Snap out of it, Democrats: No more tears. No more finger-pointing. It’s time to start working on 2026.

OK, Democrats, enough of the pity party. Republicans now control the presidency, the Senate, and the U.S. Supreme Court, and are close to controlling the House. It’s time to stop finger-pointing and start the hard work needed to restore some semblance of a balance of power in the midterm elections two years from now.

This isn’t the first time the Democratic Party needed a course correction to win back the middle that decides most national elections. Conservatives created the Democratic Leadership Council during Ronald Reagan’s two terms in the 1980s to center the Democratic ship. But George H.W. Bush won a third GOP presidency before the DLC’s efforts paid off with the 1992 election of Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton.

After Kamala Harris’ defeat, some self-analysis is needed to avoid repeating the mistakes of her too-short, three-month presidential campaign. Harris didn’t have the more than two years Donald Trump’s campaign had to accurately assess what voters wanted, nor the substantial contributions of his billionaire supporters to turn out the vote.

The 2024 election screams for more campaign finance controls. The Supreme Court’s 2010 stance that political contributions are a form of free speech protected by the Constitution means elections will never again serve the many, but instead the few like Elon Musk who can buy their candidates all the ads and campaign workers they need.

Trump field workers had the time and money to figure out that as concerned as many women were about reproductive rights, that issue wasn’t as important to them as the prices their families were paying for goods and services. That was especially so with white women, 53% of whom voted for Trump, as did 38% of Latinas and 9% of Black women.

All the TV and social media ads touting Harris’ dedication to restoring a woman’s right to choose seem to have been wasted. Too many women didn’t care enough to vote for her.

Remember when Trump feared his orchestrating the Supreme Court’s overturning Roe v. Wade would hurt him? Instead, his field teams used Harris’ focus on abortion, an issue further down women’s list of concerns, to harvest more votes.

Trump’s strategic move reminds me of a lesson taught when I was a child in the 1960s by teachers who had us read a fable steeped in racism that was justifiably discarded by schools long ago. The “Tar Baby” story was included in an 1881 book of fables purportedly told by formerly enslaved people and compiled by Joel Chandler Harris, a white author who created a fictional “Uncle Remus” character to tell them.

In the “Tar Baby,” a fox tries to lure a pesky rabbit into captivity by sculpting a figure that looks like a baby out of a mixture of coal tar and turpentine. The “baby” was usually depicted in offensive illustrations as a Black child. Angry that the “baby” wouldn’t speak to him, the rabbit hits the sculpture and gets stuck when tar gets on his hands.

The fox then gleefully jumps out of the bushes to reveal himself to the captured rabbit, who begs his tormentor to hang him, roast him, or do anything else, but “please don’t throw me into the briar patch.” Of course, the gullible fox does exactly that, realizing only later that he had been goaded into aiding the sly rabbit’s escape.

Did Harris’ campaign throw Trump into the briar patch by making abortion her central talking point? Don’t get me wrong. Abortion is a very important issue that must be addressed, with so many women already putting their health at risk by having to travel hundreds of miles to receive reproductive services. But poll after poll warned that it was not the most important issue, either to women or men.

Harris also failed to make clear exactly what she would do differently than President Joe Biden, so the election remained a referendum on his administration. Maybe she didn’t want to offend Biden, but I don’t think he would have minded criticism if it helped her win. Candidates in the midterm elections can’t be coy. They need to let voters know they won’t walk in lockstep with any president the way too many Republicans have been doing with Trump.

While Biden’s age and mental acuity became the cudgel that destroyed his chance for reelection, Trump’s campaign discovered it wasn’t just his MAGA faithful who would vote for him regardless of what they thought of him as a person. Convicted felon Trump called Harris vile names, used profanities with children present, referred to the size of another man’s genitalia, and still won the popular vote.

Trump has promised to deport everyone in the United States who did not enter the country legally but hasn’t offered a clue as to how he will find the billions of dollars experts say it would cost to carry out such a draconian threat. Maybe because the expensive threat sounds like it will never happen, Trump received 42% of the Latino vote on Election Day. Or maybe Latinos are tired of basing their votes on an issue that partisan politics will never solve.

It was only when the election was days away that some pollsters began to predict Trump might win by a landslide, but Democrats showed no signs of impending doom. Harris held a final rally in Philadelphia featuring appearances by Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin, The Roots, and Oprah Winfrey. “You will decide the outcome of this election, Pennsylvania,” said Harris. She was right. Trump won the state.

Harris’ 78% of the Philadelphia vote was the lowest margin for a Democratic presidential candidate in more than two decades. City party boss Bob Brady blamed Harris’ campaign staff. “They didn’t show us any respect,” he said and complained that Harris didn’t spend enough money to get out the vote in the city.

Does that sound like a man concerned Trump’s election threatens American democracy?

Harold Jackson, a winner of the Pulitzer Prize, is a former editorial page editor at The Inquirer.