Democrats: Are You Ready for an Honest Conversation?

With the Dust Settled, Democrats Confront the All-Important Question: ‘What Happened?'

The 312 Reasons for Democrats to Rethink Their Strategy

November 9th, 2024: By Walter Curt

After such a clear victory from Teflon Don, thousands of podcasts, articles, and debates have sprung up, all asking the same question: What happened on Tuesday night? The day-after reactions from Legacy Media were laced with disbelief that the ‘twice-impeached, 34-felony-indicted, sexual-assault-libel, orange fascist’ could somehow win more votes than he did in 2020.

As the dust has started to settle, Democrats are experiencing a rare moment of introspection. Ezra Klein, writing for The New York Times, has, in my view, published the first honest reaction from any major newspaper. While he correctly identified the collapse of the Obama Coalition, he missed the mark by failing to address why Trump won over so many voters from demographics that traditionally vote staunchly blue.

Trump over-performed with nearly every voter demographic, most notably winning 54% of the Latino male vote—an astounding 33-point shift from Biden’s 2020 numbers. Among Latinos overall, he received 46% of the vote. Black men also shifted toward Trump by 4 points—not as dramatic, but still a 13-point swing from Clinton’s numbers in 2016. Yet, I have yet to see a single Democrat ask the question: Why are they losing the male vote? The “renowned philosophers” on The View decided that this must be because Latino and Black men are simply misogynistic. Ah yes, chastise them—that’s exactly what men respond to.

Ironically, if Democrats read their own reporting, they might find insight into the real reason they lost so badly: progressive identity politics. The anti-male campaign has been championed among progressives, with calls to “end the patriarchy” and blaming men for society’s problems—ideas that unsurprisingly did not resonate with male voters.

But male voters aren’t the only ones who find this ideology patronizing. Just before the election, Jeremy Peters also at The New York Times acknowledged that progressive politics are far from popular. If Democrats are wondering why Trump gained ground with Latinos, they might consider their insistence on “Latinx”—a term they tried to force into the mainstream, though most Latinos never accepted it. Pew Research Center found a whopping 3 percent of Latinos used the term in 2020, and even after relentless promotion, it’s only grown to an impressive 4 percent this year.

This isn’t even to mention the trans issue, where, for the past four years, the debate has raged over whether it’s appropriate for biological men to compete in women’s sports. Polling data has shown that 70% of Americans are essentially asking, “How is this even a question?”

To many of us, the unpopularity of the progressives was obvious; the loud, blue-haired activists demanding whatever they wanted should have been a clear warning. Yet the left hasn’t recognized this. The question now is whether this election will finally wake them up. This isn’t 2020, where Biden won narrowly in an unprecedented election. This was a resounding victory—and the first time a Republican candidate has won the popular vote in 20 years.

To recover from this loss, Democrats need to take a serious, inward look at the ideologies that have dominated their party since 2012. Superficial analyses of why unpopular ideas don’t resonate with voters will only lead to further erosion of support. The solution requires a decisive shift—away from fringe agendas and back toward the core principles that once resonated with the working class. Democrats don’t need to look far back; a return to Bill Clinton’s focus on economic pragmatism and middle-class empowerment would be a major step in the right direction.

Unfortunately, progressivism runs so deep in today’s Democratic Party that it may take yet another loss in 2026 to create real change. Ironically, it’s the Democrats themselves who need to “Turn the Page” on progressive politics and embrace a broader, pragmatic approach—one that doesn’t prioritize divisive social agendas over common-sense solutions. Without a return to being the “party of the common man,” Democrats will keep losing. While this outcome may satisfy many conservatives, the importance of a balanced two-party system remains essential to keep healthy debate alive and push the country forward.