With Donald Trump having just reentered the White House, it’s important to understand what went wrong for Democrats and right for Trump in last year’s election.
The only thing that vice president Harris “didn’t grasp” is how misogynistic and racist our country is. We had the most qualified, dynamic, aspirational candidate who wished to and could be a president for all of us and Americans, or at lest 77m low information voters, blew it.
Totally agree. Perhaps the only fault was not dumbing it down to a 4th grade level. People don’t understand words like, misogynistic, fascism and oligarchy to name a few. They will now. Sadly.
I’m not going to read this tomorrow because I think the election was stolen from Harris/Walz, and several knowledgable hackers agree about how easy it would have been, and that the outcomes in swing states illustrate and confirm the hack! I also think their campaign was brilliant in their use of social media and modern technology. They were very agile and turned on a dime when they responded to the campaign’s trends. In 2016, I got so tired of hearing what Hillary did wrong, when the smart folks said Hillary would have won if James Comey hadn’t alluded to her emails when he did (against FBI policy), and how Drumpf “won the election” in 2016. They cheated (thanks, Vlad) in 2016 and 2020. Of Course, they cheated in 2024! They know they won’t “win“ another election without cheating. To them, the ends ALWAYS justify the means. Please Stop saying Harris/Walz erred. Before the election they were credited with having run a perfect campaign. Now? Because she is not the “winner” pundits criticize what they did, rather than look hard at the outcome, and discuss why it was razor thin in swing states (and only a tiny bit higher than the percentage that would trigger an automatic recount in every state.)
As promised, on "day one" the king issued several royal edicts. With the swoosh of his flamboyant signature he has now made: drug prices higher, roads and bridges less safe, thumbed his nose at law enforcement, showed refugees his middle finer just to name a few. His cult members still do not see how dangerous he is. Kamala's problem was she is a woman that did not have but a few months to prepare her candidacy.
I really appreciate your newsletter. Sadly, I've decided to be deaf and dumb for the next 4 years. I don't want to read the news or read about any other escaped from the felon in charge.
I believe Kamala Harris did everything right, but needed to go on social media and engage with audiences that only hear right-wing propaganda. It would have been helpful had she had more time to develop her campaign, but we have to admit, this country is misogynistic and racist. Hillary was one of the most qualified candidates ever, and she still lost to middle America due to the electoral college. All in all, the far right got what they wanted and deserve. They need to get a taste of their own medicine, as logic doesn't prevail with people blocking their ears. Lastly, the mainstream media was biased and never reported any of Biden's wins, and lied about the rest. For the upcoming midterm elections, Democrats best hone their message, take on right-wing propaganda head-on, and get their own social media platforms to reach the masses, and unveil the BS.
I have to disagree about what u say the Harris campaign did “wrong”. I followed what the other side did that did so much to determine the swing states. I also think too many choose not to vote for a variety of reasons. Other voters voted as uninformed or disinformed voters. Those who were informed voted overwhelmingly for Harris. Those who were not voted for GOP. Not saying there can’t be learning going on but it’s simplistic to say if Harris did X Y Z all would have been different.
I totally agree with the comments that Harris did everything right. And what’s wrong is misogyny and racism and the skills the Right wing media seemed to have because lying is fine and racist assaults are fine and maybe we need to play dirty but that’s not on Harris. She came to the rescue of a disabled party and I really believed she would win. I question whether the election was stolen and I know for sure there were shenanigans going on that we may never know about. Meanwhile, it behooves us not to play the blame game but to focus on going forward together. That doesn’t mean not learning from the past, but it definitely means never making Harris a scapegoat.
Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the power dynamics, personnel decisions and policy deliberations of Donald Trump’s White House.
Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Sophia | Email Irie | Email Ben
Senior leadership at the White House has started setting expectations — and they’re a bit more sober than past administrations.
White House legislative affairs staffers and others in external-facing roles have been strongly discouraged from drinking with members of Congress, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss internal White House decisions.
