Your bag is empty.
Maybe it’s time to pack it in. Give up and acknowledge we used to be the top nation on earth, but now we’re not. Watching presidential politics can easily send you in this direction.
If you listen to the Democrats, we have a criminal in the White House who is a minion of Satan; a moron, a rube, a boob and a half-assed con man. If you listen to President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, the Democrats are too far to the left and are trying to destroy the Constitution—a bunch of socialists who don’t acknowledge the economy is doing great.
Believe either side, both or neither of them. The only question is this: Does any Democrat understand the appeal which landed Trump in the White House in 2016, and can they counter it for 2020?
The short answer is no.
So far Joe Biden is the frontrunner. Why? Nobody knows. He screws around with facts as badly as Trump does but because he presents himself as a centrist, people think he can beat Trump. The centrists fear progressives and liberals have commandeered the party, splitting voters and ensuring a Trump re-election. The progressives see everyone else as a danger to . . . progress. The far right sees everyone else as a danger to the flag, God-fearing Americans and the Good Ole Days.
Marc Lotter, the strategic communications director of Trump’s re-election bid, said Democrats just don’t get it: “They don’t look at a healthy economy or jobs. They’re too busy trying to put Detroit auto workers out of business. They have a perception problem.”
Given the president has succeeded by shouting three-word slogans at the top of his lungs—“Lock Her Up!” or “Keep America Great!” or “Block That Kick”—Lotter has a point. Trump is only about perception; to hell with reality. And the Democrats, loathing to come up with their own three-word slogans—”Keep It Green” or “No More Coal” doesn’t have the same zing—are having a difficult time gaining traction among a large group of American voters. As the top 10 Democratic candidates gathered in Houston for a third round of debates, it became obvious as to just how deep the Democrats’ perception problem runs.
The primary issue is the weak candidates. Rahm Emanuel, President Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff and former Chicago Mayor, has publicly expressed worry about the Democrats’ ability to win the White House, particularly since Trump is “eminently beatable.”
At the Houston debate, despite a few “come together” moments that made the Democratic field seem stronger, there were many moments exposing the soft underbelly of Democratic politics and their misunderstanding of Trumpism.
The Democrats are still more interested in fighting over turf they already own versus trying to stake a claim on the voters who can actually swing 2020.
“Houston, we have a problem,” Senator Amy Klobuchar told us in her opening statement. It wasn’t as funny as she thought it’d be, since knowingly (or not) she was talking about her fellow Democrats as much as she was Trump. Senator Kamala Harris stood out by staying on target with her constant criticism of Trump while Julian Castro seemed to take delight in his cheap shots at former Vice President Biden. That prompted Mayor Pete Buttigieg to rebuke Castro for engaging in the type of behavior many Americans find abhorrent. To which Castro said, “It’s called an election.”
Bernie Sanders said Trump is the most dangerous president in the history of our country. Elizabeth Warren spoke about her Aunt Bee. Andrew Yang told us he was Asian, so obviousy he knows a lot of doctors. A moronic joke, yes, but nonetheless, but Yang seemed to be having the most fun of anyone on stage.
Theatrical? Sure. But Democrats cannot beat Trump in a game of limbo. How low can they go? Trump has the political dexterity of a mongoose. If you go low, he’ll go subterranean. Forget it.
Neither the Democrats or any of the debate moderators spoke to centrist or independent voters, nor did they address the most pressing question: “How, if you become the nominee, are you going to beat Trump?”
Instead, each candidate gave Trump fuel for the general election debates. They discussed, and some endorsed, Civil War reparations and went so far as to confirm what millions of active voters fear: they’re going to take your guns. Maybe not all of them. But O’Rourke will open that door. Those two issues will haunt the Democrats in the general election, no matter how conscientious they are on healthcare. “No More Guns!” is a three-word slogan some will hear loud and clear, whether or not anyone actually says it.
The Democrats are still more interested in fighting over turf they already own versus trying to stake a claim on the voters who can actually swing 2020—the voters who are desperate to leave Trump but don’t want to give up their guns or discuss reparations in the process. As much as the Democrats want to talk about unification, their idea of it seems to be centered on unifying everyone who doesn’t like Trump. That is hardly a grand unification theory.
Tom Perez, the Chairman of the DNC, didn’t want to talk about that issue Thursday night. He said the night was about education, healthcare and immigration, among other things. But he swears the Democrats can still win: “I’m not here to lose,” he said after the debate. I’m sure the Democrats are banking on that. The question remains…But can he win?
Part of the trouble is many Democrats view the race for president tactically versus strategically.
I asked one simple question to all of the candidates after the debate: “Do you think talking about reparations and confiscating assault weapons is a path to beating Donald Trump?” As much as the Democrats like to talk about inclusion, their responses were, for lack of a better term, Trumpian.
Harris, Yang, Castro, Klobuchar, Corey Booker, Buttigieg and Warren all balked at answering this question. There was some spin, a few frowns and at least one dirty look when I asked each candidate, or their surrogates, that question. It felt like I was on the South Lawn again, ready to have my press pass pulled. Biden’s surrogates, who meandered through the crowd after the debate, said those who pushed big plans had to answer for them. They didn’t really answer my question either.
O’Rourke, who gained traction with his strident call to confiscate assault weapons and offered reparations, did try to answer the question. “I want to talk about what’s right,” he told me. I thought he wanted to become president, but what do I know?
The Democrats, much as Trump has done, are staying in their lane hoping to preach to a section of the converted. That doesn’t solve the problem of division. It isn’t unity until you gather together a Trump supporter and a Bernie Bro at a backyard barbecue without bloodshed.
Part of the trouble is many Democrats view the race for president tactically versus strategically. They see 2020 as two different races: one for the nomination, and one against Trump. The problem with that is the tactics taken to garner the nomination give Trump fodder for the general election and also may frighten swing voters out of switching camps, even if they don’t like Trump that much. Millions of gun owners are never going to vote for a man who shouts publicly, “hell yeah, we’re taking your guns.” Millions of others will never vote for someone who believes in the expensive fiction of reparations. Those two issues, to those voters, supersede the best-ever health care plan.
Warren implored everyone during the debate to frame the problems the right way. She is correct. I wish she would take her own advice.
Every one of the Democrats has given us a reason to believe they are smarter and will make better decisions than Trump. Because that’s not hard to do, that’s a given. Many Trump supporters believe he’s a raving lunatic. But the Democrats still haven’t showed they understand why Trump won, or how to beat him. Either they don’t understand the concerns of a fraction of 60 million Trump voters, or they don’t care about them at all.
That narrow-minded view of “unity” opened the door for Trump in the first place. Until you hear a Democrat directly address those who have voted for Trump, and tell that portion of the electorate why they should rethink their vote in 2020 (and repeat it often, in short simple phrases), the door will be open for Trump to be re-elected.
Between now and the general election an infinite number of variables might render Donald Trump null and void, sending him and his gang of itinerant miscreants scattering under the woodwork like the political cockroaches they are. But as it sits now, the Democrats don’t understand how the cockroaches infested the House in the first place.
The Democrats have the same problem with Trump they had in 2016. And time is running out.