To put this in proper perspective, the Clinton campaign did plenty of things right. She performed very well in the debates. She raised lots of money, had a good ground game, and ran professional commercials. In the end, she won the popular vote.
That said, here is what cost her the election:
1. She never came up with a satisfactory response to the e-mail issue. Duh. The false equivalence between Trump’s outrageous behavior and the e-mail issue was decisive with lots of swing voters.
2. She never made much of an effort to connect with rural voters. From the very beginning of this blog, I have tried to make the case that the Democrats need to show more sensitivity to rural voters and culture. It wouldn’t hurt to spend some time with country musicians, or go to a NASCAR race, or accept that guns will only be regulated on a state and local level. Campaigning with Beyonce and Jay-Z doesn’t help with swing voters.
3. She spent too much time talking about Trump’s character, and not enough about his policies. We were treated to an avalanche of commercials about what a disgusting human being Trump is, but essentially nothing about his tax plan, spending cuts, and climate change views. At some point, the avalanche became pointless; in fact, by highlighting Trump’s, shall we say, unconventional behavior, she probably made the case for him as a plausible change agent.