{"id":2605538,"date":"2026-05-21T14:19:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:19:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-democrat-party-correctly-rejects-its-useless-2024-post-mortem\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T14:22:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:22:52","slug":"the-democrat-party-correctly-rejects-its-useless-2024-post-mortem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-democrat-party-correctly-rejects-its-useless-2024-post-mortem\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrat Party Correctly Rejects Its Useless 2024 Post-Mortem"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-democrat-party-correctly-rejects-its-useless-2024-post-mortem%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2605538&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The passage argues that after Democrats lost the 2024 presidential election, a DNC \u201cafter-action\u201d report was rejected by DNC Chair Ken Martin and released anyway, and the author uses the report to criticize how consultant-driven politics works.<\/p>\n<p>It claims the report doesn\u2019t provide serious analysis-mostly relying on generic slogans about having a \u201cnew strategy,\u201d \u201cthe vital center,\u201d doing \u201chard work,\u201d and being accountable. It mocks the way the document ties together clich\u00e9s into vague warnings, and it points to what it says are factual errors (for example, relating to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack) described as \u201creceived wisdom\u201d rather than evidence-based description.<\/p>\n<p>The author says the report focuses on process and marketing fixes-e.g., advising Democrats to \u201cgo negative\u201d about trump less or to improve outreach by using \u201cmale messengers\u201d-without grappling with what the party stands for or what voters actually believe. It further criticizes the perceived omission of major issues, such as not discussing President Joe Biden\u2019s age or the decision to move away from him after the primaries, arguing that these gaps show the report\u2019s priorities are superficial.<\/p>\n<p>the passage portrays the document as a 192-page example of stale, corporate-style political thinking: lots of checklists, messaging talk, and stereotypes, but little real engagement with the underlying reasons Democrats lost.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>I agree with the Democrat Party.<\/p>\n<p>After they lost the presidential election in 2024, Democrats commissioned an after-action report that was supposed to explain where they had gone wrong. This week, DNC Chair <a href=\"https:\/\/kenforchair.com\/about\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ken Martin<\/a> rejected the report, <a href=\"https:\/\/blueprint.democrats.org\/p\/a-message-from-dnc-chair-ken-martin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">explaining his decision<\/a> online: \u201cI am not proud of this product; it does not meet my standards, and it won\u2019t meet your standards. I don\u2019t endorse what\u2019s in this report, or what\u2019s left out of it. I could not in good faith put the DNC\u2019s stamp of approval on it.\u201d He\u2019s not wrong.<\/p>\n<p>Martin also <em>released<\/em> the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/editor-daily-rundown-phone-call-between-us-and-ukrainian-presidents-sparks-chaos-and-dem-mayor-blames-residents-for-murder-surge\/\" title=\"Editor Daily Rundown: Phone Call Between US And Ukrainian Presidents Sparks Chaos And Dem Mayor Blames Residents For Murder Surge\">rejected report<\/a>, wisely, preventing speculation by showing everyone the thing he was rejecting. You can read the Democrat Party\u2019s 2024 rejected postmortem <a href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/May-20-2026.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The report offers a fascinating insight into the problem of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-gop-summer-swoon\/\" title=\"The GOP Summer Swoon\">consultant class<\/a> that steers our political campaigns in both major parties. It was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/05\/21\/politics\/dnc-autopsy-takeaways-vis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reportedly written<\/a> by longtime Democrat consultant Paul Rivera, who has declined to comment on the rejection of the report by his party. This is how they think. It\u2019s a 192-page window into what professional political consultants think that politics is.<\/p>\n<p>Start with the shopworn slogans. What did Democrats lack? This: \u201ca new, forward-thinking electoral strategy.\u201d Democrats need to \u201creclaim the vital center of American discourse.\u201d Focus less on \u201cpie-in-the-sky narratives.\u201d The party needs to \u201cdo the hard work\u201d and \u201cchallenge our partners\u201d to \u201chold us accountable.\u201d Voters feel let down by \u201ca broken system.\u201d In short, \u201cWe must align our values with our investments to maximize the impact of our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/stimulus-update-payment-worth-1312-to-be-sent-from-alaska-fund-in-two-days\/\" title=\"Alaska fund to send ,312 payment in 2 days.\">year-round efforts<\/a>.\u201d It goes on and on and on like this. <\/p>\n<p>Then, on page 19, marrying four clich\u00e9s in a single sentence to analyze the upcoming midterms, the report warns that \u201cthe writing is on the wall, and the call is coming from inside the House. We either adapt to the changing conditions of the arena, or history will leave us behind.\u201d I kept being reminded of Matt Taibbi\u2019s discussion of Thomas Friedman\u2019s narrative style: The writing on the wall is coming on a call?<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019ve ever attended a corporate meeting that started with a middle manager announcing in earnest that it\u2019s time to think outside the box, you know this report in your bones.<\/p>\n<p>For some insight into the depth of the thinking on display in the report, you\u2019ll find this statement on page 16, describing the evil of the other party: \u201cNearly 3,000 people stormed the United States Capitol Building, leading to the deaths of five people, including one Capitol Police officer who was beaten to death by the insurrectionists.