Where Does This Leave Democrats?

The Ezra Klein Show

New York Times Opinion

Society & Culture, Government, News

4.6 • 11K Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2024

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The coalition the Democratic Party built in the Obama years has crumbled. But Democrats can choose how to respond. Mentioned: “Democrats Have a Better Option Than Biden” Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at [email protected]. You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs. This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by our supervising editor, Claire Gordon. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Jack McCordick and Kristin Lin. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota. The show’s production team also includes Annie Galvin, Rollin Hu and Elias Isquith. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From New York Times opinion, this is the Ezra Klein Show. I find I'm thinking a lot about the 2004 election.
0:34.1	That was, in my lifetime, until today, the most absolute rejection liberals have experienced.
0:41.8	In 2000, George W. Bush, he was this accidental president. He'd lost the popular vote. He'd won the
0:49.4	electoral college by a few hundred votes in Florida, maybe, depending on how you look at it. But by 2004,
0:57.7	he'd become this other thing. 9-11 had changed him, changed his presidency. He went from advocating
1:04.8	this humble foreign policy to being an invader, a nation builder. And the lies and the failures and the travesties of his administration
1:13.1	were clear. The disaster that was the Iraq war was clear. And Bush went in that election
1:19.5	from accidental president to unquestioned Victor. He won the popular vote cleanly. On the electoral maps, the center of the country was just
1:29.5	the sea of red. And what made that loss hurt so much for liberals was that by then Americans knew
1:37.2	what George W. Bush was. They knew what he had done. And they chose him anyway. The voters turned
1:44.0	out in record numbers and delivered an historic victory.
1:48.6	We've congratulated someone who lied to the American people. And as a result, not only is our
1:54.0	health care and our economy in the pits, but our kids have died in a war that shouldn't have to be
1:59.0	fought. And I am pretty much terrified because I'm not sure what's going to be the outcome in the next four years.
2:05.7	That is roughly what happened on Tuesday.
2:08.8	Donald Trump's victory was not one of the grand landslides of American politics.
2:13.5	As I write this on Wednesday, the estimate suggests he is on track for a one and a half point margin in the popular vote.
2:21.3	If that holds, and it may not, it may change as California is fully counted.
2:26.1	It is smaller than Barack Obama's win in 2012 or 2008.
2:29.9	It is smaller than George W. Bush's win in 2004, or Bill Clinton's wins in 1996 and 1992.
2:36.9	It may prove even smaller than Hillary Clinton's 2.1% popular vote margin in 2016.
2:43.0	But it is a huge gain for Trump compared to 2020.
	...

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