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This move by the DNC to block the publication of its internal post-election analysis on the 2024 election is stunning but entirely predictable. Averse to hard truths, the party's leadership apparatus behaves more like a PR firm rather than an electoral entity devoted to building a volunteer base to secure victories.

A Climate Resistant to Internal Critique

Hesitant to break with the prevailing attitude demanding unity, the DNC has stayed within the Biden-Harris shadow throughout this past year. Making public such a report would have indicated whether the leadership actually want to promote public discourse about the errors that enabled Donald Trump to win re-election. However, the leadership is moving forward as if there are no lessons to be learned following the electoral catastrophe of 2024.

"Here’s our North Star: will this lead to victory? Should the answer be negative, it is an unnecessary diversion from what truly matters," a justification that has been offered for withholding the document.

Critical Problems a Report Would Have Examined

Any valuable post-mortem with any value would tackle head-on a series of difficult topics. Among them are:

• Voter Alienation: Losing of millions of voters who voted for the party's candidate during the previous election proved pivotal in the close recent race.
• The Choice to Run: The stubborn insistence by the incumbent to seek re-election, alongside a very late withdrawal, has been criticized as denying the party's base the chance for a genuine choice.
• Failing Core Democratic Voters: Amid economic anxiety, the electoral effort is criticized for ceding to powerful financial backers while failing to confront the effects of profit-seeking.
• The Foreign Policy Impact: An unwillingness to adjust a policy position concerning the situation in Gaza allegedly caused driving away many voters, particularly among young people, Arab American communities, and Muslim Americans.
• Eroding Youth Backing: Research demonstrates a huge drop-off in Democratic support among young voters.

A Pattern of Evasion

Choosing secrecy aligns with a pattern to avoid uncomfortable facts. It recalls a dynamic where the vast majority of Democratic officeholder in Congress went along with an incumbent's determination to running for re-election right up until a catastrophic campaign event led to a reversal.

Concurrently, a significant majority of the electorate were repeatedly informing pollsters that they did not want the incumbent to seek re-election.

Financial Concerns

A substantive analysis might also examine matters regarding where money went, such as how much money went to high-priced advisors and ad buyers over the course of an electoral effort that burned through an enormous war chest in a short period.

The Larger Issue

Ultimately, the blockage of the official autopsy points to a deference to party leaders responsible for a disastrous national race. The signal to the party's base – which includes countless small donors – appears to be that they cannot have a right to understand the lessons the insiders say they discovered from a report based on feedback from all states.

A party incapable to publicly examine its mistakes is unlikely to break free from the rut that ended up being so helpful to their opponents.