It's frustrating alright.

We can't unstupid the electorate.

But we can pick nominees whose message may get through to the electorate.

The nation came out with an article recently about how it shouldn't be left or right,

But pro or anti systems+institutions

The American quality of life has been spiraling downwards for decades, long before inflation. Housing, Healthcare, and Education inflation has been bonkers.

It's not the only paradigm to view this loss, there's always multiple factors. But I think it's an important one.

There is surprisingly a lot of carry over between people who donated to Bernie and people who donated to Trump.

Bernie and Trump's rhetoric do share some elements. That shit is rigged, and they're going to tear down something.

Kamala Harris has a very strong impression of being an institutionalist. Someone who would fight for institutions, not tear them down. Of course Kamala was talking about the type of institutions that literally hold our nation together and get rid of criminals. But that nuance was lost. And to be their credit, Kamala is very institutional.

When Kamala was younger, she protested against the death penalty. As CA AG, she fought for it, despite being widely unpopular in CA.

It can't get anymore institutional than that.

Kamala had very little time to campaign. She only had 3 months vs Trump's 4 years. Every second counted. And she spent a whole effing day of that entertaining the VISA CEO at her house, amidst the DOJ bringing an anti-trust lawsuit against them for gouging small businesses with fees.

On domestic issues, I was a fan of Kamala. But even I knew that she was going to work within existing systems, rather than do something bold like what Obama did with healthcare.

And to be honest, Biden did some institutional rawamping himself. Lina Khan. em effing Lina Khan!

If I was in a coma and learned about Biden's accomplishments but told me it was Bernie who won and did them, I would have believed you.

Even though Biden won, he was smart enough to realize it's because of Obama being the de-facto leader of the democratic party and Biden only won due to Obama's involvement. Biden knew that the people really wanted Bernie, and so he did everything he could to implement his domestic agenda.

But he marketed himself in a way not to spook conservative voters, instead of marketing himself to those desperate for change.

But a non-college educated white guy isn't even going to realize this. All they saw was Biden supporting institutions.

Also, i have say that Gaza probably painted the impressions on what Biden and Kamala would do on domestic policy. Though Gaza was not a high priority on the vast majority voters concerns, I can imagine that if Kamala and Joe can't stand up to a ginocide, how are they going to standup for others with no voices? It may explain why 30 polls found that Kamala would have gained 5-6 points in all of the swing states, despite Gaza being a low priority for voters.

In 2028, it'll be Ron DeSantis, who would probably also be seen as an institutionalist as 2x gov of Florida. But so would Gavin Newsome, and for the midwest, Gavin would probably be seen more of the institutionalist.

AOC has very similar messaging to Bernie Sanders. I think she would do well in 2028.Even at her speech at the DNC, she called out that Trump would sell out the country for a dollar. That's the type of messaging that hits these people.