Democrats Need to Clean House Before They Screw Up Again

It’s absolutely true that much of Donald Trump’s messaging hinges on the worst impulses of many Americans. It’s not up to Democrats to bring those most extreme voters into the fold. But it is the Democratic Party’s responsibility to provide a vision that will attract everyone else: the people who stayed home, the ones who feel abandoned, the ones who held their noses and voted for Trump because the promise of cheaper eggs (whether or not they materialize—and it seems highly unlikely) was more important than everything else. But it is especially important to prioritize the people who felt like their vote was pointless.

People are scared. So offer them an actual alternative rather than more fear—or the faint hope of change four years from now. Stand for something rather than shape-shift to court whatever demographic of the day you think is a skeleton key for victory.

Joe Biden and the Democrats had the House and Senate for two years but refused to exert pressure on its problem children, Sinema and Manchin, to pass radical, popular, uncompromised legislation on abortion, voting rights, climate action, corporate guardrails, and Supreme Court reform. The failure to abolish the filibuster will haunt Democrats for years, and it should. When you choose to be ineffective, it’s no wonder many stayed home, while others who voted for Biden defected to Trump. And to not have run on a platform of real change—and, for that matter, in direct opposition of the current, wildly unpopular president—is shameful.