{"id":739,"date":"2026-05-29T10:43:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T10:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=739"},"modified":"2026-05-29T10:43:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T10:43:43","slug":"goldberg-the-agony-around-the-democrats-mysterious-ridiculous-autopsy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=739","title":{"rendered":"Goldberg: The agony around the Democrats\u2019 mysterious, ridiculous autopsy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
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Rarely has a document been at once as mysterious and anticlimactic as the Democratic National Committee\u2019s autopsy of what went wrong in the 2024 election, which, after much drama and angst, was finally published on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Read more Horoscopes May 29, 2026: Riley Keough, be original and disciplined<\/a><\/p>\n

The committee\u2019s chair, Ken Martin, promised a full audit of party operations when he was running for his seat, and again when he won it. Last July, officials said it would be out in the fall. Fall came and went, and in December, Martin said it wouldn\u2019t be released at all. By hiding it, Martin made the report an object of suspicion and fascination. Some thought he was protecting Kamala Harris ahead of 2028. Many progressives were convinced that the DNC quashed the autopsy because it would show Harris was done in by the Gaza Strip. Rob Flaherty, who\u2019d been deputy director of both the Harris and Joe Biden campaigns, speculated that it didn\u2019t even exist: \u201cThe members of the \u2018autopsy team\u2019 were in over their heads and struggled to put the thing together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Incomplete version\u2019<\/h4>\n

Flaherty was partly right. On Thursday, in response to reporting by CNN, Martin released an incomplete version of the report, a project he\u2019d assigned, on a part-time, volunteer basis, to Democratic consultant Paul Rivera. The document, it\u2019s now clear, was kept under wraps not because it was impolitic, but because it\u2019s a disaster.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s most striking is its utter lack of substance. The words \u201cIsrael\u201d and \u201cGaza\u201d don\u2019t appear once in its 192 pages. It offers little insight into why the Democratic Party lost large numbers of Black and Latino men, or its failure to speak to disconnected, irregular voters. Much of it is a string of platitudes, like this: \u201cIt\u2019s imperative that Democrats meet the moment \u2014 by identifying and preparing the leaders and organizers who will deliver positive change for America.\u201d I wondered if it was written by artificial intelligence, though AI probably would\u2019ve done a better job.<\/p>\n

At one point, the autopsy notes that in North Carolina, Josh Stein, the successful Democratic candidate for governor, significantly outperformed Harris. The report acknowledges that Stein had the benefit of a ridiculous opponent, the former lieutenant governor and porn message-board habitu\u00e9 Mark Robinson (\u201ca self-described Nazi most voters would never support\u201d). Still, based on Stein\u2019s victory, the audit asserts, with startling complacency, \u201cThe problem wasn\u2019t Democratic policy or party brand\u201d but \u201cHarris as a candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the autopsy claims that Harris\u2019 campaign didn\u2019t sufficiently incorporate polling data into its messaging, as if her operation suffered from a surfeit of authenticity and spontaneity. It\u2019s the opposite of the conclusion reached by Flaherty, who published his own much more trenchant version of an autopsy this month in The Bulwark. \u201cWe tend to poll-test our way into running a lot of mealymouthed ads about prescription drugs or whatever,\u201d he wrote of Democrats, while Republicans are better at driving viral narratives.<\/p>\n

Rivera\u2019s report makes a few fair points. It\u2019s correct, for example, that the right has far outdone progressives in building permanent infrastructure like Turning Point, the organization for young conservatives, while Democrats and their allies \u201cmake massive investments in media towards the end of an election cycle and then go dark.\u201d But even where the autopsy is right, it\u2019s often so airy as to be almost meaningless. Democrats, it tells us, need to do more year-round organizing, invest more in digital advertising, and speak about \u201ckitchen table\u201d concerns rather than \u201cidentity politics.\u201d \u201cThe losses in the states are the key trend Democrats need to reverse,\u201d it says. Rivera might have added that Democrats need to win more votes.<\/p>\n

Read more Asking Eric: My co-worker\u2019s deception got me in trouble with the boss<\/a><\/p>\n

Letting it fester<\/h4>\n

In a statement, Martin acknowledged that the autopsy was a failure. When he received it, he wrote, he knew \u201cit wasn\u2019t ready for primetime \u2014 not even close \u2014 and because no source material was provided, it would have meant starting over.\u201d What\u2019s most bizarre and damning, however, is not the shoddiness of the work itself, but the way Martin let his initial screw-up fester until it looked like a cover-up.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Martin might have defused the situation by telling the truth \u2014 that the draft he received was a mess \u2014 and commissioning a new one. Instead, he let it become a crisis. At a time when the DNC, under his leadership, appears to be nearly insolvent, multiple Democratic donors are reportedly withholding contributions because of Martin\u2019s handling of the report.<\/p>\n

\u201cI talk to donors constantly who refuse to give to the DNC,\u201d said Amanda Litman, head of Run for Something, which recruits young progressives to seek office. \u201cThey cannot trust Ken Martin. They cannot trust the institution is doing its job well.\u201d A project that was supposed to restore trust to the party instead undermined it.<\/p>\n

Now that the autopsy is out there, it does tell us one important thing about the Democratic Party\u2019s future: Martin should be replaced. I\u2019ve spoken to Democrats, progressives and moderates alike, who say he\u2019s insular and thin-skinned, a man who won his seat by promising perks to voting members rather than articulating a compelling vision. \u201cKen Martin is in way over his head and doesn\u2019t know how to do politics at the national level,\u201d said Phil Gardner, a founder of the centrist Blue Dog Action. The growing displeasure with Martin\u2019s leadership isn\u2019t ideological. It\u2019s operational.<\/p>\n

Democrats know they have a problem. As The Associated Press reported this month, operatives have already approached Litman to gauge her interest in replacing Martin. She said no \u2014 she likes the job she has \u2014 but still believes he needs to go. \u201cWe can\u2019t tolerate mediocrity,\u201d she told me. Every step of this autopsy process shows Democrats doing exactly that.<\/p>\n

Read more Harriette Cole: I ignored my cousin\u2019s warning and dated this man. It ended badly.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Michelle Goldberg is a New York Times columnist.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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