Despairing Dems Say Biden and Harris Played It Too Safe
Plus: Rebuilding begins.
Recently in The Bulwark:
BILL KRISTOL & ANDREW EGGER: Will Trump Break the Biden Boom?
Overtime is for everyone. If you’re a subscriber: thank you. If you’re not, there’s no better time to subscribe to Bulwark+ than today. If you like today’s issue, you can share this newsletter with someone you think would value it.
SAM STEIN: Despairing Dems Say Biden and Harris Played It Too Safe
THERE HAS BEEN NO SHORTAGE of recriminations and postmortems in the roughly 48 hours since Kamala Harris lost the election to Donald Trump.
But one thing virtually every Democrat seems to agree on is that the party dramatically hurt itself by not engaging conservative-friendly and alternative media.
MARK HELPRIN: Mark Helprin’s Tale of Love and Leadership
MARK HELPRIN—AUTHOR OF EIGHT NOVELS over the last half-century, including the 1983 bestseller Winter’s Tale, and three collections of short stories—stands apart from the most highly touted novelists of our time, to whom he pays scant attention. He has instead absorbed lessons in how to write and how to live from the likes of Goethe, Hugo, Tolstoy, Mozart, Beethoven, and Verdi, and his novels bear the marks of grand opera: heroic men and women, spiritual aristocrats, swept up in trials of love and courage befitting their stature, with their ordeals, tragedies, and triumphs rendered in language of crystalline beauty unembarrassed by surges of impassioned magniloquence.
🎥 PODCASTS AND VIDEOS 🎧
Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller: Ben Wittes: Americans Elected a Serial Criminal to Be President [YouTube]
Beg to Differ: Kleptocracy Cometh [YouTube]
The Next Level: Born From Anger 🔐
George Conway Explains it All (to Sarah Longwell): Felon in Chief [YouTube]
Did you know? Bulwark+ members can listen to an ad-free version of these podcasts on the player of their choice.
Learn more at Bulwark+ Podcast FAQ.
📣Bulwark+ members can now listen to ad-free podcasts on Spotify! Learn more here.
Our 🎥YouTube offerings are the free-versions of shows, and they do have ads.
✍️Also: Did you know that every podcast has a transcript for B+ members? Yes! If you’re more a reader than a listener/viewer, open any podcast and the transcript button is beneath the player.
A.B. STODDARD: Democrats Now Must Rebuild Their Obliterated Party
THREE MONTHS AGO, the Democratic party looked robust. It was willing to push a sitting president off the ticket because of his advanced age, then it quickly united around another candidate. The Republican party, by contrast, was sticking with its (also old) convicted criminal. Parties exist to win elections, not launder money to their nominee’s lawyers or tend to the egos of elderly men—and the Democrats showed they understood that.
SONNY BUNCH: ‘Anora’ Review
Sean Baker is one of the most interesting filmmakers working today because of his clear-eyed sympathy. He sees people living on the margins of society as worthy of both our respect and our interest and our empathy without ever shying away from the fact that, for the most part, their messed-up lives are at least partly the result of their own decisions. Actions have consequences even when we feel as though no other actions can be taken.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Happy Friday! I’ve been on assignment today, so today’s Overtime will be shorter than usual.
Donald Trump, Elon Musk and MAGA… are the establishment now. (Anthony Fisher, MSNBC)
Our dogtopian future… Robot dogs patrol at Mar-a-Lago. (The Hill)
Mark Cuban Warns… Trump’s Tariff Plans Are Already Hurting the Economy: ‘All Happening Right Now’ (Mediaite)
I’m Running Out of Ways… to Explain How Bad This Is. At The Atlantic, Charlie Warzel writes: “What’s happening in America today is something darker than a misinformation crisis.” 🎁
Tech support questions? Email members@thebulwark.com. Questions for me? Respond to this message.
—30—
Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.