Common Sense: Before Calling Trump the Devil, Democrats Should Check the Mirror

There is no shortage of analysis as to where the Democratic Party stands with the public, and advice from all quarters as to how they might improve their standing.  This column is not going to be another nickel of unsolicited counsel.  Instead, it is a look at what the dynamics are that surround improving the opinion the American public has of them.  That, by the wa,y is the lowest it has been in more than 30 years.  Let’s be charitable and set it at around 30 percent favorable.  Some have it a little higher, some a little lower, but the point is simple.  They are in a world of hurt.

Much of the focus has been on the split between the progressives (think AOC) and the moderates (think James Carville).  Some Republicans would say that, against a standard of logic and reason, they are hardly moderates.  

The problem with that two-way division is that the conversation does not include a third group, the corporate Democrats (think Chuck Schumer).  The road to speak with a united voice gets harder by the day.  In other words, the Democrats’ task of becoming united is nearly impossible at this point.

As is the case with any political party, the starting point is your base.  For the Democrats, this group is not just the most extreme in its views.  They combine that with a breathtaking level of smugness, arrogance, taking themselves ever so seriously, and a willingness to ignore facts in defense of a narrative that begins with what a terrible country we are.

Steven Colbert gets fired, and the meltdown among this group and their fellow travelers in the media borders on hysteria.  All the other late-night hosts speak of censorship and CBS caving to Donald Trump.  Former anchor Connie Chung thinks the Fox anchors should be in ankle bracelets.  Never mind, his audience has shrunk by more than half in a year.  More importantly, the program was losing $40 million a year.  Late-night programming is a dying breed.  The only exception is Fox.

Perhaps the worst our tolerance police have done is advancing the idea that if you have family members who support President Trump, it is entirely appropriate to cut them out of your life.  The same people who worry about pronouns, allowing biological men to compete against biological women, and assuring the world embraces their view of diversity, equity, and inclusion cannot abide to be in the same room with their own flesh and blood if they do not agree.  Instead of taking a good look in the mirror and considering the possibility that maybe defending democracy might not include demonizing half of their fellow citizens, they repeatedly double down.  They might even ask themselves if they remember a single time when a Trump supporter encouraged this sort of thing.  Not to worry.  It will not happen.

Then we have the corporate Democrats stuck in the middle.  These folks (Schumer, Pelosi, Clinton) are used to actually legislating.  Unfortunately for them, they have become the common enemy of both of the other groups.  When they cave on something, they are damned if they do, and damned if they don’t.  If a total of two Democrats combined in the House and Senate support the ban on keeping men out of women’s sports, the moderates are unhappy.  If they corporates work to keep the government open, by working with Republicans, the progressives are unhappy.  This corporate group controls most of the levers inside the Democratic Party.  It would appear they are living on borrowed time.

Finally, we have the moderates.  Although not part of governing, James Carville is as good a spokesman for this segment of the Party.  They are urging something approximating sanity.  That makes them a pain in the rear end to the corporate Democrats, and nothing less than the enemy for the Progressives.

It simply will not be enough to keep screaming that Donald Trump is the devil incarnate for the Democrats to get out of the wilderness.  They will have to come to grips with their internal divisions and make some tough choices.  Sometimes to gain ground, you have to be willing to lose some first.

Common Sense: Before the Democrats spend another minute calling Donald Trump names, they had best come to grips with where they are in time and space.  It is not a sweet spot.