The Democratic Party Is Over
The party is dead; it has no response to the current historical moment.
In 2008, following the financial crisis, the Republican Party collapsed. Fifty-nine seats in the Senate were blue; one more and the Democrats could’ve passed any legislation at will. It was hell for these pigheadded politicians, the first black president galvanized the country to believe in a progressive future that would escape the GOP’s rabid conservatism, deregulation and pointless wars. For them, this was a life-or-death battle. It meant ruthlessly fighting, politicizing every single issue no matter how benign, and raising hell over every mistake. It also meant manipulation, conspiracies, propaganda, and an all-out assault on truth. They used Obama’s devout belief in neo-liberalism against him, leading him to believe all legislation could be bipartisan, then stalling and backing out of negotiations. They weren’t afraid to abandon any pretense of morality too. These zealous Christian Republicans, who are so bound by ethics not to allow bachelors to run for President, dove head first into racist attacks on Obama, questioning his birth certificate, transvestigating the first lady, and alleging he practices Islam as if that’s disqualifying. Selling the soul of the ‘respectful Republican’ slowly killed the neo-conservative movement of the early 2000s, directly conceiving the mask-off xenophobia strategy by Bannon and, thus, the rise of Trumpism.
The soul of conservatism changed before us, playing out live at the Republican Primary debate on August 6th, 2015, in Cleveland Ohio. The timid Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio clashed with the unhinged Trump, who made them look weak and pathetic. There was no competition; the age of respect was over. They didn’t know it yet but the age of the neocon was no more. It was now the age of far-right populism led by Steve Bannon’s barbarous authoritarian ideology. Since the new MAGA base left the Republican Party with no other choice, the neocons wholeheartedly embraced this painful but necessary change for their own survival. Losing the party to a bumbling moron celebrity was far less damaging than losing yet another election– and it worked.
On the opposite stage, Democrats were also battling for its soul, just with less urgency. The Obama administration was ineffective with a split government for six years, and the ill effects of the Wall Street bailouts became apparent as average people saw few material improvements in their lives, which were promised. This fight was between the populist left, represented by Bernie Sanders, who desired to go beyond the liberal status quo to fight for better economic opportunity rather than continue boring third-way centrist politics. And this is a fight that would continue again in 2020, where a rapidly expanding progressive left was passionately fighting against Trump’s upward redistribution of wealth to the rich while advocating ideas for a better future. Bernie Sanders crushed Trump in national polls by countering faux right-wing populism that only serves the powerful with a genuine left populism, spawned from grassroots, that is for the people. Instead of embracing this strategy to win big and defeat the right who took a bad gamble on Trump, they opted to shudder Sanders and strangle the burgeoning progressive movement in its crib. Democrats tallied a win for their donors, and we are paying the consequences.
With Biden’s unimpressive administration, the country could not even complete the rudimentary ‘return to normalcy’ plan that helped him over the election’s finish line. The country recovered from the recession but not without a brutal inflationary period where corporate tax cuts were not reversed, wages did not rise, and predatory student loans were not forgiven. Trump never served any punishment for his unprecedented assault on American democracy, thanks to Merrick Garland’s weak prosecution strategy. The pandemic amplified the economic resentment from the early 2010s, which was immortalized by Occupy Wall Street, a sentiment that lingered in the 2024 election. But Democrats provided no tangible solutions to this growing economic discomfort. Harris very much represented the establishment elites who gaslighted us while young people’s futures melted away and the corpse of the American Dream became ever colder.
The spinelessness of this party is what got us here in the first place. I hope it’s jarring for my all my liberal democrat friends out there to watch as this party, once held as the protectors of the working person, the poor, and the marginalized, capitulate to right-wing narratives and suggest compliance with overt fascist policy. I hope it is clear that these politicians are not saviors just because they’re structurally positioned against the right wing on social policy. I hope it’s clear that Democratic politicians are just as captured by oppressive corporate overlords as the Republicans. I hope it’s clear that the majority of Democrats, especially party leadership, never cared about queer rights and diversity, it was only a brand for them to sell. I hope it’s brutally apparent that these politicians will hold your rights hostage while they take money from AIPAC, big tech firms, and big banks. This election was lost because this pathetic party abandoned every political front. So much so that they embarrassingly burned through campaign funds while benching popular policy staples like raising the minimum wage, total student loan forgiveness, and a federal jobs guarantee. They allowed the annoying used-to-be-right-wing op-ed writers at the New York Times and Washington Post dictate what Americans want. As compromised as this party is, you’d at least expect them to help out in the fight against fascism, even just for their own self-preservation.
