Harris was never going to win. Democrats need to steal Trump's playbook. | Your Turn
What are Democrats doing wrong, what are they doing right and where does the party go next? Paste BN Forum participants had a lot to say. Here's what they told us.
They've had a few big moments – from New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker's historic speech to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's town hall tour – but ever since President Donald Trump retook the Oval Office, Democrats have seemed kinda ... quiet?
Are they licking their wounds after losing all three federal elections in November? Or are they strategizing ahead of a push for the 2026 midterms – nearly 19 months away yet somehow right around the corner?
Democrats have lost two of their past three presidential elections to Trump. The big tent party seems to be focusing on niche issues – and they're losing with voters because of it.
What are Democrats doing wrong, what are they doing right and where does the party go next? Those were some of the questions we asked as part of Paste BN's Forum. And wow, did you have thoughts. Who should be the next leader of the Democratic Party? Will former Vice President Kamala Harris run again? How can the left stand up against Trump? Readers from across the country answered those questions and more.
Harris was never going to win. Now Democrats need to take a page from GOP playbook.
President Joe Biden was viewed as old and confused. Sadly, it might have been true. Democrats kept him going for fear of losing the White House. Regardless of what anyone thought, there was no way Vice President Kamala Harris was going to win the presidential election. She clearly was not qualified, and whether we want to admit it or not, this country was never going to elect a woman, let alone a Black woman. We have not come that far yet. So, who did that leave them?
Let me be clear: I have always considered myself more in line with Republican views, or at least I thought I did until Donald Trump came around and changed the GOP and its direction. He clearly is the most un-American president in my lifetime, perhaps in history.
But I think the Democratic Party needs to steal from the Trump/Republican playbook. It is clearly successful. The ideas of civility, respect for the process, decency and morality have no place in today's political climate. Sometimes you have to get in the mud to win the fight.
I don't believe that Democrats have a clear and unified agenda. The very fact that so many voters who were on the fence voted for Trump should resonate big time with Democrats.
To me, there is no clear path for the Democratic Party to achieve a victory in 2028. The only hope they have is for Trump's policies to fail big time. And it would have to be pretty big, because his fan base believes, regardless of the evidence put before them, that he is right on everything.
Democrats need to find a new leader now and begin promoting them immediately. A great person to look at: billionaire Mark Cuban. He created success from the ground up, and he clearly has political knowledge. We need a common-man understanding like his, having built a business in a sport that caters to the working man and woman.
— Danny Martinez, Clovis, California
We need a good message from fresh faces
Democrats could not find a good message and stay with it, and they are not doing nearly enough to catch up. We need more Cory Booker moments − more Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders moments. We need them now and consistently. The party must become more centrist.
Democrats placed way too much focus on small population issues like transgender and LGBTQ+ rights. We also did not pay nearly enough attention to how pissed off even Democrats are over the border situation. We want immigrants here − we just don't want them the way that we've been getting them for the last 50 years. Legally and quickly vetted is the only way.
I don't think we know who the next leader of the party is yet. Sen. Booker of New Jersey is a possibility. Sen. Sanders of Vermont would have been great, but he's aged out. We need a completely new face and for the dinosaurs like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to move aside and pass the torch over to a younger, more in-touch-with-the-people leadership, or they are going to continue to die on the vine.
— Rhonda Graham, Pinetop, Arizona
Democrats acted like a doormat and got treated like one
Harris started from way behind the line in the presidential race, without enough time to make good decisions and present a policy that was in contrast to the Trumpers. Maybe even worse was the poor choice of running mate. Instead of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, it should have been Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro or someone who could have brought a swing state and a different demographic.
My mother always said, "If you act like a doormat, you get treated like a doormat." Democrats or doormat, you decide.
As for how they’re faring on policy and agenda, I say, what policies? What agenda?
