With Democrats Like These, Who Needs Republicans?

Democratic leadership is moving to the center and adopting Republican talking points to court MAGA voters who will never accept them, all the while throwing their own base under the bus.

I’ve been saying for years that Democrats bring a pencil to a knife fight, while Republicans bring an AR-15.

In 2025, I’d like to add an edit: Democrats bring an eraser to a gun fight and voluntarily remove themselves, while Republicans bring a bazooka and finish the job.

If you’re a card-carrying member of the Democratic Party and cannot tolerate any criticisms, let me warn you that you will not appreciate this essay.

For those who are reading me for the first time, or following me for a few years (thanks for the support), please know I recognize Donald Trump and the modern GOP as a unique, radicalized threat to our democracy that seeks to cement authoritarian rule by any illegal or violent means necessary. This is no longer the Republican Party of John McCain or Mitt Romney, who were the flagbearers for the party in 2008 and 2012, respectively. Those two men are now mocked and ridiculed by MAGA as RINOs. Romney has admitted he must spend money to hire private security for his family. The death threats come from MAGA, not liberals. Privately, Republicans are telling colleagues and reporters that they cannot break with their “Daddy” Donald Trump due to fear of violent reprisals from their base. They are willing reeks of a man who incited a violent insurrection against our free and fair elections, and pardoned 1,600 insurrectionists, including the ones who attacked police officers. He has quoted Hitler and referred to his critics as “the enemy from within.” He has threatened to terminate the Constitution, “joked” about running for a third term, and has appointed Kash Patel as the head of the FBI, a position he has promised to use to go after Trump’s critics.

The people who publicly called out Trump as a dangerous authoritarian threat are now the ones normalizing him, accepting bad faith MAGA talking points, and throwing their allies under the bus. I’m, of course, talking about Democrats.

I give you Governor Gavin Newsom of California who made the ill-fated and reckless decision to invite Charlie Kirk on his podcast during an ongoing Constitutional crisis. Kirk is the leader of the MAGA redshirts, founder of Turning Point USA, a right-wing student organization that promotes nutty conspiracy theories and seeks to radicalize college students. Kirk is a Christian nationalist who doesn’t believe in the separation of church and state, condemns the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and like most MAGA men, spends an inordinate amount of time obsessed with transgender people. Newsom played into MAGA’s bad faith attacks and fearmongering on this issue by agreeing with Kirk that it’s “deeply unfair” to allow transgender athletes to compete against biological women. The reality is that Republicans spent more than $200 million in ads targeting trans people as their latest villain ahead of the 2024 election. There are currently more anti-trans bills than actual trans athletes. Trans people make up less than 1% of the population, which makes them a perfect bogeyman for the GOP’s fear-mongering tactics they unleash before every election. In the past, it was “the caravan invasion,” “welfare queens,” and “the Sharia threat.”

Newsom should have taken a page from Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat in a red state, who has been able to lead and message without throwing LGBTQ+ people under the bus. Instead, Democrats believe they must move to this mythical “center” by courting the right-wing and adopting their talking points, denouncing “the woke,” praising Ronald Reagan, and alienating their base. Another example was the 46 Democrats who voted with Republicans to pass the Laken Riley Act, which punishes undocumented immigrants simply accused of non-violent crimes like shoplifting. Before Donald Trump’s shameful State of the Soviet Union Address, Senator Warner of Virginia went on Fox to praise the convicted criminal and violent insurrectionist for what he’s done with border security: "I may disagree with the president, but I respect the office of the president. I'm probably not gonna be jumping up applauding a lot, but I owe him his due as president. The president has made great, great progress on border crossings. That's something we ought to celebrate.”

Earlier today, 10 Democrats joined Republicans to censure Democratic Rep. Al Green, who had the chutzpah and common sense to stand up and call out Trump’s cruelty and lies during his rambling speech. Rep. Green, who is 77 and uses a cane, was removed from the joint session by three men. Recall Democrats didn’t do the same to Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert when they disrupted President Joe Biden. Why? Because civility, folks! That’s what matters at a time when Trump is defying judicial orders, shutting down vital organizations, allowing the richest man on Earth to fire federal workers, and appointing anti-vaxx lunatics to lead the HHS during a measles outbreak that has now killed at least two people.

Instead of getting up and leaving with Green in solidarity, the Democrats stayed in their seats and held up barely visible ping pong paddles with signs reprimanding Musk. That’ll show Trump! Yup, this is how instill fear in the heart of the bully! They were following the directive given by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries warning Democrats to be “tame” and refrain from “falling for the bait.”

So, how did that work for Dems? Trump went out of his way to mock and ridicule Democrats throughout his vomitorium of lies. He even brought out a classic and referred to Senator Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas.” How’s the celebration going, Senator Warner? Do you still respect this man who has no respect for your colleagues or the Constitution and is willing to deport babies, who are citizens, with their undocumented immigrant parents to Guantanamo Bay? A day after the address, Senator Warner went on MSNBC to apologize for comments he made on Fox praising Trump.

With Democrats like these, who needs Republicans?

These Democrats would be better off strapping themselves into one of Elon Musk’s rockets and launching themselves into the Sun. They are not built for this fight. They are not made for this moment. They are using an outdated playbook for a modern game in which civility, decorum, rules, and guardrails mean nothing to Trump and MAGA who are perfectly fine abusing their power to achieve their perverse goals. By moving to “the center” they are simply dragging themselves, their policies, and the party further to the right and normalizing extremism and hate.

What we need instead are fighters who are willing to call out Trump and resist his march towards authoritarianism. We need blunt messaging and effective communication. We need Democrats who are willing to lift up the most marginalized communities instead of throwing them under the bus. We need Democrats who are woke and have their eyes wide open. Some Democrats, like Reps. Crockett and AOC, get it. Sadly, the leadership is still stuck in the 20th century.

If Democrats are unwilling and unable to evolve to meet the moment, they need to step aside and resign. At the very least, they need to be put on notice that the majority won’t sit around waving ping pong paddles as Republicans take away our hard-earned freedoms, Medicaid, and Social Security. We’ll find new leaders willing to march with the majority towards a bold future where justice and progress take precedence over cowardice and civility.