Let's face it, Dem voters didn't show up.

[Sympthsical]

5. What's to explain?

People didn't show up. It was always going to be an enthusiasm election, and people weren't sufficiently enthused.

2020 was an odd year due to the pandemic, so we can't really use it as a base line for expectation of what elections look like. This year was just a regular old election.

We needed turn out to win, and for a myriad of reasons, many Democrats and independents decided "Nah." Trump didn't significantly improve his numbers. Ours were just rotten.

We have a choice now. Do we acknowledge that maybe there's a problem in our perceptions and thinking about the electorate and how people in this country think and feel, or do we blame everyone else and double down on doing what just failed spectacularly?

I see a lot of doubling down, which I'm hoping is just an immediate aftermath reaction.