Something that will please some and maybe displease others

[DemocratSinceBirth]

I'm listening to the postmortems on cable television and they all stink. We didn't lose because we're too woke. We didn't lose because we don't hate trans people. We didn't lose because we don't know how to speak to this group or that group. We didn't lose because Kamala is Black or a woman though misogyny, paternalism, and racism are still very much alive. We lost because 60% of Americans disapproved of the current administration and 70% of Americans felt the country was on the wrong track. We lost because people thought eggs cost too damn much. If Americans were happy with the economy and the direction of the country they would vote for a a Martian if they felt the Martian was responsible for it. In closing I thought Joe Biden did a good job but my opinion isn't dispositive.

[Meadowoak]

1. We lost because Kamala Harris isn't white and doesn't have a penis.

[Quiet Em]

2. So they thought it was ok for people to lose freedom and dignity as

long as their egg prices went down. Good to know.

[Hellbound Hellhound]

11. Mazlow's heirarchy. Food will always be more important than morality or respecting others.

Everyone's insisting that Republicans are voting against their interests, or are voting for hate, but at the end of the day, shit was cheaper under Trump. Food was cheaper. Cost of living was cheaper. And yes, Joe's economy has led to a 5% increase in wages, but that doesn't mean shit in the face of 20% more expensive goods and sundries.

So, yeah, actually. The "Freedom or dignity of others" will always play second fiddle to "How can I eat this week" for the majority of both Dems and Reps. Something that the party would do well to remember going forward with their messaging.

[Quiet Em]

13. I'm a paycheck to paycheck person.

I didn't fare so well under Trump. I'm doing better under Biden.

[Hellbound Hellhound]

15. Unfortunately the opposite is true for my wife and I.

I'm also paycheck to paycheck, and Rent went up nearly $300 a month, price of monthly expenses on food doubled or more, and instead of being able to put spare money into a 401k, even 5%, we can't afford to do that any longer. Don't get me wrong, I still voted Harris because I'm comfortable enough to do so, but many aren't.

Everyone's experience is different, and I'm certainly not discounting yours, but there are a ton of people out there hurting financially and for Democrats to screech "They're just sexist racist homophobes" at the top of their lungs rather than taking an introspective look at their messaging is... Laughable at best. Pathetic and myopic at worst.

[Quiet Em]

17. Harris' messaging resonated we me more than Trump's did

Trump ran as a racist, sexist bigot. Harris ran economics. Economic plans that world help the working class. Food prices are higher. I know that. Harris had a plan for that as well. But the payments on my parent loans that I will be paying until I die are much lower, among other things I have benefited from. My husband will never be able to retire if Trump succeeds with his proposals.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

36. I don't blame Biden but my opinion means little.

There was no way we were going to come out of a once in a century pandemic without dislocations. People are awful but I'll die on the hill that people will vote for someone they don't like it they think he or she will make their lives better.

[Fish700]

41. As a single person I make $20k a year more than the average family income in my state

I don't buy eggs when they are more than $3.50 a dozen and they usually are. I stopped buying half-and-half at $3 a quart and I rarely buy beef (flank steak is $12 a pound these days.) I can't afford to buy a house here so I pay my landlord's mortgage and I drive a 17 year old car that I paid cash for. Struggling people got tired of Democrats telling them the economy is great and that their lived experiences were a lie. I have no idea how people working fast food and gas station jobs survive.

I also know that the US economic recovery after COVID-19 is the envy of the world but tell that to the grandmother working at McDonalds. Why they think the party of oligarchs if going to make things better for them is a mystery to me as well.

[Meadowoak]

23. Yep

[Phoenix61]

3. Dems did a piss poor job of bragging about our

accomplishments. It should have been blasted on all media 24/7/365. There should have been a running total of every factory or business that started due to the CHIPS act, every bridge or road that was repaired due to the Infrastructure Act, every community that got high-speed access, every reservation that got electricity etc. We could start now with every shity thing that the R’s do. Give us time to embed our messengers in the information stream.

