OP-ED: A worrying summer for Democrats
Terry McAuliffe has spent his life in politics – as an aide to President Bill Clinton, as chairman of the National Democratic party, as the governor of Virginia. Following Tuesday’s Senate primary in Michigan, won by the progressive insurgent, Abdul El-Sayed, McAuliffe said this of Democratic odds in the upcoming general elections:
“We’re going to have a great November. We’re going to win the House. This is going to about the party in power, plain and simple.”
Maybe so, maybe not.
If these were “normal” times, by all means the Democrats would be chugging to a substantial victory this fall – a 40- or 50-seat pick-up in the House and perhaps a take-down of enough Senate Republican candidates to seize control of the upper House as well.
But the times are decidedly not normal. The abnormal presidency of Donald Trump has distorted everything, including the Democratic Party.
Flabbergasted by Trump’s astounding return to the White House and then by a series of Trumpian moves to remake the federal government and the U.S. relationship with the international community, Democrats have been pushed back on their heels.
Knocked for a loop, they have now come out swinging, highlighted by a succession of some mighty left jabs. Suddenly, the energy that was supposed to carry moderates to victory has shifted to the party’s far left flank and, in some cases, beyond the left flank into the fringes.
The ultra progressives in and out of the party are ascendant.
There’s a rule in politics: If your opponent is digging a hole, don’t get in his way. Republicans under Trump are digging holes. Their major initiatives garner far less than majority support in the country. The war against Iran and high fuel and food prices are especially unpopular. The Reflecting Pool and White House ballroom are alarming jokes at the president’s political expense.
Now is not the time for Democrats to take up shelves and start digging themselves. Far wiser to refrain from digging.
It looks like that is not going to happen, however.
The leading Democratic candidate for governor in Wisconsin’s primary on Tuesday is Francesca Hong. A few years back, probably before she ever dreamed of running for a high-stakes political office, Hong posted on X that she thought Thanksgiving – Thanksgiving, mind you – should be abolished. She seemingly based this opinion on the holiday’s association with the Pilgrim engagement with the New World’s native population, and the subsequent history of the American Indian.
She was recently asked about the post on CNN. She said, addressing a concern beyond the pale of the average voter, “Thanksgiving is incredibly painful for many people in our communities….”
Failing to disavow her split with the day that ushers in the Christmas season, Hong heard from a spokesman for one of her Democratic opponents, who questioned her ability to “handle” a simple CNN interview question. “How can you possibly make it through a general election?”
How indeed!
As things stand now, the future of the Democratic Party seems inexplicably tied in with the energy radiating outward from the Democratic Socialist of America and its agenda, which includes, in some quarters, the abolition of the U.S. Senate in favor of a parliamentary form of government.
DSA orthodoxy demands the end of all aid – even defensive aid – to Israel. It means business about this. Last year, the organization threw erstwhile DSA darling Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez under the bus when the New York congresswoman cast a vote in favor of legislation blocking such an eventuality.
CNN commentator Van Jones called on Michigan’s El-Sayed to “pivot away from indefensible ideas” that could wreck the Democrats’ hope of grabbing control of the House and possibly the Senate this fall.
The Never Trump neo-conservative Bill Kristol still gives Democrats a 50-50 chance of winning the Senate. “Some swing voters,” he said of Michiganders, “may be more attracted to the change El-Sayed represents than put off by some of his left of mainstream views.”
That is the hope.
Richard Robbins lives in Uniontown. He can be reached at dick.l.robbins@gmail.com.