Who Will Win the Democrats’ Blame Game?
Democrats have a choice: continue as the loyal opposition in a political order defined primarily by the populist right, or mobilize a transformative ideological vision and distinctive set of policies capable of defining the political order itself.
Kamala Harris speaking at Howard University in Washington, DC, on November 6, 2024. (Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Since Donald Trump triumphed over Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, the Democratic Party has been consumed by an ongoing Discourse War concerning what went wrong and who is to blame. Opinion sections, podcasts, cable news punditry, and social media feeds have been awash with finger-pointing in all directions. Some blame Joe Biden. Others point to Harris. Some lay responsibility at the feet of the party for its alleged capture by liberal and progressive causes. Others critique the party’s failure to sufficiently embrace those same causes. The debate rages on.
Combined with the dispiriting reality of looking down the barrel of a second Donald Trump administration, the often mind-numbing noise of the Democratic blame game raises a simple question: Does any of this hindsight-induced hand-wringing really matter? Or is the Democratic Discourse simply a lot of sound and fury, in the end signifying nothing?
History suggests that these postelection debates really can matter, and that this particular round of internal party contention is likely to be especially consequential for our collective future.
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