The new guidelines — a departure from past administrations, including DONALD TRUMP’s first term — were conveyed to staffers individually and verbally.
"We strongly urged everyone in the legislative affairs office and everyone who’s externally facing to be thoughtful about their alcohol use in public, and specifically with members,” one of the people said. “We strongly discouraged drinking with members.”
The Office of Legislative Affairs — the liaison between the White House and the Hill — is led by director JAMES BRAID and deputy directors JAY FIELDS; JEFFREY FREELAND, who covers the House; and PACE McMULLAN, who covers the Senate.
It was not immediately clear how many staffers in total the new guidelines would apply to or what prompted the policy.
“It’s a free country, but we represent the White House and the president and that’s best done sober,” the person said, reiterating that the White House still expects its staffers to be social, accessible and responsive.
“Is one drink a fireable offense? We’ll have to see what happens,” they said in an implicit acknowledgement of the reality that Washington is a town that runs on relationships formed during boozy social functions.
A White House spokesperson declined to comment.
The president is a non-drinker whose beverage of choice is a Diet Coke, which he imbibes freely. Trump also lost his brother FRED TRUMP JR. to alcoholism, a tragedy which Trump says became a driving force behind his first administration’s war on the opioid crisis.
“I don’t know that I would be working, devoting the kind of time and energy and even the money we are allocating to it … I don’t know that I’d be doing that had I not had the experience with Fred,” Trump told the Washington Post in 2019.
No such rule against drinking with members existed under former President JOE BIDEN, a former Biden administration official said.
And there wasn’t one during the president’s first term.
A former Trump White House staffer on the Office of Legislative Affairs team granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter recalled reminders about responsible drinking going out after “a few occasions where people had too much to drink,” but there was no formal policy.
MESSAGE US — Are you A STAFFER WHO'S REALLY UPSET ABOUT THIS NEW DRINKING GUIDANCE? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com.
The only thing that vice president Harris “didn’t grasp” is how misogynistic and racist our country is. We had the most qualified, dynamic, aspirational candidate who wished to and could be a president for all of us and Americans, or at lest 77m low information voters, blew it.
Totally agree. Perhaps the only fault was not dumbing it down to a 4th grade level. People don’t understand words like, misogynistic, fascism and oligarchy to name a few. They will now. Sadly.
As demonstrated by the surge in online searches for the definition of 'oligarchy' after President Biden used it in his farewell speech.
I’m not going to read this tomorrow because I think the election was stolen from Harris/Walz, and several knowledgable hackers agree about how easy it would have been, and that the outcomes in swing states illustrate and confirm the hack! I also think their campaign was brilliant in their use of social media and modern technology. They were very agile and turned on a dime when they responded to the campaign’s trends. In 2016, I got so tired of hearing what Hillary did wrong, when the smart folks said Hillary would have won if James Comey hadn’t alluded to her emails when he did (against FBI policy), and how Drumpf “won the election” in 2016. They cheated (thanks, Vlad) in 2016 and 2020. Of Course, they cheated in 2024! They know they won’t “win“ another election without cheating. To them, the ends ALWAYS justify the means. Please Stop saying Harris/Walz erred. Before the election they were credited with having run a perfect campaign. Now? Because she is not the “winner” pundits criticize what they did, rather than look hard at the outcome, and discuss why it was razor thin in swing states (and only a tiny bit higher than the percentage that would trigger an automatic recount in every state.)
As promised, on "day one" the king issued several royal edicts. With the swoosh of his flamboyant signature he has now made: drug prices higher, roads and bridges less safe, thumbed his nose at law enforcement, showed refugees his middle finer just to name a few. His cult members still do not see how dangerous he is. Kamala's problem was she is a woman that did not have but a few months to prepare her candidacy.
His cult members may never open their eyes, but we can still hope.
I really appreciate your newsletter. Sadly, I've decided to be deaf and dumb for the next 4 years. I don't want to read the news or read about any other escaped from the felon in charge.
