One of the dominant phrases in Democratic politics heading into Election Day 2024 was “optimism nauseous.” Party officials and insiders believed that Kamala Harris had a real chance of success, but were so overcome with anxiety about the possible outcome that they reached for antacids as often as they took mobile phones.

As the vote counts came in, the second word in the phrase “nauseous optimism” was no longer necessary.

That The Washington Post reportedthe day after the election, the party was “burdened with anxious guesswork”.

The article added that many Democratic strategists concluded that as the dust settled, it was time for “a thorough rethinking.”

From my limited vantage point, the day after Election Day, I heard from many Democrats and Trump critics thinking along the same lines. The party is overdue for a dramatic overhaul, they said. The party’s script and strategy manual must be torn up and rewritten. If Democrats are going to compete in the future, they will have to reevaluate not only their core priorities, but also what they say, how they say it, and who they say it to.

Why, they asked, would Democrats think they can stick with the status quo in the wake of failure? Why repeat the same mistakes and expect different results?

I’m all for introspection, especially after failures. Moreover, the questions many Democrats have begun to ask after Donald Trump’s big win have real merit and deserve thoughtful answers.

But as these conversations begin, I’m also aware that Republicans tend not to bother with such reflections.

In 2008, after Barack Obama’s dominant national victory and up-and-down Democratic triumphs, the Republican Party looked like a small, defeated, leaderless, directionless, regional party. Common sense suggested GOP leaders would agree on the need for “a thorough rethink.”

They didn’t. In fact, senior Republican officials held private meetings, he agreed to simply oppose everything Obama wanted (even when they agreed with him) and didn’t actually change anything in the GOP agenda.

Four years later, after Obama cruised to a re-election victory — in a race Republicans thought he could win — the RNC launched a so-called post-mortem initiative called the “Growth and Opportunity Project,” which eventually advised the party to, among other things, move to the left on immigration and stop relying so heavily on conservative media.

Party officials and candidates dropped the recommendations soon after, agreeing instead to stick to their usual message and priorities. The “Growth and Opportunity Project” eventually became less of a model and more of an embarrassing answer to a trivia question.

In 2018, after Democrats won dozens of congressional seats and took over the House, The Atlantic’s Ron Brownstein PLEASE NOTE“I am amazed at how little debate and discussion Republicans have had about the extent of their suburban destruction. … I think they should be more alarmed than they are.”

The New York Times reported around the same time that Republican leaders weren’t interested in “self-examination … about why a midterm that looked at least competitive became a disappointment.”

Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York — at the time, one of six U.S. House Republicans serving in states north of Pennsylvania — said The Times, “There Was Almost No Introspection in GOP Conference.”

Two years later, Democrats enjoyed a clean sweep, winning the White House and both houses of Congress. Republicans haven’t changed anything. In 2022, Democrats had one of the best midterm election cycles since FDR. Republicans rallied a kind of half-hearted auditbefore changing anything again.

When making a list of things the two major parties do differently, it’s best to add “demonstrate an interest in self-reflection” to the mix.