I’m still going back and forth between this must be some kind of elaborate practical joke and WTF!

It’s between, (1) she won the popular vote, there was massive voter suppression, possible cheating, ridiculous interventions by the FBI and Russia and people who voted for Obama threw all sense to the wind and voted for Trump for fucks sake; and (2) what can the Democratic Party do now to get these people back on the side they should always be on?

Between, (1) Trump was a unique candidate that has given false hope to a dying Republican party who will take a victory lap, overreach and continue their path to destruction, and (2) Obama was a unique candidate, the Democrats have more people who agree with them on policies, but they keep losing even in places where Republicans should be extinct by now, this version of the Democratic Party is not as bad as the Republicans, but it’s pretty bad, pretty inept and out of touch with their natural constituencies.

Between (1) we should have nominated Bernie after all, or (2) why don’t we have a younger Bernie?, or (3) damn the DNC and everybody who just thought it was Hillary’s turn, or (4) Hillary was great but her campaign screwed up focusing everything on Trump’s language and temperament – which didn’t move as many people as rational people imagined. They seriously didn’t know how to make a good smear ad.

Really – why didn’t they focus at least some fire on his conflicts of interest and the unprecedented nature of electing someone with no experience.  They never attacked his motives or sincerity – they should have buried him in questions about his motives and sincerity as well as his ugly comments and behaviors.

The Lee Atwater, Karl Rove, Frank Luntz playbook is about throwing doubt on the candidate’s positive attributes, even turning those positives into negatives.  The Clinton campaign never did it.  Never addressed people whose impulse was change at any cost saying there IS a cost.

Here’s a few ads I’ve thought of, the Hillary people didn’t:

1.  Juxtaposing his overwhelmingly positive comments about Hillary before the campaign (he admired her very much, thought she was a great senator) with his hateful campaign rhetoric to show how insincere he is.  Was he lying then or lying now?  Bottom line, he’s a liar.  Show other lies, and Politifact ratings.

2. As part of the 1st set of ads an ad where Hillary admitted that she made mistakes.  But the biggest mistake would be electing the most unqualified, inexperienced and dishonest candidate ever.  The only way to blunt your negatives is to admit to them and ask people for another chance.

3. A simple campaign illustrating how risky it is to hire someone with no experience to do a job.  Nobody would hire a doctor with no experience, why do you imagine the most important job in the world needs no experience?

4. Ads illustrating his shady business dealings and pointing out his massive conflicts of interest including deals with Russia and China and no post-election plan to put his businesses in a blind trust.  No tax returns, no transparency. He’s always lied about his businesses and he’s lying now.  He’s a bad businessman and he’s running a con now.

5. They did one ad where he admits his products were made in other countries, but it was tape from David Letterman, too cute, too subtle.  They had no idea how to make a real smear ad that moves people.  They failed to ask the simple question how can you trust someone who says bring back American jobs when he uses Chinese steel and manufactures in other countries?

6. Ads that tie Trump to the Republican establishment, showing that a vote for him is a vote for typical Republican policies – making him not as anti-establishment as he claims.  Make him just another Republican blunting the anti-establishment message.

The one thing that is for sure is that Democrats have to toughen up and use some of the techniques Republicans use to get your policies and opinions heard.