With even the establishment news media admitting, practically on a daily basis, that inflation is raging out of control and gasoline prices are higher than they’ve ever been -- and bound to reach the upper levels of the stratosphere -- there’s a lot of consternation in Democrat-land.
Last night’s inane January 6 committee (starring Liz Cheney, what compelling TV!) faux production aside, mostly long gone are the Democrat glory days of early 2021 when the news talkers ran and re-ran video footage of leaderless Trump supporters storming the capital building on January 6 with a small percentage of them making donkeys of themselves showboating in the senate chamber or taking selfies inside the rotunda. Liberals milked the melee for all it was worth -- and they’re still doing it while they have the power to do so.
Don’t leave out the politicians from both parties expressing outrage at the behavior with the Democrat half making the best of the brief open window of opportunity to impeach former president Trump even after he'd left office. Man, they were glad he was gone, but now that they were on their own, what would they do?
In the intervening time, not much has gone right for Democrats, with finger-pointing now becoming a virtual team sport within their ranks. The “moderates” blame the liberals and the liberals swear that the “moderates” aren’t/weren’t doing enough to push the hapless current president’s agenda items (that someone other than him must have devised).
The blame game should be in a board format for Democrats, but there are no winners in the endeavor -- only losers.
In a piece titled, “Democratic infighting could spell doom”, the always engaging but rarely insightful Juan Williams wrote at The Hill:
“President Biden’s current low approval numbers are evidence that his party remains split... Some want him to take a stronger stand against Republican extremists who fomented the insurrection at the Capitol, who campaign on lies about a ‘stolen’ 2020 election, and who threaten abortion rights.
“NBC News, reporting the findings of its own polling last month, noted that ‘among Democratic primary voters, 63 percent say they prefer a candidate who proposes larger-scale policies even if they cost more and might be harder to pass, versus 33 percent who prefer a candidate who proposes smaller-scale policies that cost less and might be easier to pass.’
“The ideological fight among Democrats allows Republicans to claim Biden is unpopular. In truth, Biden’s numbers are down because of shifting moods among Democrats and independent voters.”
It’s never productive to enter into a pissing match with Juan Williams, but once again, he’s way off base here. By his appearances on Fox News, one gathers that Juan is a good guy and might even be an interesting dinner party invitee with the right mix of non-volatile guests. In this sense, he’s one of the few self-identified liberals who conservatives might be able to converse with without tipping off a shouting match.
But, as usual, Williams has a severe case of denial. Senile Joe Biden’s pathetic job approval numbers are not due to Democrats being divided, and there really is no such thing as a split between “moderate” party followers versus “liberals”. The Democrat party is, was, and always has been the home of liberals even if they’ve traditionally counted a token conservative or two among their elected members.
Earlier in his piece, Williams cited a poll that revealed that half of Democrats allegedly call themselves moderates (37 percent) or conservatives (12 percent), which basically means the other half (who identify as liberals) are honest with themselves. I’m not a pollster and my sample is far from scientific, but the diehard Democrats I know often label themselves politically moderate but their issue positions are nowhere even close to the center.
One lifelong Democrat friend had a number of what I deem fiscally conservative views -- in favor of balancing the budget, but only through confiscatory taxes on the rich and drastic cuts in defense spending -- but his social positions were as far left as Bernie Sanders’s. Another acquaintance, a woman, insisted that Barack Obama was “moderate” and accused Republicans of opposing him solely because he is black.
Granted it takes a while to draw out the true views of liberals, but once the train leaves the station it doesn’t make many stops on the journey to fantasyland. I believe this is one reason why so few Democrats, once they’ve established themselves as liberals, ever escape the reservation. They’re about as close to a political mafia family as one gets. It explains why someone like Tulsi Gabbard is so reviled in Democrat-land today even though the former Hawaii congresswoman has retained most of her unquestionably liberal views.
Like Williams, I have also noticed a society-wide trend for folks to stop identifying as either Democrats or Republicans, instead calling themselves “independent” and floating between the two competing parties. I believe this is mostly due to the establishment media’s intentional depiction of Republicans as racist, sexist, bigoted, anti-immigrant, homophobic and… “deplorable”.
