Bernie Sanders caused a stir last week, when the independent senator from Vermont and two-time contender for the Democratic presidential nomination sent a post-election email to his progressive supporters across the country. In it, he argued that the Democrats suffered politically in 2024 at least in part because they ran a campaign that focused on “protecting the status quo and tinkering around the edges.”
In contrast, said Sanders, “Trump and the Republicans campaigned on change and on smashing the existing order.” Yes, he explained, “the ‘change’ that Republicans will bring about will make a bad situation worse, and a society of gross inequality even more unequal, more unjust and more bigoted.”
Despite that the reality of the threat they posed, Trump and the Republicans still won a narrow popular-vote victory for the presidency, along with control of the US House. That result has inspired an intense debate over the future direction not just of the Democratic Party but of the country. And the senator from Vermont is in the thick of it.
In his email, Sanders, a member of the Senate Democratic Caucus who campaigned in states across the country this fall for Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic ticket, asked a blunt question: “Will the Democratic leadership learn the lessons of their defeat and create a party that stands with the working class and is prepared to take on the enormously powerful special interests that dominate our economy, our media and our political life?”
His answer: “Highly unlikely. They are much too wedded to the billionaires and corporate interests that fund their campaigns.”
They got until 2026 to figure it out. My hopes aren’t high though. If they can turn the mid-terms into their favor and owe up to some of that loss in the 2024 elections, we’ll see.
But has the Democratic Party ever owed up to the mistakes when it comes to campaigning? They just ignored the playbook of 2008 and 2012, then decided “oh yeah that one from 2016? yeah we want that one!” and went with it. And it burned up in their face.
Not even that, they went with the 2020 playbook of “Hey, at least I’m not Trump.” It worked in 2020 due to Trump’s shit being fresh in everyone’s minds, plus his bungled covid response. Now that covid is basically in the rearview mirror (as far as the majority of the population is concerned) and prices are through the roof, it’s once again time to blame the democrats for the previous administration’s fiscal irresponsibility and go with the big spenders once again.