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Philly/Nola
Joined May 2012
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Versuhtyle retweeted
CNN: I think JD Vance is a very bad politician and an exceedingly deceitful one. I think the biggest single loser last night was JD Vance because he is Donald Trump with twice the bigotry and half the charm.
Versuhtyle retweeted
Wave so blue that Democrats who dropped out and don't even want to be there are still getting elected
He served 1/3rd of a senate term
0 of his sponsored bills became law
Then he left to glaze Trump no matter the cost until the GOP fully collapsed
I really can’t think of anyone who has shown us they are less qualified to hold real power in this country going forward than Julius Django Vance
One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up.
So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us."
Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026.
There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true.
But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone.
Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were:
1) End the war
2) Focus on cost of living/inflation
3) Put America First
4) Change our relationship to Israel
Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.)
In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you.
The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.
If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest.
But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.
I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.
Versuhtyle retweeted
Iran and Israel.
Not tariffs. Not corruption.
Hmmmm.
One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up.
So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us."
Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026.
There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true.
But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone.
Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were:
1) End the war
2) Focus on cost of living/inflation
3) Put America First
4) Change our relationship to Israel
Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.)
In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you.
The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.
If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest.
But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.
I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.
Versuhtyle retweeted
Every Democrat who won a competitive district tonight is a political moderate. Normies. Non-fanatics. Clergy and doctors. AND YET, the progressive wing looks at these moderate victories as proof that what the party really needs is more fanatics.
Eric Hoffer called this decades ago in The True Believer. Fanatics actually despise moderates more than their real enemies. Why? Because incremental wins preserve the system they want to tear down. To them, steady progress is a bigger threat than losing.
🚨 Ro Khanna Urges Democrats to Embrace Hasan Piker as He Calls for a Radical Transformation of the Democratic Party
During an election-night conversation with Hasan Piker, Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna revealed that fellow House Democrats had questioned his decision to appear on the streamer's Twitch broadcast.
Khanna defended his appearance, arguing that Democrats should recognize Piker's enormous audience and influence among younger voters. He even expressed frustration that more of his colleagues have yet to recognize the political value of engaging with him.
The conversation then shifted to what the night's apparent blue wave could mean for the Democratic Party's ideological future.
Khanna argued that the Left's electoral performance demonstrated the political advantages of a strong progressive flank, while acknowledging that the party establishment would not simply concede the ideological battles ahead.
“When it comes to taxing billionaire wealth and Medicare for all and free college and zeroing out aid to Israel and stopping military sales, there's still gonna be a fight.”
Hasan took the discussion further, asking how Democrats could build a legislative agenda that would ensure Republicans never regain political power.
Khanna responded by calling for a sweeping expansion of government, including a wealth tax on billionaires, Medicare for All, free college, and free childcare.
He also warned Democrats against allowing the party's political consultants to impose an incrementalist approach to governing, arguing that electoral victories mean little without radical change.
“I want a Democratic Party that's actually gonna transform the political economic system and our foreign policy.”
Versuhtyle retweeted
Spend the next 2 years making people’s lives better.
-Lower health insurance premiums
-Cut prescription drug prices
-Make childcare affordable
-Lower electricity bills
-Raise minimum wage
No culture wars. No dumb stuff. Just make peoples lives better.
@TheDemocrats
If Dems wanna lead with authority and get a huge win for a supportive electorate that never seemed possible before…
Consider the following path:
Put off the impeachment proceedings in favor of something much more important
Float a constitutional amendment to abolish the Pardon Power of Presidents
(We haven’t had an amendment in 34 yrs and that was about congressional pay rather than anything overly important)
This issue will garner wide spread support while further demonizing representatives and officials seen as out of touch, self serving and possibly criminal by the electorate
To expand on that further, the easy “win even more and for longer” strategy in a lame duck Trump world, is to force representatives to vote on the litany of positions that are super popular across party lines
ISSUES WHICH ALL PREVIOUS CONGRESSES HAVE AVOIDED VOTING ON ENTIRELY
Term Limits for example (and there are MANY examples bc the public isn’t beholden to donors)
This strategy plays off the resounding mandate to stop Trump in his tracks while continually appeasing a super majority of the voting public on both sides of the aisle
There are many issues (like Term Limits) with 70%+ national support that never make it to the floor of Congress
Show that the new Congress is for the people with a big mandate by doing what others never could - actually representing “we the people” in the areas “we the people” have long agreed on but been stifled from enacting laws around bc of greedy self serving bureaucrats
Make Congress Represent Us Again
I’m often attacked for being a moderate and then in the biggest swing election of my life moderates out performed the climate better than anyone
On both winning and losing sides
Perhaps less time spent on divisive labels and more time spent on the actual issues w/ this mandate
You probably didn’t see the best ad of the cycle bc the national left seemed to entirely ignore the Gulf Coast
Mississippi looks to be a flip
Louisiana was less than a 2 point margin
Both Dem candidates were first and foremost really good non controversial people with substantial and impressive life experience entirely away from politics
I hope we continue to value that more going forward
I’ll always have a special place in my heart for the gulf coast and I hope the citizens there will be less abandoned by the media and politicians going forward
💜
Versuhtyle retweeted
Everyone keeps talking to me about Tariff’s and they try to giga brain what the plan could be and I consistently explain there is no deep ‘plan’
Trump has wanted Tariffs for 40 years - his obsession started as a democrat (it isn’t political - anti free trade isn’t a viable platform)
He lauded them in 2016 but thought better of doing anything bc he wanted to be reelected and his Cabinet (which would turn over at a crazy rate) was filled with somewhat respected leaders
Now he’s a term limited duck with Biden brain setting in, and pure loyalists in the Cabinet are too chickenshit to push back on anything he proposes bc they all want to be in the good graces of the cult post Trump
You’ve not heard explanations like ‘Well the President wants this done and he has a mandate’ as rationale for absurd actions, in all of history combined, as often as JD Vance alone has invoked that language
Which is purposeful in an attempt to avoid direct responsibility for the consequences of Trump’s actions during his future 2028 run - that isn’t lost on me
Now IF Tariffs were a bonafide solution they would need a huge rapidly evolving problem to solve to make any sense implementing in mass
That rapidly evolving problem didn’t exist whatsoever but American comprehension of mostly anything outside their day to day lives is minimal
So some bashing of ‘trade defecits’ *while we enjoy the top lifestyle in the world* was enough to convince the lowest order thinkers that something NEEDED to change when nothing needed to change in any major way
Looks like it was first time young voters and Latinos who went bonkers Eiffel 65
The former have only known politics dominated by Trump since they were in grade school - their break from him was covid - it hasn’t been a relaxing adolescence by any stretch
This was their 1st chance to vote for change and they showed up to do just that in numbers
The latter group don’t want to be hunted down in the streets and mistaken for or assumed to be criminals bc of the way they look
Not hard hitting analysis
I think those groups shifted in truly historic numbers from the last few cycles and it led to a historic result in turn
Most other groups moved left as well in very meaningful but less historic fashion bc of an economy that is working for very few people in 2026, Trump fatigue, and better systems of delivering messaging to downtrodden voters than ever before
Now we are faced with new and immediate questions
How will the Mad King respond?
Will the opportunistic rat jump ship?
Will he instead attempt a mutiny?
Stay tuned for these answers and more on the new season of Lamest Ducks: The Executive Branch
