be good education for all. It will always be about standing up to Big Money, to Big Corporations, and to always rely on grassroots campaigns to get his message across. He is one of the very few politicians that doesn’t match the Nascar moniker of being bought out by different companies
The Democratic Party got their candidate across the finish line, but sacrificed a lot of permanent voters along the way. They won in 2020 but it wasn’t without angering many MANY voters, and as a reminder Trump still made gains with many different demographics. This was a warning sign that voters were skipping out on elections. Even with the most votes in the history of elections, the turnout still couldn’t cross 70%, and that is despite Donald Trump literally overcharging a global pandemic to unprecedented levels.
The Trump Administration literally helped cause the biggest pandemic in a century, but there were still people who flat out didn’t want to participate in the process. If after everything witnessed between 2016-2020 couldn’t draw people to the polls, then there’s an underlying danger emerging. The Biden Administration had a chance to retain those lost voters, to keep promises made to Bernie throughout the campaign.
So now with Joe Biden and the DNC in full control with Bernie relegated to the Senate background, the Democrats now attempt to steer the ship back to normal waters under uncertain times and a raging pandemic. The MAGA movement has taken a huge hit as Trump has returned back to Florida without participating in a proper process of transferring powers. But it doesn’t matter because Joe Biden has been in politics since the 1970s and has even been vice-president for eight years. He’s definitely experienced enough to handle what’s to come, right?
Um…right?
Chapter Three: The Joe Biden Era
16) The Infamous $2,000 Stimulus Check Controversy
This feels like it happened an eternity ago, but the early stages of Biden’s inability to properly communicate as well as his stubborn ways started here. Biden tried winning the last Senate seat on the runoff election by campaigning on $2,000 stimulus checks that will immediately be passed on an upcoming bill.
Well, the tiebreaking vote was sealed, giving the Democratic Party power in all branches. But the checks turned out to be only $1,400, and Biden stubbornly persisted that Americans had already gotten $600 and therefore with the additional funding it adds to $2,000. But that wasn’t what he was saying during the campaigns. Members of The Squad were rightfully upset that already within the first month into his administration, they are seeing Biden not willing to stand tall when the problems are. It would become the trend moving forward as we see Biden and his team make the right decisions---but only to an extent.
Side-Note: Some of you might think I’ll bring up the Force the Vote movement that was promptly shut down by progressives and led to left-wing media going ballistic to the point of embracing the right-wing media circles, with Jimmy Dore being the stupidest example of this strange trend. But I think there were dark interests in trying to cause this chaos, for it makes good online content, even though the political ramifications in the midst of the non-existent transition period between Trump and Biden were deeper than what the pundits were saying. Pretty sure the Squad didn’t want to introduce more chaos to a White House already deep in it as the lawsuits, violence, and misinformation following the 2020 election persisted. But there is a moment around this time period in which it was exposed by the Far-Left but was largely ignored by the Biden Administration: the Gamestop stock incident.
17) The Infamous Gamestop Shutdown Exposing a Growing Problem
Robinhood froze Gamestop purchases during a very fateful January day, and their actions were followed by many other trade companies doing the same. This led to the stock that had been supported by many small-time investors tanking and losing people a lot of money they felt they deserved. This led to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez investigating, but we never saw true efforts by the administration to really punish the app for essentially robbing all the investors hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars.
To this day the Gamestop stock has yet to recover from its monumental late 2020 to early 2021 run, and to this day of course Wall Street continues doing its same shenanigans without punishment. On top of that, there were other stocks who had experienced wild volatile surges and never got the freeze treatment we saw with Gamestop.
This is one of the rare instances in which you can’t really fault the Democratic Party for causing the problem, but they failed to recognize that this was very likely an entire block of voters who saw their portfolios tank under the Biden years despite seeing Wall Street break records, and they are likely furious about the optics. Even though The Squad sounded the alarm and investigated, without more actual support nothing could have been done.
Now, this isn’t to say Gamestop still has their stock at $100 a share, but at least give the investing gamblers a proper chance to fail, and not allow Wall Street tip the scales only when they deem necessary. We had many who put their life savings into these stocks in hopes of achieving the funding necessary to help themselves and their family during an era of increasing prices but stagnant wages. The battle to destroy the hedge funds and corporate overlords betting against Gamestop was basically Occupy Wall Street II, except it was far more successful but it was also undone by very shady tactics and it cost a lot of everyday people a lot of money.
18) Trump Survived 2021-2024 Without Arrest Despite EVERYTHING
This isn’t worthy of my time, but we all know that a felon with dozens of guilty changes under his belt while still being investigated in multiple states for multiple other crimes should not be allowed anywhere near the White House. Bolivia arrested everyone responsible for their coup, politicians included. Brazil banned Bolsonaro from politics for over a decade, while also chasing after everyone who raided Brasilia in January 2023. It will never ever make sense to me why Trump was allowed to still maneuver around the United States despite obviously committing many legal, financial, and political crimes. I don’t need to hear any counterargument, because they’re all dumb.
19) The Selective Battles in Foreign Policy
Speaking of no accountability, here is the United States’ bizarre record under Biden when it comes to foreign policy: will work with Saudi Arabia despite their human rights record, while strongly criticize Afghanistan under the Taliban. They will continue working deals with China while still harming Cuba and Venezuela with sanctions. Of course to the United States its unacceptable to see Russia trying to invade Ukraine, but they still won’t have the guts to declare Taiwan an independent country that shouldn’t be so politically tied to China, and have yet to fully condemn Israel for taking more of the West Bank. Adding to the hypocrite nature of it all, the United States still has colonies that have yet to become states or free.
The United States has publicly attacked the Dominican Republic for being a potentially unsafe country to visit, while turning a blind eye to Israel while they’re at a one-sided war against Hamas long before October 7th (as they kill American and foreign journalists left and right). This selective methodology of choosing who are the heroes and villains makes it more difficult in the eyes of select voters to view the Democratic Party as the moral superior in the American political system, how can we talk about the dangers of Donald Trump while ignoring the plights of other people in other foreign situations?
The United States remains one of only two major nations to still support the Cuba sanctions, it just doesn’t feel like we have a moral ground to stand on while supporting continued, dated measures of trying to punish bad governments. Yes, Trump supports and has earned the support of dictators. But in the eyes of many voters, especially in the Latin American community, how is the Democratic Party so different?
The Biden Administration spent so much time politically and publicly displaying how they are the party that supports basic rights, how they are the party for law and order, how they are the ones always trying to preserve democracy and decency. But their foreign track record suggests they aren’t that much separated from the Republican counterparts.
