As far as aesthetics, I mean of politicians, not of outcomes. There is no denying that the Democrats have a slicker machine, and they look better doing it. It is a big reason they win that middle. The dumb comments and mean tweets don't help either. Look, I am obviously not averse to being an asshole and making jerky comments online, but see where that gets me. And I don't really care if anybody agrees with me or not.
Machiavelli argued, pretty convincingly, that the downfall of ancient Republicanism was that the very best minds concentrated on only the good people, whom they believed could understand their thoughts and act at the highest level of humanness, while they allowed the average person to be wooed by the very corrupt Catholic church by offering them eternal life and earthly succor. This realization was, in many ways, the beginning of political enlightenment/modernity. At some point, in the enlightenment, great minds reversed that, and they appealed to the average in order to bring them into the fold. If we are unable to woo these people, no matter how much disdain you might have for them, we lose. Plain and simple. As the French say, "les cons gagnent toujours, ils sont trop." We need them on our side, and we need to think of how to make that appeal. Trump had some of that, but where he gained on the front end of it, he generally lost on the back end, which isn't good enough.
I am deliberately not addressing any of the ideas that voting is over, it's all a sham etc. That has been hashed over enough. What I am saying is that 1) we have to act like it still matters in case it does*, and 2) if it matters we have to be strategic about it.
*I absolutely believe it does, so there.