The Surrender

A White Flag In The Form Of A Political Party

Chuck Schumer, Surrender Captain

I’ve been railing against the Democratic Party’s lack of fighting skills for more than two decades, but the universality of the party’s current surrender posture has surprised even me. It seems wild to think that Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign theme of “when we fight, we win” was being loudly shouted just four months ago, because these Democrats do not have an ounce of fight – at all.

The leader of the surrender caucus is without a doubt Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is currently in the middle of his book tour/appeasement circus. Everything about Schumer screams “I have given up,” from his posture to his congressional votes to his weak rhetoric about Trump – in open defiance of federal courts at the moment – not yet crossing Schumer’s imaginary red line for breaking the law.

The Democratic strategy is clear, because it’s the strategy they have adhered to for nearly 30 years now. Lie back, allow the right to run roughshod over America, and then, when voters have absolutely had enough, reap the rewards.

We saw it in the 1990s with Clinton coming into power after the Reagan-Bush recession, Obama winning after Bush had destroyed the Middle East and wrecked the domestic economy, and Biden winning after Trump sat by and allowed COVID to kill thousands. Certainly it “works” for the party, but it is absolutely terrible for America and the rest of the world.

Compare this to recent Republican victories. Bush won after Clinton presided one of the largest peacetime expansions in history, Trump won after Obama engineered the post-recession recovery, and Trump won again after Biden pushed post-COVID renewal.

It is a sign of strength that the GOP can flip the presidency in good times, but Democrats need a disaster to have a shot.

The party doesn’t invest in long term strategy. Democrats are oriented around handing money to risk averse fat cat consultants who instruct party leadership to follow along with focus groups and polls, never getting ahead of the public on divisive issues – you might call it leadership, even.

We see the result of this today. There is an entire class of Democratic leadership, from Schumer and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and the people below them like Sen. Dick Durbin (and most Senate Democrats to be honest) who wouldn’t know a damned thing about taking a chance on an important topic. Democrats only act when it is “safe” to do so, whether that is having majorities in both houses of Congress, when an issue has flipped to 60+ percent support or when a crook like Trump commits such obvious crimes even Pelosi has to flip from her ridiculous stance that he was self-impeaching to introducing articles of impeachment.

This kind of behavior leads to the impression of success but not actual success. The Democrats, and liberalism in general, is woefully underprepared for Republican wins. We saw this in the early 2000s when the party simply had no idea how to respond to Bush. The party in fact enabled Bush’s most monstrous policy – the war in Iraq. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that three of the Democrats who voted for the war (Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and Joe Biden) went on to be the party’s presidential nominees.

They were flatfooted after Trump’s 2016 win and unbelievably they have been even worse following his win last year. Even after the immediate shock, its clear they have not formulated any kind of strategy to deal with him in the months since, not even a half-assed one.

The posture is complete surrender in the hopes that he fucks up so badly the only response is a vote for Democrats. This assumes that we will have free elections in the future and that voters aren’t so disgusted by Democratic weakness that they will still show up to vote for them. I’m skeptical.

While I acknowledge we live in a two-party system, it seems pointless to many to keep showing up for Democrats who won’t show up for us when it counts.

How motivated can people feel to get out and vote for a Democratic senate when the best it can muster is mealy-mouthed weakness from leaders like Schumer? Yes, a Democratic House is better than a Republican one, but how much is America served by more lukewarm rhetoric from Jeffries about “MAGA Republicans” when the problem is the entire conservative movement and the complete Republican Party?

The Democratic Party is fundamentally broken, even when they win. We’ve spent too long with a party and wider liberal movement that is satisfied with merely being “not Republicans.” The country deserves far better and continuing the status quo and its weak leadership just isn’t it.

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— Oliver

Follow me, Oliver Willis, on BlueSky @owillis.bsky.social

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