Unrest and conflict seem to be the order of the day globally, occurring in places like Kashmir and Congo, and seeing a new chapter in Gaza. However, down in the homeland, it’s the Democrats who seem ready to declare war on themselves. Politics seasoned with time, James Carville, has taken it upon himself to belittle the newcomer, David Hogg, pointing out his naivety in challenging seasoned members of the party. AOC and Bernie Sanders, on their part, are raising a battle cry against the oligarchs, who, in an ironic twist, largely back the Democrats and support their causes.
Meanwhile, President Biden makes a comeback on the political stage this week, serving only to reinforce the reasons his party economics are faltering. Governor Pritzker seems to be on a quest to outdo his fellow Democrats in displaying his rage to members of his party in New Hampshire. But there’s a detectable air of misdirection, even desperation that underlines the Democrats’ high-drama encounters, similar to the comic character Elmer Fudd.
The progressives appear to have their blinders on, oblivious to why their so-called ‘brand’ is perceived as detrimental by most. The approval rating for Congressional Democrats is dismal, with just one in five voters giving them the thumbs up. It’s not their packaging or delivery that’s off-putting, it’s their product. Voters aren’t buying into the mind-numbing expansiveness of the Democrats’ welfare state, their cultural fanaticism, their scorn for meritocracy, and their promotion of identity politics.
The Democrats’ blatant rejection of the Trump era, their failure to improve public education, and their gaslighting tactics are all met with disdain. The reappearance of Biden that we’ve witnessed this past week serves as a stinging reminder of this narrative. There’s an Elmer Fudd-like scenario unfolding here, where, in trying to capture Bugs Bunny, he invariably ends up shooting himself in the foot. This image reflects the Democrats’ situation over the past few days.
True to their Fudd-like nature, Democrats are vehemently resisting and undermining every achievement President Trump aims for. They were quick to warn of an apocalyptic economic disaster resulting from tariffs. Yet, the economy proved its resilience, standing firmer than many doom-mongers expected, weathering the temporary tariff-induced shock with aplomb.
As Trump began to draw the support of two key Democratic constituencies — labor unions and Hollywood — behind his trade reset, the irony of the Democrats’ position was laid bare. Strangely enough, many of the most significant policy measures Trump advocates — principally tackling illegal immigration — are not new; they align with the positions taken by his Democratic predecessors, Barack Obama included.
But let’s peer into the future a little. If the White House successfully negotiates 17 imminent trade agreements with key global partners, reduces the economic stress on secondary countries, and focuses tariffs on countering China’s dishonest trade practices, the prospect of a major trade reformation might come into sight. Paired with the likely approval of tax relief and a deregulation bill in the near future, by mid-summer, a significant economic upturn could be on the horizon.
If such is the case, it leaves the Democrats as Elmer Fudd facsimiles with zero achievements to be proud of — a familiar outcome for maximal rejectionists — and they will once again be branded the heralds of false alarms. Last week saw Democrats focusing on ‘due process’ for illegal aliens facing deportation, exemplified by the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador. But here too, Trump could turn out to be their Bugs Bunny, using the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which provides only minimal due process and limited judicial review, to his advantage.
Former President Obama demonstrated this when he utilized the INA’s expedited removal provisions to deport over 3 million undocumented immigrants. As an alleged MS-13 member, Garcia has already been found deportable under INA. If Trump adopts Obama’s deportation model, Democrats may find themselves on the losing end of both public opinion and the law. Trump has already won this week in the DC Court of Appeals in two crucial cases related to agency downsizing, building on a prior victory in March over agency head removal.
Additionally, Trump scored a win at the Supreme Court concerning the ban on transgender military service. The President is also anticipated to win on several employment discrimination termination challenges after the Supreme Court outlawed racial favoritism in 2022. Internationally, Trump’s ‘peace through strength’ approach for handling the Houthis in Yemen, forcing them into submission earlier in the week, starkly contrasts with the soft-handed foreign policy strategies favored by Democrats, leaving them looking feeble and naive compared to his decisive leadership.
Pollster David Shor has noted that the Democrats are predominantly mistrusted on most key issues, such as crime and energy policy. So why don’t they shift their stance to a more moderate, more acceptable middle ground? It seems the problem is rooted in the reward system embedded in progressive culture, which is inward-looking and ends up betraying the broader electoral audience.
These ‘progressives’ preen in the mirror of self-adulation instead of serving the public. They isolate any dissenters on hot-button issues like men participating in women’s sports, as happened with Rep. Scott Moulton. A central tenet of this movement revolves around deconstructionism – a neo-Maoist notion of dismantling commonly held norms around gender, racial non-discrimination, border security, public safety, fiscally responsible public debt management, and barring supporters of terrorism from academia.
This attitude is romanticized and mistakenly seen as the intellectual successor to the civil rights movement of the 70s, a misguided notion that only serves to inflate the progressives’ perception of their own moral superiority. Yet this is nothing more than an illusion, a set of outdated beliefs that time and the majority of voters have left behind – this includes many of the identity groups that the progressives still claim to represent.