In case people missed it - California shifted to the right as well [View all]

[Sympthsical]

Of course, we're unlikely to elect Republicans statewide any time soon and whew for that. But if anyone thinks voters turning off from the Democratic Party was some singular swing state phenomenon, and the diminished margins in other blue states like Illinois aren't convincing enough, take a look at what our political totem managed this week.

San Francisco dumped London Breed as mayor in favor of a moderate Democrat who made crime, drugs, and homelessness central to his platform. He also targeted and listened to the AAPI community which has been furious with our party for being ignored, particularly when they were under attack during the pandemic.

Alameda County - this is Berkeley and Oakland, people - tossed their DA by 30 points for being soft on crime (Pamela Price was a shitshow from the word go). When Berkeley calls you out for being out of touch . . .

George Gascon, another DA with a progressive approach to crime, lost his re-election bid by 22 points. (Anyone seeing a theme with these California DA's getting canned?)

Prop 36, which was vigorously opposed by Gov. Newsom and would increase penalties for shoplifting and certain drug offenses, is passing with the flyingest of colors at 70%.

As of this writing (California takes forever to count votes), Trump is up 5% in the popular vote over his 2020 totals.

I understand self-reflection can be a difficult thing when it requires admitting error. People's egos get involved, and it's not like we aren't all familiar with the "It's not me, it's you!" toxicity in relationships we cannot bug out of fast enough.

But if California - which is Harris' home state - going, "You know, this isn't great . . ." isn't even resulting in an eyebrow raise and prompting some soul searching and course changing, just what will? We just got shouted at by voters across the country, including in enclaves overwhelmingly populated by liberals, and the response simply cannot be "We're clearly not plugging our ears hard enough."

Which I have seen way too much of this week. Do people actually want to win elections, or is being bitter on social media just too much fun? Because I'd like a Blue Wave to materialize at some point. The sooner the better. But we don't get there with denial about what happened during this election.

Doubling down on failure isn't my recipe for success. Maybe I'm missing something, tho.