(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Democrats Don't Understand What They're Up Against [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-05-30

I went to the local Walmart this week, and as I pulled into the parking lot I was thinking about what’s going on in our country nowadays. I parked and suddenly experienced a serious feeling of depression.

I thought about how the Trump administration and its allies aren’t going to stop. They’re just going to keep going with their corruption, lies, and cruelty. I would describe my feeling for that brief period as hopelessness.

We’ve lost two of the three supposedly co-equal branches of government with Donald Trump in the White House and the useless Republican Party controlling both chambers of Congress and basically rubberstamping every illegal, immoral, and unamerican act coming from this administration.

The big hope now is the courts, and Trump is trying to kneecap them, all while awaiting what he hopes will be the end game in all this: The corrupt U.S. Supreme Court somehow finding a way to rule that his continuous violations of the Constitution are actually supported by that same document, along with its supporting of the concept of the unitary executive theory, which states the president has sole authority over the executive branch.

I think of the faces of this outrage: Trump, of course, Tom Homan, Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Kash Patel, Ed Martin Jr., Mike Johnson, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Karoline Leavitt, and I wonder why they’re allowed to do this? Why can’t they be stopped? Why does their lawlessness, cruelty, and pure evil go unchecked? Why are there no consequences for their actions?

Then I look at the opposition to all this – the Democrats – and any optimism I have goes right out the window.

I really believe most Democrats don’t understand what they’re up against. They’re wedded to standard operating procedure: protests, phone banking, text banking, petitions, all stuff still very much needed but simply not enough.

Elected officials are counting on speeches of righteous indignation, soundbites, social media posts, press releases, offering up proposed laws when they know their minority status will keep them from going anywhere. Again, all good things, but not enough.

Democrats don’t get it because too many see this as a political fight requiring the standard plan of action. This is way more than politics. This isn’t a battle over issues. It’s a battle over culture; over the very value system our country is based on. As simple as right and wrong and as complex as the litany of false conspiracy theories and endless GOP lies that muddy the waters to near blackness.

This fight isn’t fueled by policy differences. It’s stoked by racism, hatred, white nationalism, Christian nationalism, an insatiable lust to acquire and hold onto power. Trump and his cronies were carried to power by their MAGA foot soldiers – ordinary citizens who joined their cult and voted against their best interests. It was an effort funded by some of the richest among us but made to look like some grassroots explosion ignited by the will of the people.

The biggest volley from Democrats is a bunch of people politely walking around carrying signs. Or sitting there listening to a speaker they agree with and then posing for selfies afterward.

Republicans? They’ve got multiple militia groups waiting for Trump’s orders. Republican officials weigh the threat of losing their jobs or possible physical harm to them or their families if they don’t comply with this would-be autocrat, then look across the political divide and see nothing scarier than a 75-year-old grandmother carrying a cleverly written sign or some pathetic Democratic politician babbling and then offering no plan of action.

The Sacramento Bee posted an on-line slide presentation titled, “ABC Poll Delivers Blow to Democrats.”

Here are some of the key points:

*The Democratic Party’s favorability rating was an historic low of 29 percent in a recent ABC News-Washington Post-Ipsos poll.

*Sixty-nine percent of respondents in that poll view the party as out of touch with their concerns.

*Emerging leaders such as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, have gained significant attention in recent months.

What are the underlying factors that are causing these problems? The Bee’s account offered these:

*Democratic leaders have increasingly expressed concern that the party has struggled to respond effectively to Trump’s agenda.

*The party’s low favorability ratings indicate a disconnect with ordinary Americans.

*Internal divisions and unclear messaging have prevented the party from presenting a united front.

*The perception that the party is out of touch with Americans’ concerns reportedly stems from its focus on criticizing Trump rather than developing constructive policies.

*While some in the party have called for a more aggressive response to Trumps policies, failed impeachment efforts and internal disagreements have obstructed progress.

*Internal conflicts have further complicated the party’s situation, with debates over leadership and messaging stifling progress. Some have pushed for party reform to eliminate seniority politics, but many proposals remain unaddressed due to struggles for leadership.

You can see the presentation here.

***

Here’s what makes this so tough: On one hand you have an existential threat to our democracy and rule of law, like a storm coming across the horizon. It isn’t stopping. It’s ignoring every obstacle in its way. It has no form we’ve ever seen before. It follows no laws of nature. It just keeps coming every single day. The truth is what it says it is, and all evidence to the contrary just doesn’t exist. It’s here, then it’s there. It’s always something. It’s overwhelming our minds and senses.

On the other hand, the dysfunctional Democrats won’t win the voters they need with hysteria. Vilifying Trump is important, of course, but it’s more important to get people to understand the damage this man is causing – to them and the country – and what Democrats will do to make their lives better. You have to give them a reason to vote for you, and in most cases that reason has to be that it’s in their best interests to do so. That they or someone or something important to them will get something out of it.

Look at that meme at the beginning of this blog. Trump posted in on his Truth Social account. In what world does the president of the United States do something like that?

I’ll tell you what world. It’s a world where an administration stacked with arrogance and corruption from top to bottom can proffer the scam that God himself has sent a champion to lead a crusade fueled by hate, racism, lies, and corruption that will take us all to a better, more prosperous, and holier place, and where there are enough people who’ve bought this bullshit hook, line, and sinker.

It’s a world where this champion and his allies believe there’s nothing to stop them. That no opponent has the strength to stand up to them – not the courts, not the Democrats, not the press. That there aren’t enough citizens who’ll do anything but the most basic and ineffective resistance.

We can talk about the 2026 and 2028 elections. We can theorize that this rising star or that media darling will step forward and lead us to victory, assuming of course that the GOP isn’t able to use its concentrated power to fix the voting and make that impossible. We can hope the storm doesn’t blow us all away before that time comes, or that its damage isn’t so severe as to be irreversible.

But the stakes are too high to wait for the last bet to push all our chips into the middle of the table. There’s work to be done now, but unless enough Democrats understand the enemy, its force, its attitude, its energy, its strengths, its weaknesses, they’ll be remembered for nothing more than a feeble, ill-fated attempt to save our country.

Rome is burning, folks. It’s burning right now. Extinguishing the fire will take a lot more from and our leaders -- and us -- than we’ve seen so far. Divine intervention my ass. It’ll be our intervention that’ll make the difference, or our lack of it that’ll ensure our descent into autocracy from which we may never recover.

***

Thank you for reading my post. You can see my other writings on my blog: Musings of a Nobody. Also, please check out our newsletter: Musings of a Nobody — The Newsletter and our video blog: Musings of a Nobody — The Podcast. Please share and subscribe for free to all or some if you’d like.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/5/30/2325148/-Democrats-Don-t-Understand-What-They-re-Up-Against?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/