Trump didn't get here because he overtook the RNC from within and schemed his way. No. Trump's rise was grassroots and authentic. It came ENTIRELY from the masses loving Donald and steamrolling an apparatus that fucking HATED Donald.
I know this will be dismissed as the whining of a Bernie Bro, but try to understand 2015/16 because it really matters in thinking about how to build power.
- Hillary had, since 2012, been literally tying the DNC's finances to her re-election. The debate schedule, the number of Democratic candidates in the debates, and even the questions were a co-production of DNC/Hillary 2k16. Talking points and approved messages for campaigns that wanted DNC funding/support were a co-production of DNC/Hillary 2k16. Everything was run to try and clear the field for the candidate chosen by the apparatus and to validate the messaging of that candidate.
- The RNC, gearing up to replace Obama, had their own messaging goals and establishment candidates (not nearly as monolithic and incestuous as the DNC at the time, though). Trump rode the golden escalator and the establishment candidates bristled and objected and the RNC bristled and objected. Then the Grassroots God Emperor fucking stomped their faces in because he said "fuck you" directly to the establishment apparatus and told the people he loved them.
2016 Dem: Apparatus selects chosen candidate ahead of time, humiliating loss
2020 Dem: Apparatus intervenes later to push the selection of an establishment candidate, decent win
2024 Dem: Apparatus doesn't even pretend to give the people a choice, humiliating loss
We don't need the apparatus to make decisions about which candidates or even which messages. We need it to be a means of distributing nationally-raised money to candidates who prove themselves in their own cities/counties/states. That's it.