The Democratic Party fell flat on their faces the moment they stepped into the 2020 election cycle. The Iowa caucuses occurred this week, and the app that they created to tally results completely failed on them. What should scare Americans is that this is the party that every nominee wants to completely control your healthcare.
Prior to the caucus, the official DNC twitter wrote: “For three years, we’ve been preparing for the process that officially kicks off tonight in Iowa: the Democratic presidential primary.” Yet when the moment came to tally the results, the system, and the backup, failed completely. Meanwhile, Republican caucus results were being tallied. While it was merely a formality, with President Trump winning over 97% of the votes, it was a solid indication of party competence on a governmental level.
The candidates, with no results, began to give victory speeches to their supporters as the clock neared midnight. They say there’s no more dangerous place than between a politician and a camera, and once each candidate heard that the other was claiming victory (again, with no results) they fell over each other to get the airtime. The cable news networks, who had to vamp for four hours, as there was no news to report, suddenly found themselves cutting from one speech to another.
“Tonight was a great night for us,” tweeted Joe Biden campaign manager Greg Schultz. “We are thrilled with our performance across the state.” Meanwhile, Elizabeth Warren’s chief campaign strategist, Joe Rospars, claimed that it was a close three-way race between Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Pete Buttigieg, and that Biden was a distant fourth. One minute later he tweeted, “Any campaign saying they won or putting out incomplete numbers is contributing to the chaos and misinformation.” Perhaps the most accurate comment came from Pete Buttigieg as he declared triumph. “Iowa,” he said, “you have shocked the nation.” He was right, but for the wrong reasons.
After the app failed to tally results, the Iowa Democrat Party (IDP) went to the backup system, calling the results in by phone. With hold times of over an hour, the process was so chaotic that the Democrats basically gave up and said they would release the results at a later time. In one amusing moment, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer was interviewing a precinct secretary who was waiting on hold to report the result. On air, a Democrat official finally answered the phone, and in the ten seconds that it took for the precinct secretary to tell Blitzer that he would report the results, the official hung up the call.
The app at the center of this whole issue was built by a firm called Shadow Inc. The Wall Street Journal reports that the IDP paid more than $63,000 for this app. Prior to caucus night, the IDP did not publicly reveal the app maker or allow it to be tested properly, according to cyber-security experts. The IDP also declined outreach from the Department of Homeland Security to securely test the app. This is an ironic decision coming from the party that has not stopped beating the drum of protecting the integrity of the election process.
This may not be the last time this problem occurs. Apparently, the Nevada State Democratic Party also hired Shadow to develop an app for its caucus, which occurs later this month. They shelled out $58,000.
From the results that were available based on cable news coverage and social media, it seemed like Bernie Sanders was having a big night. Sanders, who refers to himself as a “democratic socialist” but was recently called a “communist” by President Trump, has consistently called for the complete government takeover of multiple industries for the past 40 years. However, the failure of this app reminds many voters of the failure of the Obamacare website, which cost $2 billion to the taxpayer and failed upon launch.
It’s not only Sanders; nearly every Democrat candidate wants more government control over every aspect of American life. At this point, a question should be asked to the candidates, especially those on the extreme left like Sanders and Warren, if there is anything they believe that the private sector can do better than the government. While most Americans don’t believe that government bureaucracy is the way they want to live their lives, those running for President think that it is the only way to progress.
If the Iowa Caucus is any indication, the Democrats just don’t know how to effectively run a program on a large scale. Anyone who has been to the DMV can tell you that. Don’t expect these candidates to change their tune at this stage of the game, though. They are too entrenched in their messages to adjust them now. And while the Democratic Party expected February 3 to be the kickoff of their attempt to kick Trump out of the Oval office, it turned out to be one big campaign commercial for the incumbent President.
Moshe Hill is a political analyst who has written for The Daily Wire, the Queens Jewish Link, The Jewish Link of New Jersey and JNS.org. He is regularly featured on ‘The Josh M Show’ podcast. Subscribe to aHillwithaview.com for more content from Moshe Hill. Like him on Facebook at facebook.com/ahillwithaview and follow him on Twitter @TheMoHill.