United States | Donkey Rashomon

Democrats are still processing their defeat

Three factions are competing to explain the party to itself

A 2024 balloon can be seen at an empty County Democrats Election Night Watch Party.
Photograph: Getty Images
|WASHINGTON, DC|6 min read

THESE ARE NOT the reports Democrats were hoping to prepare. Instead of transition plans for the incoming Kamala Harris administration, draft executive orders and legislative outlines, Democrats are producing post-mortem analyses of how their campaign came apart in 2024. Those Democrats who are honest with themselves are recognising an uncomfortable truth: as awful, immoral and weird as they consider the Republican Party, the American people considered it to be the better option for governing America.

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This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Donkey Rashomon”

From the November 23rd 2024 edition

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