Clinton, who won the majority of votes or Harris who in a few months forced Trump to a plurality win?

Both were admittedly weak and forced, but Clinton would have won had any one of number of factors been different, and Harris walked into a tire fire and wasn’t the right candidate no matter what.

Democrats certainly need to field a better slate, but the fact people voted for self immolation can’t be attributed to a lesser of two evils argument - because Trump was never a compelling leader, and he has never been popular - hence his inability to ever secure a majority and operating the two most unpopular presidencies in modern history. He was voted into power by people who were sold on “at least he’s different,” which is more of an idiocratic solution to the current politic than anything else.

The answer is as the article says, it’s both national suicide and murder by the administration. There is no point in second guessing it, a technical victory and a plurality chose a national policy of global stupidity, taking a wrecking ball to the complex international system.

The hope I hold is this weakens the presidency irrevocably as Congress takes control again and places the executive in its proper functionary role. It’s abdication over history as Washingtonian presidents set a higher and higher bar of relative trustworthiness was fraught and stupid, and is IMO the actual manifestation of exceptionalism. And we f’ed around and found out, as MAGA is so fond of.