20) Zero Scaling Back of Elon Musk’s Growing Government Dependency
The supposed party of the working class, the middle class, allowed Elon Musk and other billionaires to basically do whatever their heart desires while continuing to avoid taxes. Elon Musk with SpaceX has been able to basically engulf millions in government handouts while not making any strides to improve the country. Their focus remains on space while not caring about the American problems at all. What message is the Biden Administration giving to their people when most are living paycheck-to-paycheck and they then see a hopping Elon Musk running multiple businesses, underpaying his employees, avoiding taxes, and still enjoying Biden budget money? And on top of that, purchasing Twitter and running that into the ground without much resistance?
21) Joe Biden Wanting the Democratic Primaries to Start in South Carolina
Back to some of the behinds-the-scenes drama of the DNC we have Joe Biden essentially wanting to reward the state that saved his political life, despite there not being many logistical reasons to make such a change at the time. Not even his biggest DNC supporters were asking for this move in particular, which means this was Biden’s way of scratching the back of those who rewrote the primary process and added value to a state that was clearly going to him, while neglecting the three previous states. Bernie Sanders became the first politician in the entire history of the United States (BOTH parties) to win the popular vote in his first three primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada. This is why the Nevada win was such a huge deal, and why the panic instantly set in with the big donors in the background.
Now, the average American voter isn’t stupid, they are going to find news like this especially from within the anti-Biden corners of social media. A story like this will eventually get enhanced and will make its way to other avenues. Now pretend like you’re a Latino voter in Nevada who was still wrecked by the events of 2020, and then you read this. Don’t you think you would feel slighted? Especially as South Carolina ended up going to Trump in the general election regardless while Nevada battled for Biden?
22) The Tone-Deaf One-Year Anniversary of Jan. 6th
They arrested the protestors, but never arrested the politicians, never arrested Donald Trump, never arrested the right-wing media bigots who helped cause this chaos, and the MAGA movement remained persistent as the threat wasn’t being treated as such. Instead? We get a stupid Hamilton-inspired video commemorating the one-year anniversary. The Dems used this day as an event to hold over the heads of voters instead of an actual political atrocity that should have warranted in significantly more major arrests.
23) Letting the Child Tax Credits Expire Without a Fight
Child poverty got reduced by FIFTY PERCENT thanks to these expanded child tax credits, and the Biden Administration didn’t find a way to extend them. They didn’t fight hard enough to punish those who would dare vote against such an easy, bipartisan, helpful measure. Combine that with the wild increase in prices in a variety of services and goods thanks to the global inflation and unchecked corporate greed and you have a Molotov cocktail of political chaos ready to go off at the worst possible time.
24) Not Finally Killing the Filibuster, and not Dragging Sinema/Manchin For It
The Democratic Party has control of all three branches, and yet could not pass the filibuster that would have immensely helped their agenda moving forward. Joe Biden should have gone Dark Brandon, should have stripped assignments, should have called out the politicians by name. Joe Biden loudly proclaimed “I AM the Democratic Party” to Donald Trump during one of the debates, but throughout the four years was never actually able to corral his own base to fall in line and pass important measures. Since he never was able to work much with a still-bitter Republican Party hellbent on putting obstacles everywhere, he needed the majority of the Dems to comply and help him.
Of course, the Bernie Bus portion kept getting hammered, bamboozled, and lied to by the Pelosis within the House, and then on the Senate side you have an exasperated Bernie Sanders publicly feuding and dragging Sinema and Manchin when Biden refused to do the same. Thid led to a multi-chamber control that led to minimal instant progress, even if they did pass good strong measures that will help everyone in the long run in the form of infrastructure projects and improvements.
The Biden Administration could have used a tough vice president to further the political bullying and pressure, however----
25) Biden Administration Hiding Kamala Harris for Four Years
There’s an understated belief among insiders and political pundits that the Biden Administration set up Kamala Harris to completely fail, they didn’t set her up with the opportunity to properly take over the administration after the first four years. Compare how Biden/Harris looked together with how Obama/Biden appeared during their eight years. It definitely felt like a stronger kinship from 2008-2016, it definitely looked like a strong partnership and with a mutual respect. Now I’m not saying Biden straight up disliked Kamala Harris, but I’m sure he also saw her as some subtle threat towards his legacy as he (selfishly) sought to remain as president for multiple terms instead of the idea of giving her the baton for campaigning starting in 2023 as the primaries for the Republican Party were fast-approaching.
Joe Biden gave her the role of Border Tzar (I mean not really, but she was in charge of finding ways to curb migration from the Latin American countries—-not necessarily stopping them at the U.S. border), which was definitely used against her as the conservatives misunderstood her role (likely for nefarious reasons) and campaigned on it when the shocking switch happened earlier this July. Kamala Harris had the wildly difficult task of figuring out the crisis happening in Central and South America, which not even actual presidents were willing to handle. A longer political leash would have given Kamala endless resources to tackle the problems and likely would have given her a coalition of Latinae journalists, experts, protestors, and activists to work with to see what to do to curb the dangerous migration and to expedite the process towards seeking asylum and legal immigration.
Instead, the immigration topic was largely avoided until the Republicans decided to spend literal years hammering this subject to their audience, and it ended up with Biden siding with the conservatives and crafting a stupid bipartisan border bill that did nothing to actually help the situation. This should not have been Kamala Harris’ role, there should have been better domestic tasks more related to her expertise in criminal justice-----and it was a completely missed layup not giving her the opportunity to work with Merrick Garland to ensure Donald Trump was actually brought to justice.
26) Joe Biden Not Officially Dropping out of 2024 Race After 2022 Midterms
I don’t think there’s a single decision made between 2012 and today that had more of a negative affect than this one. The 2022 midterms was supposed to be a Republican bloodbath, but instead it was a large Blue victory, just with a slight caveat. Many of the Democratic candidates were seen distancing themselves from Biden, with even Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez not willing to endorse a second Biden administration if the time came. This should have been a warning sign, but instead the Biden team saw this midterm victory as a confirmation that the United States wanted more Biden.
There might be more to it.
You see, Bernie Sanders is still in the Senate, still popular among independents and progressives, still on his interviews and press tours promoting his agenda and his beliefs. In his defense, he had not separated himself from Biden entirely, and he even said several times that for as long as Biden is in the running, he’ll step aside and not make another run at the presidency.
