The votes were still coming in when the Democratic establishment set the narrative for the party’s 2020 debacle: it was all the Left’s fault for pushing progressive policy like Medicare for All.

“When [voters] see the far left that gets all the news media attention, they get scared,” said Rep. Kurt Schrader, member of the conservative Blue Dog Coalition. “They’re very afraid that this will become a supernanny state, and their ability to do things on their own is going to be taken away.”

“This playing footsies with socialism is not going to win over most of America,” agreed Rep. Stephanie Murphy, cochair of the Blue Dogs. “There’s no amount of lipstick that can cover up the fact that these far left ideas are costing us races.”