The Friday Focus #8: The Post-Post-Mortem
Hey friends,
Happy Friday!
Earlier this week I wrote a bit of a post-mortem on the 2024 Presidential election. You can read it here. Long story short, though: Democrats need to reconnect with the median voter, and do it fast. The Trump GOP is speed walking itself into long-term irrelevancy, and the only thing propping up Trumpism is a DNC that is out of touch with the elctorate.
Here’s everything else I wanted to share this week:
I’m the Governor of Kentucky. Here’s How Democrats Can Win Again.
(5 minutes): A lot of the post-election analysis seems to be focusing either on the Democratic Party doubling down on its values or meeting moderates where they are. Governor Andy Beshear makes a compelling case that Democrats can and must do both. It’s that the Democrats need to suddenly change what they believe to win; they just need to talk and act like normal human beings for a change.
Liberalism Has a Communications Problem (10 minutes): A great addendum to Tuesday’s article, and a complementary article to Beshear’s op-ed. The failure of the Democratic Party to defeat a rabidly illiberal Republican Party puts the fate of the western liberalism on which the United States was founded at risk. We need to communicate liberal values better.
Where Inflation Comes From (28 minutes): Like it or not, this was in large part the inflation election. But few people actually understand how inflation works (Google searches about inflation and tariffs actually spiked after Trump got elected). Here’s a great primer on how it all works and why our elected officials are more often than not just full of hot air.
She won in a red district. Her blunt message to fellow Dems
I talked a bit about Marie Gluesenkamp Perez in the Tuesday article. In this interview, Gluesenkamp Perez provides a lot of context about her community and why her approach works (hint: it focuses on the people in her district rather than Washington DC or social media talking points).
The World’s Fastest Growing Economy
When you think of Venezuela, you probably think about Hugo Chavez, Nicolas Maduro, and their overreliance on oil that led to full-force sprint into Dutch Disease which has crippled their economy over the past few decades. Their neighbor Guyana, however, is rapidly becoming an oil-producing powerhouse. And their democratic model/positive relations with the international community may set them up for long-term success where Venezuela failed.
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The more we value things outside of our control, the less control we have
Epictetus
What are you focusing on that’s outside of your control? Can you instead focus on something relevant that’s in your control? What can you do to take back agency from the news cycle and social media trying to suck it away?
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