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The move by the DNC to withhold the release regarding its internal autopsy report on the 2024 election appears remarkable but not surprising. Resistant to unpleasant candor, the DNC operates more like a publicity machine than a political organization focused on building grassroots capacities to secure victories.

An Environment of Conformity

Hesitant to break with the party establishment's culture demanding unity, the DNC has continued under the Biden-Harris shadow throughout this past year. Releasing the findings might have shown whether party leaders actually want to promote honest conversation about the errors that paved the way for the former president to win re-election. However, the DNC is proceeding as if there's nothing to be learned following the tragic debacle of 2024.

Our guiding principle: is this good for winning elections? If not, it’s a distraction from our fundamental goal," a justification that has been offered to justify concealing the document.

Critical Problems a Report Might Have Examined

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

• Voter Disengagement: Losing among a significant portion of the electorate who voted for the Democratic ticket in 2020 proved pivotal during the tight recent race.
• A Choice to Seek Re-election: The unwavering choice by a party leader to seek re-election, and an extremely delayed step-aside, is viewed as denying the party's base of open primaries.
• Losing Touch With the Working-Class Base: Amid rising costs, the electoral effort is criticized for accommodating elite contributors without successfully attempting to address the role of corporate greed.
• The Foreign Policy Effect: The refusal to reconsider an approach on a major international conflict reportedly led to losing many voters, particularly with youth voters, Arab-Americans, and Muslim Americans.
• Eroding Youth Allegiance: Polling data shows a huge decrease of Democratic support from voters aged 18-29.

A Record of Evasion

Choosing secrecy is consistent with a pattern of sidestepping difficult realities. It recalls a situation where the vast majority of elected Democrat in Congress acquiesced to a sitting president's insistence on running for re-election until a catastrophic televised debate forced a change.

Concurrently, a significant majority within the party's base were continually telling pollsters that they did not want that candidate to seek re-election.

Financial Issues

A thorough autopsy might also examine issues about where money went, including how much money flowed to party strategists as well as advertising contractors over the course of a campaign that burned through a colossal amount in a short period.

A Larger Problem

At its core, the blockage surrounding this report is symptomatic of an allegiance to the established hierarchy who engineered a disastrous national race. The signal to rank-and-file members – which includes countless small donors – is that they do not have a right to see what party chiefs say they discovered based on an analysis compiled from conversations with insiders.

An organization unable to publicly examine its own failings finds it difficult to escape the pattern which was so advantageous to the rival party.