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The decision by the DNC to withhold the public viewing of its own autopsy report on the last presidential race is stunning but to be expected. Opposed to hard truths, the DNC behaves closer to a publicity machine rather than an electoral entity focused on cultivating grassroots capacities for winning elections.

A Culture Resistant to Internal Critique

Reluctant to depart from the prevailing attitude of conformity, the committee has stayed under the influence of the previous administration all through 2025. Publishing an official autopsy might have shown whether the leadership truly desire to encourage public discourse about the errors that paved the way for Donald Trump to win re-election. However, the leadership is moving forward as if there is little to understand following the electoral catastrophe of 2024.

Our guiding principle: does this help us win? If the answer is no, it becomes a sideline issue from our fundamental goal," an explanation reportedly given for withholding the report.

Critical Problems an Autopsy Could Have Addressed

Any valuable post-mortem with any value would tackle head-on certain uncomfortable matters. Among them are:

• Electoral Alienation: The loss of millions of voters that backed the party's candidate in 2020 became a critical factor in the narrowly decided 2024 election.
• The Insistence to Seek Re-election: The unwavering decision by the incumbent to seek re-election, alongside a last-minute exit, is viewed as robbing the party's base of open primaries.
• Losing Touch With Everyday Americans: During a time of inflation, the electoral effort reportedly ceding to corporate donors' interests while failing to challenge the role of corporate greed.
• A Gaza Factor: An unwillingness to reconsider a stance concerning a major international conflict allegedly caused losing many voters, especially with young people, Arab American communities, Muslim voters.
• A Decline in Young Voter Support: Extensive evidence indicates a significant drop-off of support for the party from young voters.

A Pattern Avoiding Accountability

This refusal fits a recurring tendency of sidestepping difficult realities. It recalls an episode in which virtually every elected Democrat in Washington acquiesced to a sitting president's insistence on running for re-election right up until a poor televised debate forced an exit.

At the same time, large majorities within the party's base were consistently telling researchers of their opposition to that candidate to run again.

Financial Issues

A thorough report would also probe issues regarding campaign spending, such as the amounts were directed to insider consultants and advertising contractors over the course of an electoral effort that burned through a staggering sum over a few months.

The Larger Implication

At its core, the blockage surrounding this report is symptomatic of an allegiance to party leaders who engineered a losing presidential campaign. The message for rank-and-file members – including millions of dedicated activists – is that they do not have a right to understand the lessons the insiders claim to have learned from hundreds of interviews based on conversations with insiders.

A party incapable to critically review where it went wrong will struggle to climb out of the cycle which was so advantageous to their opponents.