With Friends Like These
Stop me if you've heard this one before.
The Democratic Party runs a uniquely qualified woman for president. The base of the party understands the assignment and votes like their lives literally depend on it. One-third of the population sits the election out. Millions of likely Democratic voters do not vote in the election because the candidate was too emotional/corrupt/unqualified/overqualified/conceited/establishment to earn their support. After a disastrous election loss, those who didn't vote or voted third party now feel justified in sitting it out. They feel now that they have all the answers that somehow eluded top Democratic Party members in the years leading up to the election. To win future elections, we must form a new Democratic Party that actually listens to the people.
The year 2025 is sounding like 2017.
Because once again, we are at an inflexion point in our nation's history. We need answers to the same questions we had 8 years ago. But those answers are complicated and take time to unpack. How can we have an honest discussion about 2025 without discussing our country's history of sexism and misogyny towards women and especially women of color? How can we not acknowledge the overt efforts by Republicans to gerrymander and engage in voter suppression tactics in communities of color? How can we not mention the continuing efforts of Russia, China, Iran, and other foreign adversaries to influence our elections through social media? And how can we not analyze the impact of Gaza on a generation of American voters who fell hook, line, and sinker for anti-Israeli and anti-Sematic propaganda in the 13 months after the October 6 massacre?
No, having those discussions would be too much. So, instead, similar to 2017, it's a lot easier to point fingers. And who better to point fingers at than the very members of the Democratic Party that seemingly let us down in the first place?
This was the lesson that the far-left wing of the Democratic Party took with them in 2017 in the wake of Donald Trump's first election. By blaming Democratic leadership, it made it easy for the far left to try and brand themselves as a new alternative. This is why groups like Brand New Congress, Justice Democrats, and Our Revolution decided that the only solution was to become PACs and run their own slate of candidates to try and unseat sitting "establishment" Democrats in safe blue districts. By starting with a handful of high-profile wins like AOC in the Bronx and Ayanna Pressley in Boston, groups like the Justice Democrats believed that they could "infiltrate" the Democratic Party as a way of shifting it left. They never tried to win in swing districts, only those where they felt a longstanding Democratic congressman had lost touch with the demographics of his district. Despite significant spending over the next 8 years, the number of Justice Democrats elected to the House never got above double digits, and the Squad even shrank by 2 in 2024, with sitting members Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush losing their seats to more moderate candidates during the latest election cycle.
But these emerging PACs weren't the only ones trying to capitalize on the Democratic Party's election loss. Throughout the media, we saw the emergence of a whole host of Democratic critics, who made their name and reputation on bashing the party. From former Bernie staffers Briahna Joy Gray and Nina Turner to The Young Turks to Chris Hayes and Ari Melber on MSNBC to former Obama Administration members like David Axelrod and Jon Favreau, there emerged an entire ecosphere of "I told you so" Democrats who felt their time and talent could be best utilized over 4 years by playing armchair political pundit from the safety and security of their own home. While not everyone went so far as to become a frequent guest on Tucker Carlson's show like Tulsi Gabbard, there were enough disgruntled Democrats (read: independents) like Bernie Sanders making the rounds that there was never a shortage of hate and hostility directed at the party at a time when all hate and hostility should have been directed at the orange buffoon in the Oval Office. But there was time and ultimately money to be made in being a turncoat, and all too many on our side were more than willing to take that plunge.
Flash forward 8 years and, like clockwork, we are once again seeing the emergence of left-wing populism, this time with there being calls for a "left-wing" tea party that would inevitably fracture off the only existing opposition to Donald Trump's reign. This time around, we're seeing publications like Vox, Jacobin, and New York Magazine getting on board with this idea. We're seeing disgraced former DNC vice-chair David Hogg following along the lines of Justice Democrats by creating a PAC that is primarying "establishment Democrats" in favor of younger leaders. We're seeing television personalities like MSNBC's Joy Ann Reid "barely hanging on" to being a Democrat. And sadly, we're seeing a whole new slew of "I told you so" Democrats emerge, like former press secretary for Jill Biden, Michael Larosa, who claimed that the Biden White House was is denial about his alleged declining cognitive abilities.
Murc's Law is an internet-coined phrase meaning that Democrats will always be blamed, no matter the situation. We are seeing that today. Despite having zero power at the federal level, Democrats are being told to DO SOMETHING!!! by those who either don't understand the separation of powers or who do understand but simply want to hear the sound of their own voice. Either way, eight years later and we're once again seeing those who are more than happy to try and personally capitalize on the Democrats' misfortune. For them, they are more than happy to play the victim if it gets them additional views/clout/book deals/paychecks for becoming a professional Democratic Party critic. It doesn't matter if it's newbie David Hogg or longtime pundit Joy Ann Reid, folks like them are aware that there is money to be made in being a contrarian. Bill Maher has been one his entire life. Jon Stewart has become a cynic over the past decade. Hell, even Jake Tappert tried to get in on the Democrat-bashing with his latest book, only to find that lying and making up sources is a bridge too far, even for Biden critics.
There will never be a left-wing Tea Party. But there will be those clamoring for the idea as a way to sow dysfunction among those within the Democratic Party. These are non-serious people. These are drifters. These are people who want to capitalize on the current crisis in our country to try and further divide the only existing political party that can prevent the United States from becoming a full-blown autocracy. Anyone trying to splinter the Democratic Party is doing so intending to hand power to the Republican Party for a generation or more. When you understand this, you understand that anyone advocating for the creation of a new left-wing party is someone who cannot and should not be trusted.
And they should be called out on it accordingly.