'Permanent minority': How Democrats’ 'self-loathing' may cost them another election

After then-Vice President Kamala Harris narrowly lost the 2024 presidential election, cable news was full of pundits reflecting on possible reasons for her loss. And a recuring theme was "Democrats have a problem."

Many of the conversations exaggerated the margins of Donald Trump's victory. It was a close election, with Trump defeating Harris by a margin of just 1.5 percent in the national popular vote. And many of the swing states that Trump won found him doing so by small single-digit margins, including Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

Almost three months into Trump's second term, the "Democrats have a problem" argument continues to be made — and more often by Democrats themselves. And The Atlantic's Mark Leibovich argues it has become counterproductive.

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"Democrats have a problem: too many problems," Leibovich writes. "Identifying the problems is not one of those problems. 'Democrats have a trust problem,' suggests Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado. 'Democrats have a big narrative problem,' adds Rep. Greg Casar of Texas. 'Democrats have a vision problem,' says Rep. Ro Khanna of California."

Leibovich adds, "In general, Democrats have a 'Democrats have a problem' problem…. Here’s another problem: Problems are tedious. Talk about them endlessly, and people will start to avoid you at parties. It can foster self-loathing — and exacerbate the Democrats' preexisting 'big problem with its own voters.'"

According to Leibovich, Democrats and Republicans both "tend to over-dissect their problems and defeats."

"Every party that loses an election supposedly risks becoming a 'permanent minority,'" Leibovich observes. "This concern usually lasts no longer than an election cycle or two. 'Permanent' minorities usually turn out to be temporary."

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Read Mark Leibovich's full article for The Atlantic at this link (subscription required).