Thank you, Dan, I'm still reeling from the election results and struggling to identify a path forward and a purpose. It occurred to me that a big chunk of Hispanic individuals voted based on the lies they consumed. I have years of experience as a translator and interpreter, and as a Hispanic democrat, I would like the opportunity to translate some of the more relevant (to Hispanic voters) issues of Steady. Such a service might provide just the sense of purpose I'm looking for.
Sadly, Bernie Sanders is calling Democrats out loudly for abandoning the working class. And he has an audience willing to express anti-Democrat sentiment. I want him to stop.
thanks, Dan. again. you are wise beyond all imagination. Let's be clear here...we cannot claim to be the intellectual arm of the political debate and forget our rural and less educated voters in desperate need of hope and faith and economic prosperity in their own homes and communities. I truly believe that rural communities must own their own economic growth opportunities, including post-high school education, support of anti-conglomerate corporate farming operations, and a willingness toward new opportunity in sectors not seen in rural America yet. I'm born and bred in Iowa, and I can tell you Iowa was blue for Obama and red for Trump but for why? Our democratic party message completely leaves out rural America to its own demise. Can we even try to imagine the changes that would occur if we no longer supported wealthy farmers through Agricultural Bill funding? Unlock its ties to hungry Americans and wealthy farmers! There's no need to support farming wealth and forget hunger in America! I've heard our Democratic Party leadership call out "kitchen table issues" time and time again (going on 50 years!) and yet we cannot govern like we own the kitchen table issues. It's time to begin. Let us begin.
Thank you, Mr. Rather, for your common sense approach to how we move on from here. While "blame" and finger pointing is generally not constructive, I do believe that introspection can be very useful. I would challenge the main stream medial to take an introspective look at how they covered the presidential campaign participants. The shenanigans acted out and articulated by Trump along with his clear lack of cognition, essentially received a pass by the media. While every little "hiccup" by Biden (who wasn't even running for office), Harris and Waltz received major coverage. I'm not suggesting that lies, bad behaviors, bad policies, by either party should be glossed over. However, when someone is so obviously unfit for the presidency, it should be "headlined" in the network news and print media news.
Dan Rather is a captivating and articulate journalist and commentator. I enjoy reading his articles in "Steady" because he isn't afraid to express his opinions, even when they contrast with those of the majority, as shown by the recent presidential election results. I also appreciate his eclectic taste in music. It's hard to believe that time passes so quickly; he is now 92 years old.
I’m staying off cable right now. It’s just too sensational. I’m reading Heather Cox Richardson, Dan Pfeiffer, Dan Rather, Simon Rosenberg, Meidas Touch.
And I’m calling my Reps and Senators more often to demand action.
I'm hearing a great deal about what we should be doing, what the media should be doing, what our sane representatives should be doing, not nothing about WHAT we should be doing.
Telling people to buck up isn't telling us, or helping us find where we should buckle down.
We need a playbook.
"When they do (action), we need to (specific action following these steps).
Oddly enough, I just don't know anyone who fought this battle before. I don't know where the puzzle pieces go. I don't even know where to find them or where to set them out.
We need specifics.
We need an action we can do each day that will do more than feel us feel like we're helping.
I'm writing postcards and emails to my representatives because I don't know what else to do. I've been doing it for eight years, but I'm in Florida. I'm sure my sycophantic representatives aren't paying attention to anything they don't want to hear.
I've given more than I can afford to support Democratic candidates and causes to promote something other than hatred.
Obviously, it wasn't enough.
So what is enough? What needs to be done with my two hands and brain Right Now?
Ricia, I don’t think there is much more than you could do. Whet works for me doesn’t work for others. I all but stay away from the demon social media not totally but largely. When I notice a change in people’s temperament, I think it’s their media exposure that is doing it. More drivers run their cars recklessly even until crashes but if everyone needs a crash to learn how to drive, that’s a whole lot of crashes to come. And driving behavior is like preparing to vote; which becomes an emotional response instead of using reason.
Our nation was sold out when we allowed large companies and corporations to influence Congress and today they not only own congress, but the news orgs that bring good coverage now infected with corporate ownership. I hate to say it but that postcard writing has little value. When democratic leaders wake up and understand (and now this is me as an independent non-partisan) that we must stop doing the bane game with whites as privilegness. Today there are Black inner cities economically depressed but today it’s self inflicted. It’s not racism. Wake up if 72% of Black children are born out of wedlock and most by unwed teen girls, then poverty will continue. It’s a nasty little truth no one want to confront. Borders? No society wants not supports millions running across a putrid little river and we ignored this problem. And the poisoning of children’s minds by social media has driven a wedge. Parents giving cell devised to children is tantamount to putting a bottle of whisky into their hands. It’s no wonder the trans movement has grown as children are told that boys can be girls and visa versa. Ridicules. As I say, ‘No balls in girls stalls.”
