I think I’ll agree that Democrats no longer “get” the new environment.

The media and social media landscape is changing, as this article points out. We are living in the era of YouTube and influencers. I agree. But saying that the entire problem of why democrats suck at elections comes down to “learn the social media game” is simplistic and misses other parts of the or.

First of all, I’d argue that the democrats are still living in the 1990s as far as policy goes. The concerns that they have as major initiatives just don’t seem to match up to what I hear people talking about. People are worried about declining standards of living, ghost jobs, affordable housing, and student loans. The Biden administration was worried about green energy, shovel-ready infrastructure projects, Ukraine, DEI, and Our Democracy.

Even when campaigning, they barely bothered to nod in the direction of concerns people have. They were all over project 2025, or Schedule F, or Trump hates (whatever group were pandering to right now). They were careful to be pro Palestine. But they never got around to anything average Americans would care about. They just sort of assumed “I hate Trump” was sufficient. It wasn’t, and won’t be next time. Our Democracy doesn’t matter to people watching their kids struggle to afford housing. It doesn’t matter to people sitting around the kitchen table trying to squeeze yet more money out of their budget to afford groceries.

And even when they did have a message that would have resonated with average people, their ability to actually do anything significant about the issues that matter to the average person is practically nil. There’s no real chance that the majority of students will see student loan relief. There’s even less chance that housing will be more affordable anytime soon. Prices are still high.