Several things happened. One, he picked the most vulnerable swing states and focused on those, and delivered exactly the message people wanted to hear. Second, Harris in those same states instead of telling people what they wanted to hear, told them she wasn’t trump, and paraded out unpopular conservatives to try to swing right leaning voters her direction. Instead of finding a massage to give people a good reason to vote for her, she leaned pretty hard on “well have you seen this other guy??”

People crave motion and action. So in those few states she got her ass handed to her. The rest of the country largely voted along the lines it always has. Democrats learned nothing from Obama’s victory or Clinton’s loss, they thought they’d successfully turned the tide after Biden swept up a fucking disaster and then went on to make a half hearted attempt at badly needed though still unpopular debt relief. Then he took too much cold medicine before a debate and got his ass handed to him.

Most people aren’t thinking much beyond the roof over their head and the food on their table. If Democrats can’t make those two things easier, the guys with a bad plan looks better than the guys without one at all.