Ask A Genius 1300: Democratic Failures in 2024 and the Path to 2028 Victory
Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/03/03
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: The Democrats lost not only substantially, but significantly, in the last election. Let’s quantify it. Every state—all 50 states—the Democrats did worse than they did in 2020. So, how did left-wing social and political movements screw up the election?
Rick Rosner: Jake Tapper, the journalist on CNN, coauthored a book that’s coming out soon, calling it a cover-up—claiming the White House covered up Biden’s unelectability and frailty. It’s not out yet, but it’ll be published in a few months. If that’s accurate, it’s a massive screw-up. Because I believed in Biden. And then I believed in Harris.
We were probably stupid to put so much faith in Biden, especially since he once said he’d be a one-term president. But then, he decided he was the only one who could beat Trump—so he stayed in the race. The problem? He looked awful. And he sounded awful.
If you really listened to what he said, I still think he had his faculties intact and understood the information needed to make good decisions—but he didn’t sound like it. He sounded rickety.
I also wonder if Trump is on Ozempic to improve his appearance. We already know he was on steroids when he almost died from COVID—they pumped him full of every drug available to keep him alive. Maybe they should have put Biden on steroids too.
Jacobsen: We shouldn’t need a president to be on steroids.
Rosner: True, but to some extent, steroids can mess with cognition. On the other hand, steroids like cortisone are widely used. So, yes, they should have tried to make him more vigorous. But it was just bad luck—for Biden and for the country—that he looked frail when he needed to appear strong.
Tom Selleck is roughly the same age. Harrison Ford is the same age. Harrison Ford is starting to look old, but at the same time, he’s playing the President in the next Marvel movie, where he transforms into a superhero. Then there’s Jane Fonda, who showed up at the SAG Awards at 87.
And sure, she’s had a ton of work done and has exercised her whole life—but she still looks weirdly attractive for her age.
Jacobsen: I disagree.
Rosner: Yes. But you’re decades younger than me.
Jacobsen: Yes.
Rosner: Cher is in her seventies and has a boyfriend in his twenties. So, with enough help, you can still look good. You can argue about whether Jane Fonda is “bangable”, but she’s still a striking-looking woman, even at an age when most people aren’t.
Anyway—there were two massive screw-ups in this election:
- Sticking with Biden for too long.
- Terrible messaging.
They hid in the White House, hoping that voters would come to them, instead of actively campaigning. Meanwhile, young men got hammered with an endless barrage of messaging from the media they actually consume—podcasts, YouTube, Joe Rogan.
The Democrats didn’t match the intensity or the sheer volume of right-wing messaging. They didn’t even try. They let misinformation spread unchallenged and failed to fight back. And that’s bizarre, because the Democrats were great at messaging in 2008 and 2012 when Obama won. So why were they so incompetent in 2016 and especially in 2024? That’s the real question.
Jacobsen: So how did the Democrats screw up? Or are we asking what they need to do now?
Rosner: Both.
For one thing, Susan Sarandon got a ton of hate nine years ago when she said:
“Go ahead and elect Trump. Let the disaster happen—it will be a lesson for America.”
She got a ton of backlash, and rightfully so. But in a way, she was half-right. Because we did learn the lesson of Trump—temporarily. In 2020, we elected a guy who had failed multiple times before simply because Trump was that bad.
And now? Trump is still bad enough to lose. The House majority is razor-thin—two or three seats. The Republicans just barely passed a terrible budget bill, 217 to 215. They are almost certain to lose the House in the next election.
They have a good chance of losing the Senate.
So, what do Democrats need to do in the next two years? They need to forcefully message about what a fucking disaster Trump is. Trump is supposedly making all these budget cuts, but they aren’t saving significant money. Instead, they’re demoralizing the government and the people who rely on it—the victims of these cuts. It’s not about fiscal responsibility; it’s a “burn it all down, fuck you” strategy.
Trump isn’t saving money—he’s passing a budget that adds $4.5 trillion to the national debt, just to give more tax cuts to rich people and corporations. And they don’t need it. We’re already in the lowest tax environment for the wealthy and corporations in the past 70 years. It’s bullshit. And Democrats need to call it out as bullshit. They need to harness the outrage that Trump isn’t even doing what he ran on. He’s not doing anything to curb inflation.
And then there’s his tariffs against Canada, which start in four days—a 25% tariff for no fucking reason. His excuse? Fentanyl. Last year, how much fentanyl was intercepted at our northern border? Take a guess.
Jacobsen: Not much.
Rosner: 19 kilos. 42 pounds. You could curl that weight at the gym, and it wouldn’t even be a real workout. That’s 1/500th of the fentanyl intercepted at ports of entry along our southern border. It’s total horseshit.
Then there’s the bullshit about making Canada the 51st state—what the fuck is that? It doesn’t do anything. It’s just economic sabotage and a way to fuck with the stock market.
If Democrats were even slightly competent, they would be calling out the absolute shittiness of Trump’s second term every single day.
Now, to win the presidency in 2028, they need to learn from their mistakes. In 2024, they thought they could coast on a feel-good message—their slogan was basically “joy”, with the subtext of decency. They assumed all “good Americans” would rally behind Harris and a bunch of friendly celebrities. But half the electorate doesn’t want to be nice.
They want to break things. They don’t mind being assholes. They don’t like brown people. And a bunch of them can’t be shamed into changing.
We used to think that campaigning on American values was enough to win elections. But that’s not the case anymore. And if that’s not the case, then at the very least, Democrats need to figure out how to demoralize MAGA voters—make them own their mistakes. That’s starting to happen.
“You voted for this. It’s the Leopards-Eating-Your-Face Party, and now they’re eating your face.”
That’s a Twitter cliché. It’s been around for a year or two. The whole idea is: If you vote for the Leopards-Eating-Your-Face Party, don’t be surprised when they turn around and eat your face.
Winning in 2026 should actually be easier than 2024, but only if Democrats stop being weak. They need better messaging, better strategy, and more aggression.
And by 2028, they need a charismatic candidate who can stand up to bullshit. Gavin Newsom is pretty charismatic, but he might be too handsome. Maybe by 2028, he’ll look shittier, and that’ll help. The problem is, he’s been Governor of California, which doesn’t help with red states. But Democrats are going to lose the red states anyway, so who cares?
Maybe by 2028, they’ll figure out how to make him a winning candidate. Or maybe they’ll find someone else—someone charming. Obama came out of nowhere and was charismatic as hell.
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