In the wake of the historic red wave in which the Grand Old Party achieved its first popular vote victory since George W. Bush defeated John Kerry in 2004, the Democratic establishment naturally At every corner are campaign heads who are paid handsomely as established party leaders. Consultants and outraged political donors are grappling with the reality that there will be four more years of Donald Trump.
But despite this historic blow (supposedly) handing the keys to the governing triumvirate to a would-be authoritarian demagogue, Democratic Party Chairman Jamie Harrison has held out for long enough to log on to Elon Musk's X. I paused my introspection. dunk About Senator Bernie Sanders (Virginia, Vermont) most popular American politicians with young voters — mind you, this is the demographic that the Democratic Party bled under Harrison's watch.
For those who were wise enough to skip the post-election social media crisis scroll, here's a summary of Sanders. released The scathing statement placed the blame for last Tuesday's loss on “big interest interests and high-paid consultants” within the Democratic Party, who he claimed were turning their backs on working-class voters. There is. “While Democratic leaders defend the status quo, Americans are angry and want change,” he said.
Mr. Harrison quickly responded on social media, calling Mr. Sanders' criticism “a direct criticism.” It is worth noting, however, that before Mr. Harrison led the Democratic Party; spent He spent nearly a decade working as a corporate lobbyist for the now-defunct Podesta Group, one of Washington's most profitable companies at the time. Mr. Harrison has represented clients including defense giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin, financial giants Wells Fargo and Bank of America, and major corporations such as Walmart and Google.
Mr. Sanders' criticism of the Democratic Party's ties to corporate interests appears to have struck a nerve with Mr. Harrison, who has spent years boosting the profits of some of America's most notorious corporations. Mr. Harrison may embody part of the problem, but the Democratic Party's shift away from the working class began long ago.
Bill Clinton's NAFTA-led free trade policies that sent millions of jobs overseas, Barack Obama's support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and Labor leadership despite winning a Senate majority to block the filibuster. Please note that the government failed to pass the “card check” bill that they advocated. and the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.
But despite this sense of historical amnesia, Harrison accurately reflected on some of President Joe Biden's pro-worker accomplishments. There were predatory non-compete clauses under the Biden administration. abolishedeligibility for overtime pay is expandedand the strengthened National Labor Relations Board. investigated anti-union companies like Starbucks; This is what happened to Biden too. First president to walk on a picket line during last year's United Auto Workers strike.
Shockingly, Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party largely distanced themselves from this working-class issue during the 2024 campaign. From the beginning, our revolution warned of the need to deliver a clear economic message to progressive and working-class voters in battleground states.
we launched In 2020, the powerful “Get Out The Vote” effort targeted more than 1 million supporters of Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mississippi). Seeing that 1 in 10 of these voters plan to forego voting for Harris, we set off alarm bells in traditional news outlets such as: new york times, NPR and Associated Press This is to attract the attention of the consultant class.
Harris may have seized the opportunity with a strong populist economic message, naming real corporate enemies like Elon Musk, the world's richest man (and President Trump's biggest donor). . Instead, she courted billionaire agent Mark Cuban and war hawk Liz Cheney, hoping to attract wealthy donors and Republicans nostalgic for the Bush era.
The campaign has a strong agenda for properly raising the federal minimum wage, meaningfully expanding Medicare to take on Big Pharma, slowing private equity real estate grabs and halting the soaring rents that are fueling the nation's housing crisis. There was a lack of real commitment to
In other words, her team of veteran campaign strategists and consultants misjudged voters. As in 2016, they assumed this election would be a referendum on Donald Trump, but in reality it was a referendum on whether the Democratic Party would shift away from the needs of ordinary Americans. Ta.
It is no exaggeration to say that there is work to be done to rebuild a Democratic coalition that can counter MAGA policies and hold Republicans accountable for their broken promises and continued attacks on women, immigrants, and working-class Americans. isn't it. But now is not the time to move forward blindly without deep reflection on the failures of a party that is increasingly seen as serving wealth and privilege.
Now, more than ever, is the time for principled criticism, tough dialogue, and accountability for the strategic failures that enabled President Trump to return to the White House. Democratic Party leadership that fails must face the consequences. Let's move our heads.
Mr. Joseph Guivarghese, our revolutionthe nation's largest progressive political organizing group that grew out of Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign.