In Democrats’ first chance to rebrand themselves, they blew it. In December, House Democrats held a vote for the Oversight Committee position, a significant leadership spot that could signal much needed change in the party. Ultimately, they chose to go with the 75-year-old Garry Connolly, who was just a month prior diagnosed with esophageal cancer, over the ambitious Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has inspired countless young people through social media to be involved in politics. Though she remained optimistic, the vote wasn’t even close; they voted 131 to 84 to prioritize Conolly’s seniority over a person with a profound progressive vision. It’s incredible that despite losing a seemingly unlosable election from the outset, Democrats refuse to change despite the infinite mounting costs.
Shortly after that unsurprising disappointment, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, with his _ charisma, mustered some motivational words for everyone resisting the new administration that got straight to work fucking our lives up. Jeffries said, “We are gonna fight it legislatively. We are gonna fight it in the courts. And we’re gonna fight it in the streets!” The White House was so offended by this that their official press demanded an apology, which, to his credit, Jeffries did not give. But less than a month later, Jeffries’ courage was gone. In a press brief, he said, “I’m trying to figure out what leverage we actually have. What leverage do we have? Republicans have repeatedly lectured America — they control the House, the Senate, and the presidency. It’s their government.” This is the leader of the party. What’s even more damning is that the rest of the House members pretended that he is capable of being leader while he has no actual plan and no confidence for how to proceed. If this were any other context, if this were a sport, if this were a military campaign, if it was a company, any leader who says they have no plan and no confidence would be forced to step down.
No single moment would visually illustrate the Democrats’ impotence more than at Trump’s State of the Union Address, where they sat by obediently as Trump spouted two hours of lies, proudly telling us how he’s dismantling government and handing it over to corporations to abuse us. Instead of convening to organize a protest, they politely sat there, each doing their solo performative signal of disapproval. Some women lawmakers wore pink jackets with liberal platitudes written on them. Some held up small signs that read “FALSE,” “SAVE MEDICAID,” and “MUSK STEALS.” Some didn’t even do anything at all, just sitting there offering a jeer just like every other State of the Union address.
One person did something real, however. Al-Green of Texas did the bare minimum in the face of a fascist by standing up and heckling Trump until he was forcibly removed from the chamber. Unfortunately, this single moment of courage had little effect as it emboldened Republicans to chant “USA!” as Trump wore a self-assured smirk. It didn’t have to be that way, though. When Trump spoke about cutting Medicaid, something millions of Americans rely on, they could’ve stood with Al-Green and refused to let the speech continue or physically obstructed the speech from going on, anything to signal to Americans that this is the unique moment in history that it is. Just months ago, we watched South Korean politicians bravely put their lives on the line to stop a far-right coup. Incredibly, not only were Democrats useless in that particular moment, but the caucus stabbed Al-Green in the back when ten Democrats voted with Republicans to censure him, meaning that leader Jeffries didn’t whip votes against it.
Then came Chuck Schumer’s embarrassing capitulation. In a move so mind-bogglingly dumb it almost feels intentional, on March 14th, Senate minority leader Schumer rallied nine other Democrats to vote in favor of the Republican’s continuing resolution. Democratic Senators John Fetterman, Catherine Cortez Masto, Brian Schatz, Dick Durbin, Kirsten Gillibrand, Gary Peters, Maggie Hassan, Jeanne Shaheen, Angus King, and Chuck Schumer all voted to help Republicans. Why? Because in Schumer’s opinion, a government shutdown would somehow help Trump and Republicans by not politicizing this and using the only leverage they have. Despite being assured of this idea, Schumer was proven wrong in humiliating fashion as Trump praised Schumer for his ‘courage’ in avoiding a shutdown.