The move towards “independence” is not because of Donald Trump. Surveys generally show that the individual planks of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” agenda are popular. Do Americans favor enforcing the immigration laws? Yes. Do they like safe streets? Yes. Do they believe in free speech? Yes. Do they want a fair justice system? Yes. Do they want fair trade deals? Yes. Do they desire government to spend within its means? Yes.
Yes. Yes. Yes…
Democrats, on the other hand, hide behind sham issues. Do Americans want to stamp out what smidgen of racism still exists? Yes, but more like Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech rather than through quotas or “woke” equity. Do Americans demand to safeguard the environment and have clean air and drinking water? Yes, but they’re only willing to personally spend a few bucks on their own to battle “climate change”.
Likewise, most people I know are much too busy with their own full schedules to care a lick about whether a person is homosexual, dresses up in drag or leads an oddball lifestyle, but they also don’t want someone else’s preferences constantly thrown in their faces or to be bombarded with “pride month” celebrations or condescending lectures about “inclusion”, “equity” and “acceptance”. Corporate America, take note. If Democrats are torn over whether senile Joe is pushing the January 6 “insurrection” angle enough, there’s no way to resolve the impasse. Nearly everyone who once cared about the riot has moved on from it, and the percentage of Americans who say that Trump was responsible for the violence is continuing to drop. And reasonable folks aren’t likely to change their minds now that the farce January 6 committee has begun airing its “findings” to the media.
If Williams and other prominent liberals claim “divisions” among Democrats are leading to their multitude of failures, then what is the solution? It certainly appears as though senile Joe is pushing all the right buttons to get the party base as enthused as possible. How many speeches has he made lately trying to stir up outrage and blame? Pitting Americans against each other is what this president and Democrat leaders do best.
Biden is the most shining example of a one-trick pony that there is in Democrat politics, which is saying a lot considering his supporting cast of characters. Senile Joe’s answer to everything is to make government larger, be it through another bloated spending program (college loan forgiveness, free childcare, more money to bolster green energy, etc.) or to boost government’s oversight (spying?) of American citizens (red flag laws, universal background checks, safe storage mandates, COVID vaccine mandates, etc.).
None of these government-centered notions are appealing to Republicans and most independents. Democrats may lap them up like hungry football players at a cheesy lunch buffet, but these proposals aren’t going to win elections. Why won’t Joe and crew instead come out and offer real centrist-type concessions regarding energy exploration or food production?
If Biden were to say, “We’re going to drill, baby, drill!” this would get some ears to perk up. Launching another pitch to boost green energy isn’t moving the needle.
Williams also claimed that unlike the divided Democrats, Republicans are united behind Donald Trump. If the TV personality has paid attention to the results of GOP primaries this year, he’s no doubt noted that Trump’s name carries some weight with conservative voters but they’re also more than willing to go their own way on candidates.
If there’s any one thing that unites Republicans, it’s not necessarily Donald Trump. It’s the awful Joe Biden administration together with pontificating Democrats like Adam Schiff and “Chucky” Schumer who can’t stop themselves from relentlessly savaging the people who disagree with them. Is this truly what makes Democrats tick? If so, they’re really doing all the right things, aren’t they?
Again, last night’s absurd January 6 committee spectacle was all anyone would need to label Democrats -- and RINOs -- as out-of-touch fearmongers. Talk about obsessing over one man. They can’t let it go.
Democrats are frustrated that they can’t make Americans swallow their blame narrative for everything that’s going wrong in the country and world today. Messaging isn’t the problem, nor is it a lack of unity in either party. Barack Obama himself said it: “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.” Words to live by in the Democrats’ big government universe.
Joe Biden economy
Democrat welfare bill
Build Back Better
13 House Republicans Infrastructure bill
Kyrsten Sinema
Joe Manchin
RINOs
Marjorie Taylor Green
Kevin McCarthy
Mitch McConnell
2022 elections
Donald Trump
2024 presidential election