I fear Democrats are laying the groundwork for future losses by refusing to learn from defeat [View all]

Before the election, when most people assumed Hillary would win, many Democrats were horrified when people on the right began to hint that they would not accept the results of the election, that the whole system is rigged.. We laughed at their absurd, childish responses to impending defeat. Also, we were furious when Trump lumped all Mexicans and Muslims together, reminding him that you can't judge an entire group of people by the people on the fringe.

Then we lost. I, personally, couldn't sleep at all that night. The horrible thought - a game show host and demagogue as our next president. But the next morning I snapped out of it and went into analysis mode, because that's what competitors do if they care about winning next time - they analyze what went wrong so they don't repeat mistakes. They strengthen their weak spots.

What has disappointed me almost as much as Trump victory though, has been the new strategies of many of my fellow Democrats. Many are acting just like republicans were just before the election. They're disputing the outcome of the election, adopting a strategy of "let's say it's rigged first and wait for the proof which surely will be coming." They're lumping all Republicans together as a bunch of racists, refusing to see that some of those Trump voters in the rust belt voted for Obama twice.

Then the other denials - it was Bernie's fault. Did we forget that Trump was repudiated by almost every guy who ran against him? The 2nd and 3rd place finishers went so far as to say they wouldn't or maybe wouldn't even vote for him! The Bushes said they wouldn't vote for him.. Their party was split in a million pieces, and Hillary had ONE competitor, and the vast majority of his supporters turned out for Hillary, I bet more so than the PUMAs did for Obama in 2008. So how can Trump win with such a splintered party and we cannot? No, Sanders isn't to blame.

Then it was Comey's fault. So we're supposed to believe that the weekly Trump scandals were all ineffective but this one letter from Comey convinced hundreds of thousands of people to change their vote at the last minute or stay home? Do you really think people vote on a letter like that rather than what they think a president is going to do for them? And let's look at who DID change their states from blue to red - the rust belt. MANY people in those states are still on Trade Adjustment Assistance - that means they get welfare because of the lost manufacturing jobs. You think it's just a coincidence that those are the states that flipped? Did you see the final ad Trump ran in those swing states? It was what has typically been a DEMOCRATIC message. Look it up, watch it. It's all about the poor and the middle class versus the rich and powerful. But Trump's rich! How stupid his followers are! Yeah and they also know that the Clintons are rich and part of the "establishment", so it cancels out doesn't it? Trump tapped into anti-establishment, populism... It pains me that Trump used that message against us. That has always been OUR message. What was Hillary's final ad in the swing states? The Katy Perry ad. I liked it, but I'd rather have an ad that hits at the rich and powerful - the oligarchy that is slowly strangling the 99%. The wealth of the 1% has been increasing sooo fast, while the 99% stagnate or fall further down. That's the fight we need to be having, in addition to the social causes.

And now it's "fuck the rust belt those jobs aren't coming back" and "robots are taking their jobs." That is also one of those catch phrases that happens to be bullshit -

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2015/04/29/dont-blame-the-robots-for-lost-manufacturing-jobs/

When I lose, I don't make excuses. I hate losing so much, that I will painfully examine myself, ego be damned, to find out why I lost so that it never happens again. What I see from a lot of fellow Democrats, however, is "it's rigged, someone will prove it."

I really want to work and talk with fellow lefties who are interested in helping the Democratic Party learn from this defeat. We all hate those people who watch sports and blame the refs for all their losses. I really don't want that to become the Democratic Party. If this were baseball we'd be wondering what trades we need to make in the offseason to bolster our infield, or hitting, or whatever.. Instead I see a lot of doubling down on the same strategies that we just lost with. Lost to a horrible jackass. If we think there's nothing wrong with our strategy after just losing to a horrible jackass, WE ARE LAYING THE GROUNDWORK FOR THE NEXT DEFEAT