Wake up you’ve been had. To be sure republicans and Magas now not only want more money through political power, but now want to enslave your minds and bodies. And the democrats have become the elitists slaves to stupidity as never before. So what can you do? Play bingo I guess. As for me, I want to find a beautiful Bonobo female have a blended inter-species family and get the hell as far away from the human race as possible. That’s what.
Great points in this post. Now, it is up to Dems to move and move quickly in preparation for 2026 and beyond.
There were major messaging errors in this campaign. The VP's lack of the correct response to "you've been in office for 4 years" stands out. I was dumbfounded listening to the debates with no defense that she was not the President. Reminiscent of Humphrey's loss to Nixon. The entire "National Sales Tax" spiel was wrong, and looked like a lie as Trump never said that. Relying on people to make a connection between tariffs and sales tax was a mistake. A three or four sentence explanation of tariff's would have served better. And, perhaps the dooming response to the softball question of what would you have done differently? "I can't think of a thing". That became a Republican ad within hours in key states. We understand loyalty to the President, but when you're running for the office, you must have an answer to that question. There were other errors as well. Vague answers on Abortion. I wonder how strong a 16 to 20 week defined position would have been. May not be the end goal that everyone wants, but it's a hell of a lot better than where we're at. And it's saleable.
Already, Democrats are arguing to see how well they can shoot themselves in the foot come 2026/28. Forget infighting and arguing about progressive candidates. Those sharp needle moving elections of the recent past did not occur with the deep divisions we see today. You need to have viable candidates to "steady" the course, not make hard turns. If you want to win in 2028, you need a Bill Clinton like candidate ready to go and you need them to be the clear choice leader starting way sooner, rather than later. For 2026, start lining up the candidates now and match them to their races. Run progressives where they have a good shot and run mod-cons where they have a realistic chance of winning. There were laughable matchups in many districts and states this year.
We need a strategy for moving forward. Whether it's an AOC type where needed or even a Joe Manchin type for some places (I'm not being literal on that one). The goal is to win or live in our current alternative reality. Period.
" The VP's lack of the correct response to "you've been in office for 4 years" stands out. "
Yeah it did. Kamlala and Biden bungled their way through the lsat 4 years. They have nothing to show for it; everything is worse. What do you think the 'right' response would have been, champ?
IMO this is one of your best, most important, and highly informative essays. Hope subscribers share it! PS. That “double blind” sentence blew me away! O gosh! I woulda led with that…you eased into it🙉🙊🙈
that's what he wants....attention and money. Can you imagine the stuff Elmo is saying to him to make him believe that he is so devoted?? Nobody gets that close to the Teflon Tangerine unless they have kissed his tush from here to 2100!
The biggest problem post election is not that true patriots and believers in democracy are tuning out... it's that Democrats in Congress are planning to go on holiday vacations instead of doing everything they can to prepare for the Fascist-Leaning Administration, House and Senate. They SHOULD pass the Press Bill (already passed in the House) that protects members from unwanted search and seizure. They SHOULD confirm all the currently appointed Judges and Justices. They SHOULD fill government department Inspector General vacancies. They SHOULD be planning counter moves to the agenda described in Project 2025. They SHOULD do their jobs!
It is so obvious that Trump and his newest pal, Elon Musk screwed the ballots and was most likely the one to have made sure that Trump won in one half of 1 night. We were all told that the millions of votes to be counted were so many more than any other year, that it would be 6-7 days before the results would be counted correctly. At that time the newly elected president would be announced.
Tuesday, November 5th we would be watching television viewing all the states counting the votes that would be coming into view. With our country three hours of division between us, would of course take a lot of time to see what was happening. And with so many millions to count we all were aware of who would be winning after the week was over.
I, one lonely old lady who has voted her entire life was watching TV at 8:00 in Palm Beach, Florida. All of a sudden state after state were all finished counting. Really? And all the votes were for Trump. Kamala was there on screen with zero. I was getting very aroused at my state of mind with only one hour after closing. The clock kept ticking and Trump was getting more and more votes. During the night after 9 hours, he was declared the president. How could every television station, of course "Fox News" too, accept this disinformation after 1/2 of the night and day were still open? What happened when we were told with so many millions of votes to count it would be a week to have counted them.
