It is beginning to look very much like the Democratic Party learned nothing at all from the 2024 general election. Then again, that could be a premature statement. Perhaps the party that lost control of the White House and the Senate is merely going through what pioneering psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross termed the seven stages of grief. The first stage is shock and denial, both of which Democrats might eventually move past. However, about a month has gone by since the party's electoral disaster, and they are showing little sign they can recover.
The blame game over Kamala Harris' epic defeat continues apace. Yet, rather than just coming to terms with the fact that she was a terrible candidate – anointed rather than elected – who ran a disastrous campaign, there are those who nurse the hope she will launch another White House bid in 2028.
For all their talk of turning the page, not going back, and looking to fresher, younger, more dynamic leadership, the Democratic Party remains in the hands of the very people who nurtured a failed ideology. This ideology spawned policies that sowed the seeds of hopelessness, anger, financial strife, and even physical insecurity, persuading the majority of Americans to turn the page and send Donald Trump back to the White House.
Democratic Party Doldrums
Nancy Pelosi may no longer be the speaker of the House or hold an official leadership position among Democrats in the lower chamber, but she clearly still has considerable influence. That in itself is causing tensions behind the scenes. Pelosi is reportedly working to unseat some of the older members of the Democratic Party from powerful House committee positions. She herself is 84 years old and has just won her 20th term in the House of Representatives. “Pelosi is done. She should quit now before completely destroying her legacy,” one Democratic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Washington Examiner. “It’s sad to see her go out this way: old, bitter, and desperate for relevance.”
Chuck Schumer has just been reelected to lead Senate Democrats in the 119th Congress. And even Hillary Clinton is still persisting, as vague rumors swirl that she may also throw her hat in the ring for 2028. The Obamas are still a force to be reckoned with, even though they were reportedly less than thrilled that Kamala Harris was handed the Democratic Party presidential nomination after Joe Biden’s re-election campaign was sidelined.
Speaking of Biden, the ink on the sweeping pardon he signed for his son, Hunter, was barely dry before he fled to Africa, where he dished out financial aid. At the same time, people in the western part of North Carolina are still sleeping in tents beside the hurricane-ravaged remnants of their houses.
It has been clear for several weeks that Biden has effectively given up running the country – assuming he ever was. With the election in the rearview mirror, it's almost as if Trump is already calling the shots. World leaders are visiting and calling him, and it seems he has already begun informal negotiations over trade and tariffs with America's northern and southern neighbors.
If it is even possible to say there is a silver lining for the Democratic Party coming out of the election, it is that they have managed to hold House Republicans to just a five-seat majority., now that Democrat Adam Gray has defeated Republican incumbent John Duarte by a razor-thin margin in California's 13th District, the last House race to be called.
Still Not Unburdened by What Has Been
The finger-pointing over the lost 2024 White House race and Joe Biden's ouster is still grabbing headlines. Kamala Harris' bizarre post-election pep talk to her followers is still eliciting both chuckles and gasps. Long-serving Democratic players on Capitol Hill still clinging to power, even as Senate Republicans finally rid themselves of Mitch McConnell's leadership, is not a good look. And then there's the Hunter Biden pardon, which has gutted the Democrats’ “no one is above the law” refrain and crippled their ability to attack Donald Trump for any past or future pardons.
It seems, then, that the Democratic Party is doomed to wander the political wilderness for a couple of years. But if it cannot rid itself of the very people who brought it to this low point, and if it has nothing to offer the nation other than more promises to resist and destroy Trump, that couple of years might only be the beginning. As Kamala Harris might have put it, Democrats need to be unburdened by what has been, and they should probably think about doing that unburdening pretty soon. The wilderness is a big place if you keep walking in circles while blaming everyone else for the fact that you got yourself lost.
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