Hmmm, notice he never said he’s not going to run for president under any circumstances, and I’m sure the DNC has noticed this as well.
As I previously stated, the DNC wants nothing to do with Bernie Sanders, and this is why the 2020 primaries ended up with strategic drop-outs and endorsements, and this is likely why they moved the primary opener to South Carolina, while also not pushing the issue of Biden dropping out and giving Kamala Harris a shot. I’m positive that Joe Biden was being selfish and believed he could do another four years despite the approval numbers and warning signs, and I’m sure the DNC selfishly backed him because if he’s no longer in the picture, Trump won’t be the only person they have to fight----Bernie Sanders will once again give it another go.
This decision will haunt the Democratic Party for probably decades to come, as it was a party who wanted to have their cake and eat it as well---they wanted to keep the unpopular guy in the driver’s seat to prevent the popular but anti-extreme capitalist and anti-megadonor candidate from potentially taking the wheel, and then they also wanted to ensure Donald Trump doesn’t have a shot at returning. They completely underestimated how unpopular Biden was becoming, and clearly didn’t have a good backup plan in mind, as the donors also started souring on the idea of a Kamala Harris presidency. 2023 was the absolutely perfect year for Biden to announce he’s stepping down after 2024, but not only did he announce he’s running again, but-----
27) Joe Biden Not Allowing an Open Primary Process, leading to a bitter vengeful RFK Jr.
In defense of the DNC, this is the normal practice of ALL presidents, they don’t allow open primaries as they seek a second term, they never want to muddy their chances with challengers within their own party. Donald Trump didnt have an open primary during 2020. Joe Biden, even with the declining numbers, wouldn’t allow the opportunity at all. Bernie Sanders had promised not to run, and the other potential candidates remained in line with the decision.
Except for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and also Marianne Williamson (but she wasn’t as much of a nuisance)
RFK Jr. defied the status quo and directly challenged Biden and criticized his administration in a wide variety of factors. Throughout his time running as a centrist Democrat, he felt that the process was unfair and tilted towards Biden, and that he wasn’t even getting proper protection as someone who was trying to be president. RFK Jr. was indeed the victim of death threats and attempts at harm, and ultimately ended up with more protection provided by the Biden Administration.
But by then, he had already switched to becoming an independent candidate. His polling would never cross the 25% mark, but thanks to the electoral college his presence was an electoral threat, especially among swing states. A lot of this could have been avoided if Biden had actually stepped down and allowed for other Democrats to run. Odds are the appeal of a “different option” would have dissipated if the voters within the Blue Team were actually given the option to pick someone different.
Now, RFK Jr. basically sided with the enemy seemingly out of spite since him and Trump don’t even align on a wide variety of platforms.
28) Not Stopping Netanyahu’s War Crimes or Even Trying
I touched upon this earlier in the article, but once again the “Donald Trump is Bad For People” narrative loses all bite when Israel continues committing its war crimes and the United States under Biden stubbornly continues to lend their unconditional support. Arguably the biggest, most blatant case of genocide the world is currently witnessing, and the United States remains the last major country still on the corner of Israel. Easily the stupidest, deadliest, most infuriating, most ridiculous, and most unacceptable foreign relations decision made by a United States president since the damn Vietnam War.
Bernie Sanders, literally related to people who perished in the Holocaust while he was alive, someone who has lived in Israel, someone who still has family in Israel, is willing to criticize Netanyahu and the government and military. If HE of all people can demand a ceasefire and a two-state solution, then why is the Biden Administration so shy in pursuing the same? Despite the protesting, despite the boycotting, despite harming the profits of multiple companies who were staunchly pro-Israel, despite the obvious evidence of war crimes and horrifying violence, despite the repeated efforts from members within his own administration, Biden continued his defending of Israel.
At some point, it felt like neglect, it felt like Biden had some personal stake in all this.
I couldn’t even chalk it up to age and how long he has seen the conflict, because Bernie Sanders was ALSO in politics when the Munich Olympics had its terrible terrorist attack and when planes were constantly being hijacked from central Israel. The only other possible explanation was his Catholic upbringing and how it’s a Holy War he needs to see through, that or he’s a stupid stubborn old man who refuses to budge when its initially not his idea. Whatever the reason, its unacceptable and will tarnish his legacy forever and always.
Even if Donald Trump would be worse for the Palestinians than Biden and especially Kamala Harris, so much damage had been done that many MANY voters come 2024 would rather let everything fall apart than support someone who allowed so much bloodshed to continue.
29) Biden Accepting Racism with the Bipartisan Border Bill
The Latinos abandoned the Democratic Party?
How about Joe Biden and his colleagues abandoned the Latinos first.
And no we’re not just discussing the Nevada 2020 results, we’re also discussing how Biden embraced the racist, bigoted, and inaccurate argument regarding how the situation at the border is directly connected to missed jobs, missed housing opportunities, spent taxes that would otherwise be used to help everyday Americans, and…I guess missing cats and dogs? The bipartisan border bill was unnecessary and the origins came from a dark source of a Republican Party who was perfectly fine with throwing migrants under the bus and the Biden Administration taking the bait without directly tackling the issue and openly discussing the realities behind immigration.
Here is a list of storylines the Biden Administration could have loudly tackled while combating the misinformation related to the border:
a) Safety Issues? San Diego is literally on the California border and it remains one of the safest big cities in the entire country
b) Legal Americans commit more crimes than illegal immigrants on average
c) Texas and other nearby states are bussing migrants to other regions with the sole purpose of stirring up trouble, not because they are at their financial limits. Why would Greg Abbott ship migrants all the way to Chicago and New York City when there are so many cities and states between them?
d) Texas and other nearby states also do this with homeless people, it’s a long-running strategy
e) Texas is twice as big as Germany while having half its population, and their GDP is more than 2.5 TRILLION
f) More people used to cross the border during the days of Bush and Clinton, more people used to move to New York City than what’s happening today.
g) Immigration is always a net-positive, Germany was pro-immigration in recent decades, which led to them having the third-largest in the entire world.
h) United States is the largest economy in the entire world while also having the third-most land for growth and cultivation, and our population density is less than that of Germany, England, and even Mexico.
These are just a few examples, there are so many more, but instead of being strong enough to take on this misinformation and defend the migrants, Biden touts a bipartisan border bill that puts more money towards the damn wall. What truly drives me crazy is that if you are recognizing this “problem” and want to provide a “solution,” then why would people choose you as opposed to the one who started the narrative and has a far stronger “solution?”
