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Some Cowardly Democrats Still Don't Get It [1]

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Date: 2025-07-27

Lost amidst the ongoing Trump meltdown over the Epstein files this past week, the Senate moved to advance Emil Bove’s nomination to a lifetime(1) appointment on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. The Federal Court of appeals is a very prestigious appointment, and former Trump lawyer Emil Bove has no business being anywhere near a judgeship, let alone a Federal Appeals Court position.

Now you might say: didn’t President Biden do a heroic job filling judgeships during his term, so that a potential Republican successor wouldn’t have opportunities to put repugnant cronies like Bove in powerful positions? And you’d be right, President Biden did. But with one exception: a single seat on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. President Biden nominated Adeel A. Mangi for this very position. But Mr. Mangi happens to be a Muslim, and despite having no controversial statements or opinions worthy of a hold on his nomination, despite being supported by a range of labor and faith organizations including Jewish faith organizations, our two Democratic Senators from Nevada, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Sen. Jacky Rosen, decided to oppose his nomination. This allowed the constant foil of the Biden Presidency, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-Houseboat), to pile on and decide unilaterally, and for absolutely no rational reason, that all following Biden judicial nominations should have Bipartisan™ support.

Sen. Jacky Rosen was facing a typically Nevada-tight reelection in 2024. She would go on to win by a healthy 1.65% margin. Opposition to Mr. Mangi appeared to stem from law enforcement organizations, regarding his work for (gasp) social justice organizations, and sounded pretty much unhinged. Regardless, I’m pretty sure Sen. Jacky Rosen would have faced the same election had she voted to confirm Mr. Mangi, since I can’t think of a single election hinging on an appeals court vote since forever. And Sen. Cortez Masto wasn’t even up for reelection until 2028! So now we have a dangerous Trump crony on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. Good job everyone.

How did caution in the face of fascism play out? Well, let’s look at the favorability of the Democratic Party in the latest Wall Street Journal poll:

I can assure you this is not due to Emil Bove.

The only way to get to a -30(!) favorability is if you have white hot anger coming at you … from inside your own party.

And the voters are angry.

Now… this does not mean Republicans will overperform in the 2026 midterms. By this time in 2009, Democrats as the in-Party still led on the generic congressional ballot.

While the Tea Party was coined before President Obama’s victory, it actually took time to materialize.

Republicans as the in-Party currently trail by about 4%. Moreover, Democrats have been overperforming on special elections, by about 15% points, as tabulated by our own Charles Gaba. Finally, Trump is insanely unpopular, banging out a 37% in Gallup just 6 months into his second term. President Obama never dropped below 40%, and left office with a 56% approval rating. President Biden did reach numbers as low as Trump here, but not until much later in his presidency. In July of 2021, Biden was still at 50%!

x trump is insanely unpopular and declining in popularity as more voters realize he was tied in with the most famous pedophile in US history. his power is propped up by two things: 1) corrupt control of the judiciary 2) conservative control of the information environment through media and social media



[image or embed] — mtsw (@mtsw.bsky.social) July 18, 2025 at 11:10 AM

x Harry Enten: "Inflation in my mind was what cost Joe Biden the presidency more than any other factor. It brought him down. But guess what? Donald Trump at this point, his net approval rating on inflation among independents -- it's actually worse than Biden's was a year ago! Minus 45 points!"



[image or embed] — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) July 25, 2025 at 9:06 AM

Trump is also just about ready to slip beneath 50% approval ... with white voters.

So clearly three things appear to be true:

Voters hate Trump, Voters turn out against Republicans, Democrats are pissed at their own Party

When you have the first two, you certainly don’t want the third one holding you back. And to look at how Democrats got people so furious at the Party, let’s look at a case study from New York City. This story perhaps carries nationally a little more than the obscure Emil Bove situation.

In New York City, a very eloquent, talented, and energetic young candidate ran in the Democratic Primary against disgraced ex-governor Andrew Cuomo for Mayor, and won. By quite a large margin. Now this is a candidate who is DSA, and someone I don’t agree with on every point. Parts of DSA are infested with antisemitism. As a local Jewish person, I still have a few concerns over Mr. Mamdani’s opinions towards Israel. But how did the National Democratic Party respond to Mr. Mamdani’s victory?

Again, I still have reservations about Mr. Mamdani, and in a City where 1/6th of the population is Jewish, I’m sure Mr. Mamdani will have to do the work to convince the rest of the Jewish population here too if he wants to win. But here is City Comptroller Brad Lander, the highest ranking Jewish person in the New York City Government, who cross-endorsed Mr. Mamdani:

x "Let's be clear: Zohran Mamdani won the votes of a large majority of NYC Democrats, including thousands of proud Jews like me, [...] Josh Shapiro won't help keep Jews safe in NYC or Pennsylvania by feeding Trump's narrative about our Democratic nominee for mayor." - Brad Lander responds to Shapiro



[image or embed] — Emissary Of Night | ليلى (@diplomatofnight.com) July 23, 2025 at 11:53 PM

But the energy surrounding Mr. Mamdani is undeniable:

x Dem Party: We are spending $20M to figure out how to talk to male voters. Mamdani: Save your money. I have +45 favorability with male voters & +73 with men under 45. Endorse me. Dem Party: No way dude. Now—why is our favorability is -54? Let's spend $20M on wealthy consultants to figure it out! — Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@qasimrashid.com) July 18, 2025 at 10:33 PM

Meanwhile, our Democratic elected have become the butt of internet memes, like the sternly worded letter running gag:

The sternly worded letter meme comes from Leader Jeffries and Sen. Schumer’s tendency to respond to Trump fascism with letters (here, here, etc.).

After Trump’s election, I wrote how our current Democratic Party is ill-suited for the present moment, not just because we(3) as a Party have self-selected for reasonableness and legislative prowess(2), but because liberal democracy has no answer for fascism. That is the point of fascism: It is immune to liberal democracy. The media is certainly muting Democratic messaging. Look at how the media ignored the No Kings rallies that saw something like almost 2% of the US Population engaged. And of course, 47 isn’t a bigger number than 53, and 212 isn’t a bigger number than 219.

In the end, though, with so much capital in the hands of such malignant people worldwide, I also fear that if our current party will not or cannot effectively harness the real and intense anger against Trump and MAGA, someone else may. And it may be ineffective on purpose and/or compromised.



Endorsing Mr. Mamdani, and learning from his youthfulness and energy, would be a start.

__________________________

(1) Emil Bove will not have cleared the statute of limitations on possible crimes he committed as Trump’s lawyer by January 2029. But that would require a very different type of Democratic President.

(2) Something both Leader Jeffries and Sen. Schumer have.

(3) Myself included!

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