This is the datum that is killing me, because it's right in front of their noses and they don't want to see it. If someone like Sanders hit a nerve as he did, it is because there is nothing in the current Democrat party that energized their base. Hillary least of all. And there is a massive miscalculation going on here - Bernie didn't succeed because he's slightly to the left of Trotsky, he succeeded because of what he isn't: an establishment drone. Like Hillary. Like Yeb. Like McCain and Schumer and Romney and Schultz and every other name associated with the Powers That Be. They need to start asking themselves why Trump succeeded, and it wasn't because of the Russians or because the Republican voters are stupid or racist.
Some of this is understandable. The Dems, due to the urban nature of their power centers, tend toward machine politics and big donors, and that's not very compatible with a populist sentiment in the electorate. But B.J. Billy knew how to make them work for him. Hillary only knew how to assure them that she'd be working for them. Big difference.
Four years of violent tantrums and comic-book resistance is only going to solidify Trump's position. The Dems need to start to become a party of adults once again. If they haven't learned that by 2018 it's going to be a very long climb to 2020.
In 2008 talking heads (including some pro-Hillary ones) were describing how the issue she faced was that there was no swing vote; people either loved her or hated her, and not enough people loved her. She went on to lose the nomination to Otoken, then spent 8 years pretending to learn how to be a truly qualified candidate (to no avail).
Her primary loss to Otoken was worse than what she did to Sanders; she was winning primaries (where votes were counted) but losing caucuses (where “enthusiasm” was counted).