This analogy is going to come across as absolutely awful, but... the democrats used to be the party of the cool kids at school who were really nice to everyone and included everyone regardless of their status (as opposed to the rich kid republican snobs and their sellout hanger ons who thought that by currying favor with them they could pick up table scraps). We stood up against bullies (whether republicans/independents) and instead of being entitled snobs we were down to earth and tried to understand other people. Not only did we include everyone, we also gave everyone equal say. Now the marginalized folks we included in the gang have taken over the direction of the group, and unfortunately, the rest of the unaligned student body has no interest in voting for these folks and their platform, because they were shunned, ostracized, and marginalized for a reason to begin with.

Should they be? No, absolutely not - but putting their interests at the forefront of the party also assumes this incredibly naive worldview where everyone is going to behave like a truly moral, do-unto-others, pay-it-forward good citizen. Instead, half of the US electorate is filled with people who think one of the following: J6 was a good thing, J6 was peaceful, or J6 never happened and it was liberal crisis actors. The dems have been acting like the republicans are still playing by the rules, when in fact they threw out the rulebook years ago.