After running what many consider to be the worst campaign in modern Democratic Party history, the blue team was easily defeated by former President Donald Trump in yesterday’s election. Trump won or is winning every swing state at the time of this publication, and easily won the popular vote by over 4 million votes.

What went wrong for the Democrats? Nearly everything, much of which progressives noted well in advance. From inexplicably courting hard right Republicans like Dick Cheney to denying a full-fledged holocaust of their own making, the party made almost no effort to court its base, instead expecting to pick off “undecided” Republican voters, a group that exists only in the minds of Democratic strategists.

It’s hard to imagine how the Democrats could have played a worse hand in the 2024 campaign. From thwarting democracy and hand-picking their candidate to having former Presidents Obama and Clinton openly ridiculing their own voters, it was a master class in incompetence.

What ultimately cost them an election (again) against one of the most beatable candidates the Republicans have ever put forward? The mistakes are too numerous to list them all. Was it their decision to hide Biden’s health long enough to avoid a primary election? Was it Matt Miller and Karine Jean-Pierre openly lying to the press and the American people every single day about the holocaust they were perpetrating in Gaza? Was it their incomprehensible decision to adopt Republican policy and talking points about immigration and border control? Was it the insane decision to cheer on the brutal attack of student protestors on college campuses? Maybe it was their plan to offer voters nothing except “protection” from Republicans? What happened to universal healthcare? A living wage? Getting money out of politics? The climate emergency? All vanished from the platform and in its place a pro-war, pro-Israel campaign that promised to fill its administration with Republicans. Voters clearly decided that if they were going to get Republicans anyway, they might as well vote for the real deal.

Judging by reactions on social media, this overwhelming defeat at the hands of Donald Trump has come as a shock to many liberals, when the evidence of a poor showing was all but certain. Democratic voters do not seem to grasp how loathed the elites that run their party are, not just by rightwing voters but by progressives the party absolutely needs in order to win. Watching celebrity after celebrity openly endorse genocide not only destroyed the reputation of the party as that of the working class but opened many eyes to the hypocrisy that has flooded the party for years. When voters hear Democrats feign concern for the rights of minorities here and abroad, and then watch them drop bomb after bomb after bomb on these same people for a year, it has an effect. When voters hear Democrats pretend to care about the rule of law and then watch them violate the Geneva convention and international law over and over, it has an effect. When voters hear Democrats warn about the threats to democracy from the right while taking away voters’ right to choose their candidate and ridiculing those who don’t vote as they are told, it has an effect. The Democrats are proof that all the money and most expensive consultants in the world can’t overcome bad strategy and terrible ideas.

The truth is the Democratic Party is the complete opposite of what their voters believe it to be. The Party has shown time and time again that it doesn’t actually support the values and policies it claims. It doesn’t care about abortion rights. We know this because they have had countless opportunities to codify it into law over the past two decades, and balked every time. Why? Because if they codified Roe v. Wade, what would they campaign on next time? We know they don’t care about fair and free elections. Their aggressive and inexplicable mission to get the Green Party removed from ballots nationwide was more sinister and far reaching than the vote-limiting shenanigans of the GOP. We know they don’t care about the climate emergency. When your administration is responsible for the record-breaking expansion of oil drilling and a massive increase in emissions from global trade, it’s hard to see that you are taking the climate emergency seriously.

The most insane aspect of the entire Harris campaign was her openness in accepting massive donations from billionaires under the guise that she would remove regulations and allow them to become even richer, on the backs of the American people. The federal government’s one true champion in FTC Chair Lina Khan, an official who has done more good for Americans than every member of the Biden administration combined, was given no promise of retaining her job, despite her outstanding success and overwhelming popularity among members of both parties. It was just one of many olive branches that the Harris administration refused to extend to members of her own base.

Liberals will invent reasons why Harris lost, many of which are completely disconnected from reality. Harris did not lose because she was a woman. She did not lose because she is Black. She did not lose because of 3rd parties. She lost because she was an unpopular, mediocre candidate who made no effort to win Democratic voters. Even those that supported her had profound difficulties explaining why they supported her without invoking Donald Trump. Like Hillary Clinton before her, the Democratic Party put their thumb on the scale and forced her down voters’ throats rather than produce a contested primary that would have yielded a stronger, voter-approved candidate.

Now that the deal is done, are there any upsides to a Trump presidency? I believe the biggest upside is that liberals will now suddenly care about issues they ignored under Biden: the harsh treatment of immigrants, the holocaust in Gaza, the climate emergency, the crashing economy, and many others. While many Trump policy proposals will likely result in a heavy tilt towards corporate corruption and fewer protections for consumers, his tariffs – contrary to what Democrats will tell you – are a boom for domestic jobs and manufacturing. If you don’t believe this, just ask Elon Musk what he had to do to sell Teslas in China.

The Oren Cass wing of the Republican Party (I recommend checking out his Substack), has had recent success in shifting the conversation from the old-school Reagan wing to more progressive and well-thought-out policies, with corporate America and tax cuts losing favor. Lastly, for those having a hard time today who believe terrible gloom-and-doom things are coming, remember that Trump was already president for 4 years and America survived. More importantly, and this I hope is your biggest takeaway from this piece: never forget that the corporate media’s goal is to manipulate you. Don’t fall for it. Do your diligence. Their main goal is not to sell ads, it is to mold how you view the world, to serve their objectives. During the Biden administration, they manipulated you into supporting a holocaust (!), they got you to ignore the kids in cages, and they convinced you there is no climate emergency. Once Trump assumes office, you will suddenly be made aware of all the awful things done under the Biden administration but they will be presented as policies Trump has come up with himself. The purpose of this is so that next election you will be so upset that you will vote for Democrats, even if they have nothing to offer you, even if you don’t get to choose the candidate, and even if their policies largely mirror the GOP. Aren’t you tired of this? Today should be the day we start the work to build a real opposition party to the Republicans. Because the Democrats are not it.