Democrats seem to be replaying the exact strategy that lost them the last election. What, pray tell, is the Democratic Party’s message otherwise? That they don’t like Russia, except when they did? That they believe Russia is the biggest national security threat to America, except when it wasn’t? Democrats appear to have spent about two minutes trying to figure out why the voters of Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and very nearly Minnesota rejected them only a few months ago. And why, despite an ostensibly popular Obama presidency, they now have less political power than at any point in memory. But this is hard and painful spadework, and what’s unearthed might prove unpleasant. So why bother?

What did the Democrats do to rebuild the faith and trust of the “forgotten” voters they still seem to have trouble remembering? They doubled down. The first thing they did after the biggest political disaster in their history was to keep their leadership team intact. In the House, they soundly rejected an Ohio Democrat (a what?) from blue-collar Youngstown (where?) in favor of a liberal from California, the state that single-handedly gave them the false comfort of a popular-vote victory in 2016. And they second thing they did was Russia, Russia, Russia.

Nothing seems to have been done to reach out to those who almost upended the Clinton coronation. Are Bernie Sanders’ voters now OK with the Democratic Party establishment? Who knows? Do the Democrats have a tax cut plan to aid the middle class, a position on trade to respond to the woes of the manufacturing class, or a plan to fix health care? Uh, boring! By the way, who is leading the Democratic Party today? Obama? Clinton? Pelosi? Schumer? Warren? TBD? Who cares?