Why Dems think they'll lose the election

Plus: Closing out DNC week + this weekend at Co-Prosperity. [View this email in your browser]( [READER Logo]( Daily Reader | August 27, 2024 We’ve reached that funny phase of the election season where Democrats invent new explanations for why they will lose. Actually, every phase of the election season is like that for Democrats—one of the most compulsively, angst-ridden collections of gloom and doomers since pre-2016 Cubs fans. Cubs fans always thought they were going to lose (as that’s all they had ever known), right up until that moment when Kris Bryant threw the ball to Anthony Rizzo for the final out in the 2016 World Series. The Democrats have had more success than the Cubs, winning three out of the last four presidential elections. But no matter how much the Democrats win, they think they’re going to lose—because they lost the one they thought they were gonna win (also back in 2016). I’m pretty sure I’ve heard all the usual explanations as to why they’ll lose come November. Including . . . “The electorate will never elect another Black person.” Or a woman. Or a Black woman. Or a Black woman with a different-sounding name. And so on and so on. One of the most innovative explanations came from E, an old friend, who said he worried because (get this) Democrats might be overconfident after their jubilant convention. Proving once again that no one can turn a positive into a negative like a Democrat. Now, to be clear, there have been moments in relatively recent history when Democrats were overconfident. As in 2016, when mainstream Dems, convinced Trump could not beat Hillary, overlooked the states they needed to safeguard to concentrate on states they had no chances of winning. That was the election in which Michelle Obama infamously responded to Trump’s trash talking by saying, “When they go low, we go high.” A position she probably took because she figured the election was in the bag and she didn’t think she’d have to fight fire with fire. A mistake she won’t make again. As we now know from her hit-em-low speech at this year’s convention. My point being—Democrats, still shellshocked over 2016, have taken things in a different direction, convincing themselves they’re losing even when they’re winning. In other words, the notion that Democrats will get overconfident is absurd. So, yes, there may be reasons the Dems wind up losing in November. But overconfidence will not be one of them. In fact, worrying that Dems will let down their guard because they’re overconfident illustrates the anxiety, paranoia, and dread that keeps Dems from being overconfident in the first place. And yet . . . As a long-suffering Chicago sports fan, I understand where my friend E is coming from. You can tempt fate. Like when Bulls announcer Adam Amin says Coby White is a great free throw shooter, pretty much guaranteeing that Coby will miss the ensuing free throw attempt. So, E, keep predicting gloom and doom for the Democrats. It can’t hurt. 🎙 [Listen to The Ben Joravsky Show]( 🎙 ◈ [Rogue Lawyer]( by John Grisham: found a battered copy in a little free library, stayed up late reading it, and then put it back in the same little library for the next guy. ◈ [Andrea Thompson]( on Jackpot! ◈ [Ben Joravsky]( (from 2012) on how Daley helped Bush and vice versa. ◈ Community organizer [Kina Collins]( on the DNC ◈ Illinois state representative candidate [Heidi Henry]( on Coach Walz Democrats ◈ Journalist [Monroe Anderson]( “Back to back Obamas” [illustration of kamala harris smiling at a podium with two american flags in the background]( [The DNC closes with Kamala Harris accepting the presidential nomination]( A Palestinian American speaker was not allowed at the convention, week of protests come to an end. by [Shawn Mulcahy]( and [Anna Wagner]( | [Read more]( → [DNC week ends with Union Park protest]( Protestors spent the week condemning President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for supplying munitions to Israel. by [DMB (D-M Brown)]( and [Josh Druding]( | [Read more]( → [two guitarists and a drummer perform on stage (black and white photo)]( [Chicago trio Daundry make shoegaze that puts you under its spell]( Thu 8/29 at Schubas by [Leor Galil]( | [Read more]( → [Abstract guitarist Loren Connors plays a rare Chicago show to open an art exhibit he shares with John Fahey]( Fri 8/30 at Soccer Club Club by [Bill Meyer]( | [Read more]( → Join our editor in chief Salem Collo-Julin for a moderated conversation on August 31 as part of Co-Prosperity’s “How to Make a Scene: Artist-run Chicago in the 80s and 90s”. The discussion will spotlight four individuals who both create art/music and generate opportunities for others, with a focus on performance art. The series, which runs through the fall, offers audiences trailheads for further exploration of Chicago's storied history of alternative gallery spaces, independent publications, and socially engaged collectives. You won’t want to miss this! [AUGUST 31 AT 3 PM: HOW TO MAKE A SCENE]( Get the latest issue of the Chicago Reader Thursday, August 22, 2024 [READ ONLINE: VOL. 53, NO. 29]( [VIEW/DOWNLOAD ISSUE (PDF)]( [Facebook icon]( [Instagram icon]( [Twitter icon]( [LinkedIn icon]( [YouTube icon]( [Website icon]( [Logo] You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from the Chicago Reader. Want fewer emails from us? [Click here to choose what you want us to send you](. Or, [unsubscribe from all Reader emails](. We’ll miss you! [Sign up for emails from the Chicago Reader]( | [Forward this e-mail to a friend]( © 2024 Chicago Reader. 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