The party has settled on a new playbook: shifting right and hoping demoralized voters are repulsed by Republicans.
by David Sirota, The Guardian
The Democratic party’s political class has developed a rote formula over the last decade: ignore rather than channel discontent among the party’s rank-and-file voters, prevent competitive primaries where those voters can act on their dissatisfaction, and then hope to eke out general election victories on a wave of voter disgust with the Republican party’s outlandish nominees.
This isn’t just a fleeting tactic. This is now The Formula of Democratic Politics™, one with mixed results. In 2016, the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, publicly bragged that the Formula would result in flipping enough moderate voters to secure a victory – just before the Formula’s epic failure handed Donald Trump the presidency.
Four years later, though, the Formula seemed to work – Democrats united to quash the primary against the quasi-incumbent Joe Biden, and Trump’s horrific first term allowed Biden to eke out a win with a flaccid campaign based on a meaningless platitude about “the soul of America”.
Recent Posts
In ‘Victory for Voters,’ Supreme Court Rejects Trump-GOP Attack on Mailed Ballots
Take Action Now “At a time when the Roberts Court has too often made it harder for Americans to exercise their rights, today’s decision is an…
Billionaire Wealth Tax Headed to the California Ballot
Take Action Now Gov. Gavin Newsom, who opposes the tax, tried to intimidate proponents into pulling the measure. It didn’t work.By David Dayen,…
The World Cup is undressing the myth of Trump’s American homogeneity
Take Action Now The 2026 World Cup has become a rebuke to Trump’s homogeneous vision of America, revealing a tournament – and a US team – shaped by…
The Fight Against AI Data Centers Is the Newest Frontier of Global Class Warfare
Take Action Now AI is deepening worldwide webs of accumulation, ushering in new class and power relations.By William I. Robinson, Truthout The…