30) Rich Democratic Donors Turn on Biden After Supporting Him---And Nearly Ousted Kamala Harris
Now we’ve made it to summer 2024, months before the election, as Joe Biden has all but secured the nomination to be the Democrat Party representative. Trump and Biden agreed to a debate months before their nominations were even certified because everyone knew the rematch was coming. Donald Trump couldn’t wait to try again; he had years to prepare to tear apart Biden and the DNC. Biden on the other hand, notoriously weak with debates and even weaker when crowds aren’t involved, spent weeks trying to prepare.
And it was a mess. For the record, I didn’t even watch because I knew it was going to be bad, but by the initial reactions I thought he literally shit himself on national television.
The debate was an expected mess, but it was even worse than anyone had feared.
And now the donors got scared.
The rich donors running the Democratic Party since Citizens United got scared, and were at a crossroads. These secret operatives who convinced Bernie not to run in 2012, who chose Hillary Clinton by any means necessary in 2016, who stonewalled Bernie in 2020 for Biden, have now seen their latest decision blowing up in their faces.
It was all but guaranteed that they are going to lose the 2024 election, and Joe Biden doesn’t have the willpower, mental strength, patience, or ability to turn all this around. There’s a smidge of a chance that voters will still show up to vote -against- Donald Trump, but too many mistakes were made and the anger might be too much.
Joe Biden should have dropped out in 2023.
Joe Biden should have demanded a ceasefire and an arms and financial freeze towards Israel by late 2023.
Joe Biden should have arrested Donald Trump in 2022.
Joe Biden should have given Kamala Harris her shot from the beginning.
But all the inaction, all the bipartisan strategy, all the efforts to bring “normality” to a political situation that probably was never going back to what it used to be was doing some severe damage to the Democratic Party and to Biden’s legacy. And they were given a lifeline after the 2022 primaries, and completely wasted it with baffling decision after baffling decision. And all this is just what we know in the surface. We don’t know all the details for now, but I know the drama was intense.
Biden was likely pissed that he took over an absolutely shitty situation that never had to happen had Donald Trump done the most basic presidential things to analyze the situation and be open about it to the public. Instead, an entire pandemic has become politicized while killing tens of thousands on a monthly basis at its peak. I think Biden was stern about having his second term to actually enjoy the fruits of his labor, Kamala, DNC, and approval ratings be damned. He wanted that 2015-2016 period where Barack Obama was coasting with a strong economy and despite the ho-hum approval ratings it was smooth sailing towards the next election.
At the same time, I’m also sure the DNC and the donors were becoming keener to the idea of him dropping out and secretly selecting the next Democrat to continue the pathway of centrist/center-SlightLeft capitalism. But its such a tall task to ask Biden AND Kamala to not run, while also convincing Bernie Sanders that he ALSO isn’t the solution moving forward and shouldn’t get in the way----again. I’m sure since summer 2023 the conversations were happening about the future, about how maybe running again isn’t the best idea. And I’m sure Joe Biden wanted no part of it.
The nudging to reconsider likely began in January 2023 and didn’t intensify until that absolutely brutal debate performance. Then the secrets were being spilled out into the open. Some of the more-famous donors started publicly revealing their displeasure, some anonymous politicians were speaking to journalists in hiding, and the newsmedia turned these rumors into a giant circus of news and discussion.
The progressives, even with a great opportunity to crash the party, remained firm with Biden because they wanted stability and didn’t want to give Donald Trump’s campaign more momentum. Bernie Sanders, who is literally one decision away from having his long-anticipated showdown against Trump, stood by Biden because he knew the same donors that wrecked his political career were now threatening the legacy of Joe Biden. But it was too little, too late. The noise was too loud, the anger was too palpable, and after an error-filled performance in NATO, the writing was all over the wall.
Now we know the story, Joe Biden drops out, Kamala Harris receives overwhelming public and financial support (led by the Progressives and a wild Zoom call) as a way for the Democratic Party to quickly run through their primary process without further controversies, and what seemed impossible before became reality. The donors weren’t going to deny Kamala as well, as the donations hit spectacular records and it would be foolish to abandon the money---as she was the only one allowed to use the cash collected by Biden before his departure.
Now Kamala Harris had just 100 days to campaign and prove that she should be the next president of the United States. This was a tall order, and even in the midst of the positivity and nice vibes in the beginning of the blitzkrieg campaigning it still felt like a tough task to overcome. Even with the strong debate performance, even with the great VP pick, the poll numbers still couldn’t quite create the comfortable separation needed to keep the Democratic voters engaged. The Electoral College was also a daunting task and forced her to campaign in select states as opposed to regions with stronger Democratic support or largely-ignored pockets to pick up a few more voters. Kamala was stuck in the Midwest, and couldn’t even prove herself as a viable option with more debates as Trump cancelled them all.
Kamala Harris also had to carry the burdens caused by the Biden Administration and by the time she realized what she was supposed to do to actually win, it was far too late. Once again for the record, I don’t blame Kamala Harris at all for the electoral performance for she didn’t have enough time. It wasn’t a perfect campaign, but she definitely gave it her all and nobody should fault her in terms of effort or substance. Her strategy of unity, positivity was clear, as she campaigned with billionaires, Republicans, ex-MAGAs, progressives, influential celebrities and singers, and even some under-the-radar voices in the world of podcasts and streaming.
However….
…ten final decisions made within the Democratic Party would seal the party’s fate come November…
Chapter Four: The Blitzkrieg Centrist Campaign
Kamala Harris was put in the most impossible of situations, she had to drag what was increasingly dire circumstances (polling so bad Biden and the DNC was hiding the numbers) and do her absolute best to snatch victory from the jaws of political defeat. We are still counting the votes, but it appears that Kamala Harris did significantly better than what Joe Biden could have dreamed of accomplishing this year. I will stand on the tallest of buildings and shout about how Harris is not responsible for the beatdown the Dems nonetheless received---she just didn’t have enough time.
And also, and it bears repeating, her being a Black woman also has a major effect. For anyone denying this, try to remember/research the backlash around Michelle Obama’s efforts to provide healthier options for school kids, and then compare that with the conversation around Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s nomination to being the Health and Human Services Secretary, the “Make America Healthy Again” movement.
