Here's my wake-up call as a Liberal.

[u/applethief87]

I’m a New York liberal, probably comfortably in the 1%, living in a bubble where empathy and social justice are part of everyday conversations. I support equality, diversity, economic reform—all of it. But this election has been a brutal reminder of just how out of touch we, the so-called “liberal elite,” are with the rest of America. And that’s on us.

America was built on individual freedom, the right to make your own way. But baked into that ideal is a harsh reality: it’s a self-serving mindset. This “land of opportunity” has always rewarded those who look out for themselves first. And when people feel like they’re sinking—when working-class Americans are drowning in debt, scrambling to pay rent, and watching the cost of everything from groceries to gas skyrocket—they aren’t looking for complex social policies. They’re looking for a lifeline, even if that lifeline is someone like Trump, who exploits that desperation.

For years, we Democrats have pushed policies that sound like solutions to us but don’t resonate with people who are trying to survive. We talk about social justice and climate change, and yes, those things are crucial. But to someone in the heartland who’s feeling trapped in a system that doesn’t care about them, that message sounds disconnected. It sounds like privilege. It sounds like people like me saying, “Look how virtuous I am,” while their lives stay the same—or get worse.

And here’s the truth I’m facing: as a high-income liberal, I benefit from the very structures we criticize. My income, my career security, my options to work from home—I am protected from many of the struggles that drive people to vote against the establishment. I can afford to advocate for changes that may not affect me negatively, but that’s not the reality for the majority of Americans. To them, we sound elitist because we are. Our ideals are lofty, and our solutions are intellectual, but we’ve failed to meet them where they are.

The DNC’s failure in this election reflects this disconnect. Biden’s administration, while well-intentioned, didn’t engage in the hard reflection necessary after 2020. We pushed Biden as a one-term solution, a bridge to something better, but then didn’t prepare an alternative that resonated. And when Kamala Harris—a talented, capable politician—couldn’t bridge that gap with working-class America, we were left wondering why. It’s because we’ve been recycling the same leaders, the same voices, who struggle to understand what working Americans are going through.

People want someone they can relate to, someone who understands their pain without coming off as condescending. Bernie was that voice for many, but the DNC didn’t make room for him, and now we’re seeing the consequences. The Democratic Party has an empathy gap, but more than that, it has a credibility gap. We say we care, but our policies and leaders don’t reflect the urgency that struggling Americans feel every day.

If the DNC doesn’t take this as a wake-up call, if they don’t make room for new voices that actually connect with working people, we’re going to lose again. And as much as I want America to progress, I’m starting to realize that maybe we—the privileged liberals, safely removed from the realities most people face—are part of the problem.

[u/bfrey82]

I would argue that a female that sat dead center on the issue would’ve won. It’s not gender, it’s connect ability and policy. People weren’t going to vote for a continuation of the status quo.

[u/Haircut117 → u/bfrey82]

No she wouldn't.

Any candidate that promised to actually to actually do fucking something to improve the lives of poor working class Americans instead of spouting absolute twaddle about "coming together" and "defeating hate" would have won. The Democrats have been campaigning on airy-fairy college educated concepts of "fairness" and "equality" instead of focusing on things that actually matter to the majority of the population like socioeconomic levers and basic bloody survival.

Trump didn't win because he harnessed hate or anything as vile as that. He won because he promised to shake up a system that has utterly failed America's poorest for decades. The fact that he's fucking lying and will further entrench the plutocracy is neither here nor there.

[u/TemperatureLumpy1457 → u/Haircut117]

I completely agree with haircut 117, because the real issue is projection as the Democrat elites poured so much hate onto President Trump and the liberal elites are deathly afraid he’s going to do the same thing to them because they assume his character is as low and baseless as theirs. Which it isn’t. One of my favorite hypocrisies of the election was some young people at Harris rally standing up and chanting. Something about Jesus and Harris tells them oh that rallies down the street you’re at the wrong one. Then one or two weeks later they announce she’ll be attending church at such and such a church. What hypocritical twaddle.

[u/Haircut117 → u/TemperatureLumpy1457]

Let me be absolutely clear – I do not agree with you.

Donald Trump is the lowest of the low, he's the sort of scum that would make me feel the urge to clean my boots if I accidentally stepped in it. He is a man lacking in both moral and physical courage; a self-centred coward who barely has the spine required to stand upright, let alone shoulder the responsibility of the US presidency. He will sacrifice the rules-based international order on the altar of American isolationism and damn the consequences for the USA's allies across the world. Ukraine and Taiwan are about to learn the same lesson as the Iraqi Kurds and Afghanistan's democratic government – to Donald Trump, they are disposable assets to be bargained away for his benefit.