In this moment, when humility and curiosity are required, there are a few things I wish I would have seen coming.
For all of the hemming and hawing about people wanting to know more about Vice President Kamala Harris' plans, this was never a campaign about policy proposals. What we learned is that a majority of voters are pissed off at the system, and at the government, and wanted change — whatever that looked like. Would a campaign longer than 107 days have made a difference? Maybe. But as long as the candidate was from the same party as the party in power, those headwinds may have proved insurmountable.
The role of racism, sexism and the massive dysfunction of the information system are all issues worth exploring.
But there are also some additional tough truths.
Millions of people voted to protect abortion rights in seven states and then a good chunk of them also voted to elect Donald Trump, the very guy who put the three people on the Supreme Court who took that right away.
Trump did not get more votes than he did in 2020, but nearly every major demographic group moved his way, with the exception of white college-educated voters.
The most important groups of voters to listen to in this moment, in my view, are the ones who didn't show up. The Americans who may have felt aligned with the Democratic agenda at one point, but now feel left behind or forgotten. These are not all white working-class voters.
Finally, no one should feel powerless in this moment. When Trump was elected the first time, he said he was going to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. You know what happened? People got active. They called their members of Congress and went to meetings. They told their representatives, "You cannot take away my health insurance." And guess what? It didn't happen. Every fight will not be won. But there are leaders still to emerge, movements yet to take shape, and as much as there needs to be reflection, there is a lot of power we can find in this moment, too.
Read more exclusive insights from Jen Psaki here. And tune into "Inside with Jen Psaki" Mondays at 8 p.m. ET, and Sundays at 12 p.m. ET on MSNBC.