\u201d That\u2019s just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/brian-sicknick-capitol-riot-died-natural-causes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">completely false<\/a>. He\u2019s reciting received wisdom, not offering analysis. It\u2019s 192 pages of bumper stickers, assembled into a scrapbook. Maybe you hadn\u2019t considered this, but were you aware that ORANGE MAN BAD?<\/p>\n<p>Releasing the report, the DNC annotated the heck out of it to show which parts they were rejecting. The effect is comparable to discussion: The author says what happened, and then the party says that no, that\u2019s not it. Page 31:<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>\n<div>\n<p>Democrat After-Action Report<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>         <span>Image Credit<\/span>Screenshot       <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Democrat Party <em>didn\u2019t talk about Trump\u2019s negatives enough<\/em>. They just assumed voters would think that Orange Man Bad, so they never thought to mention it. If only they had thought to go negative. I just rolled my eyes so hard that they almost stuck.<\/p>\n<p>As you can see from the next bullet point, the Democrats also know they\u2019re losing men to a feminized and <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >feelz-centered leftist discourse<\/a>. \u201cThe Harris campaign appears to have focused heavily on women.\u201d The solution the report offers is that men \u201crequire direct engagement,\u201d so the Democrat Party should \u201cdeploy male messengers.\u201d (Pete Buttigieg? James Talarico?) Also, if swing voters aren\u2019t voting for you, remember that they \u201cneed mobilization AND persuasion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Every word of analysis is <em>process-focused<\/em>: If X demographic doesn\u2019t vote for us, we should buy some X to make public noises on our behalf. Reminder: This is the party that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pacificpundit.com\/2025\/07\/20\/olivia-julianna-has-been-let-go-from-her-role-as-the-dncs-young-male-voter-outreach-coordinator-due-to-poor-performance-and-20-million\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hired Olivia Julianna<\/a> to lead their outreach efforts to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/john-legend-says-black-voters-are-leaving-biden-because-of-masculinity\/\" title=\"John Legend suggests Black ... are turning away from Biden due to &#039;masculinity&#039; concerns\">young male voters<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cContext and execution matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCompete everywhere. Limiting losses matters. Recruit candidates with rural credibility and show up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVoters need to know what you\u2019ll do and why you\u2019re running. Clear accomplishments and concrete plans matter more than vibes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Falling asleep? I understand. Why didn\u2019t consumers buy our lump of turds? We must be more proactive in messaging about turds.<\/p>\n<p>Try this yourself: Go skim the report and look for the part where it discusses the decision to drop the basement-dwelling mummy who was sort of serving as president to swap him out for a party-selected candidate after the primaries. <\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>The DNC Autopsy report runs 192 pages.<\/p>\n<p>There is not ONE mention of Joe Biden&#8217;s advanced age or the strategic decision to shield him from a public that thought he was too old to continue as president.<\/p>\n<p>Unreal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u2014 Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChrisCillizza\/status\/2057481430104510968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 21, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>There\u2019s no serious discussion of what the Democrat Party <em>is<\/em>. The focus on transgendered everything, the hysterical discourse, the socialism and the rampant NGO crony fraud, the top-down manipulation of the election without regard to the party\u2019s primary voters: not important, apparently.<\/p>\n<p>This is what consultant-driven politics looks like, and it\u2019s stale enough to bundle off to the landfill. As a wise man once said, the writing on the wall is a call coming from inside the house that changes the condition of the arena. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Chris Bray is a senior correspondent at The Federalist and a former infantry sergeant in the U.S. Army. He has a history PhD from the University of California Los Angeles, not that it did him any good. He also posts on Substack, at &#8220;Tell Me How This Ends,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/chrisbray.substack.com\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ken Martin rejected Democrats\u2019 2024 after-action report, saying it fell short of his standards<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2086,"featured_media":2605539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/so-proud-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[32431,32923,32371,32504],"class_list":["post-2605538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-2024-election","tag-democratic-party","tag-election-analysis","tag-political-strategy"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/so-proud-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2605538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2086"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2605538"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2605538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2605542,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2605538\/revisions\/2605542"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2605539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2605538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2605538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2605538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}