"The Blue Road to #Trump Hell": Norm Solomon on "How #CorporateDemocrats Paved the Way for Autocracy"

http://www.democracynow.org/2025/12/31/democratic_party_autopsy_report

from #DemocracyNow!
Dec. 31, 2025

A new report from the grassroots organization RootsAction aims to do what a promised “autopsy” from the #Democratic National Committee ultimately did not: publicly reckon with the failures of the #Democrats’ 2024 presidential campaign. While the #DemocraticParty’s official postmortem assessment was pulled from public release earlier this month, RootsAction’s “Democratic Autopsy” looks at how factors like “service to corporate power, hostility to the progressive wing of the party, out-of-control militarism [and] disconnection from the base of the working class” contributed to declining support for the party’s platform and candidates. “If you don’t examine real history, then you’re in a cycle that repeats the same problems,” says Norman Solomon, director of #RootsAction...

#news #politics #Democrats #USpol

A new report from the grassroots organization #RootsAction aims to do what a promised “autopsy” from the Democratic National Committee ultimately did not:
publicly reckon with the failures of the Democrats’ 2024 presidential campaign.

While the Democratic Party’s official postmortem assessment was pulled from public release earlier this month, RootsAction’s
“#Democratic #Autopsy”
looks at how factors like
“service to corporate power,
hostility to the progressive wing of the party,
out-of-control militarism [and]
disconnection from the base of the working class”
contributed to declining support for the party’s platform and candidates.

“If you don’t examine real history,
then you’re in a cycle that repeats the same problems,”
says Norman Solomon,
director of RootsAction, who joins Democracy Now! to discuss his organization’s findings

http://www.democracynow.org/2025/12/31/democratic_party_autopsy_report

So, I posted my concerns about pretty much most of these f*ck-ups while the disastrous campaign was unfolding. And I still voted for #KamalaHarris because I knew how bad #TrumpSucks and #Project2025 was. But a lot of votes were disgusted enough by establishment Dem shenanigans and flip flopping that they stayed home and didn't vote! LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES! [And yes, I'm talking about 2016 in particular!]

Autopsy Says #CorporateCapture, Support for #Genocide Were Key Factors in Democrats’ 2024 Disaster

“Harris and the Democratic Party leadership prioritized the agendas of corporate donors and gambled on a centrist path, while largely abandoning working-class, young, and progressive voters.”

by Jake Johnson, Dec 11, 2025

"As the Democratic establishment slow-walks its own assessment of what went wrong in last year’s elections, an outside autopsy released Thursday argues the party’s failure to sufficiently appeal to and mobilize working-class voters as well as its complicity in Israel’s genocide in #Gaza were key factors behind the failure to prevent President Donald Trump from securing a second White House term.

The report, authored by journalist Christopher D. Cook and published by the progressive advocacy group #RootsAction, argues there were five primary reasons for former Vice President #KamalaHarris’ loss to Trump:

- Harris’ loss of nearly 7 million voters who backed Joe Biden in 2020;
- Biden’s refusal to exit the top of the ticket until just months before the election;
- The Democratic Party’s decision to prioritize courting so-called moderate Republicans and corporate donors over organizing working-class voters;
- Support for #Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza; and
- The loss of young-voter support.

"Cook acknowledges that certain 'external factors' impacted the 2024 contest beyond the Democratic Party or the Harris campaign’s control, including 'immense special-interest spending to manipulate voters’ information and perceptions on social media platforms' such as Elon Musk’s X and racism and sexism, which 'certainly disadvantaged' the former vice president.

"But ultimately, Harris’ campaign and the leadership of the Democratic Party 'bear responsibility for Trump’s return to the White House,' the report says.

" 'This was a preventable disaster, but Harris and the Democratic Party leadership prioritized the agendas of corporate donors and gambled on a centrist path, while largely abandoning working-class, young, and progressive voters,' Cook said in a statement.

"The report places significant emphasis on the Harris campaign’s fateful decision to openly appeal to Republican voters in the hope that some would abandon Trump—a strategy that Hillary Clinton pursued during her 2016 presidential bid, to disastrous effect.

"Cook points to the Harris campaign’s embrace of former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) as the most galling example of this strategy. 🤢

" 'Harris and Cheney—a Republican who had become a pariah in her own party—campaigned for several days together,' the report observes. 'On the campaign trail, they repeatedly hit high-minded themes about the threat that Donald Trump posed to American democracy, while scarcely speaking to voters’ more urgent concerns about the state of the economy.'

The campaign’s gamble that it could appeal to potential GOP swing voters while keeping the Democratic base intact “proved to be a huge mistake,” the report says, arguing the approach muddied “Democrats’ message about economic inequality” while “consuming valuable campaign resources that should have been spent on a more robust base turnout operation.' "

Read more / listen:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/democratic-party-2024-autopsy

#USPol #2024Elections #Democrats

from #TheProgressiveNewswire, a project of #CommonDreams
#Jewish #Progressive Leaders Push Back Against “Lie” That Opposition to #Shapiro for VP Is #Antisemitic

""Opposition to putting Josh Shapiro on the ticket is not about his religion, it’s about his political positions,” Jewish leaders of #RootsAction.org said today. The leaders of the group, which has 1.2 million supporters online, labeled as “an emerging lie” the claim that opposition to Pennsylvania Gov. #JoshShapiro becoming the #Democratic vice-presidential nominee is a manifestation of #antisemitism."

#DefendStudentProtesters
#SolidarityWithPalestine is #NotAntisemitism
#EqualRightsForAllFromTheRiverToTheSea is #NotAntisemitic
#CeasefireNow #EndUSAidToIsrael #DivestFromIsrael
#StopGazaGenocide
#RestoreFundsToUNRWA
#JewHatredHurtsPalestine
#IsraelWarCrimes #ArrestNetanyahuAndGallant
#USHandsOffICC
#Gaza #Israel #Palestine #politics
#USA #USPolitics #USElection
#media #news #press @palestine @israel

Apparently, I'm not alone in thinking maybe #Biden should step aside. I'll vote for pretty much anyone who has a chance of winning against Trump, but I'm not sure Biden is that person.

Step Aside Joe

"The president’s prospects for winning re-election appear to be bleak, even in the face of GOP extremism. With so much at stake, anointing him as the Democratic Party’s 2024 standard-bearer would be a tragic mistake.

"Biden triumphed over Donald #Trump in 2020 with vital help from extraordinary grassroots efforts in swing states by #progressive organizations (including RootsAction). But in 2024, Biden would be the candidate representing the status quo – not Trump – as polls show record-breaking majorities of voters believing our country is on 'the wrong track.'

"We call on President Biden to step aside. We want an open convention in order to defeat the GOP, the top priority of those who care about democracy in our country."

TY to @DemocracyNow_Headlines_rss for making me aware of this campaign (and the #RootsAction website -- lots of good stuff there!).

https://stepasidejoe.org/

https://rootsaction.org/

Tell #Amazon: Don't use [user] data for killing.

https://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=13545

via #RootsAction #USofA