What does the Democratic Party stand for today?
Ask a Republican, and the answer is “opposing Trump.” Indeed, aside from “resisting,” I can’t think of a single concrete policy idea that Democrats have floated in recent years unless you consider “abolishing ICE” to be within the realm of sane proposals. And no, “impeaching Trump” isn’t a policy idea either.
But don’t take my word for it – Nancy Pelosi was asked herself what Democrats stand for during a recent MSNBC interview, and couldn’t give a coherent answer to a question she should’ve had an answer to for the past four decades she’s been politically active.
“Let’s get into the midterm elections. Democrats are hoping to reclaim the majority in the House of Representatives, which they lost in the 2010 midterm elections,” said host Jonathan Capehart. “There are a lot of people out there, particularly Democrats, who are saying the Democrats have no message, the Democrats —they don’t know what they’re for, they know they’re against President Trump, but they don’t know what they’re for.”
“Democrats are for the people. Democrats are for the people,” Pelosi responded. “It means we are for the people having lower health care costs, reducing the costs of prescription drugs. Democrats are for bigger paychecks by building the infrastructure of America, creating good-paying jobs.” So, in Pelosi’s words, Democrats stand for mindless buzzwords and cliches, and can’t specify how they’re going to fix what they want.
In reality, healthcare costs skyrocketed under ObamaCare, while wages are rising under Trump, who also wants to see a trillion dollars in infrastructure spending.
“It’s not that we don’t know what we stand with — how do we convey the message, and every day we have a fight. What we have to do is brag about it more,” she continued.
To Pelosi’s credit, when she says “every day we have a fight” she at least isn’t advocating for violence like Maxine Waters, Cory Booker, and others. But on that note, the fight that Democrats are currently engaged in is a losing battle. Not only is the RNC doubling the DNC in fundraising (which itself is an indicator of greater political enthusiasm on the right), Trump’s approval ratings are on the rise (and the President’s approval rating correlates with how well incumbents in his party will fare).
And for that, Democrats only have themselves to blame. They’re focused more attention appealing to socialists and social justice warriors than working Americans and have alienated a large chunk of what was once their base in the process. Pelosi can claim to champion “high paying jobs” or “cheap healthcare” (who doesn’t?) all she wants – Democrats don’t have any viable way to achieve those goals in the first place.