And also also, I’m just going to cut-and-paste this passage from something I had written earlier to remind you of the realities despite the stupidity of the Democratic Party:
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I do not care if you think he’s better for the economy, I do not care if you think he’s better for foreign relations because of his *checks paperwork* relationship with hostile dictators *tosses paper aside*, this man is a danger to over 25 million migrants AND legal Latin American immigrants who don’t look or sound like what he wants Americans to look and sound like. The man has delivered a Nazi-esque rhetoric related to his campaign and his promises, and this is most definitely not an exaggeration. He wants the military battling his political enemies, he wants the police to be allowed to behave with violent hostility to ensure full obedience from all Americans. That feeble old man with far too many attachments to white supremacists and project 2025 doesn’t deserve a second presidency, he deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison, period.
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As the dust settles and it becomes increasingly clear that the DNC, the Biden campaign, and the Harris campaign were at complete odds about their chances and how they should be campaigning, it once again highlights how 100 days was definitely not enough time. Mistakes were made, correctable mistakes were made if there were enough time to adjust strategy.
But even with the bad odds, even with Kamala Harris’ status as a Black South Asian woman working against her, the Democratic Party continued stumbling and making mistakes while tossing thousands of ideas towards Harris and her campaign that likely made her election chances that much more difficult to achieve. Some of the ideas worked, but clearly not enough of them worked, and here are the final 10 decisions/moments that would doom the Dems in the end of this irritating, frustrating, and disappointing election system.
31) The Senate Becoming Eerily Quiet Despite the Advantage
If the Biden Administration wanted to tout results, then maybe they should have made stronger efforts into making the Senate deliver a flurry of ideas and measures throughout the final years, and it just didn’t happen. Bernie Sanders throughout November had discussed how part of the epic loss can be traced to how the Senate seems to be sitting around and waiting for the election season to finish even though they had the advantage and could have at the very least continued fighting for everyday Americans by bringing up a variety of measures. And it just didn’t happen. It doesn’t matter if the Dems don’t have the House, at the very least try. At the very least bring up constant votes in expanding overtime, expanding health care, certifying important judges, etc., and the Senate appeared brain-dead since 2023.
Joe Biden just looked like a defeated man once 2024 started, as his energy was focused on the campaign and he spent less time trying to get more deals done within the White House chambers. A stalled and useless Senate was part of Trump’s growing appeal, it felt like the Dems were no longer trying to govern for everyday Americans, the voters wanted more actual movement and work.
32) Not Having a Palestinian Speaker at the DNC
This was such an easy layup of a decision to flank. Voters can clearly see the situation raging out of control on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and can clearly see who is being victimized more.
But once again, its that rich donor money that gets in the way. Not saying this as some wild conspiracy, AIPAC literally hunted down the Squad members who were constantly pledging their support for the Palestinians, and it has led to select Squad members losing their primaries entirely. Do I personally believe Kamala Harris wanted more Palestinian representation in the DNC? Yes, but I also believe she was being warned not to thread that line. So as a result, she meets with activists behind-the-scenes, but prevented such an appearance on the mainstream stage.
This was probably the most cowardly move of the Kamala Harris campaign, but its also a part of a larger problem that we’ll get to later.
Side-Note: As always, Ceasefire Now, and there should be a two-state solution moving forward.
33) The Cowardly Teamster Union Boss not Endorsing Anyone
If anyone on the political atmosphere deserved significant, relentless backlash, it should have been the Teamsters union boss who refused to endorse a candidate (which was a historic first for the group). Sean O’Brian also became a coward during this election cycle, abandoning Kamala Harris even though she was tied to the most pro-union president in the history of American politics. Similar to the rich cowards like Mark Zuckerberg and Jef Bezos, O’Brian was also likely trying to avoid the wrath of a potential second Trump presidency. But this makes no sense because Trump has zero desire in enhancing the power of unions, expanding the influence of unions. This is obvious, Trump is a product and a supporter of extreme capitalism that constantly battles the very idea of unions. Kamala Harris was the obvious better pick for unions. A part of me doesn’t want to blame the Democrats, but I do wish Biden had done more to reach out and try to understand the logic in spite of all the things he had done to help the unions.
34) Not Debating in Fox News against Trump
Kamala Harris debated Trump only once and wrecked him, destroyed him, it wasn’t even close. She goaded him into rambling and having bizarre tangents, she did a better job getting her points across, and openly mocked the ridiculous claims Donald Trump was making throughout the night---especially the dogs and cats conspiracy theory.
Trump wanted to debate on Fox News next, but the Harris campaign refused for obvious reasons. That being said, why not? It should have been clear that the United States is running on multiple different realities, most of them alternate and fake, but those other realities have dragged everyday voters, conspiracy theorists, and rural folk into the muck of disorder and fear. Kamala Harris had a chance to enter Trump’s home turf and deliver another opportunity to prove herself as the better candidate, despite the odds and obvious tricks Fox News was going to pull.
Bernie Sanders infamously got criticized for appearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast, and he ended up getting his support in 2020. Bernie (as well as Pete Buttigeg) have made multiple appearances on Fox News and you don’t see their support wane. Bernie also ended up on multiple podcasts that ended up getting credited for Donald Trump’s win, podcasts that Kamala Harris didn’t appear on. Not saying the lack of podcasts doomed her, but how else was she going to defeat Donald Trump if she was never given opportunities to directly confront him? If the debates were gone from the equation, why not follow Trump’s appearances on Fox News, Rogan, Bussin’ With the Boys, etc.?
She should have agreed to the Fox News debate, taken the unnecessary, one-sided hits, and goated him into a third and likely final debate on another platform. 100 days already wasn’t enough, so just having one debate made it all the more difficult for her.
35) Kamala Harris Being Told to Tone Down the Anti-Corporation Rhetoric
Kamala Harris ran on a more anti-corporation approach in the very beginning, but once the campaign team was fully assembled and took on more people, her rhetoric changed slightly. I think she was given advice to avoid the negativity and instead focus on how to convince voters that her administration will build more corporations, build more businesses, and keep the gravy train flowing. Once again, 100 days, not much time to fight back against the ideas. She promised better tax breaks for small businesses, more startup money, and more grants to minority groups trying to become entrepreneurs.
Technically, the voters ended up voting for economic reasons, but not for growth, but to stop the financial bleeding. So the Kamala Harris team campaigned in the wrong direction, and it should have been more focused on the giant businesses that had already made it. The giant tax-dodging, inflation-creating, price gouging monsters that were contributing to the mass layoffs, the massive price hikes, the unnecessary spending, and the inability for people to find affordable housing and health should have been the primary AND secondary targets in Kamala’s campaign. For a minute, it appeared that way, especially as she picked a progressive vice president. But similar to Palestine, Harris and co. got pushed away from such measures in order to not anger potential Trump voters, and this only ended up angering the typical Democratic voters.
