What would a fire fueled by $550 million in cash look like? It would bear a striking resemblance to the self-immolation conducted by the Democratic Party in the 2016 cycle, at least according to its donors. Now they’re complaining about the wasted money and effort, but perhaps they should be looking in the mirror:

Democratic donors stung by Hillary Clinton’s upset loss in the presidential race feel like they just set their money on fire. The sore feelings are a huge problem for the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which is trying to rebuild its image and reinvigorate a defeated party in time for challenging midterm elections in 2018. It’s also a worry for top liberal activists as they prepare for war with President-elect Donald Trump and a GOP Congress that is hell-bent on rolling back President Obama’s accomplishments. Many Democratic donors still feel burned by the party’s 2016 election losses and what they see as dysfunction in the DNC, which will elect a new leader in February.

You know what might have prevented that? Refraining from the rush to anoint a chronically disliked politician with major corruption and competence issues. Hillary Clinton didn’t dominate the early primary season because she was the only politician in the Democratic Party; the Clintons locked up the major donors well ahead of the start of the cycle. That cut the oxygen off from other potential candidates, although that group was admittedly not terribly large anyway. The only outlet for Hillary opponents in the primary was Bernie Sanders, who wasn’t a Democrat in 2014 and is back to not being a Democrat now. The DNC might have colluded with Hillary to keep Bernie on the sidelines, but it was the donor class that allowed that situation to develop in the first place.

Here’s another point that might have helped — listening to the rapidly decreasing number of successful Democratic politicians outside of California, New York, and Massachusetts. Democrats had an opportunity to do that this week by kicking Nancy Pelosi out of her leadership role and installing Tim Ryan, who represents an Ohio district that exemplifies the voters Democrats have lost over the last decade. Why didn’t Democrats dump Pelosi? In large part because the donors line up with her, and they want access to the cash.

Now, of course, they’re telling The Hill that they’re “shell shocked” and “extremely upset” over the wreck that the DNC and Democrats have become. So what are they doing about it? They’re turning up at events hosted by David Brock and George Soros, the same people who led them into the Hillary Clinton dead end and the elitist sneering that turned the party into an isolated beach community. Forget the $550 million they’ve already torched; the Democratic donor class seems intent on pyromania as a political goal.

At least they can comfort themselves in the knowledge that they’re not the only saps on the Left. CBS reports this morning on the massive fundraising effort at the Jill Stein PR campaign for recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. They’ve now raised more money than in the election campaign itself. Wait until those marks realize they’ve been had, too.