The op-ed page is lined with anguished essays about how Democrats can learn from their 2024 election defeat and rebuild the party. At the same time, there are also news reports describing the new so-called “resistance” and who is best to lead it.
One helpful hint for Democrats might be that they should stop calling themselves the “resistance” and start thinking in terms of the traditional “opposition,” the normal role of minority parties in representative democracies. .
The word “resistance” may sound romantic to those who support the party that just lost the election, but it is also deeply offensive. This means that there is something tyrannical about the majority party and that it cannot be opposed through normal political processes, but must instead be countered with mass protests, civil disobedience, riots, and even extrajudicial means. is implied. violence. Historically, that is what “resistance” movements do.
Back in 2017, then-California Governor Jerry Brown once joked that if Trump won, the state would have to build a wall to prevent infiltration from all over the United States. He advised Democrats not to call themselves “resistance.” “I don't use the word resistance,” he says. said of new york times. “It was a word that I associated with the French underground and people who risked their lives. So I don't know if that's a fair and appropriate metaphor for recent conflicts over policy.”
What Brown understood was that if Democrats were the “resistance,” that meant Trump and the Republican Party were “Nazis.” It was extremely divisive and an insult to those who actually fought or were killed by the Nazis. In a free country with elections and a strong federalist structure, there were many ways to challenge an incumbent government through constitutional means – by adopting diametrically opposed policies like Governor Brown and California's Governor. Even.
But Democrats ignored Brown's advice and became increasingly radical. Although shortsighted from their point of view, it worked. They won a House majority in 2018, elected several radical new members, and formed a “split” behind Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). In 2020, he participated in the Black Lives Matter protests that turned violent across the country, achieving the desired result of removing President Trump.
But once Democrats started down that radical path, there was no turning back. Although they chose Joe Biden as their 2020 candidate, they did so after the most radical primary in American history, and after being nominated and elected, Biden became a leftist rather than a centrist. leaning towards. Vice President Kamala Harris, Biden's potential successor in the 2024 election, was unable to live up to many of the extreme promises she made as a candidate in 2019.
To make matters worse, Harris called Trump and his supporters “Nazis.” Some observers were shocked, but perhaps they simply weren't paying attention. That's how Democrats have treated Republicans since the 2016 election. The name-calling backfired, as Orthodox Jews flocked to Trump's rallies, and the minority turned out to vote for him in record numbers. Bringing up the term “Nazi” reinforced the idea that Ms. Harris and her party were simply out of touch.
If the Democratic Party wants to regain the trust of voters, it should abandon the idea of “resistance'' and return to the good old “opposition'' role. Don't try to break the system just because you can't control it. Use words and reason to explain why the government is wrong and why your idea is better. Appeal to the better nature of the people you want to persuade. Do not cause fear, destruction, or confusion. Above all, listen to your fellow citizens. They are trying to tell you something.
Joel B. Pollack is a senior editor at Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday Sunday nights from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM ET (4:00 PM to 7:00 PM PT) on Sirius XM Patriot. he is the author of Agenda: What should President Trump do in his first 100 days?available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of Trumpian Virtues: Lessons and Legacy of the Donald Trump Presidencynow available on Audible. He is the recipient of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter @joelpolak.