Could I have been the only live US citizen to have recognized this "once again Maga's and Elon Musk and Trump's no cheating voting to have destroyed the voting machines just like the Democrats did in 2020??!!!! Well they certainly did destroy the voting mechanism for sure. No President has ever been elected in 9 hours unless there were very few votes to count. The many millions have finally been counted and it is NOW THAT WE MUST RECOUNT. I guess I will never understand the inability
of all the TV stations to bow down to the everpresent lying narcissist. Did they think that they will be fired for telling the world the obvious happening.
I think you are incorrect of your assessment of the Democrats messaging. The problem is the strangle hold that the right-wing eco-system has on 50% of our population. Then there is the complicity of corporate media of not covering both parties equally. The message, especially during the Biden Administration, has been a good message. The coverage of that message has been abysmal. Both the right-wing and corporate media do not cover the GOP and its ridiculous antics and people in an unbiased way. It and its people are a cancer on this country. Yet the media does not cover it as such. It covers it in some kind of Pollyanna Universe where they are not harmful and insane. How you get them (corporate and internet media) to do their job and break through the concrete hold of the right-wing media is a going to be a challenge. Repeating that the Democrats message and way of messaging is bad is unhelpful.
There is still time. Let's not obey in advance 🙏
Barely becoming president-elect didn't erase his crimes. DOJ must gum up the road to inauguration by upholding the rule of law.
Jack Smith has to push thru, not close, the pending cases against the convicted felon & his enablers (like gop rammed SC justices thru)
States are choosing the issue of abortion for themselves, sorting it out *exactly* as Trump said they would, and should.
Poof!....another issue gone for the Democrat party. What will you screech about next time?
Well, what's the frequency, Kenneth?
lmao....you tool
Thank you, Dan, I'm still reeling from the election results and struggling to identify a path forward and a purpose. It occurred to me that a big chunk of Hispanic individuals voted based on the lies they consumed. I have years of experience as a translator and interpreter, and as a Hispanic democrat, I would like the opportunity to translate some of the more relevant (to Hispanic voters) issues of Steady. Such a service might provide just the sense of purpose I'm looking for.
I have a purpose for you; make me a sammich, or since your an Hispanic make it a taco. I like them caliente. por favor.
Chop chop!
Sadly, Bernie Sanders is calling Democrats out loudly for abandoning the working class. And he has an audience willing to express anti-Democrat sentiment. I want him to stop.
thanks, Dan. again. you are wise beyond all imagination. Let's be clear here...we cannot claim to be the intellectual arm of the political debate and forget our rural and less educated voters in desperate need of hope and faith and economic prosperity in their own homes and communities. I truly believe that rural communities must own their own economic growth opportunities, including post-high school education, support of anti-conglomerate corporate farming operations, and a willingness toward new opportunity in sectors not seen in rural America yet. I'm born and bred in Iowa, and I can tell you Iowa was blue for Obama and red for Trump but for why? Our democratic party message completely leaves out rural America to its own demise. Can we even try to imagine the changes that would occur if we no longer supported wealthy farmers through Agricultural Bill funding? Unlock its ties to hungry Americans and wealthy farmers! There's no need to support farming wealth and forget hunger in America! I've heard our Democratic Party leadership call out "kitchen table issues" time and time again (going on 50 years!) and yet we cannot govern like we own the kitchen table issues. It's time to begin. Let us begin.
Thank you, Mr. Rather, for your common sense approach to how we move on from here. While "blame" and finger pointing is generally not constructive, I do believe that introspection can be very useful. I would challenge the main stream medial to take an introspective look at how they covered the presidential campaign participants. The shenanigans acted out and articulated by Trump along with his clear lack of cognition, essentially received a pass by the media. While every little "hiccup" by Biden (who wasn't even running for office), Harris and Waltz received major coverage. I'm not suggesting that lies, bad behaviors, bad policies, by either party should be glossed over. However, when someone is so obviously unfit for the presidency, it should be "headlined" in the network news and print media news.
Dan Rather is a captivating and articulate journalist and commentator. I enjoy reading his articles in "Steady" because he isn't afraid to express his opinions, even when they contrast with those of the majority, as shown by the recent presidential election results. I also appreciate his eclectic taste in music. It's hard to believe that time passes so quickly; he is now 92 years old.