[Butterflylady]

34. That is why top dems should have been shouting it

from rooftops. On inflation, the government should have talked to people to explain why this situation exists and what they are doing about it. When you do something, let people know, that's all I'm saying. Joe did this on his State of the Union address, but that is only once a year.

[Fish700]

42. That would have enraged the people struggling even more.

Their personal economies suck.

[Kid Berwyn]

37. Yup.

Even the local news media might notice, if there were such a thing.

[Autumn]

4. We lost voters because they are hurting. A family living on $30,000 per year

is not working class or middle class. They are struggling. 15 dollars an hour is not enough to live on. Try finding an apartment that a family can live in on 30 thousand a year.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. Occam's Razor.

The explanation that requires the least assumptions is true. Trump was able to marry the group of people who like him to the group of people who for whatever reason, unfathomable and inexplicable to us, think he will make their lives better.

[Autumn]

7. True. When there is no hope people will grasp at whatever

they can. Be it a politician or a religion. A monthly mortgage payment on a typical U.S. home is easily over 25 hundred a month and that's a cheap one. You might be lucky and find a dump for under 300 thousand . A studio apartment here in CO Springs is $1,329 a month, that's 15.948 half of a families income for the year.

[yardwork]

9. All of this is due to Republican policies and laws.

If we give the Democrats a majority, they can turn around the Republican policies that cause all these harms.

But instead people voted the Republicans into power. It's either because the voters are misinformed or because they like Republican policies.

What more can Democrats do? Nobody listens to our candidates. Harris had excellent plans. Biden was turning around decades of harm caused by Reaganomics. But people don't know that because they are misinformed by a media system that wants Trump.

[harumph]

12. remind me which party often tries to raise the minimum wage?

So voting for the party that wants to bring back indentured servitude - that's the ticket!

[Autumn]

14. Unfortunately too many people give up if they don't see things getting better.

Does anyone really think $15 an hour is enough to live on?

[harumph]

19. No, but it's better than $7

[Autumn]

25. We know what party "often tries" raise the minimum wage. Democrats.

Maybe "try "isn't good enough anymore. I know we are retired couldn't live on $15 dollars an hour. and our home, which is the biggest expense most people have, is paid for. Could you live on $15 an hour? Child poverty went to record lows in 2021, the pandemic ended in 2022 and it went went back up .

This increase follows the expiration of most of the COVID-era programs that resulted in unprecedented reductions in child poverty. The new Census data highlight the critical role of pandemic-era social safety net expansions in the dramatic decrease in child poverty rates in 2020 and 2021. Despite high rates of unemployment during the pandemic,

https://www.childtrends.org/publications/5-million-more-children-experienced-poverty-in-2022-than-in-2021-following-expiration-of-covid-era-economic-relief

[kacekwl]

20. Is your rent going to go down under trump ?

No. Are groceries high yes but you have to shop around for sales you can get good prices on food if you try. I never buy anything at full price especially clothes. Gas in the last 5 years has gone from high 2 dollar range to 4 dollars per gallon. Again if you shop wisely and follow trends you can save there too. I'm saying people have been putting up with high prices forever. I keep hearing this kitchen table crying excuse but never exactly what the Biden term did or didn't do to cause this. Besides corporate greed esp. after the pandemic what policies would anyone here change ? I'd love to hear them seriously. Drill baby drill. Tariffs. Tax cuts. Trickle down economics. What do people think they will do better ?

[Autumn]

24. I'm talking about young people who have to rent. I'm not talking about myself

My husband and I are both retired and comfortable. But I know a lot of young people and I know what their struggles are. Corporate greed kept prices high and home prices and rent skyrocketed. Young people showed up to vote for Biden but not for Harris. I imagine their reasons for staying home or why they voted for trump will show up in the post mortem of the election.

[Fish700]

43. Trump was crowing about how bad the economy is

So people living that truth loved him for it.

