Where the Democrats Went Oh So Terribly Wrong

Last Autumn, Democrats thought 2017 was going to be vastly different than the world we have today. Hillary Clinton was supposed to walk into the Presidency after a landslide win, and with this mandate and Bill by her side, the policies and programs of the Obama era would not only thrive, but be magnified.

America would take her rightful place as the shining beacon of progressive world politics, center stage.

In this sort of naïve utopian ideal, Democrats believed the previous year of divisiveness, the controversies, conspiracies — the sheer ugliness — would end with the November election. This was the stuff of nasty campaigns, and it was expected the chaos and noise would simply fade away once the fight was over and a winner declared. There would still be a form of populism, but it would be the kind directed at and for educated urbanites.

It wasn’t the predictions of an easy Clinton win they got so painfully wrong, it was the failure to understand why this had occurred. If their dreams had come true, progressives would be facing the inexplicable protests and criticisms of their loyal opposition. And they would still not understand where everything went so terribly wrong.

Democrats strayed from their one defining characteristic.