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The decision by the DNC to block the public viewing of its own autopsy report on the 2024 election seems shocking but entirely predictable. Resistant to frank assessments, the DNC often functions more like a PR firm than an electoral entity committed to cultivating a volunteer base for winning elections.

An Environment of Conformity

Unwilling to challenge the party establishment's culture demanding unity, the DNC has stayed within the Biden-Harris shadow throughout this past year. Publishing an official autopsy would have indicated whether the leadership actually want to promote honest conversation regarding the missteps that enabled the former president to become president again. Yet, the committee is acting under the pretense that there is little to understand from the stunning loss of 2024.

The top priority: is this good for winning elections? If not, it becomes a sideline issue from our fundamental goal," an explanation reportedly given for withholding the analysis.

Critical Problems an Analysis Might Have Addressed

An autopsy report of substance would not dodge a series of difficult topics. These include:

• Electoral Alienation: Failing to retain of millions of voters that backed the Democratic ticket in 2020 proved pivotal during the tight 2024 election.
• The Choice to Run: The unwavering insistence by a party leader to run again, coupled with a last-minute withdrawal, has been criticized as robbing Democratic voters of open primaries.
• Abandoning Core Democratic Voters: While facing inflation, the electoral effort allegedly ceding to elite contributors without successfully attempting to confront the effects of corporate greed.
• The Gaza Factor: An unwillingness to shift a stance concerning the situation in Gaza reportedly led to alienating significant blocs, particularly with young people, Arab American communities, and Muslim Americans.
• A Decline in Young Voter Support: Polling data shows a major drop-off of support for the party from voters aged 18-29.

A History of Evasion

This refusal aligns with a longstanding habit to avoid difficult realities. It echoes an episode in which virtually every elected Democrat in Congress supported a sitting president's determination to running for re-election right up until a poor public debate performance forced an exit.

At the same time, a significant majority of Democratic voters were consistently telling surveyors of their opposition to that candidate to seek re-election.

Financial Concerns

A thorough report would also investigate issues regarding financial allocations, such as the amounts flowed to party strategists and ad buyers over the course of an electoral effort that burned through a staggering war chest in a short period.

A Underlying Problem

Ultimately, the blockage of the official autopsy is symptomatic of a deference toward the established hierarchy that oversaw a losing electoral effort. The message for rank-and-file members – including countless small donors – appears to be that they cannot be trusted to know the lessons the insiders say they discovered based on a report drawing from conversations with insiders.

A political entity incapable to honestly assess where it went wrong will struggle to escape the cycle that proved so beneficial to the winning candidate.