You could say it was the Russians, and yes, that was part of it.
You could say it was Comey and the FBI opening an investigation right before the election, and yes, that was also part of it.
You could say it was the mood of the country and a riled up Republican base after 8 years of Obama, and yes, this was a part of it as well.
While those things certainly didn’t help, I think we could have overcame them and we should have. We have to do some soul searching and admit some things to ourselves as a party if we are going to be successful in 2020. Making the same mistakes will lead to the same outcome. We can’t help what the right does or any outside influences between now and election day 2020 but we can avoid doing the same things that cost us in 2016. We have to take some responsibility.
I’m going to say things here that many may disagree with. Just know that we want the same thing. We want to send Trump back where he came from. My goal with this post is not to attack, but to raise legitimate concern. My intention is not to smear, but to tell the hard truth.
These are the 3 top reasons why I feel we lost in 2016:
1: A Primary that Divided the Democratic Base
I was a Bernie supporter in 2016 through and through. When he lost, I licked my wounds and voted for Hillary. Many weren’t so forgiving.
Hillary supporters can blame Bernie supporters all day for costing the election, but when Hillary won, her campaign made no attempt to court and motivate Bernie’s supporters. “What are they going to do? Vote for Trump?” was the attitude.
There was a feeling in the party that this was Hillary’s turn. This is probably why we didn’t have many other candidates in 2016 that could have possibly beat Trump. It was her time for some unspoken reason.
The primary split the party in two and the way it was handled by the DNC and the Clinton campaign put a sour taste in many people’s mouth. The establishment wanted to wash it’s hands of Bernie and assumed his massive following of young voters would fall in line. What were they going to do? Vote for Trump?
Upon winning, it was Hillary’s job to unite the party against a common enemy. Bernie stumped for her and urged his followers to get behind Hillary, but the damage was done. Many saw how the DNC stacked the deck for Hillary and dismissed Bernie as the new Ralph Nader.
We’ll never know if Bernie would have won. All I know is he had the enthusiasm that year and was packing arenas on par with Trump. Hillary was not. We can look at polls and statistics all day, but you can feel momentum and Bernie had it over Hillary that year.
Overall, and no matter how you slice it or who you blame, the Democratic party was fractured after the primary in 2016. However this primary goes, hopefully we can remain a united front in 2020 because Trump and the GOP will be.
2: Hillary’s Campaign
I’m going to get heat here, I’m sure, but someone has to say it. Hillary’s campaign sucked.
Do me a favor, tell me one or two of her top policy priorities that were original and not a continuation or piggy back of Obama’s…
Exactly.
Hillary ran on “Trump sucks”. She wasn’t wrong, but she gave us no new alternative. Her campaign was all about how crazy, racist and bad Trump was. She made the classic mistake that John Kerry and Mitt Romney made before her. She ran AGAINST something instead of FOR something else.
She had no new ideas and no vision. Obama ran a campaign for change. He had a vision of a new America and new ideas. He was a breath of fresh air after 8 years of Bush. He pounded that message every time he spoke and had policy ideas and plans to back it up. He didn’t run a campaign based on his opponents, he ran a campaign FOR something.
Hillary banked on the public hating Trump so much that just not being him would be enough. In a perfect world, it would be, but this is America.
And Trump, while his ideas were stupid, ignorant, racist, dumb and repugnant, he had ideas. The American people will vote for bad ideas than none at all, at least that’s what they did in 2016.
In 2020, as much as Trump sucks and is a terror on us all, we can’t run a campaign on that. If we don’t run FOR something, FOR the future and have policy and ideas to back it up, we will lose.
We have to run FOR something else, not just against Trump.
3: Trump Will Not, Can Not Win the Election
Like many of you, I sat and watched in horror on November 9, 2016. We sat and watched happen what the media, the polls, the pundits, the analysts all told us would not, could not happen.
We were told by experts and people who get paid to process data and predict outcomes that Donald Trump will never be President and we will all look back on this and laugh.
Hillary was ahead by just about every poll. We were going to elect the first woman President. The math just wasn’t there for Trump. There’s no way he can win. The Clinton campaign didn’t even have a concession speech ready. They wouldn’t need it.
When we are told over and over again that something is inevitable, it cripples our ambition and will to fight. I’m positive many, many Democrats stayed home or didn’t make a strong enough effort to vote because we were told by everyone that we had it in the bag. We needed all hands on deck in reality, but the media narrative was that Hillary has got this.
The one optimism I have is that I feel we learned this lesson the hard way and we won’t see the complacency we saw in 2016. I’m sure there is not one person on this site who thinks Trump cannot be re-elected.
Whoever our nominee turns out to be, we need to fight and vote like we never have before. Even if the polls and the media say they are up by 50 points and Trump might as well pack his bags now, we cannot believe it.
I’m hoping this won’t be a problem in 2020 knowing what we know now, but it still can’t be said enough. Nothing is for sure, I don’t care what anyone says.
If you’re a Democrat that can but won’t vote in 2020, seriously, shame on you. Trump and the GOP thank you.
Finally, we need to have a competitive primary but not let it tear us apart. Each and every one if us is needed in 2020. I have my preferred candidates, but if they don’t win, I will support who does. Anyone is better than Trump. However, when we decide who that is, we need to think about who is going to inspire the nation with a new vision to replace Trumpism with. If we run on Trump, he wins.
And we must, must vote and GOTV and trust no poll or expert. This race will be neck and neck despite what anyone says. 2020 is an emergency situation and you are needed. Every single one of you.
Thank you for reading and while we may disagree on the hows and the whys, I just wanted to bring attention to problems and mistakes I pray we don’t make again.
We are all in this together and we all have the same goal….
To send Trump back to the swamp he came from and save our country from four more years of insanity.
If we stay united and vote, we win. Trump is the worst President possibly ever. If we can’t beat him, we have no one to blame but ourselves as a party and then would have to ask ourselves some real questions about what we are doing.
If we come together as a tidal wave and a united front, the Russians or no one will be able to stop us.
But that is 100% on us.
I love you all and can’t wait to kick some MAGA Nazi ass with you next year.