Maybe no one could have beaten Trump this year

The Pod Save America force spent most of July urging President Joe Biden to concede this election and ensure that someone — preferably Kamala Harris — takes his place as the Democratic nominee.

Now, a day after Donald Trump defeated Harris and won re-election, some of the hosts are admitting: Maybe no Democrat could have beaten Trump this year.

Hosts Jon Favraeu, Jon Lovett, Dan Pfeffier and Tommy Vietor reckoned with Harris' loss on Wednesday's episode of Pod Save America and worked through several potential factors that contributed to her loss, including the economy, the war in Gaza and Biden's unpopularity. Trump was declared the winner of the presidential election early Wednesday, with forecasts showing he will win the popular vote for the first time.

But Lovett noted that despite the momentum Harris built over her roughly 100-day campaign, neither she nor any other Democrat could have overcome the Biden administration's cemented unpopularity.

“I'm sure there are ways the campaign could have done a little better, I have no idea,” host Jon Lovett said on the air Pod Save America Consequence Wednesday. “But at the end of the day, I don’t know what you could have said to overcome that burden of incumbency, right? Because part of what we're talking about here is: It doesn't matter what she said. People didn't trust him. They wouldn't trust the Democrats right now, and I think we were hoping that, 'Could Kamala Harris overcome the liabilities of Joe Biden?' The answer is, maybe she couldn't.”

Favreau agreed, saying Harris' biggest problem may have been trying to break up with a man she worked with as vice president. “There are obviously a lot of reasons why this is difficult,” he said.

Pfeffier pushed back, acknowledging that Harris' problems may have been insurmountable, but noting that her goal – trying to succeed a deeply unpopular incumbent president while fighting a deeply unpopular former president who has a large Part of the Americans decreed – “practically impossible” within 100 days.

“I will go to my grave and believe that in the situation we found ourselves in with a hundred days to go, no one would have done a better job than Kamala Harris in this race,” Pfeffier later added.

It was thanks in part to the liberal quartet of Barack Obama veterans that Harris made it to the top of the list in the first place. The hosts called Biden's disastrous debate performance against Trump in June “fucking terrible” and a “fucking disaster,” and were among the first prominent Democrats to publicly push for Biden to exit.

Vietor even got into a war of words with MSNBC host Joe Scarborough after he made the accusation Morning Joe Star of attempt to prop up Biden. “I mean nothing against him,” Vietor later told the Daily Beast about the episode. “He has a relationship with Joe Biden. Politics is something personal. I understand where he's coming from. We didn’t want to make it personal, it’s just about the future of the country.”

Lovett acknowledged Wednesday that it may not be easy to figure out what final reason Democrats will use to explain Harris' defeat among the many they are fielding.

“It’s about choosing your own adventure,” he said.

The group did not acknowledge its own role in promoting another candidate to replace Biden, but said it would use its podium to warn about the dangers of a new Trump administration.

“We're all on the same team here, and if we're going to figure this out, then I think we need to be good to each other now and in the coming months because I think solidarity is important,” Favreau said.