Democratic party 'needs to be much more transparent' about 2024: Fmr. GOP Rep.

[0:00] We have a full panel to break down all of this. [0:03] MSNOW White House reporter Laura Barone-Lopez, co-host of The Weekend, Eugene Daniels, [0:08] Connecticut Insider, senior data editor and columnist Philip Bump, former Republican [0:12] Congressman Charlie Dent, and Democratic pollster Fernand Amandi. [0:16] Eugene, you covered the Harris campaign closely. [0:19] What do you take away from this report? [0:22] Yeah, the first thing I take away from the report is I'm like digging, trying to dig [0:25] through it. [0:25] I wish you could see the desk here, is that at the end of the day, this report doesn't [0:30] appear to be that well done. [0:31] You saw Ken Martin say that in his announcement saying, when I received the report late last [0:36] year, it wasn't ready for prime time. [0:38] That was what sources of mine were saying, and I talked about this on The Weekend a few [0:41] weeks ago, that the concern wasn't that it had a smoking gun or that it was even super [0:47] clear about what was happening or there was something that hadn't been said about why [0:51] Harris lost in 2024, why Democrats didn't do well, but that it wasn't well done. [0:56] So that's my first takeaway. [0:57] I'm looking at this one page where the DNC is having to say no evidence provided, section [1:02] was not provided, analysis not supported by data, appears to be missing a whole state. [1:08] That's number one. [1:09] Number two is a lot of the things that are in here that you can glean, they're in line [1:14] with what Democrats have been saying. [1:15] And this is the thing that's so important about presidential campaigns right now, which [1:19] is at the end of the day, every single thing counts when you have a country as split [1:23] as ours. And trying to figure out why one thing was why Kamala Harris lost in 2024 is never [1:31] going to happen. I will say early on in one of the summaries, what I think the most important [1:36] thing is for the DNC and for Democrats is this de-investment in state parties that it talks [1:41] about, not focusing on building from the ground up. This is something that DNC Chair Ken Martin [1:47] has tried and says that they are working on fixing. But that is the key to this, because [1:52] the states, folks that I talked to all through 2024, whether it was Biden or Harris at the top [1:57] of the ticket, they said they weren't getting enough resources, enough money, and sometimes [2:00] their phone calls weren't being returned. This mini-paged, almost 200-page report shows [2:06] that that ends up being true. [2:08] Fernand, the executive summary is missing. This report doesn't get into whether it was a good [2:14] idea for Biden to run for re-election, no mention over the Democratic division on Gaza, [2:20] and little on the decision to have Harris take over the ticket without facing challengers. [2:25] If the Democrats aren't assessing those issues, can they learn anything? [2:31] Well, I think they can, and I think we're starting to see that now. Like Eugene, I've got a stack [2:36] of papers of the autopsy. I'm trying to go through as much as I can. But I think one of the things that [2:40] has stood out that comes clear from the autopsy report, and I think it's consistent with what [2:45] Democrats have been saying that want to change the dynamic is that Democrats have to start a lot [2:49] earlier. They have to always be on in a campaign apparatus that unfortunately in this day and era [2:55] and age is permanent. It needs to be full-time. And the lesson from 2024 was defining the opposition [3:02] early. I don't think that they really did that well, but I do see signs of that changing now. [3:07] And how do we know that, Ana? Look at the state of the country. Look at Donald Trump today, [3:11] a man who managed to win re-election less than a year and a half ago. Today, as we have this [3:17] conversation, is at the lowest approval rating of his presidency in any term, one of the lowest we've [3:22] seen in a while, 31%. You've seen the success that Democrats have had in elections across the country [3:29] since 2025. And part of that is around the new focus that I think the autopsy report talks about. [3:35] Zeroing in, not on the culture war issues, but the kitchen table issues, the affordability [3:42] concerns, the cost of living crisis that every American, including those watching right now, [3:47] are all litigating with no answers by this administration of anything. The pain has [3:51] gotten worse despite their promises on day one to change that. I think those are the lessons that [3:56] Democrats are looking at. They're trying to implement. And right now, it seems to be working [4:00] because the country and judging the two governing styles is saying they're rejecting this approach [4:07] by Trump and the Republicans. And that's why you see congressional Democrats leading the ballot by [4:12] double digits and poised to recapture the House if they stay on this aggressive footing in November. [4:18] Philip, the DNC admits to neglecting Harris, not setting her up for success, despite her being the [4:22] vice president for the oldest living president in history at the time. Is this the biggest area where [4:28] the campaign dropped the ball? It's hard to isolate a particular thing regardless of the report and [4:37] what happened in 2024. Every election is unique, but I don't think any election has been as unique as [4:42] 2024 between Biden dropping out, Trump running for reelection, the ongoing effects of the COVID [4:47] pandemic. You know, I think that the safest assessment of, you know, any realistic and honest [4:53] assessment of 2024 is prices were up and Biden was unpopular. Those were the central factors. And so [4:58] there's a lot of litigating about what that means for the party in terms of, you know, what they could [5:02] have done better in 2024. Of course, they could have done things better. Of course, Harris, I think, [5:05] was poorly positioned in the way that I think vice presidents traditionally are, particularly when [5:10] it's not clear that they're going to be running for president immediately, which