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Dems refuse to release 2024 autopsy report, hear Ken Martin’s lame excuse

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by Robby Soave, opinion contributor - 04/30/26 2:12 PM ET

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by Robby Soave, opinion contributor - 04/30/26 2:12 PM ET

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If I was head of the Democratic National Committee, and I’d commissioned a report to figure out what went wrong in the 2024 election, well, I’d probably want my voters to read it. But Ken Martin apparently feels differently.

The chairman of the DNC is refusing to release the 2024 autopsy. Why? That’s the question. Here was Pod Save America’s Jon Favreau explaining why.

The question of how much money was spent on this report is beside the point. Of course they should release it. Perhaps the Democratic Party is recalibrating based on the report’s recommendation, or perhaps it’s not, but how will anyone know if they’ve never made it public? This is just going to make people (reasonably) paranoid that the reason they won’t release it is because it reflects poorly on Democratic elites, including Kamala Harris, who doesn’t want anyone in her party making fun of her or pointing out the flaws of her campaign, given she seemingly intends to run again.

Probably the Democratic Party doesn’t want to admit that it’s alienated and infuriated its progressive base over issues like Gaza, and that it’s demoralized the left while not gaining sufficient numbers of voters in the middle or on the right. Martin doesn’t want to admit that he isn’t really moving the Democratic Party forward on some clear path toward victory. Yes, the party is benefitting at present from the unpopularity of President Trump, but Democrats themselves are not very popular either.

It’s possible this report has ideas for what they can do. Perhaps moderate on immigration. Moderate on taxes and spending. Jettison wokeness. Embrace populism. Fire the Democratic elite consultant class. Tune out mainstream and progressive media and go on podcasts and independent media, where the winnable voters are.

Those are all plans. Is that what Ken Martin is doing? Who knows!

Look, just hating Trump is not going to be a winning strategy. At some point, the Dems will have to articulate a positive agenda, and they are going to be pulled in many different directions. You can bet that the leaders of the party, and the people they listen to — talking heads on CNN and MSNBC — are going to want to steer the candidates toward Kamala-style woke progressivism. It’s an agenda that excites college professors and no one else.

So let’s start getting things on track by releasing the autopsy! Dems won’t right this ship until they fully understand what they did wrong. And it’s not a good look that they don’t want to acknowledge their faults. The first step in recovery is admitting you have a problem.

Robby Soave is co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising” and a senior editor for Reason Magazine. This column is an edited transcription of his daily commentary.

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