Do Dems Even NEED a Leader Right Now?
Trump and Republicans Are Collapsing Just Fine Without It
I’m not one to take too much into polls, because they are essentially snapshots of where things are at a given point in time, and are often misstated, misinterpretted, and misunderstood when used to describe typical horserace politics. For instance, if a President’s approval rating goes up or down by 2 pts its often reported on as a big deal even though that small a movement is often within the margin of error of the poll.
However, when things move quickly and sharply, they can be clear indicators of alarm bells and cause for something noteworthy happening. This weekend some very noteworthy polls came out marking Trump’s first 100 days in office and they paint a very stark portrait of the Titanic that is Trump’s second term so far. Long story short, Trump’s poll numbers have largely dropped about 8 pts since the start of his term, is now averaging about 40% (which is deep underwater at this point in a term) and he no longer has a positive net approval on ANY issue, not even immigration. No wonder he was seen this weekend with Zelensky at Pope Francis’s funeral in the Vatican, praying for a miracle.
It seems the more people view Trump and his “break it all ethos,” along with Republicans, running the show, people don’t like him or what he is doing. Independents are opposed to him now by 30+ points! Those are ghastly numbers. The thing is, with the economic outlook turning sour, the war in Ukraine likely to heat up as spring and summer come along, and more anecdotal stories about American citizens being inadvertently rounded up in immigration sweeps and deported without due process come to light, his number can still get much, much worse. One of the more unpopular aspects of this administration, Elon Musk and DOGE, is already being kicked to the curb as Musk exits to focus more attention to Tesla, it’s damaged brand and it’s plummeting stock price. People have seen the Trump Show before, and they didn’t care for it and it was cancelled; turns out the reboot is just as bad if not worse.
Which brings me to a pet peeve I keep hearing more and more. Activists and pundits are trying to turn it on Dems and talk about how they are all in disarray, how there is no leadership, and how nobody is in control. It’s a red herring argument and a canard. Democrats don’t really need legislative leadership right now, as they are soundly in the minority and there really isn’t much they can do anyway. Sure, Cory Booker caught some attention with his marathon speech, but in the end it was just a stunt and had no possible impact other than for the record books. Hakeem Jeffries, despite the title of House Minority Leader, doesn’t have the gravitas or control that Pelosi did and is fine giving the caucus more latitude to experiment with messaging. Democrats need an energized activist base and a moderate/independent appealing message; right now they have neither, and what they do have are at odds with one another. As more experienced members speak, those inconsistencies will iron themselves out with the voice of public opinion showing which way to go. For now, they’re fine.
All this reminds me of my very first post as PurpleAmerica, “When You’re Enemy is in a Hole, Hand Him a Shovel.” It was all about the circus to elect Kevin McCarthy as the Speaker of the House, and the intransigent Republican caucus hellbent on preventing him from getting the job. They went through 15 rounds of voting, and in the process Hakeem Jeffries got the most votes for Speaker in the history of the House of Representatives, even if he never once got a majority of any single vote. The ridiculousness in which the votes continued again and again and dug the GOP into a greater and greater hole of their own doing was kabuki. Democrats were largely on the sidelines doing nothing; some would call it political juijitsu but in reality there wasn’t much they could do then either. With each vote, Republicans looked more incompetent and out of control; Dems just needed to get out of the way.
And that’s where we are with the Democrats and their “leadership” void. There are reasons they don’t want to trample on all the bad news coming out of the White House these days, least of all they don’t want to take away attention from the Crybaby in Chief. The duller and less interesting Democratic Leadership is, the more the focus can stay on Trump and his cadre of incompetents. There are other practical implications of this too. With a strong leadership in place, message control can command and stifle growth of new ideas and grassroots support. You are already seeing AOC and Bernie Sanders travel around exciting activists; if there were a stronger leadership in place, I’m sure they would want them to water the message down some to appeal to a broader audience. Likewise, you’re seeing an ideologically diverse group of Senators, Governors and House members get some attention and test out various communications ideas. Gavin Newsom has a podcast aimed at moderates and independents as he gears up for an almost certain presidential run. Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador to meet with the wrongly deported person in the Maximum Security Prison there. Tim Walz is traveling swing states on a listening tour. There is already solid debate within the party about the political direction it needs to go. This is healthy and very much needed.
As for Trump and the Republicans, all they need to do is just get out of the way. Sure, they can point and reiterate everything Trump is doing as wrong, there is no harm in that. Pointing out to an individual why they are in a hole is perfectly fine, and may encourage them to actually dig harder. But the main thing is that they don’t want the spotlight on themselves at the moment, they want it on Trump. As it turns out the best proposals at this place and time are not alternatives, but to just give Trump and Republicans another shovel and get out of the way.
PurpleAmerica’s Obscure Fact of the Day
While the phrase “When your enemy is in a hole, hand him a shovel,” is often attributed to Napoleon, he actually said “Never interrupt an enemy when he is making a mistake.” Variations of the phrases have appeared throughout history and one similar version appears in Sun Tsu’s “The Art of War.”
PurpleAmerica’s Final Word on the Subject
It’s time to cancel the Trump Show again.
AOC is NO Bernie Sanders. Put her on the ticket for POTUS and we'll have another 2016. I love Bernie and I think he alone, needs to keep doing the Bernie truth show/tour, because he has no intention at his age to run again. He's a curmudgeon like an old grandfather and people listen to him. His activism in his early years was actually real....not some photo op stunt of getting fake arrested at the fall of Roe V Wade. I'm done with political performance. Put some people on the ticket who have some common sense and don't/won't take campaign funds from corporate interests. Work hard to get Citizen's United overturned.
Great post thanks 🙏