Here are some things that the Democrats could embrace as their party platform as they head into Donald Trump’s second term without power in any of Washington’s three branches: tax reform, cuts to the Pentagon budget, green infrastructure, the colonization of Mars, the eradication of microplastics, making Washington, D.C., a state.
It literally does not matter. Democrats just need to pick a small set of coherent ideas and then stick to them like barnacles to a ship’s hull.
They lost because normal people had no idea where they stood on any of the things that normal people care about.
Democrats did not lose the presidency and both chambers of Congress because of their support for trans rights or opposition to the expansion of oil and gas drilling. They lost because normal people had no idea where they stood on any of the things that normal people care about. Instinctively, Americans understood that the Democrats no longer knew who they were. Democrats were awkward, seemingly unable to say if they were the party of billionaire donors or middle-class normies. And when you see that one awkward guy at a backyard barbecue or your kid’s baseball practice, you flee.
I am very far from alone in diagnosing this problem. Cori Bush, the former Missouri congresswoman, recently made almost the same point on NPR’s “It’s Been a Minute” podcast. “We should not fight one another. We should be who we say we are,” she said. “Let’s pick — who are the Democrats going to be now?”
The Republicans’ brand is MAGA, an almost absurdly simplistic set of ideas that are often contradictory and in some instances truly bizarre. I mean, Trump is threatening to invade Greenland (or buy it maybe, or trade it for Minnesota — I am not sure what the plan is, exactly). He knows that his “ideas,” such as they are, tend toward the preposterous. But every time he repeats them, they become a little more real. He understands marketing, knows that you won’t sell much by turning your political platform into a graduate seminar.
What was his plan for Ukraine? To end the war there within 24 hours of taking office. Did anyone think that was realistic? Of course not. And he has admitted as much. The point is he had a plan, one whose outlandishness was eclipsed by an extremely simple and effective message: If you don’t like war, vote for me.
Now, what’s the Democrats’ plan for Ukraine?
I can wait, but I don’t think I need to. No, it’s not fair that Trump gets to spout completely insane “ideas” while Democrats are expected to come up with coherent, realistic plans. But they are purportedly the party of expertise, the party of institutions, the party of good government. So maybe that expectation was not all that unfair after all.
The party seems unable to decide whom it should appeal to, and on what grounds.
Kamala Harris, like Joe Biden, is a lawyer by training. Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are lawyers, too — not only by profession but by temperament. During her short sprint of a campaign, Harris always had a clever answer. Her proposals had changed, but her values had not. She wanted Israel to win, but she also wanted a ceasefire. She was for criminal justice reform, but was also a tough-on-crime prosecutor. She supported Biden in all things, but was also her own woman.
Nor is it just Harris. The party seems unable to decide whom it should appeal to, and on what grounds. Is it the party of culture or the economy? Is it for the working class, the middle class or the urban professional elite? Trying to be all things to all people is a sure way to ensure that JD Vance will enjoy eight years in the White House, and probably Ron DeSantis after him.
So, again, pick a lane and stay in it like grandma white-knuckling her way down the Garden State Parkway. Flee from abstraction. Discard jargon. Tell people what you will do, do it, then move on to the next thing.
Some internecine strife is good — a political party should debate ideas, should hash out plans, should let young upstarts challenge the old guard (especially when the guard is really, really old). But that isn’t what’s happening right now. Instead, the progressive left and the moderate establishment are shouting at each other. These are ugly, front-lawn spats, and the neighbors are watching. They’re going to call the cops. And then they’re going to vote Republican.
Ruy Teixeira, whose newsletter “The Liberal Patriot” often tells Democrats the things they don’t want to hear but must, similarly worries. “They’re like a deer frozen in the headlights,” Teixeira told me. And we all know where that deer is headed. Splat!
So, if the Democrats don’t want to become political roadkill for years to come, they had better start figuring out who they are, and what they stand for. Yes, it will be messy. Sure, it might be loud. But it is surely better than having to put up with President Vance.
