After the Loss: A Deep Dive into the Lessons for the Democratic Party

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Introduction: Learning from Loss for Lasting Change 

I have spent years going through assessments of what happened in my own life or the organizations I work for as consultant. We always need to know what worked; what did not work, and how do we need to change what did not work. I have found what I can do to move forward, with new learnings even though they have been painful at times. It changed what happened in my life or in an organization, which allowed us to never repeat the mistakes we made again.  

Beyond Blame: Charting a Clear Democratic Future 

Blame and focusing on others is not the answer to resolve what happened in this election. I have made this Podcast 106-A, since this will be a series of podcasts, where I will keep bringing up issues that we can learn from and continue a Democratic movement that will encourage voters of American to support us again.  

Protecting Harris’s Legacy While Shaping the Future 

We also do not need to throw out everything that Kamala Harris put in motion that has become a movement. I will not listen to Democrats demean President Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. Let us get honest and seek out every aspect of this election and find out what we need to do. We are a party that has been representative of all people, and we can be that again. 

I am going to detail some things that I think contributed to us losing this election, and I am going to share two videos in this podcast. One is about the immigration policies that Biden and Harris had remarkable success. These policies were never detail and repeated for the U.S. Citizens to see what Biden and Harris did with the border. 

My second video will be from a woman that tells us a lot of what happened in this election and the reason that Kamala Harris is not our president. We need to listen to her, since we have to start listening to those that supported Trump. Whether we like it or not, they do have valuable information for us. 

Lessons from the “Bro Identity”: Why Young Men Backed Trump 

There is a profoundly serious reality we need to face. The “Bro identity” had men I know who voted a straight Democratic ticket and then voted for Trump for President. The Atlantic in an article entitled “Taxonomy of the Trump Bro” by John Hendrickson on November 8, 2024, 5:47 PM gave a startling description of what happened at the University of Georgia, Athens, campus. The author attended a rally on the campus, and said, “Hundreds of young guys with their arms outstretched hollered for MAGA merch. Once a stigmatized cultural artifact, the red cap, is now a status symbol. For a certain kind of bro, MAGA is bigger than politics. MAGA makes you manly. But among all the demographic findings is this particular and fascinating one: Young men are more conservative than they used to be. One analysis of AP VoteCast data showed that 56 percent of men ages 18-20 supported Trump this year, up 15 points from 2020.” 

Hendrickson goes on to say: “My colleague Spencer Kornhaber wrote this week that Democrats are losing the culture war. He’s right, but Trumpism extends even beyond politics and pop culture. The students Hendrickson spoke to told him, “some frat houses off campus make no secret of their Trump support, but it seemed less about specific policies and more about attitude.” He ends with “these Trump bros do not all deserve sympathy. But there’s good reason to try to actually understand this particular voting bloc, and why so many men were—and are—ready to go along with Trump.  

A second article from Slate, “Men Got Exactly What they Wanted,” by Jill Filipovic, Wednesday November 6, 2024, at 4:34 AM CST details how this election “was an election of identity politics. But unlike what that term usually implies—that we’re talking about women and/or racial minorities—this race was about a particular kind of masculine identity that increasingly crosses racial lines. Hispanic males supported Trump is much larger numbers.  

The Slate article goes on to talk about Trump’s rallies, which “were characterized by gross and almost cartoonish misogyny. He won, and political science researchers confirmed that although a sense of economic displacement was real, racism and sexism were the fuel that powered the Trump fire. It wasn’t just that working-class white men were frustrated by their lots in life; they were frustrated because they were no longer easily ahead of women and racial minorities, and because they no longer lived in a country dominated by people who looked and believed as they did. The men Trump and Vance courted likely don’t believe they hate women at all despite voting against women’s fundamental rights. Many of them seem to desperately want female affection, approval, and, perhaps most of all, respect—but, having not exactly earned it, long for a time when female deference was essentially mandatory.” 

What Trump offered was not policies he “offered instead the promise of masculine strength and male dominance, of men returned to their rightful positions of authority in the White House and in houses across America. He talked to men who are frustrated and men who are adrift, many who feel—despite all evidence—mistreated and even discriminated against. He promised them a return to power.” 

What did we need to add to the Democratic movement that creates a Bro identity that men will support our presidential candidates. We have outstanding, thoughtful, and successful men in the Democratic party. They are excellent examples of manhood and fatherhood. We have to provide a clear imagine of masculinity that the men who got attached to the Bro identify that Trump conveyed will know another masculine identify. 

Addressing Women’s Support: What Held Us Back? 

We women are going to need to look at ourselves, since 40% of the women supported Trump. What happened to the 60% of women in our country, since Harris lost the election? I read multiple articles before the election that women could be the deciding votes that would allow Kamala Harris to be the next President of the United States. What did not click with women or how did we not emphasize the importance of them voting? How can we help women to understand how women do have power, and we can bring women into the White House. So, what was missing in the Democratic Campaign that did not show the serious reality to women, if Harris was not elected.  

I know that the women’s movement is starting up again, and will continue to grow, since I believe we have been unavailable to provide knowledge and experience on how women were remarkably successful in moving our civil rights forward and kept them till Roe v. Wade was overturned. Even though we have had successes during this election on establishing abortion as a medical treatment for women in various states we have many states where women are dying due to severe restrictions on reproductive medical care.  

Highlighting Border Success: What Voters Missed 

What I feel dreadful about is the Democratic party, nor Biden and Harris ever detailed their success at the border. Here is an outstanding article from The New York Times by Alexander Stockton, from “Today,” on October 31, 2024, and a video that I think you need to hear. I honestly believe if this had been put forth, at least the American people would know that Biden and Harris did resolve the border. Stockton says, . I was so intrigued that I made a video about it, which Times Opinion published yesterday.” He later says that he believes not putting this information out will cause Harris to lose the election. Unfortunately, he was correct. So, this is one area of the Democratic Campaign that failed to address one of the key issues for the citizens that voted for Trump. 