Thanks as always, Dan. Have you heard of this right -wing media operation? :
https://www.cjr.org/tow_center_reports/metric-media-lobbyists-funding.php/
Do Not Obey in Advance.
Now that the shock has worn off and I had a good cry, I’m rallying the strength to keep fighting.
Indivisible.org is a great action group.
Get involved. Keep fighting.
I’m staying off cable right now. It’s just too sensational. I’m reading Heather Cox Richardson, Dan Pfeiffer, Dan Rather, Simon Rosenberg, Meidas Touch.
And I’m calling my Reps and Senators more often to demand action.
So, you've got your head stuck all the way up your ass until the coast is clear. Good plan.
I'm hearing a great deal about what we should be doing, what the media should be doing, what our sane representatives should be doing, not nothing about WHAT we should be doing.
Telling people to buck up isn't telling us, or helping us find where we should buckle down.
We need a playbook.
"When they do (action), we need to (specific action following these steps).
Oddly enough, I just don't know anyone who fought this battle before. I don't know where the puzzle pieces go. I don't even know where to find them or where to set them out.
We need specifics.
We need an action we can do each day that will do more than feel us feel like we're helping.
I'm writing postcards and emails to my representatives because I don't know what else to do. I've been doing it for eight years, but I'm in Florida. I'm sure my sycophantic representatives aren't paying attention to anything they don't want to hear.
I've given more than I can afford to support Democratic candidates and causes to promote something other than hatred.
Obviously, it wasn't enough.
So what is enough? What needs to be done with my two hands and brain Right Now?
I'm getting nothing but crickets.
Ricia, I don’t think there is much more than you could do. Whet works for me doesn’t work for others. I all but stay away from the demon social media not totally but largely. When I notice a change in people’s temperament, I think it’s their media exposure that is doing it. More drivers run their cars recklessly even until crashes but if everyone needs a crash to learn how to drive, that’s a whole lot of crashes to come. And driving behavior is like preparing to vote; which becomes an emotional response instead of using reason.
Our nation was sold out when we allowed large companies and corporations to influence Congress and today they not only own congress, but the news orgs that bring good coverage now infected with corporate ownership. I hate to say it but that postcard writing has little value. When democratic leaders wake up and understand (and now this is me as an independent non-partisan) that we must stop doing the bane game with whites as privilegness. Today there are Black inner cities economically depressed but today it’s self inflicted. It’s not racism. Wake up if 72% of Black children are born out of wedlock and most by unwed teen girls, then poverty will continue. It’s a nasty little truth no one want to confront. Borders? No society wants not supports millions running across a putrid little river and we ignored this problem. And the poisoning of children’s minds by social media has driven a wedge. Parents giving cell devised to children is tantamount to putting a bottle of whisky into their hands. It’s no wonder the trans movement has grown as children are told that boys can be girls and visa versa. Ridicules. As I say, ‘No balls in girls stalls.”
Wake up you’ve been had. To be sure republicans and Magas now not only want more money through political power, but now want to enslave your minds and bodies. And the democrats have become the elitists slaves to stupidity as never before. So what can you do? Play bingo I guess. As for me, I want to find a beautiful Bonobo female have a blended inter-species family and get the hell as far away from the human race as possible. That’s what.
Wow.
With that transphobia, why are you even part of this group?
lmao
Great points in this post. Now, it is up to Dems to move and move quickly in preparation for 2026 and beyond.
There were major messaging errors in this campaign. The VP's lack of the correct response to "you've been in office for 4 years" stands out. I was dumbfounded listening to the debates with no defense that she was not the President. Reminiscent of Humphrey's loss to Nixon. The entire "National Sales Tax" spiel was wrong, and looked like a lie as Trump never said that. Relying on people to make a connection between tariffs and sales tax was a mistake. A three or four sentence explanation of tariff's would have served better. And, perhaps the dooming response to the softball question of what would you have done differently? "I can't think of a thing". That became a Republican ad within hours in key states. We understand loyalty to the President, but when you're running for the office, you must have an answer to that question. There were other errors as well. Vague answers on Abortion. I wonder how strong a 16 to 20 week defined position would have been. May not be the end goal that everyone wants, but it's a hell of a lot better than where we're at. And it's saleable.
