The Democrats’ total collapse after their fifth consecutive election defeat is a spectacle to savor. They vacillate between denial and self-flagellation, between consuming depression and delusional optimism. Some even blame hacking for the defeat.
Don’t be fooled; they didn’t expect troublemaker Jon Ossoff to lose to Karen Handel in the Georgia 6th Congressional District special election. If they had, they wouldn’t have poured unprecedented millions into the race. No one except gambling addicts intentionally wastes that kind of money.
Despite all the talk about President Donald Trump’s troubles, the Democratic Party is on the brink. Democrats are in the minority in the federal and state legislatures and have suffered five consecutive defeats in special elections for the House of Representatives. The Federal Election Commission reports that the Democratic National Committee raised just $4.3 million in May — its worst fundraising month since 2003. April’s efforts were almost as pathetic.
I can’t remember the last time I heard Democrats criticize each other so intensely and openly. “Our brand is worse than Trump,” said Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio. “We can’t just run against Trump.” Ouch. Other Democratic leaders are showing signs of rebellion against House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
On the other hand, some Democrats say the losses are a sign of great things to come. Former Sen. Barbara Boxer says Democrats will do just fine in 2018. Similarly, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan says, “The House is in the bag (in 2018).” He wrote, “I don’t make that statement lightly — I’ve never made that statement before. … This is about more than just one race.”
But Rep. Lujan, there wasn’t just one race; there were five. If Democrats actually have unprecedented grassroots energy and impressive candidates but still can’t win, what does that say about your party’s predicament?
Democrats, on the other hand, can’t even agree on whether Ossoff was a good candidate. They expressed no doubts before the election, especially to their unthinking Hollywood donors when they asked for funds for this mega-hyped wunderkind.
The Democrats’ problem is that they are intellectually and morally bankrupt, as I argued in my 2006 book Bankrupt . It’s not that they don’t have policy ideas. It’s that their ideas don’t work, so they simply attack and demonize Republicans. While Trump is often a convenient target, they would crucify (and have crucified) any Republican president in office. And despite the nation’s leftist cultural shift and their virtual monopoly on academia, mainstream media, and Hollywood, their policies are not all that popular with Americans, so they can’t afford to be completely forthright about them.
Ossoff, for example, did not run as a liberal. Why would liberals praise a candidate who did not run as a liberal if they did not know he was faking it? More importantly, why would this darling of the left run as a moderate — if he and his party did not know he would have no chance if he ran as a liberal Democrat?
Truth is not a friend to the Democrats. They are engaging in a stunning fraud regarding President Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia and claims that he obstructed the investigation. Not only was there no obstruction, but Trump had no incentive to obstruct the investigation into something that did not happen.
Even the Democrats’ feigned outrage at Russian “interference in our democracy” is a sham. It would be one thing if the Russians were spreading lies about Hillary Clinton, but instead they were revealing damaging truths about her. Without defending Russian perfidy, has it actually harmed the democratic process in terms of informing voters? What harms the democratic process is the Democrats’ assault on the integrity of the voting process, from blocking voter ID laws to making it easier for immigrants who are here illegally to vote. And if the Democrats were so committed to the democratic process, they would stop trying to overturn the will of the people with manufactured Hail Mary impeachment attempts.
In fact, nothing would hurt Democrats more than a genuine referendum on their policy agenda—a legitimate extension of the democratic process they claim to value. Knowing this, they do everything they can to make the election about anything but their policies.
They know, for example, that Obamacare is a failure and the poster child for failed liberal policies. Yet as premiums and deductibles skyrocket and choice and quality of care decline, they barely acknowledge that this is problematic. Their “political” argument is that Republicans want to hurt and kill Americans by repealing and replacing their disgusting plan. When it comes to taxes, immigration, and other policies, we are just vile bigots. All they have are these well-worn lies.
But the Democratic establishment is nothing if not arrogant and unimaginative. Even though focus groups and polling reveal that even Democratic voters are fed up with these bottomless and fruitless Russia investigations, they will continue to beat this dead horse, hoping it will come back to life.
Democrats may fool themselves into believing they have dealt Trump a mortal blow, but his approval ratings are not much lower than they were when he took office—despite their endless smears. They have nothing recent against Trump. They are simply repeating criticisms they made during the campaign, which he won.
Let the Democrats continue to hallucinate and pretend. Let them continue to lie about Trump—for their bankruptcy is more evident with each passing day. But in the meantime, pray that President Trump will resist the temptation to be distracted by these vile Democratic efforts to undermine our democracy. Instead of focusing too much energy on defending himself, he needs to lithe a fire under the American people—and especially the Republicans—to advance his agenda. This week, with his edifying speech in Iowa and the introduction of the health care bill in the Senate, could be a promising restart.
