Maybe it's time for the Democratic party to stop asking for money.

I have a feeling that, among the many different yet connected progressive organizations to which I contributed over the past half year, I'm not considered a major benefactor. I did my part with a few dollars here and there, and I felt good about the vast war chest that Harris/Walz was amassing.

But now it's time to stop asking for more, not because the party is flush with cash (it may be) and not because the Elon Musk-type MAGA donors would render my contributions as insignificant as a tip on a latte, but because the problems in the Democratic party will not be solved by money.

The strength of the Democrats is their breadth—the fact that they protect the rights of so many different minorities and marginalized—but that diffusion is also its weakness. Racial accord, transgender rights, women's health, gun safety—these are all noble objectives, but is there some umbrella that covers them all? If the Democrats are the party of fundamental human rights, maybe that covers it.

You may have missed Trump's victory speech—I know I did—so you probably didn't hear him say, "They came from all quarters. Union, non-union, African American, Hispanic American. We had everybody, and it was beautiful."

Yes, he had everybody, and they were had by him, a white nationalist who despises minorities because they aren't white enough or American enough. And yet, exit polls indicate that his blood-and-soil party garnered 42% of the Latino vote in Pennsylvania compared to 27% in 2020. 

If a candidate can get an ethnic group to vote against itself, you have to tip your hat. But you also have to wonder how the so-called party of the people, the Democrats, allowed so many voters to be duped—Latinos, Blacks, women, men, everyone. The deceit spanned social, geographic, and ethnic lines, and Democratic money didn't prevent it. 

So it's time to stop asking for more and figure out just how this happened. If it's the wrong leadership, the wrong philosophy, or simply the wrong message, change it. If it wasn't good enough to keep Americans from electing a man with a mug shot, the next criminal with aspirations of the White House is probably starting a GoFundMe page.