Authored by J. Peder Zane via RealClearPolitics,
There may be five stages of grief, but there’s usually just one when it comes to political defeat – pretend to soul-search, then carry on as if nothing happened.
In the wake of Donald Trump’s clearcut victory on November 5, Democrats and their media allies acknowledged mistakes were made, but their mea culpa sounded more like humble brags as they suggested their real problem was a failure to communicate. If only we’d done a better job of describing our wonderful accomplishments and the dangers of fascism. Next time, our commercials will be much more effective.
The stand-pat strategy makes some sense in a two-party system where many elections are akin to a coin flip. Ironically, each side banks the other’s unwillingness to change to provide the opening they need to keep on keeping on.
The Democratic Party may well rise from the canvas in the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential race – but this would likely be more a result of potential Republican overreach than the wisdom of their policies. For the good of the country, however, Democrats should use their recent defeat as an opportunity to rethink and reorient their approach to governance.
It won’t be easy, because a fundamental reason Democrats lost goes to the core of their identity: competence. Polls show a large majority of Americans have lost faith in their ability to govern effectively. The GOP’s campaign slogan homed in on this failure: “Trump Will Fix It.”
Since the rise of the progressive movement more than a century ago, Democrats have argued that an expansive government run by experts can solve the nation’s problems. Especially through the ambitious legislative programs put forward by presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, and Joe Biden, Democrats have assured voters: We know what works.
Decades of experience have proven otherwise. Democrat-run states and major cities have distinguished themselves not only for their poorly run schools, high crime, and massive debts, but also their corruption. The New York Times reported in August that California has now become the leader in political malfeasance, “exceeding the number of cases in states better known for public corruption, including [the deep blue states of] New York, New Jersey and Illinois.”
For its part, the Biden administration has taken a series of missteps – personified for all to see by the president’s weak, wobbly gait – that directly led to Kamala Harris’ defeat. Who thought it was a good idea to:
While these and many other failures weakened confidence in the Democrats’ ability to steer the ship of state, their embrace of the woke agenda showed that the party was not just wrong about certain issues, but in the grips of an unhinged ideology. Claims that America is irredeemably racist, that illegal aliens should be allowed to vote, that gender is not a biological fact and that children should have the right to decide to mutilate their bodies without parental consent, struck most citizens as incomprehensible.
Yes, Harris and other Democrats tried to distance themselves from some of these positions, but they never repudiated them. If you have to run to the center so you can govern from the far left, your politics have become an exercise in deceptive cynicism.
Post-election revelations that the Harris campaign burned through $1.5 billion in 15 weeks – including showering celebrities with huge paydays to draw crowds to her rallies – reenforces the perception that Democrats see money as a slush fund for their allies.
Perhaps the greatest indictment of Democrats’ competence is the rise of Donald Trump. After eight years of Barack Obama – an exemplar of well-polished progressivism – the American people elected a man with no government experience, whose campaign focused on the failures of the ruling elites of both parties. Entrenched Republicans were, in fact, as disdainful of Trump as Democrats were.
Then, despite titanic efforts to undercut and delegitimize him at every turn, this quintessential outsider led a largely successful administration. Polls suggested he was likely to be reelected before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Trump was returned to office earlier this month because many Americans remembered the policies of the man Democrats dismissed as a failed real estate developer and superficial reality TV star as far more effective than those advanced by his highly credentialed opponents.
The visceral hatred for Trump stems in large part from his competence. As he calls out the failures and corruption of the rulers on the left and the right, he has succeeded at their game without their alleged expertise. He points out obvious facts – China and Iran are not our friends, we can no longer pay the world’s bills – that they have long obscured. They call him a liar, and he does do that, but it’s his truth-telling they can’t forgive. His chief character flaw is that he isn’t part of the club.
All of which is to say, Democrats need their own Trump – a wrecking ball who will challenge the party’s dogmas; a disruptive outsider who can force them out of their ideological cul-de-sac. The radical transformation Democrats need seems beyond the capacity of the party’s entrenched leadership: To expect people who cannot admit error to change their minds and ways seems like wishful thinking. They probably don’t need a Trump-like figure to win elections, but they need one to find a way to govern effectively. This would not require abandoning progressive ideals, but developing new ways to actually achieve them.
This will not be easy. As a spur, Democrats should consider the fate of their allies in the legacy media. The partisan, left-wing turn many news organizations have taken in the last decade has undermined the trust Americans once had in their reporting – while contributing to shrinking audiences and mass layoffs. That failure is a major reason millions of Americans are turning to alternative outlets, including X, Substack, and podcasters such as Joe Rogan, for news.
Political parties are not subject to the swift and ruthless forces of the market. But Democrats would be wise to see the decline of their media allies as a canary in the coal mine. It should inspire them to begin a true process of soul-searching and change for their own good and for that of the nation.
J. Peder Zane is a RealClearInvestigations editor and columnist. He previously worked as a book review editor and book columnist for the News & Observer (Raleigh), where his writing won several national honors. Zane has also worked at the New York Times and taught writing at Duke University and Saint Augustine’s University.
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