The Democratic Party did not learn the lesson of 2016, which is that the past norms for how political parties should operate no longer apply. Hilary Clinton was anointed to be the Democrat Presidential candidate simply because it was her time. The party didn't really want to listen to Democrat voters who did not want the candidate thrust upon them by the party. In this election cycle the party did not have a primary and stuck with Biden because he was the current President and they feared a repeat of Ted Kennedy/Jimmy Carter from 1980. In short, the Democrats are still basically selecting their Presidential candidate in a smoke filled room. #

The Democratic Party learned nothing from 2020. Trump barely lost, which meant the Republicans did not have a huge amount of work to do to gain votes. In fact, with a margin that slim they could really afford to sit back and let Democrats work their way out of office. Trump didn't have to do anything different from the last campaign, Democrats had done all the work for him. The slim margin of Biden's victory and Biden's age ought to been seen by the party as reasons to work towards something different for 2024, but they did not do that and consequently they lost and we now have to endure the consequences.#

Republicans are far better politicians than Democrats, they know their base, they have embraced the change that was thrusted upon them in 2016, and they know how to stir the emotions. In the long term the transformation of the Republican party around the personalty of one person might be a problem when that person can no longer be a candidate, but the fact is they changed and the Democratic Party has not changed.#

If this election were like most others in the past, the result would not be a surprise. Historically when the economy has been bad the President in office normally loses. #