[doc03]

35. I have two neices both married, both have two incomes. I gave both of them a

down-payment to buy an old fixer upper to get them out of run down rentals.
When my generation got out of high school and didn't go to college we had our choice of good paying union jobs that
you could have a middle class life on one income. This downfall all started with RR and as I have said many times the Republicans
have hung NAFTA around our neck after Democrats helped push their NAFTA bill. That lost us the rust belt states.
That giant sucking sound Ross Perot talked about wasn't so much the jobs but the working class leaving the Democratic party.

[Autumn]

38. Yep, that's how it was. Reagan destroyed so much. Now that SOB wouldn't be allowed

in the Republican party.

[doc03]

40. That is pretty bad when they are to low for even

Ronald Reagan or Dick Cheney.

[magicarpet]

6. Dems have to somehow get the message out,...

.... when they accomplish something very beneficial for most Americans.

We are not dealing with well informed voters here. We must convey the message to them and spell it out clearly and OFTEN the numerous things done to help most Americans that are done by the Democratic Party with no help from the GOPee.

We are so weak on messaging. We sell ourselves short. The MSM will not give out credit when credit is due. That credit for a job well done is something we must attend to. Although Dems hate to brag, we must toot our own horn and advertise our accomplishments.

[yardwork]

10. When we do that, we're told it's insensitive to people who are still hurting.

The billionaires won. They have the money and they control the media and the internet.

[kacekwl]

29. All you have to do is

listen to one of VP Harris's speeches. Go on her web site. It's really not hard. It's easier to listen to lies on social media I guess.

[Biophilic]

8. In order for these messages to get out we needed the assist of the MSM

We not only didn’t we have that support trump had it in spades. It seemed that very little that the Democratic candidates did or said was news, while almost anything that trump said or did became instant news. I have AOL for my home page (yes, I know, very small hunk of the world). Almost everyday trump was the very first news story. I usually had to go back 6 or7 pages to find information about Kamala, if it was there at all.

[Autumn]

16. Yes. I don't have AIOL but I got sick the last 4 years hearing about "President trump"

and Biden. A little bit ass backwards there.

[GoodRaisin]

18. Relying on M$M as our mouthpiece is a big mistake.

The Republicans have their own news and control of the information getting to the voters. They are much more effective at messaging than we are and it cost us the election.

[radius777]

21. The border and inflation sunk us, as well as Gaza

which depressed turnout amongst our base.

So there were those headwinds working against her - and it's likely that even Newsom or some white guy would've lost.

But the fact remains that both Hillary and Harris lost while Biden won. Clearly there are voters out there (even some that traditionally vote Dem like union guys, latino men, etc) who won't vote for a woman for president.

[white_wolf]

22. I agree, but I don't get why they thought Trump would help

I know he said he would, but when you look at HOW he's supposedly going to help it becomes clear he's lying or wrong. His tariffs will increase the price of any food imports.

His mass deportation would make the price of agriculture skyrocket. Though honestly the use of undocumented workers there is basically slave labor so it does need to end though I don't think mass deportation is how we should end it.

[Elessar Zappa]

26. That AND misogyny played a role.

[DeeDeeNY]

27. Few know of Biden's accomplishments because he wasn't constantly boasting

While Trump has always done non-stop and exaggerated bragging and lies.

[Opbrg]

28. Can't afford eggs but

they can buy Trump's Bibles, shoes and watches!

[AkFemDem]

30. Those are voters we were never going to have

A whole lot of people who never wore a MAGA hat in their life also voted for the Orange Menace.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

32. Exactly.

[Autumn]

39. Those assholes would never vote for a Democrat.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

44. He needed much more than his base to win.

He needed voters who disliked him but voted for him anyway in the mistaken belief he would make their lives better.

[hannah]

31. Misinformation

We lost because of misinformation on social media

[hannah]

33. Yup

We lost because of misinformation on social media