About the only valuable lesson that the DNC "autopsy" contained yesterday was a warning against embracing the trans movement. The report noted the devastating impact of Donald Trump's campaign ad that focused on Kamala Harris' promise to fund sex-change surgeries for prisoners. Democrat pollsters considered it a checkmate:
Second, the pollsters were involved in discussions around the Trump attack ads – in particular the attack ad focused on the Vice President’s prior statements on transgendered Americans. They all recognized the attack as very effective, and felt the campaign was boxed – the ad was a video of her saying what she said, and it was framed as an attack on her economic priorities.
If the Vice President would not change her position – and she did not – then there was nothing which would have worked as a response.
The report also contained more ambiguous warnings about the pursuit of identity politics, largely in explanation for more successful Democrat campaigns in the 2024 cycle. The autopsy didn't explicitly recommend that Democrats dump identity politics altogether, but the context of the report made it clear that voters didn't respond well to it and wanted to hear about economic policies instead. The message came through clearly enough yesterday, though, to set the trans issue up as one of the major lessons from 2024. Even PBS included it as one of four major takeaways from the report.
Have Democrats learned anything from this episode? Not exactly. House Democrats unanimously voted to kill funding for a new Smithsonian museum dedicated to women after Republicans ensured it would focus on actual women:
House Democrats unanimously rebelled against legislation Thursday directing the construction of a new women’s history museum on the National Mall.
Democrats sought to defeat the bill after Republicans limited the institution to biological women and excluded transgender individuals.
The measure came up short in a vote of 204-216 after a handful of conservative GOP lawmakers joined Democrats in tanking the legislation that would secure a site for the forthcoming Smithsonian American Women's History Museum on the grounds of the Mall.
That essentially killed the project entirely, as some Republicans wondered why the museum was necessary in the first place. It's not as if the Smithsonian excludes women from other museums, after all:
The defecting Republicans objected to the measure over concerns about whether a women's history museum was necessary and because the bill did not include protections against left-wing content from appearing in the institution," a source familiar told Fox News Digital.
"American women are already proudly honored across the Smithsonian—from pioneers and patriots to scientists and leaders," the source said. "We don't need another taxpayer-funded museum that risks becoming a shrine to abortion activists like Margaret Sanger or the latest progressive cause."
Democrats accused the GOP of using the amendment from Illinois Republican Mary Miller as a "poison pill" to force them into the position of killing the project. Miller's amendment stated: "The Museum shall be dedicated to preserving, researching, and presenting the history, achievements, and lived experiences of biological women in the United States." Given that the term "women" refers to a biological identity, about the worst one could say about the amendment is that it's redundant.
Miller's amendment exposes the absurdity of the exercise. Why use public funds to create a museum for women that includes males? The mission of a women's museum would be to highlight the experiences and achievements of females in American history; otherwise, there's no point at all. If Congress wanted to honor the achievements and history of transgender individuals in American society, its members could choose to create and fund a public museum for that purpose. A lack of material could be a problem, however, since the trans movement has been around for about a hot second in the full arc of American history.
Even more, though, the skeptics are correct about the entire enterprise. If women need more visibility in other federally funded museums, the curators should be asked to expand their recognition. Given the nature of the Smithsonian and its curators in recent years, that seems unlikely to be an issue. Also, if Congress wants more visibility for trans achievements, the curators can be tasked to provide that within the current, topic-centered structures of the Smithsonian's existing museums.
Nevertheless, the concept of a "national women's museum" would have passed by a wide margin, at least in the House, had Democrats voted to support it. They threw biological women under the bus in order to pander to males who claim female identity and work to replace biological females for recognition. Just as in 2024, Democrats are for they/them rather than she/her. They have learned nothing at all from 2024, not even in the one instance where their "autopsy" actually provided them a valuable lesson.
Next up: Where's the National Men's Museum?
Update: This vote may finally kill the Problem Solvers Caucus, Jake Sherman reports:
NEW YORK GOP REP. NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS is leaving the Problem Solvers Caucus, where she is the vice chair.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) May 22, 2026
"Sadly, it has become apparent to me over the past five years that the bipartisanship of the Problem Solvers Caucus has clearly been a one-way street. Time and again,…
... Time and again, Republicans in this caucus cross party lines to advance key pieces of legislation, whether it be with their votes or signatures on discharge petitions, yet the Democrats do not."
Dems voted en masse against her women's museum bill yesterday, which played into this.
Someone may deserve a Captain Louis Renault award.
Editor's Note: The Democrat Party has never been less popular as voters reject its globalist agenda.
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