Whatever troubles President Trump is having right now with his sinking poll numbers, the Democratic Party is still a listing ship — rudderless, leaking, with some crew members trying to patch the hull with explosives.
Losing the White House and both houses of Congress was always going to be a disorienting blow. But the Democrats have elevated post-defeat turmoil to an art form. True, after the first 100 days of his presidency, according to the ABC News-Washington Post-Ipsos poll, Trump’s approval ratings sank to 39 percent — the lowest of any president in 80 years. But the Democratic congressional leadership, with their measly 27 percent approval rating, managed to beat him to the bottom. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) 17 percent approval rating is in the Mariana Trench.
The Democrats seem powered as much by rage as by political strategy. New York Democrats, for example, unable to stop Trump’s dismantling of federal support for electric vehicles, have channeled their fury at — of all things — an electric vehicle manufacturer: Elon Musk’s Tesla. To punish Musk they have tried to prevent the company from selling directly to consumers.
Instead of raising funds to flip just the heartbreakingly few Republican held-seats needed to win back the House, DNC vice chair David Hogg is raising money to finance primary challenges against Democratic incumbents, which party strategist James Carville called “insane.”
Rather than deploying messaging that might appeal to the independent voters who swung for Trump, some Democrats running for Congress are — this is not a joke — dropping the f-bomb in their campaign ads, pledging, for example, to “unf— our country.” Democrats deliver barn-burning speeches, but does anyone really know where they stand on immigration, tariffs, or the economy?
Apoplexy may light fires on social media, but it doesn’t chart a path to power. Nor is assuming that Trump’s declining approval ratings will automatically convert into Democratic votes a serious strategy. If the presidential election were held today, Trump — despite sacking the federal government and behaving as though he were elected to rescue Americans from their own Constitution — would still beat Kamala Harris, albeit by a narrower margin.
Democrats had better start thinking boldly.
For inspiration, they might look to then-House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich’s (R-Ga.) “Contract With America,” co-authored with Rep. Dick Armey (R-Texas), for the 1994 midterm elections. The Contract promised that if Republicans gained control of the House, they would bring 10 specific bills to a vote.
The proposed bills — including an anti-crime “Taking Back Our Streets Act” and a “National Security Restoration Act” — each enjoyed over 60 percent support among voters. With impressive discipline, the Contract excluded divisive issues such as abortion and school prayer. The Contract, signed by virtually every Republican House incumbent and challenger, arguably nationalized the midterms and turned them into a referendum on President Bill Clinton. In a stunning comeback, Republicans won the Senate and — after 40 years in the minority wilderness — the House. All politics wasn’t local after all.
A Contract With America has the virtue of explaining what a party and its candidates stand for but it carries the risk that trying to craft such a platform can expose or even deepen internal divisions. Cue David Hogg saying, “Sign that, and I’ll raise money to primary you.”
Democrats, facing a president who is methodically weakening democracy — an existential threat for any minority party — need to summon discipline and boldness. Otherwise, they may find themselves not only out of power, but political roadkill.
So, do you think Democrats are up to it?
Gregory J. Wallance was a federal prosecutor in the Carter and Reagan administrations and a member of the ABSCAM prosecution team, which convicted a U.S. senator and six representatives of bribery. He is the author of Into Siberia: George Kennan’s Epic Journey Through the Brutal, Frozen Heart of Russia.