There was no one more wrong in the 2016 election than Joe Lieberman. Well, Lieberman, No Labels, Third Way, the Democratic Leadership Council, the New Democrat Network, the Blue Dog Coalition, with Bill Clinton and Tony Blair along for the ride. Anyone, in short, who ever maintained that there was a socially progressive/fiscally conservative “third way” out there waiting to capture the swing voters of America.

There wasn’t. There isn’t. And absolutely no position has proved both more deceptive in characterizing the mood of the nation, and more long-term destructive to the Democratic Party.

For three decades, seekers after elusive votes have contended that there was a magic sweet spot to be found somewhere in the realm of open-hearted penny pinchers—Americans who would welcome that new immigrant at the local school, so long as they didn’t have to part with 27 cents to cover the kid’s breakfast. Explorers using expert triangulation could unlock the secret land that’s home to a vast horde of voters longing for some sensible alternative to either left or right. They knew it had to be so. There were books. And think tanks. Think tanks!

And yet, somehow, every movement built along that theme has proven itself to be as limp, useless, uninteresting, unsuccessful and ultimately distasteful as a cocktail whose feature ingredient is dish soap.

Nope. What ultimately coughed up all those mythical Reagan Democrat votes and brought otherwise disinterested Springer viewers out of their living rooms wasn’t the promise of a more open society or a desire to bring the budget under control. What won the day wasn’t socially liberal/fiscally conservative. It was socially fascist/fiscally chaotic.

What packed in white voters who blamed minorities for their declining job prospects? Vengeance. What touched the souls of “Christian” voters who feel that their religion privileges them to treat anyone they don’t approve of as untouchables? Vengeance. What moved a whole swath of voters who couldn’t understand how all the numbers looked shiny, but their own lives didn’t match up? Vengeance.

And what moved them when it comes to fiscal policy? Who gives a shit.

No, seriously. Who? Because if there was one thing we learned for sure in 2016, it’s that no one cares about conservative economics. Not even conservatives.