it wasn't in 2023. [5:15] But, you know, I think that there are probably not, and I have not spent a lot of time with [5:19] report as none of us have because it just came out. But I think there are probably not a lot of [5:23] lessons from 2024, which apply well to the moment, in part because that moment and this moment are [5:28] very, very different, very different circumstances. And I think that the party already hears from the [5:34] base, there's a big piece in New York Times today, about what it is they want the party to do. And I [5:38] think spending a lot of time litigating what happened in that very weird and unusual election [5:41] probably doesn't do the party much good. [5:43] And in fact, it was Ken Martin who had said they were going to just kind of set this aside and focus [5:47] forward, not backwards. So it is interesting that suddenly that has shifted. Congressman, [5:52] what should reports like this accomplish? [5:56] Well, it's important that parties do this. Republicans did it after Mitt Romney lost to [6:00] Barack Obama in 2013. And, you know, you got to take your medicine and it's important to be [6:06] transparent about it. It seems to me that the Democratic National Committee hasn't been [6:10] completely transparent. It seems like this report is still missing a lot of important information. [6:15] But I think what everybody just said here is correct. At the end of the day, you know, [6:19] a winning campaign does a lot of little things right. A losing campaign often gets a [6:23] lot of things wrong. But when the presidential approval rating was as low as it was and the [6:28] economy being front of mind and Trump had an advantage, I mean, that was clearly what drove [6:33] the election to Donald Trump and away from Kamala Harris. But I think the Democratic Party needs to [6:38] be much more transparent and honest about what actually happened then with respect to Joe Biden [6:42] dropping out of the race. [6:44] Laura, what are your key takeaways? And what is DNC Chair Ken Martin saying about the report? [6:48] Well, Anna, first on what Ken Martin is saying, he's basically expectation setting and trying to [6:54] get out ahead of maybe the rest of this report, because, again, this is only a piece of it. But [6:58] Ken Martin, the DNC Chair, said, quote, I am not proud of this product. It does not meet my standards [7:04] and it won't meet your standards. I don't endorse what's in this report or what's left out of it. [7:08] I could not in good faith put the DNC stamp of approval on it. But transparency is paramount. [7:13] So today I am releasing the report as I received it in its entirety, unedited and unabridged with [7:20] annotations for claims that couldn't be verified. But again, there are key things missing, as Eugene [7:25] pointed out, like Gaza. And also you pointed out, Anna, in terms of, you know, the fact that there [7:32] was no primary to replace Joe Biden. But when it comes to some of my key takeaways, the fact that [7:40] the autopsy report says that Democrats, it's kind of a classic Democratic takeaway, that Democrats [7:46] should not engage in, quote, identity politics, even though so much of the Trump's attacks on [7:52] Harris and so much of the Trump's campaign was about identity politics, whether it was about [7:58] January 6th and those that were convicted, whether it was about, you know, injecting more Christianity [8:05] identity into government and Christian nationalism or the anti-transgender attack ads that the [8:12] campaign launched. Those are all identity politics. And then another big key piece of the Trump [8:18] campaign was on immigration, anti-immigrant closing borders, saying that they wanted to totally [8:24] deport as many people as possible in the millions. That also is identity politics. And it's something [8:30] that the Harris campaign didn't engage on at all. So the takeaway that they should just, [8:34] that they had no answer or couldn't answer there is a bit striking. [8:38] Eugene, I'm still trying to kind of wrap my head around the timing here. If Ken Martin is saying [8:44] this report's not ready for prime time, having already said he wasn't going to release it. And [8:50] of course, right now we're in this busy news cycle where there are a lot of negative headlines [8:55] that are confronting the Trump administration and Republicans. [8:59] Republicans. So what is the strategy of putting this out there now? [9:06] Well, I think one, there are so many things that we are focused on when it comes to Trump. [9:11] So they're probably expecting this won't get as much airtime as it would have had it been put out [9:16] at a, if there was a quieter time during the second Trump administration. But I also think there [9:21] was just too much pressure. I've been talking to folks at the DNC and outside of it, folks who have [9:25] been talking to them throughout this entire process, folks who should have been interviewed for this [9:30] and weren't, folks who were interviewed. And what I've been hearing mostly from people is that [9:34] everyone just wanted something, right? And I think for Democrats, what's so interesting about them just [9:40] as a party overall, they like a lot of data. They want information, even if that information is [9:46] incomplete, which is what we got today. And so I think Ken Martin's back and forth with a lot of [9:51] different reporters. He came on our show and there was a back and forth about why not release it. [9:56] And the pressure was too immense. And at the end of the day, the hit that they're going to take for [10:01] this being a kind of, I don't know, raggedy report, which is what I would call it, like a very confusing, [10:07] doesn't, isn't very clear, doesn't seem that well done, even according to the chair of the Democratic [10:13] National Committee, that is probably less of a hit they're going to take than not doing it. It's been [10:17] going on for such a long time. But had they released this months and months and months ago, [10:22] we wouldn't have moved on. The party could focus forward. But now we'll have a couple more, [10:27] probably another couple of weeks of Democrats going back and forth about what's in this.