If they could find a good leader, this would fix itself. It’s all about the presentation. My choice would be Matthew McConaughey. Everyone loves a good-looking actor (think President Ronald Reagan). He is well-spoken, well-educated and the right age. Also, he doesn’t need the money.
Most talented, young (under 50) people don't want the political life ‒ there's too much social media to expose any time they may have had an underage drink or said something awkward. There are plenty of great jobs for that generation where they can keep their privacy.
Democrats need someone people can like. It would be great if it were a woman, but let’s try for that later.
— Sarah Carrier, Piney Flats, Tennessee
Democratic Party should become more progressive
Why did Democrats lose in November? Many support what human rights groups are calling a genocide in Gaza, and there's a lack of interest in doing anything to fundamentally improve the conditions of the working class in America.
Democrats’ actions have been purely performative at best and helpful to the Republicans at worst. Booker held a filibuster that didn't stop or delay any specific bill, and Schumer decided to vote with Republicans to push their incredibly damaging spending bill. Some Democrats even voted to censure Rep. Al Green for standing against Trump.
I'm sick of Democrats focusing on decorum, rules and compromise. The Republicans never compromise with us, so why ever cave to their demands? Hold power and use it to help the working class.
If anything, the party should become more progressive. Democratic "policy" now is weak and pathetic.
— Ellis Bailey, Tampa, Florida
Trump is the punishment for Democrats' elitism
Politics is only understandable to the masses as a play of symbols. It makes sense, then, that a man who is in the WWE Hall of Fame became president. Democrats have overplayed their hand, thinking their ability to substitute traditional power for the power of shaming people online was great enough to subdue their enemies. Whatever they do in reality, they play the roll of the cry-bully, the finger-wagging, vindictive nag in this theater, defending the most fringe cases while neglecting the average. They come across as elitist, champagne socialists. They lost because they underestimated how much they’ve alienated millions of voters.
Trump is the punishment the people have chosen for the Democrats, and they’ve been left with little real power. The most they should do is publicly apologize for their behavior, accept responsibility, retire old faces, shut up about cultural matters and focus on their jobs.
I think the party serves a small handful of people who went to Harvard and Yale, economically, while, culturally, they use minority groups as mascots because they don’t believe these groups pose any real threat to their entrenched power. They paint this as “progressive.” They are neoliberals through and through, center-right and status quo.
I think the Democratic Party will choose Harris again because they don’t care how much they lose. They love hating Republicans so much that they will all but willingly lose just to put Republicans in a position where they can be horrible. But if they weren’t fools, they would choose Gov. Walz as the presidential nominee. AOC might be a good choice, but she flirts with being insufferable too much on social media. Hard to say if that would help or hinder her. She’s an attention getter but would be divisive.
— Aaron Milligan, New York City
Democrats have lost their way on strategy
Democrats pushed messages to an audience in the margins. The audience in the margins needs to join in a central strategic message to the public for the ultimate goal ‒ winning hearts and minds, winning the election and assuring a future for generations to come.
Democrats should drop the decorum ‒ no one cares anymore. Speak plainly and relate to the general public, become more combative, with straight, relatable and understandable justification. The voting public cares about the price of fuel, food, medical and housing. It is not a waste of time to show the public you are working to solve problems in the areas they are concerned about. The public also believes in the law. The Democrats should be drafting legislation right now to fix the weakness in court orders, to put teeth in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and protect public health.
Republicans are tactical. Democrats are strategic: Tell the public why it is important to their kids. Focus at the state and local levels to turn the public against what is happening at the federal and state level. Each cut at the federal level just sends the bill down … down home. Each insult at the state level sends a message that the future does not matter.
I think the new face of the Democratic Party should be someone like Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. Yep, two white guys from the Midwest who are successful governors who speak plainly and simply and are liked by their public ‒ the same public that Democrats have to attract to the voting booth. I appreciate what Bernie and AOC are doing, but they are lightning rods. They are too easy to hit with sound bites. Think strategically.
— George Evans, Harkers Island, North Carolina