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If you’re a member of the Democratic Party machine — and if you’re older than, say, 40 — you have to admit this thing of yours went well for a while. 

The unspoken agreement between spreadsheet-pushing wonks and glad-handing faces out stumping in swing states gave us the go-go ‘90s. A neocon aberration briefly muscled its way onto the neoliberals turf, but the outfit found themselves back on top in the late aughts. Even better, Obama’s revolutionary ground game proved that the data-minded way of doing business worked. 

A global financial crisis couldn’t fully derail a train chugging along tracks laid by means-testers, cost-cutters and Fed market manipulators. The ZIRP squad kept the money rolling in through much of the turbulent ‘10s, creating an uneven boom time that kept the party’s coffers full and its consultants well-fed. Decades into the arrangement, the party had fully shifted its focus from working rubes in favor of ever-larger donations from the economy’s winners. The money flowed to made men, post-Citizens United. 

The Dems kept busy giving each other make-work jobs, the Beltway equivalent of no-show construction work, ignoring the signs that the good times were coming to an end. The election of  Donald Trump hit like the final inspection of a hastily constructed casino, laying the rotten structure of the modern Democratic Party bare for all to see. The focus on penthouse donors over the party’s previous labor base had left cracks in the foundation. The populist messaging of rival parties and independents had eaten away the party platform like so much dry-rotted framing.

In the Democratic National Committee’s sheepish reveal of its 2024 autopsy report, you can see party leadership realizing they’ve reached the end of something. The report itself, a mess of factual errors and unsubstantiated claims, is clearly the work of someone with little respect for the institution. The highlighted shoddy reasoning and bright-red disclaimers inserted by  DNC leadership feel like an admission that they're out of wonks they can trust. Being forced to release this embarrassing report as the GOP moves in lockstep to secure control of Congress and the Supreme Court is just a few steps removed from turning state’s evidence. All that’s left, as the walls close in, is the backbiting and betrayal that marks the end of every outfit. 

“I could not in good faith put the DNC’s stamp of approval on the report that was produced,” Chair Ken Martin told CNN, sounding like Tony Soprano trying to stave off depression after the ducks left. “It does not meet my standards, and it won’t meet your standards, but I am doing this because people need to be able to trust the Democratic Party and trust our word.” 

What do you think? Is there honor among wonks? What new institutions will crop up after this one withers away? Sound off in the comments.

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