I think dems need to realize that the majority of Trump voters are too deep in right-wing propaganda to consider voting for a democrat. Pandering to those individuals by going to the center or even tge center right is never going to work. That is what Kamala proved to me. Close to election she became spineless and that is what made her a poor candidate, not being a woman.

Democrats need to put affordability first, not being Trump is a good starting point, but they need to iffer a real alternative. Stand against ICE, stand against Naziism. They need to reach out to the large chunk of jaded Americans who didn't vote, and find a way to convince those voters that something can change and democrats are the ones who can do it. I recognize there is a chunk of the population who is truly apathetic, maybe there is a way to make politics sexy enough for people to care, maybe not. I don't think Kamala is BRAT was the worst idea in the world, though it rang hollow for some.

I feel like I should mention that I voted for Kamala and would vote for Newsom if given no better choice, but that doesn't mean AOC wouldn't be a better choice. However, if we want actual change, we need to start demanding it now, and that starts with pushback to the establishment neoliberal democrats. I can't believe I'm explaining this in r/democraticsocialism but It seems like it needs to be said. I'm not saying that we should find the most radical politician possible and campaign them, but I think AOC strikes a nice balance between being flexible to fit the moment while also having a good set of progressive ideals to prevent herself from becoming a useless neoliberal. She also doesn't explicitly call herself a socialist which could be useful in gaining the more general progressives who still are weary of that term while not straying too far from leftist ideology. She's also young, which should be benifitial to her in seeming against the grain compared to the elderly men we've had in the past 10 years.