Here are Stockton’s detailed comments: 

“The original TikTok shows an undocumented migrant, Cleyber, at the border. He wants into the United States, but he’s decided he’s not going to cross illegally. Instead, he’s peacefully swinging in a hammock, telling other potential migrants not to cross, either. 

That confused me. Biden and Harris have been accused of enabling an open border. Record numbers of migrants poured across over the past three years, while the administration seemed to look the other way, or so the story went. 

Cleyber was just yards from the United States—his dream within his grasp. If the border truly is permeable, why wasn’t he crossing it? In answering that question, I found that the narrative that’s often spun about this administration’s handling of the border crisis is completely wrong. 

Biden and Harris haven’t ignored the issues. To my surprise, I discovered a campaign to secure the border that started the day they took office. In fact, they’ve often acted like conservatives, arguably fulfilling aspirations Donald Trump failed to achieve during his presidency. 

When voters have been polled on immigration, a majority said they trust Trump on the issue over Harris. But they might feel differently once they see why Cleyber decided not to cross the border. Check out the video to learn more.” 

Listening to Trump Supporters: Key Insights We Can’t Ignore 

We must also listen to those who voted for Trump to understand exactly what happened in this election. I have a client and a friend of mine who I did not know listened to my podcast. He has been a Trump supporter for a long time; yet, he had a video that came on his TikTok and had never had one like it before. He said, “This not the normal post that comes up on TikTok for me I usually get literature and science and math.” I know that he heard the pain I felt about the election in my podcast last week, and so he sent me this video with a thoughtful statement wishing me to do well and thrive. He put a face and a heart at the end of his message. 

I watch the video. I am going to share with you the video he sent me, since I know that he and I respect, care about and love each other for who we are no matter how we vote. He also added some examples to show that this was a different video than anything else he receives. So, I don’t know about you’ll; however, when I get a message like this then I believe I need to listen. I think there are moments in my life where my Higher Power better known as God for me takes the opportunity to find a way to give me a message like the one, I have received from my friend. When I listened to the video, I didn’t like some of the things she had to say; however, her comments made sense to me. I moved from being distraught to reading everything I could to see how I can contribute to a productive discussion of what we as Democrats need to look at in detail so we will know how we did not provide the message to the citizens of the United States that they would support. As Democrats with our Republican friends that supported us in this election, we need to stop blaming, and looking at everything we can learn from this devastating lose. We missed the mark with our message. 

WATCH THIS VIDEO–https://www.tiktok.com/@drdeedeecurtis/video/7434673176178707755?_r=1&_t=8rHiA9QDCt4 

A Movement Takes Time: Building on Harris’s Foundation 

As Kamala Harris told us in her speech to say Trump won and yet she was not surrendering, she was giving us an extraordinarily strong message about what it takes to have a movement succeed. She had 100 days to run a campaign. Democrat supported her rise to our standard bearer for our party for this election. I am well aware that I did not and many Democrats did not realize the challenge that we gave Harris. We were so grateful for her taking on this challenge. Hear me—A MOVEMENT TAKES TIME TO SUCCEED—so we need to start seeing how we can use what Harris has started, give support to her and the many Democrats who can help us lead this Movement forward by making changes through a close analysis of what caused Trump’s success and our failure.  

I have been an activist since 1960. I lived through the civil rights movement and the losses we had of great leaders such as President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. The civil rights movement and the campaign in the United States took from 1954 to 1968, which abolished legalized racial segregation. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights act in 1965. We have lost some of the protections of this act with the current Supreme Court’s rulings. 

The women’s movement stated in 1848 in Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 when three hundred men and women rallied to the cause of equality for women. There were four waves of feminism. Unfortunately, we are going to have to stand firm and march to reestablish women’s right in the United States again. We women have power. We have men that will support us. We need to get a clear message to Kamala Harris’s movement that helps men to appreciate who we are, what we are, what we need to live as equal citizens of our country.  

Honoring Biden’s Legacy and the Road Ahead 

We need to be grateful for President Joe Biden’s four years as our President. I have quoted resources that have said the economy was equal and even better than what Trump did in his four years. Biden lead was through a disastrous experience of surviving COVID, and saving lives with his actions. He put forth the best laws to save our planet, which Trump has said he will eliminate some of the protections for our planet. Biden has taken us through two wars in the world, and I hope that MAGA Republicans realize that whatever success Trump has with these conflicts, Biden has lead us to a place where Trump will have an easier chance to end these conflicts. The actions of President Biden cannot be forgotten to attempt to glorify Trump with whatever success he has. Let us appreciate what historians will say about President Joe Biden. As he leaves office, let us respect and appreciative the decades of service that Joe Biden has given to our country. 

End the Blame Game: Time for a Unified Democratic Strategy 

STOP THE BLAME. Let us get to work. Change our movement and get the help of our Republican friends who supported the Democratic party to help us change what we need to change. We have a lot to face in the next four years. We need to work every day and never give up. 

Conclusion Paragraph: 

“This election loss is a wake-up call, not a defeat. We have a chance to transform these hard-learned lessons into actions that resonate with every American who seeks progress, unity, and integrity. Together, let’s channel this setback into a renewed Democratic vision—one that values every voice, embraces meaningful dialogue, and builds a coalition for change. Now is the time to set aside division, honor our party’s legacy, and take steps forward with courage and resilience. The road may be long, but with clear purpose and collective effort, we will rise to meet the challenges ahead.” 

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