Already, Democrats are arguing to see how well they can shoot themselves in the foot come 2026/28. Forget infighting and arguing about progressive candidates. Those sharp needle moving elections of the recent past did not occur with the deep divisions we see today. You need to have viable candidates to "steady" the course, not make hard turns. If you want to win in 2028, you need a Bill Clinton like candidate ready to go and you need them to be the clear choice leader starting way sooner, rather than later. For 2026, start lining up the candidates now and match them to their races. Run progressives where they have a good shot and run mod-cons where they have a realistic chance of winning. There were laughable matchups in many districts and states this year.
We need a strategy for moving forward. Whether it's an AOC type where needed or even a Joe Manchin type for some places (I'm not being literal on that one). The goal is to win or live in our current alternative reality. Period.
" The VP's lack of the correct response to "you've been in office for 4 years" stands out. "
Yeah it did. Kamlala and Biden bungled their way through the lsat 4 years. They have nothing to show for it; everything is worse. What do you think the 'right' response would have been, champ?
The truth, that the VP has shit to do with policy. Ask Pence or any of them. It's a yes man or woman job.
Yep, the prices today are terrible. What else is worse?
IMO this is one of your best, most important, and highly informative essays. Hope subscribers share it! PS. That “double blind” sentence blew me away! O gosh! I woulda led with that…you eased into it🙉🙊🙈
that's what he wants....attention and money. Can you imagine the stuff Elmo is saying to him to make him believe that he is so devoted?? Nobody gets that close to the Teflon Tangerine unless they have kissed his tush from here to 2100!
The biggest problem post election is not that true patriots and believers in democracy are tuning out... it's that Democrats in Congress are planning to go on holiday vacations instead of doing everything they can to prepare for the Fascist-Leaning Administration, House and Senate. They SHOULD pass the Press Bill (already passed in the House) that protects members from unwanted search and seizure. They SHOULD confirm all the currently appointed Judges and Justices. They SHOULD fill government department Inspector General vacancies. They SHOULD be planning counter moves to the agenda described in Project 2025. They SHOULD do their jobs!
It is so obvious that Trump and his newest pal, Elon Musk screwed the ballots and was most likely the one to have made sure that Trump won in one half of 1 night. We were all told that the millions of votes to be counted were so many more than any other year, that it would be 6-7 days before the results would be counted correctly. At that time the newly elected president would be announced.
Tuesday, November 5th we would be watching television viewing all the states counting the votes that would be coming into view. With our country three hours of division between us, would of course take a lot of time to see what was happening. And with so many millions to count we all were aware of who would be winning after the week was over.
I, one lonely old lady who has voted her entire life was watching TV at 8:00 in Palm Beach, Florida. All of a sudden state after state were all finished counting. Really? And all the votes were for Trump. Kamala was there on screen with zero. I was getting very aroused at my state of mind with only one hour after closing. The clock kept ticking and Trump was getting more and more votes. During the night after 9 hours, he was declared the president. How could every television station, of course "Fox News" too, accept this disinformation after 1/2 of the night and day were still open? What happened when we were told with so many millions of votes to count it would be a week to have counted them.
Could I have been the only live US citizen to have recognized this "once again Maga's and Elon Musk and Trump's no cheating voting to have destroyed the voting machines just like the Democrats did in 2020??!!!! Well they certainly did destroy the voting mechanism for sure. No President has ever been elected in 9 hours unless there were very few votes to count. The many millions have finally been counted and it is NOW THAT WE MUST RECOUNT. I guess I will never understand the inability
of all the TV stations to bow down to the everpresent lying narcissist. Did they think that they will be fired for telling the world the obvious happening.
You're an election denier.
It's all about money.... everything is all about money in this country.
As a naive child, I thought the one place that couldn't be lying or ignoring certain things, etc. was the news. Silly me.
I think you are incorrect of your assessment of the Democrats messaging. The problem is the strangle hold that the right-wing eco-system has on 50% of our population. Then there is the complicity of corporate media of not covering both parties equally. The message, especially during the Biden Administration, has been a good message. The coverage of that message has been abysmal. Both the right-wing and corporate media do not cover the GOP and its ridiculous antics and people in an unbiased way. It and its people are a cancer on this country. Yet the media does not cover it as such. It covers it in some kind of Pollyanna Universe where they are not harmful and insane. How you get them (corporate and internet media) to do their job and break through the concrete hold of the right-wing media is a going to be a challenge. Repeating that the Democrats message and way of messaging is bad is unhelpful.