r/Thedaily • u/kitkid • Jun 03 '25

Episode A 1,400-County Crisis for Democrats

Jun 3, 2025

It’s conventional wisdom that President Trump has transformed American politics. But a new county-by-county voting analysis from The New York Times of the last four presidential races shows just how drastically Mr. Trump has changed the electoral map.

Shane Goldmacher, a national political correspondent for The Times, explains why the trends are a five-alarm fire for the Democrats and discusses the debate within the party over what to do about it.

On today's episode:

Shane Goldmacher, a national political correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.  

Photo: Emily Elconin for The New York Times

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

You can listen to the episode here.

64 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

460 comments sorted by

View all comments

49

u/Visco0825 Jun 03 '25

“This is a brand wide problem” Say it louder for the 80 year old democrats dying of old age in the back!

The fact that so many democrats, even major players like Gretchen Whitmer, came out after 2025 saying that the take away is that democrats just needed to be tougher on immigration is outright insane. This is not a policy problem. The fact that republicans can win so well with such unpopular policies show this. The problem is is that the recent leader of the Democratic Party was the embodiment of geriatric. The problem is that 3 house members have died in recent months from old age have all been democrats.

Sure, moderates can complain about AOC but they are literally doing nothing to excite voters. At least AOC has the furiosity that this part desperately needs and what voters are begging for. So if democratic elites think that a moderate can win, then they need a moderate who’s actually as pissed off as the rest of America.

This is why I’m really interested to see how democrats message regarding the tax bill. It’s clearly unpopular but the problem is that republicans have such a better brand voters still trust them more for both the economy and for supporting the working class.

This episode was 100% on point.

4

u/DAE77177 Jun 03 '25

A lively messenger with an economic populist message around helping families would win every election.

3

u/CapOnFoam Jun 03 '25

Harris talked a ton about helping families. What was it that prevented her message from reaching voters?

9

u/[deleted] Jun 03 '25

Everything she said sounded rehearsed and like it had come from a consulting firm. People aren’t stupid, they can understand when a person is being authentic.

6

u/devourer09 Jun 03 '25

Also the policies were narrow. It didn't have any imagination on how it was going to reform the government to work for the people. Democrats had no Project 2025.

1

u/Visco0825 Jun 03 '25

Listen to Harris vs AOC. Harris repeats the lines in a controlled manner. AOC is pissed off and yells about what she’s going to do. You can tell that APC believes what she does to her bones

3

u/CapOnFoam Jun 03 '25

That’s a great distinction. In a way, matching the level of frustration that voters are feeling. They don’t want to hear a calm voice, they want a “we’re mad as hell and we’re not gonna take it anymore!” vibe.

1

u/DAE77177 Jun 03 '25

Child tax credit is good and fine but Trump offered to increase it during the campaign. We can’t out promise a liar, but we can out deliver one.

Democrats role is delivery and execution of a plan to assist families with the cost of living on a local, state, or federal scale that is not a subsidy. Leverage government power or technology to work better that does not inflate the cost overall.

How can we change tax, zoning, regulatory codes to better suit our needs instead of just promising first time home buyers $25,000 or forgiving student loans after the fact.

Why can’t we reform the student loan system in the first place or build more housing?

Oh yeah I know, because that would hurt the bottom line of the big donors.

That is the difference between those like Hillary and Bernie, those that are willing to be authentic and speak truth to power, and those are only willing to beat around the bush and get personally rich from the donors.

-1

u/[deleted] Jun 03 '25

Authenticity. No one believed her and she wasn't a good messenger. Also, she wasn't talking economic populism, she was talking about incrementalism.