So, what was he thinking? Schumer reasoned that if the government is shut down, then Trump and Musk can accelerate their dismantling of government agencies and defy federal court orders that block them since they would have, in his words, “the keys to the city.” Some of that may be true; however, Schumer believed that Republicans actually wanted a shutdown. If Republicans wanted to shut down the government so badly, why did every single one of them vote to keep it running? We know Republicans wanted to keep the government running, and the reason is obvious: there would be media panic, and all the blame would fall on the Republicans and Trump, just like every shutdown of the past. Residual reasons are that there would be a massive incentive for mass demonstrations, federal worker protests, and investor panic. In no way did they want this unless you’re in Schumer’s conspiracy realm.
The benefits for such a shutdown would’ve been plentiful but not without risk. It would’ve meant massive negative publicity for Trump. It could’ve been a material vindication of the idea that Trump wants to dismantle the government, making it more than just a banal liberal talking point. It could’ve been a way to rally people at the grassroots level, as people begin to fear the worst, which is already in motion. It could’ve made the crisis undeniably real and not allowed this assault on essential government services to go on covertly like Trump prefers it. If Schumer really believes, like he says he does, that the government is being dismantled, isn’t it happening one way or another? Wouldn’t it have been better to have political leverage? Not if you’re a corporate politician who would anger donors if the stock market plummets because of a shutdown.
Schumer took this gamble. He knew he had to risk his career one way or another. If he voted against this, putting the stock market in jeopardy, his donors and Democratic Party donors by extension would’ve been pissed. If he voted for the shutdown, he risked his career in the public’s eye. Ultimately, he chose the latter, and the price was brutal. House Democrats are now questioning his leadership, liberal media is stunned by this incompetent move, and regular Democratic voters everywhere are thoroughly outraged. But time will be the one to tell if this gamble will pay off for him. His seat isn’t up for reelection until 2028, and many are already floating the idea of someone like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez challenging him. In fact, all but one of the Democrats who voted for this bill are not up for reelection next cycle. These people could afford to take heat now and hope people forget by the time their reelection bid rolls around. It’s up to us not to forget this. There was so much public backlash the day before the vote that Schumer’s office had to turn off the phone lines because so many constituents were calling to tell him to oppose the resolution.
Democrats are in free-fall with no safety net. It’s not even clear if a Trump catastrophe could save them; they’ve shown they’re incapable of doing basic political maneuvering. The Democratic party now has an approval rating of twenty-seven percent, and that’s not to say Republicans are making up the difference, sitting at thirty-six percent approval. We have two deeply unpopular corporate parties who refuse to improve our lives at the expense of billionaires. Now would be a very convenient time for a major political realignment where a vigorous anti-establishment party forms around a populist movement. Stranger things have happened in this country’s history, and it wouldn’t take more than a few politicians to take the leap because the current situation is untenable for everyone, not just Democrats.
Let’s never allow these politicians to parade our values while being beholden to the antithesis. Let us do the work to rebuild the grassroots that launched the campaigns of people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who, despite being far from perfect, is not bought by corporate interests. But this isn’t about elections. Elections are what comes after all the work is done. We can’t just run a canvas and be done with it; we must have lasting energy. We must form coalitions between groups, work in solidarity with labor and tenant unions, protest, do mutual aid within our community, do teach-ins, and pressure local government– only then can we expect elections to reflect our will. It turns out that democracy is exceptionally demanding. When capitalism stretches its parasitic tentacles over all levels of government, it requires all of us to reclaim what’s ours.
In this moment when this fascist administration is disappearing anyone who resists it, let me leave you with two threads of hope we must carry with us. One– we don’t know if the wicked forces against us will win. If we gave it everything and sacrificed just to lose, then so what? But if we gave it everything and won, it would all be worth it. And two– put simply, the people in history before us have faced worse and have taken greater risk. They’ve taken down centuries-long dynasties and defeated some of the worst abusers in human history to make a better future. Why can’t we?
What's your analysis of the Cory Booker moment?