36) Kamala Harris Walking Back Progressive Ideas from 2000s and 2010s
An open primary could have resolved this issue (so yes, Biden gets the blame here), and it would have displayed how the Democratic Party’s agenda had evolved and changed since the pandemic era, but Kamala Harris’ changes in policies when compared to 2019 was seen as a major negative. Argue what you will about Donald Trump, but he has a consistency that’s hard to dispute, he has essentially been the same bigoted prick from back in 2012. So seeing 2024 Kamala Harris present a platform that’s different from 2019 without a full primary to discuss her thoughts behind her changes ended up backfiring severely, even if Harris had good intentions.
That being said, progressive ideas have maintained strong bipartisan support, whether it be the expansion of Medicare, expansion of child tax credits, stronger health care system, stronger minimum wage, removal of the death penalty nationwide, and of course the growing support towards marijuana usage. Kamala Harris in the 2000s even used to discuss prison reform and changing the way we view/treat prisoners in the criminal justice system, Kamala in the late 2010s discussed eliminating the filibuster, having Medicare for all, and discussed ideals that would evolve into the Green New Deal (which includes banning fracking).
Not saying Kamala outright abandoned these ideas, but they were put in the backseat as the focus became more about unity, pro-capitalism, and other centrist ideals that’s a far cry from what she has platformed on during her time in California. Policies that have historically been considered “progressive” have bipartisan support, and maybe leaning more into the ideas that the Republican would never ever touch (including term limits, holding the Pentagon accountable for their spending habits, expanding the Supreme Court) would have helped her more with voters fed up with the current system in Washington D.C.; speaking of progressives----
37) Muffling Tim Walz, a Popular Progressive that Helped Kamala’s Rapid Rise
Tim Walz was a super-popular pick, no denial here whatsoever. He was arguably more popular than Kamala Harris herself, and held higher numbers than the Trump/Vance ticket. This was part of the Republican meltdown over the Biden-to-Harris change, because it gave the Democrats another opportunity to bring forth a progressive that could lure the far-left and independents to their side. And in Harris’ defense, she did just that, and the money continued flowing, as did the good vibes.
Then, Tim Walz got muted halfway towards Election Day, because his policies that he enjoyed talking about and the policies that greatly helped Minnesota was not part of the DNC’s overall platform. The Democratic Party did not want to discuss minimum wage increase or paid sick leave, they scaled back the conversations concerning unions, they didn’t want Walz defending the teenage transgender community, and instead wanted him to go to bat for Kamala and the DNC when discussing Israel (yikes) and how they have a large coalition that includes Republicans like Liz Chaney (yikes yikes). It feels like there were orders to tone down the progressiveisms Walz was known for, his agenda was far closer to the Bernie Bus than it is to the centrist tone the DNC with Kamala Harris was aiming for.
38) Kamala Harris and the DNC Not Distancing Themselves from the Biden/Obama Era
The more we look at the evidence, the more it appears that the DNC just wasn’t ready to let go of the fact that the voters wanted something different, something distant from what the Biden Administration became---and Kamala Harris’ team had no idea how deep the disconnect really was. Call it unfair as they had to deal with a global inflation and a broken deadly pandemic response tied to the vaccine controversies, but it was up to the DNC to figure out how to separate Kamala Harris from Joe Biden. And their decision instead was to package Kamala as a younger, fresher, more advanced version of Bidenomics and Joe Biden’s platform, and then tying a progressive in order to give something to the progressives---even though the conversations around Bernie Bus policies would be severely limited.
But that wasn’t the right move, clearly.
The Harris/Walz combo was at its popularity pick when Walz came in, trashed the crazy MAGAs, discussed his progressive policies that have improved Minnesota, and showcased himself as an older white male who didn’t succumb to the hateful vitriol that we constantly see from the right-wing males in the country. But as I previously stated, they muted the progressive corners from Walz and Harris’ track record while trying to promote more of the same but with someone who can actually formulate sentences.
39) Campaigning with Mark Cuban and Liz Cheney
The rumors persist that Kamala Harris fought for the idea to campaign with Cuban and Cheney against the wishes of the political pundits. Kamala’s logic is that if she’s going to run a centrist campaign, maybe it’s a good idea to recruit some to the center-right and maybe even some billionaires to prove that Kamala Harris isn’t going to wreck the economy with her policies nor will she abandon the Republicans entirely, instead offering them a seat at the table to progress forward towards a better future. The idea works in hindsight if the notion is voters are tired of Donald Trump and looking for a way out.
But that’s not what was the top priority for voters, they wanted massive changes, and cozying up with the wife of a VP that committed war crimes and helped contribute to crashing the economy just wasn’t going to cut it. Cozying up with billionaires during a time when prices were high, wages were stagnant, and the future of many peoples’ jobs remain on the edge isn’t a good optics move. The idea only works if you believe in the political system and don’t want it disrupted by the likes of MAGA feat. Donald Trump. Problem is, most voters have lost all faith in the political system and political progress, and were prepared to flip over the table.
The Democrats have only one major politician who matches that vibe, who can reach that kind of tone that has resonated greatly with the frustrated voter base.
You have probably figured out by now where I’m landing at…
40) Bernie Sanders’ SPEECH BEING Followed by a Billionaire at the 2024 Democratic National Convention
If there is a moment that perfectly encapsulates the problem with Kamala Harris’ short-lived campaign, its this moment right here. Prior to speaking, Bernie Sanders isn’t happy about the DNC once again upstaging the entire political process, isn’t thrilled to see Joe Biden getting tossed out like trash years after seemingly hand-picking him, likely disagrees with Kamala Harris instantly getting the nomination without there being a nationwide conversation of where the Democratic Party should be headed, is still furious at Netanyahu’s Israeli government committing war crimes, and is most upset that all his hard work at moving the country left is being brought down by another centrist campaign as well as the threat of the far-right.
After going on stage to discuss what the Dems should be campaigning about moving forward, he exits stage left----with a literal billionaire speaking after him. J.B. Pritzker is the governor of Illinois and has a successful track record within his state, but he’s still a billionaire, the very kind of person Bernie Sanders has been campaigning against throughout his career. Some can call it an oversight, but it would be absolutely on-brand for the DNC to continue reminding Bernie Sanders who is in charge, and who actually runs the country.