I believe Kamala Harris did everything right, but needed to go on social media and engage with audiences that only hear right-wing propaganda. It would have been helpful had she had more time to develop her campaign, but we have to admit, this country is misogynistic and racist. Hillary was one of the most qualified candidates ever, and she still lost to middle America due to the electoral college. All in all, the far right got what they wanted and deserve. They need to get a taste of their own medicine, as logic doesn't prevail with people blocking their ears. Lastly, the mainstream media was biased and never reported any of Biden's wins, and lied about the rest. For the upcoming midterm elections, Democrats best hone their message, take on right-wing propaganda head-on, and get their own social media platforms to reach the masses, and unveil the BS.
I have to disagree about what u say the Harris campaign did “wrong”. I followed what the other side did that did so much to determine the swing states. I also think too many choose not to vote for a variety of reasons. Other voters voted as uninformed or disinformed voters. Those who were informed voted overwhelmingly for Harris. Those who were not voted for GOP. Not saying there can’t be learning going on but it’s simplistic to say if Harris did X Y Z all would have been different.
I totally agree with the comments that Harris did everything right. And what’s wrong is misogyny and racism and the skills the Right wing media seemed to have because lying is fine and racist assaults are fine and maybe we need to play dirty but that’s not on Harris. She came to the rescue of a disabled party and I really believed she would win. I question whether the election was stolen and I know for sure there were shenanigans going on that we may never know about. Meanwhile, it behooves us not to play the blame game but to focus on going forward together. That doesn’t mean not learning from the past, but it definitely means never making Harris a scapegoat.
Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the power dynamics, personnel decisions and policy deliberations of Donald Trump’s White House.
Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Sophia | Email Irie | Email Ben
Senior leadership at the White House has started setting expectations — and they’re a bit more sober than past administrations.
White House legislative affairs staffers and others in external-facing roles have been strongly discouraged from drinking with members of Congress, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss internal White House decisions.
The new guidelines — a departure from past administrations, including DONALD TRUMP’s first term — were conveyed to staffers individually and verbally.
"We strongly urged everyone in the legislative affairs office and everyone who’s externally facing to be thoughtful about their alcohol use in public, and specifically with members,” one of the people said. “We strongly discouraged drinking with members.”
The Office of Legislative Affairs — the liaison between the White House and the Hill — is led by director JAMES BRAID and deputy directors JAY FIELDS; JEFFREY FREELAND, who covers the House; and PACE McMULLAN, who covers the Senate.
It was not immediately clear how many staffers in total the new guidelines would apply to or what prompted the policy.
“It’s a free country, but we represent the White House and the president and that’s best done sober,” the person said, reiterating that the White House still expects its staffers to be social, accessible and responsive.
“Is one drink a fireable offense? We’ll have to see what happens,” they said in an implicit acknowledgement of the reality that Washington is a town that runs on relationships formed during boozy social functions.
A White House spokesperson declined to comment.
The president is a non-drinker whose beverage of choice is a Diet Coke, which he imbibes freely. Trump also lost his brother FRED TRUMP JR. to alcoholism, a tragedy which Trump says became a driving force behind his first administration’s war on the opioid crisis.
“I don’t know that I would be working, devoting the kind of time and energy and even the money we are allocating to it … I don’t know that I’d be doing that had I not had the experience with Fred,” Trump told the Washington Post in 2019.
No such rule against drinking with members existed under former President JOE BIDEN, a former Biden administration official said.
And there wasn’t one during the president’s first term.
A former Trump White House staffer on the Office of Legislative Affairs team granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter recalled reminders about responsible drinking going out after “a few occasions where people had too much to drink,” but there was no formal policy.
MESSAGE US — Are you A STAFFER WHO'S REALLY UPSET ABOUT THIS NEW DRINKING GUIDANCE? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com.
Donald Drumpf doing horrible Donald Drumpf things!