The epidemic of delusional excuse-making on the left is starting to feel like we’ve stepped into an episode of “The Twilight Zone.” All around social media if one dares suggest that maybe Hillary Clinton was not a good choice to be the Democratic Party’s nominee for president that rational observation will be met with a deluge of histrionic responses from emotional basketcase Democrats in whose alternate reality Clinton is the victor, whose victory was wrongfully snatched away from her by an amalgamation of evil forces led by Putin, Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and anyone they arbitrarily deem to be ‘stupid.’ If you even mention the FACT that she lost, confused Democrats will insist she actually won. They don’t even accept the reality that she lost because she failed to court working class voters in vital swing states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan: all states won by Democratic candidates in most recent presidential contests. They would rather just keep their heads in the sand and insist that she really won, but that things are just unfair and that’s why Trump will be the president.

The bottom line is that Hillary Clinton lost. No amount of magical thinking or excuse making is going to change that. What it will do, in fact, is lead to a perpetuation of the circumstances that have seen Democrats lose the House of Representatives, the Senate, the presidency, most governorships, a majority of state legislatures, and soon the Supreme Court. What is needed for the Democratic party is self-reflection, reform, and change, not the planting of heads firmly in the sand to only take them out once in a while to insult people or make excuses for past failures.

I can only assume these people actually enjoy losing, or else they’d reflect on why Democrats lost and try to figure out what needs to change. Instead, they’re doubling down on the strategies that have led to failure. It would not be unreasonable to suspect these types are essentially just masochistic personalities who like being the oppressed victim. Perhaps it intoxicates them, all the whining about how things aren’t fair. Democrats should be reflecting and figuring out ways to move forward and win, not continuing to make excuses that only serve to obfuscate the reality of the situation.

Look, I get it. This was a highly emotionally-charged election and people are feeling bitter, angry, frightened, and depressed over the prospect that Donald Trump is going to be inaugurated president in January. But the sooner people clear their heads and understand that his victory was due mainly to fundamental problems in the Democratic party, the more likely the Democratic party will be able to rebuild itself into a party that may actually start winning elections in this country instead of losing them miserably. Repeating for the thousandth time that Clinton won the popular vote, or that conservative voters are stupid, or that ‘the Russians did it,’ is not a winning strategy.

Continuing to be run by out-of-touch career politicians who listen only to a vocal minority of party faithful Clintonites will only keep the Democratic party speeding toward the neoliberal cliff. The Democrats will continue to lose with that strategy until this country becomes essentially a one-party state. Populists, progressives, liberals, and others on the left who have been voicing their displeasure with the way the party is being run and who are demanding reforms need to be heard because the 2016 election proves we were right in our assessment that change is not only needed but widely desired. Trump won on a change platform. He is not the change we need, but due to the mistake of nominating Hillary Clinton he is the change we’re getting. The ‘vote blue no matter who’ crowd can either take heed of what we’re saying or they can keep their heads in the sand in between insults hurled at everyone around them. It’s their call. I suggest they make the decision wisely and rationally rather than letting their emotions do all the talking.