If There Was A Single Thing That Cost The Dems The Election, It Was This

This election has truly been a rout for the Democrats.  Now the Republicans basically hold all of the cards, as they now fully dominate all three branches of government for the first time in literally decades.  And on November 5th, it looked like the Dems had it in the bag.  So what the hell went wrong?

It was a number of things, to be sure.  But the increasingly neoliberal, out-of-touch, and yes, elitist mainstream wing of the Democratic party came to utterly dominate the party in recent years while sidelining the genuine progressives like Bernie Sanders et al.  And if there was ONE decision they made that truly cost them the election, it was the conscious choice to allow the expanded child tax credits (a sort of "mini-UBI" in place during the pandemic) to expire, without extending or replacing them with something similar or better (like UBI for all).  This program, which cut child poverty rates in HALF while they were in place, was truly a resounding success by any rational measure, but child poverty and hunger then predictably rebounded after they were allowed to expire.  Yes, you read that right.

The Dems were apparently too hung up on identity politics and other wedge issues to embrace true economic progressivism.  They were basically blinded by their own class privilege, in other words.  So "woke" they were, that they sleepwalked into defeat.

Not that this actually justifies anyone voting for Trump or Republicans, of course.  Everyone should have known by now that he is a grifter, grafter, racist, rapist, insurrectionist, convicted felon, misogynist, serial liar, hothead, and madman.  But when people are hungry, and grocery and other prices are high on the heels of the worst inflation in four decades (even as it is finally abating), and a conman is promising everyone "a chicken in every pot", while the opposing party seemed to be out to lunch in that regard, or at least not nearly progressive enough on economic issues, such people may not vote rationally.  Most who voted for Trump would have voted for him regardless, but there were enough fence-sitters at the margins that genuinely voted with their wallets.

In other words, "it's the economy, stupid".  At least for the non-trivial fence-sitters who swung this election, it was.  Hindsight is truly 2024.  The Dems absolutely must remember this next time.  That is, IF there even IS a next time at all, of course.  Which, with the way things are going, is by no means guaranteed.