Bernie was likely only allowed to talk because he still carries a massive fanbase domestically and globally, and because he remains the de-facto leader of the progressive wing in the White House. But the DNC can’t ignore him, but they’ll definitely devalue his message and his rhetoric by sending invitations to billionaires to speak on behalf for Kamala Harris. I’m sure Bernie wasn’t feeling too confident as the progressive values of Tim Walz was suddenly losing its voice, and instead there was more attention focused on the growing list of entertainers and rich entrepreneurs supporting Kamala.
After this moment, it became abundantly clear that the Democratic Party has lost the plot, has forgotten what won them 2020, and has forgotten who they should be representing. Kamala Harris had 100 days to convince a vast majority of the country that she is fighting for them, but as the DNC ended, the good vibes were being replaced by a reality that the working class is still struggling. In spite of a growing economy, the Biden Administration had essentially given up after the Build Back Better debacle, and instead set their sights on a second term starting in April 2023 after the controversial announcement. It was all glaringly tone-deaf. I remember how frustrated the pundits were online, so imagine the shock of millions of Americans when they decided to tune in to the next election saw the same damn showdown from 2020.
I have screamed forever that the Democratic Party will win every election from here on out as long as the turnout is high enough. If 70% of the registered voter group constantly shows up, the Republican Party will never win another election this millennium. But 2024 was an overwhelming case study of a wildly frustrated voter base. The Republicans showed up in higher percentages all over New York state, and only 54% of registered voters from 18-34 showed up to vote.
By the time they are done counting, it will become clear that more people showed up to vote in 2020, and this is because those who reject the far-right and conservatism platforms are still too upset, hurt, frustrated to make the effort to ensure the Blue Team wins. And the collective disgruntlement starts with not only denying Bernie Sanders his nomination TWICE by any means necessary outside the will of the people, but by then looking at the status of the country and pretending like major changes weren’t needed and it was all smooth sailing after the deadly pandemic.
I understand Kamala’s pivot to having party vibes instead of the ---us vs. them--- rhetoric the Biden campaign was skewing, but they forgot to invite the middle class, forgot to invite the working class. They completely forgot to bring up the issues people were worried about, they didn’t message hard enough in terms of combating the factors behind the escalating prices and shaky job market even though the U.S. dollar is strong, the economy remains strong, and the resources remained plentiful.
If everything is going as great as the Dems claim, then why in the hell are my rental prices 30% higher than before the pandemic? Why are the gas prices still high even though the U.S. is producing at a record rate? Why has it seemingly become more expensive to entertain myself? At what point should the government be allowed to put a stop to the wildly escalating profiting and laying off of labor?
The Kamala Harris campaign had fun vibes, and it was nice to see something that isn’t two old men fighting, but when the message related to the campaign has Biden Era flavor, it just isn’t the right tone. The “Donald is a Threat to Democracy and we need to stop him” is the same song we heard in 2020, and in 2016. Seeking political justice for everything related to Trump isn’t bringing more food on the table, where’s our political justice for the White House letting the expanded child tax credits and expanded unemployment benefits expire? We needed a fighting spirit; we needed a Bernie Sanders. We needed a fighter to combat the fake fighter on the other side. And once that billionaire followed up after Bernie didn’t comply with the partying and laid out his personal vision of a better America, the message related to how the Dems were going to operate was loud and clear. And it cost them everything.
Epilogue: It Should Have Been Bernie Sanders in 2020
Yes, this entire damn article is biased, so sue me. For the record I backed Bernie Sanders in 2016 and especially during 2020----ended up voting for Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris. So no, I’m not one that has ditched the Democratic Party, but I have been frustrated with them for years and would have ditched them ions ago if not for the downright evil and cruel bigotry and white Christian supremacist rhetoric that has overtaken the Republican Party ever since the Tea Party Movement had its little moment during the Obama years.
This has all been an elongated thesis on where the Democratic Party went wrong, but MAGA’s shocking victory in 2024 boils down to three main points:
a) Joe Biden should not have even attempted a second term
b) Big Money has absolutely obliterated the moral compass of the Democratic Party
c) Bernie Sanders would have defeated Trump in 2016, 2020, AND 2024 if he were actually allowed to run.
These three points are very connected too, as Biden ran a second time likely to prevent Bernie from running a third time, the Big Money from corporations and rich billionaires are likely behind Bernie’s additional political obstacles during his multiple campaigns for the presidency (as well as two NEAR attempts), and of course Bernie was never able to take on Trump because he couldn’t get out of the primaries. Bernie Sanders had every reason to make an independent run back in 2016 and maybe even in 2020, but he chose to sacrifice his ambitions in favor of ensuring that the ongoing threat from the other side doesn’t win. Also remember in 2020 we were going through a pandemic, and he probably didn’t want to complicate the global health issues by campaigning nationwide.
More on the independent route however, as we’ve seen that just because you don’t have to cater to the Democratic Party’s hand-wringing of the process, it doesn’t mean you’re safe from political obstruction as a third-party candidate. Look at the challenges against RFK Jr. and even smaller candidates like Claudia/Karina by the DNC, they tried to kick both candidates off multiple candidates as a favor to their nominee Joe Biden. You don’t think Bernie Sanders would have run into even more problems while taking on the DNC, Big Money, and a mainstream media that’s notoriously anti-leftist?
Regardless, the solution to MAGA was Bernie Sanders, the solution to defeating Trump once and for all was Bernie Sanders, the way forward to actually improving the Democratic Party starts with Bernie Sanders and his policies. He is the only one that ignores the divisive identity politics in favor of supporting everyone within the working class, he is the only one that knew how to actually counter the toxic bigoted strategies of the Republican Party, and he is the only one actually willing to tackle some of the extreme measures we have gotten used to. Bernie isn’t a war hawk, he’s not for the ongoing extreme capitalism, he doesn’t even really believe in billionaires entirely---wanting to implement a 100% billionaire tax. Bernie Sanders believes in a wide variety of massive reforms, whether it be in health care, military spending, unions, and even reforming the prison system.
In the eyes of Bernie Sanders and member of the Bernie Bus, our battle isn’t against each other but instead against the 1%, the highest of the upper class hoarding all the wealth. This message has been clear and consistent since the very beginning, and unlike most of the Democratic Party he will take his message to anyone willing to listen---whether it be Fox News, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Joe Rogan, Theo Von, Pod Save America, The Guardian, CNN, literally anywhere. This platform is exactly what we needed back in 2020 when the extreme capitalism was so unchecked during Obama’s second term and Trump’s first that it literally paved the way for the coronavirus pandemic to spread globally when it could have been contained within the first few months under proper leadership. And after Nevada, it was becoming ever so clear that he was on a path to victory.
