Some Democratic voters are calling for severe reforms or abandonment of the Democratic National Committee - arguing its loss of the presidential election was caused by the DNC being out of touch with dire, existential challenges facing middle- and lower-income Americans. As former Democratic congressional candidate Krystal Ball wrote this week:

"They said they were facing an economic apocalypse, we offered “retraining” and complained about their white privilege. Is it any wonder we lost? One after another, the dispatches came back from the provinces. The coal mines are gone, the steel mills are closed, the drugs are rampant, the towns are decimated and everywhere you look depression, despair, fear. In the face of Trump’s willingness to boldly proclaim without facts or evidence that he would bring the good times back, we offered a tepid gallows logic. Well, those jobs are actually gone for good, we knowingly told them. And we offered a fantastical non-solution. We will retrain you for good jobs! Never mind that these “good jobs” didn’t exist in East Kentucky or Cleveland. And as a final insult, we lectured a struggling people watching their kids die of drug overdoses about their white privilege."

Ball argues the old ways of the Democratic Party must die. As a start, progressives like her want: the DNC to elect a chair, rather than appoint one; leadership in Congress other than Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and Senator Charles Schumer; an increase of union membership in the DNC, and more. Other Democrats, such as strategist Bill Burton, says "Having pros in high positions is what you need right now. Other voices will rise up from outside, but for now, in Congress, those are the folks we need."

Why do you think the Democrats lost on Tuesday? What reforms are necessary for the DNC, if any?

Guests:

Krystal Ball, Former Democratic congressional candidate; this week, Ball wrote “The Democratic Party Deserved to Die” and "For Democrats, Cleaning House Means Pelosi And Schumer Too"

Bill Burton, Democratic political strategist; former deputy White House press secretary for Barack Obama; he tweets @billburton