OP-ED: As the election gets nearer, the Democratic Party is circling the drain
The Democratic Party is in the process of imploding with the likelihood of fading into even greater irrelevance than it currently enjoys.
The Democratic Party has been headed toward irrelevance for a number of years as its ideology has been usurped by socialists and Marxists. The party has completely lost touch with what makes America great and promotes things that will destroy America – government overreach, utopian delusion, emotionally-driven, identity-based policies and no idea of what makes an economy run.
During the past four years, we have seen a weak and increasingly reality-challenged person pretend to be president while unelected administrators made more laws than Congress. During the administration of President Biden and Vice President Harris, administrative agencies averaged 4,000 or so regulations a year, while the 118th Congress passed only 82 laws. This is consistent with the Marxist ideals of concentrating power in the elite, creating a subservient proletariat, state ownership of production and centralized economic control. The Democratic playbook seems derived from Marx and Friedrich Engels’ “Communist Manifesto” and Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals.”
The Democratic Party’s disdain for their own constituents is evident in how they chose Kamala Harris to be its presidential nominee. Lacking any legitimate candidates to run in the current election, they voted for Biden in the primaries, knowing full well he could not possibly run a credible campaign. Bypassing a Black woman vice president, even one who was also functionally challenged, was a real danger for worshipers of identity politics. When it became obvious to even the most devoted of the Deep State faithful that Biden was crashing in flames, they thumbed their noses at their voters and unceremoniously dumped him.
The problem became even more acute because they could not get around replacing Biden with a candidate even worse, one who garnered zero support at the beginning of the primaries.
Whether Harris wants to acknowledge it or not, and she seems not to, she is the vice president and part of the disastrous Biden administration. As vice president, she has accomplished nothing other than demonstrating an ability to lie shamelessly, be completely out of touch and possess a very superficial knowledge of politics and foreign policy.
If there was any doubt as to how weak Harris really is, her recent interview with Bret Baier on Fox News exposed it clearly.
She could not handle straightforward questions that the voting public wanted to have answered. When asked questions about the disaster on the southern border and rising crime, for example, she deflected and resurrected the same feeble talking points we have heard for months and tried to blame Donald Trump. She could not, or would not, provide any details about what her plan and vision are. She referred Baier and viewers to her website and the 80 pages of convoluted discussion there.
Harris constantly refused to take any responsibility for her part in the Biden administration. She refused to take any responsibility for things such as giving undocumented immigrants driver’s licenses, tuition and health care. She refused to answer if she still supported having taxpayers pay for gender transition for prisoners.
All this is not playing well with American voters, and the Democrats are in a panic as they see the loss of the White House, the House and the Senate staring them in the face.
Trump has moved ahead of Harris in most polls. Democratic policies and performance on energy, immigration, the economy, foreign policy, crime and handling of natural disasters are not selling well. Harris has slipped into negative favorability. Trump is viewed more favorably now than he was four years ago. Trump is rising and Harris is sinking. Even U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, in his once-every-six-years emergence, has an ad airing in which he agrees with Trump on leaving NAFTA and placing tariffs on China. Harris, who is campaigning on change, says she wouldn’t change a thing from the Biden administration. Say what? The Democrats are hemorrhaging voters and support for good and obvious reasons.
In Pennsylvania, the Democratic Party’s registration advantage has decreased by 300,000 voters since 2020. Recenty, Republicans gained 12,690 voters over Democrats. Statewide this year, 65,068 Democrats have switched their registration to Republican. Democratic enthusiasm is way down as measured by mail-in ballot applications. In 24 counties, Republican mail-in ballot applications are ahead of Democrats. Democratic mail-in ballot applications are down 700,000 compared to last election.
In Washington County, Trump enthusiasm is high and growing. There are now 72,753 registered Republicans in the county – the most in history, 16,936 more than Democrats. Republican registration grew by 722 last week alone. A net of 868 Democrats have switched to Republican this year. Republicans have undeniable momentum.
The same thing is happening in Greene, Fayette , Butler, Beaver and Cambria Counties. Bellwether Luzerne and Bucks counties have swung Republican. In closely-watched Erie County, the number of registered Democrats has dropped 18% since 2020.
The Democratic Party is circling the drain while Republicans are coming on strong. This is a great position to be in two weeks before the election.
Dave Ball is the former chairman of the Washington County Republican Party.