Tired of Being Right
Hello, I hope that your weekend was good.
This week on the podcast, Zach Graumann and I unpack what happened on Election Day. It got a little emotional. Zach said, “Man, I’m tired of being right.”
Coming from most people, that would seem a little bit self-aggrandizing. But Zach hadn’t just opined; Zach moved to New Hampshire in January to help run Dean Phillips’ insurgent campaign against Joe Biden. He put a ton into trying to get the Dems to do the right thing and hold a competitive primary.
I was there too. Dean’s campaign was real. He put $5.8 million of his own in, raised another $1.8 million and got 19% of the vote in New Hampshire. For those of you who supported our efforts for Dean, thank you – I hope you also feel good about that support now. Dean was running on the conviction that the Democratic Party was careening toward disaster in November with Joe Biden as the nominee. The Dems fell all over themselves maligning Dean and protecting Biden, who would wind up dropping out less than 6 months later.
Dean was proven right. “We got 19% in New Hampshire and it could easily have been higher, but the press didn’t want to give Dean any credit,” Zach says. “The Dems were much more concerned with keeping their place in line than listening to what we were saying.”
Zach and I had tried. Then, months later after his disastrous June debate performance, Joe Biden pivoted to elevating Kamala Harris instead of allowing a hurried primary. As we all now know, Kamala got swept in the swing states and lost the popular vote, failing to build on Biden’s vote total in any county in the United States. The blame game is on.
“From a comms perspective, it was malpractice. What was the Dem message?” Zach comments. “And the messenger couldn’t answer layup questions like ‘What would you do differently than Joe Biden?’” We also discuss Kamala’s failure to go on Joe Rogan, which I described as madness given the size and nature of the audience.
Zach has now run two presidential campaigns and written a book on one of them – that’s changed his perspective. He’s left it out on the field. Even for me, it’s a lot easier for me to say, “She should have gone on Joe Rogan” because I’ve actually done it myself and believe Joe would have been open-minded and fair. Zach joked that he thought he’d feel better after unpacking the campaign, but it actually fired him up more to talk about it.
One frustration that people have is that the Dems will learn very little from this loss. If history is any indication, they’re in for a long road. Meanwhile, Forward is growing quickly as people discover the need for a new approach. Let’s speed up.
For my interview with Zach, click here. For my thoughts on what the Democrats should do, which they will ignore, click here. To join Forward and build the new movement click here – there are a ton of new people joining right now.
