Ralph Nader criticises Democratic Party after Donald Trump's victory

Lebanese-American politician who ran for presidency several times says Democrats should learn from success of Bernie Sanders

Ralph Nader in 2008. The activist says now is the time for the Democrats to focus on the 2026 midterm elections, where the Republicans will have more seats to defend. Jessica Hill for The National

Latest updates: Follow our full coverage on the US election

US politician and consumer advocate Ralph Nader has said that Donald Trump's return to the White House is the result of major problems with the Democratic Party that have been festering for years.

“This is a collapse of the Democratic Party,” the 90-year-old of Lebanese descent, who ran several times for the American presidency, told progressive radio show Democracy Now.

“They were several million votes below what they expected and of course that made the difference, but the problem is much more serious than that,” he said, reciting a litany of what he described as bad decisions that brought the Democratic Party to this point.

“It all started when the Democrats abandoned half the country in the red [Republican] states. That's devastating. Then they started getting corporate cash in 1979, dialling for the same commercial values which blurred the difference from the New Deal Democrats to the corporate Democrats. Then they contracted out the election to these corporate conflicted consulting firms."

Ralph Nader's push for car safety standards from the 1960s to the 1980s made him a household name and hero to many in the progressive movement, but those sentiments have largely been forgotten over the past few decades. AP

Mr Nader was considered a major ally of Democrats from the mid-1960s to the 1980s with his push for car safety standards, consumer rights and environmental causes. He was at one point one of the most recognisable names in public service throughout the US.

In the late 1980s and throughout the 90s, however, amid a changed world, Mr Nader's brand of politics and issue advocacy fell out of the mainstream, and he became particularly critical of the Clinton administration for what he perceived as a shift to the right and an abandonment of liberal values.

In 2000, he ran for president as the Green Party nominee amid criticism from Democrats who worried he would split votes from Al Gore. When Mr Gore lost Florida and ultimately, the election, many blamed Mr Nader, and he became persona non grata in Democrat circles.

“They spent tonnes of money attacking the Green Party,” he said, referring to Democrat efforts to challenge the presence of Green Party presidential candidates trying to appear on ballots in various states.

Democratic senator Sherrod Brown, who lost his seat in Ohio to Republican Bernie Moreno, was also the target of Mr Nader's blistering criticism.

“Sherrod Brown pulled in his horns and lost,” he said of the politician who was considered one of the more liberal members of the US Senate.

Mr Nader then went on to compare Mr Brown's defeat to independent Senator Bernie Sanders' re-election in Vermont, which he attributed to a long-term progressive strategy of campaigning against concentrated corporate power and pushing for universal healthcare and living wages.

Although he didn't mention Mr Nader, Senator Sanders also recently took Democrats to task several hours after Mr Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris.

“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” he said.

“While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right.”

In the days and weeks ahead, the liberal and conservative wings within the Democratic party are likely to trade blame, as they try to figure out how they lost to Mr Trump and ceded control of the Senate.

Judging from Mr Nader's comments and long-time history of critiques, it's clear he believes that the centre and moderate wings are the problem, yet he said now is the time for the Democrats to focus on the 2026 midterm elections, where the Republicans will have more seats to defend.

“They have to have a massive focus on Congress, which is the main constitutionally authorised lever to hold the executive branch accountable,” he said.

In the immediate aftermath of Ms Harris's defeat, the postmortem has focused on the Democratic Party's loss of working-class support, coupled with declining support from Latino voters.

Some have suggested that Democrats have taken those groups for granted in recent years, while others have said the overall economic uncertainty has caused those particular demographics to look elsewhere for solutions.

Regardless of the shift's cause, the end result is that, with this seismic 2024 electoral defeat, President-elect Trump will have almost unchecked power and the wind at his back, with experts pointing to his ability to rally the Republican grass roots.

“There was talk about a red wave that would happen in the 2022 mid-terms but it didn't happen,” said Timothy Kneeland, a political science and history professor at Nazareth College. “But the red-wave factors we expected 2022 came full force in 2024.”

While Mr Nader isn't mincing words about his feelings towards the Democratic leadership, he also shared his opinion on Mr Trump's return to the White House, and those who will work at his request.

“They want to destroy the civil service, bring it back to the spoils system, we’re in for huge turmoil,” he said, expressing concern for the Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission and the environmental protection agency, among others.