And then everything happened.
Pundits that used to argue that Bernie’s popularity was exaggerated and was falling off regardless in March, I counter that with what we saw this year. Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party are more popular than MAGA six ways to Sunday, but people didn’t show up, at least 5 MILLION people who voted for an already-unpopular Joe Biden in 2020 didn’t even come back to stop Trump again. People got fed up and completely checked out, and I’m positive that is exactly what happened back in 2020 after Joe Biden won South Carolina, claimed that THIS is when the primaries actually started, and everyone from billionaire Michael Bloomberg all the way to left-leaning Elizabeth Warren (ughhhhhhhhhhh) backed Biden. It is no coincidence that all of the major groups that Donald Trump gained the most on are folks who likely felt neglected during the 2020 primaries---independent voters, Latino men, Black men, folks making less than 100k, etc.
To be frank, I’m tired. Absolutely tired.
I have spent the last decade fighting everyone and everything you can think of when it comes to MAGA, I have spent the last decade trying to fight for the rights of the underprivileged, the lower class, those just trying to live a decent life. I spent a decade fighting the cruelty, the bigotry, the anger, the rage, the unnecessary harassment of those MAGA doesn’t see as worthy of happiness. I have lost jobs defending others, I have been suspended on multiple platforms while engaged in these wild online fights, I have lost friends, family, co-workers, and other familiar faces because of the wrath Trump has brought us.
Donald Trump’s MAGA movement crafted a disinformation campaign during the campaign that killed millions, killed people I knew, killed distant family members, and also alienated other family from the rest of us because they have bought into the hate and conspiracies. And I sacrificed so much of my time and energy trying to stop them.
I sometimes felt like I became the known nuisance in my job, within my family, and other social spaces because all I can think about is defeating that movement of bigotry and therefore successfully fending off the worst desires of the worst people. And then people didn’t show up to vote, and then they won it again. The Christian nationalism has expanded, the hatred has increased, and all of the worst people you know are now satisfied at who will be running the country moving forward----even if they’ll STILL be mad at everything because most of the country still isn’t actually buying what they are selling.
But the lack of effort to vote this out will lead to mass deportations, will lead to an inexperienced group running the White House, it will lead to unnecessary bickering and battles all over Washington D.C. and beyond, and all this will lead to the most-vulnerable being affected by all decisions and actions coming from the District of Columbia. People will unnecessarily die, people will get unnecessarily hurt, people will get unnecessarily sick, people will see their expenses unnecessarily increase, and we’ll see all the small states who are extremely pro-MAGA nonetheless remain economically and culturally stagnant while relying on the states with more progressive regions to bail them out, again.
I’m just so tired.
I had even planned on retiring from doing these things in the first place, but this election dragged me out and tossed me back into the keyboard to try to convince you that despite your anger being valid, the solution should never be voting for the bigot who sees immigrants as “poison.” And he still won. It almost feels pointless.
I’m not demanding some parade in my honor, for I know my sacrifices do not at all compare to the sacrifices made by actual journalists and actual activists. I’m not demanding for some financial compensation, and nor am I suggesting that this was all done while anticipating some reward. Honestly, I’d do it all again because morally, the right thing to do is stand tall alongside minorities, alongside the LGBTQ community, alongside the migrants and illegal immigrants who are seeking a better life for themselves and for their families in the face of a United States government that despite some good players with good intentions, is just chock full of nihilism, dark money, evil, and complications that prevents this country from becoming anywhere near as good as it can be.
The richest country in the entire world can afford to help everyone without any kind of alienation whatsoever, and this had always been the message with Bernie Sanders. Truth is, most of those terrible people in the White House are fully aware of this. But they are selfish, they don’t care, and their God is money. Whether it be Nancy Pelosi who is worth $80 million or Mitch McConnell who is worth $30 million or Elon Musk, who has dodged taxes for years while seeing millions in government handouts and being the richest man on earth, all of these people have their hands all over political maneuvers that can actually help, but end up doing nothing. And this ends up with the American people lashing out with rash decisions like sitting out elections altogether or ending up putting their vote on people like Trump.
All in all, I can’t continue being as involved and as combative as before. I just don’t have the energy anymore, this latest election has completely wrecked my mood for the entire month. I have cancelled all my upcoming holidays, I just don’t feel like celebrating anything. My soul is drainedddddddd
I have to try to actually live my life, I have to invest my energy elsewhere, especially with these uncertain times coming up. I can’t keep fighting for the common good in this level of intensity. Maybe behind-the-scenes, I’ll donate even more to good causes and hope that the next two years fly by with minimal damage as the massive egos within the White House clash so much that they fail to cause the desired harm to the country. It might be wishful thinking, but after blogging about politics for 15 years and after a decade essentially screaming out articles telling people to stop being shitty, I have nothing else to provide. My message has been consistent, much like my favorite non-relative uncle Bernie, so maybe all the words I had already thrown against the social media wall will stick and will age gracefully as MAGA enters the next chapter and continues proving why they should never be anywhere near Washington D.C.
The Democrats deserved to lose, but at the same time MAGA doesn’t deserve to function at all, and Donald Trump as well as many of his minions deserves to be buried under the largest jail. Their existence alone has abruptly stopped any semblance of actual cultural, racial, and economic progress probably for the next generation.
Most important of all, Bernie Sanders deserved his actual shot at the presidency, deserved to win, and in some alternate universe we’d be seeing a vastly-improved United States of America. Maybe another member of the Bernie Bus will rise up and take the mantle and become the Democratic leader and will shift the party towards where it should be----standing with the working class, standing with all the victims of extreme capitalism, and standing with Americans who want something better and something more unified. But it does begin with us demanding better, and it does not begin with letting MAGA continue its domestic terrorism.
May my words for a better America resonate over the next few years, and may my decade of screaming against the hate ultimately produce some good changes. You are all welcome to join us in the Bernie Bus, leave all hate behind and enter the pathway towards actual good change and progress. I’ll be already aboard the bus lending a hand, even if I’m not going to be as present here on the internets.
Join a union, join a group, join a cause, donate to good causes, spend your money wisely and spend it on those who isn’t emboldened by the hate, and prepare for more fighting. Take your breaks if necessary, but never give in to the nihilism, because that’s how they stay in power.
I’ll see you all at the end of the dark tunnel, where hopefully there is a light awaiting us.
Solidarity forever.
