Ruy, I’m almost as old as you, so I can remember the days when it was cool to be a Democrat - peace, love, tolerance of all were hallmarks of the Dems in the 60’s and 70’s. During the decades following that era, the Democratic Party gradually became less tolerant, less loving and far less cool for normal people. Today, the party is unrecognizable for people of our age - it requires strict conformance to the party line, it requires support of open borders, boys playing girls’ sports, discrimination dressed up as DEI, belief in climate catastrophe fairy tales, etc.
The left even supports the Iran sponsored terrorists in Hamas and Palestine along with the radical Islamists in the US who refuse to live in accordance with US laws. In short, the party has become repulsive 🤮 and effectively unAmerican. While there are still some normal people left in the Democratic Party, most have left the party. It would be best for the US if the Democratic Party splintered, forcing the radicals to become an irrelevant minority party. Good luck! 🍀
> It would be best for the US if the Democratic Party splintered,
I think this goes for the GOP as well. It would be good for all involved if there were a serious opponent for the Democrats. Going up against the clown college that is the current GOP enables and empowers a good deal of the nonsense on the Brahmin left.
The best outcome would be no political parties. An possible working alternative might be adding two more (Greens, Libertarians) since so many don't fit in the current GOP/Dem.
It is unbelievable that Democrats are running on affordability. I live in a blue state, going back decades, with tiny blips of Republican administrations. If the Democrats picked just one rational proposal, like reduce electric rates (the cost of which reverberates throughout the economy) it would be a positive economic policy. But all I see is tax and spend and vicious taxes to punish those who have been successful and employed huge numbers of people. They need more time, and failure to put their revenge behind them and start thinking about growing the economy.
Same. I’d be happy to the pay the extra $1000 a month in property taxes I was just assessed if the local schools were thriving, the homeless had actual help and weren’t just surviving on our streets, people weren’t getting shot at food festivals, and we had usable public transit. Not to mention the increased taxes on our business that keep us from actually providing more jobs to people. I want to continue to be Dem, but man do they make it hard.
The Democrats will do in 2026 what they did in 2020: Celebrate victory, then forget every promise they made and proceed to lose the next Presidential election.
Read their 2020 platform. They promised to raise the minimum wage--and left it at $7.25 an hour. They promised to repeal Trump's 2017 tax cuts--and left them in place. They promised to override state right-to-work laws--and did not do it. They promised a "21st Century immigration system" which turned out to mean 12 million more illegal aliens. What did they do instead? They impeached Trump again.
Well.... And I'm not going to make any friends. The reality is the Democrats will do as usual.... Nothing.
They may emphasis may pass articles of Impeachment against DJT. But since they have no chance of getting 66 votes in the Senate? It will be a meaningless pantomime.
Some questions and thoughts:
When was the last time the Democrats actually made a serious attempt to lift the minimum wage? Above the making pretty speeches level, I mean?
Have the Democrats ever made a serious attempt to reverse Citizen's United? Again, above the pretty speeches level?
Have they ever and I mean ever faced up to what the "Free Trade" agreements they supported without question did to Private Sector Unions and the Working Class they purport to support?
Have they ever faced to the fact working class voters are aware of the Law of Supply Demand? And might even be aware of the fact that Millions of people coming from out of the country, whether "Undocumented Immigrants" or H1B's really do have an effect on the wages? Or might even be smart enough to figure out that the increased amount of people chasing the SAME amount of Housing really will affect rents? Despite the claims of the Brahmin Left otherwise?
I have no love for the GOP, they're no friends of mine. But I'm male & Working-class... 2/3rds of a trifecta... Which means the Democratic Party is no friend of mine either. If I was white? They would flush me down the commode with a big smile.
Maybe if I was from Mexico or Guatemala, they would be on my side? But when it was proclaimed by a Democratic Candidate to the cheers of the Brahmin Left that she would trade 1 illegal for 5 American citizens... It became clear the Democrats are the Party of someone else NOT the working-classes for all their lies!
I'll be staying home this Fall and likely in 28. All I can say is NEITHER Party is for Working Classes and a Plague on both houses.
What we have ISN'T a Democracy it's a sad pitiful joke. On the Working Class who benefit NOT at all.
During the 2006 and 2018 blue waves the Dems chose ostensibly moderate candidates (often military vets) in swing districts and states.
The problem is that, after the election, these candidates followed the Pelosi agenda down the line. They became (by and large) loyal foot soldiers for the groups.
There are very few reps or senators who are independent gadflies. They know the money comes from the left and their primary risk comes from the left.
We have recent examples of this in executive positions, too- Biden and Spanberger campaigned as ostensible centrist and immediately became leftists in office.
Now they run candidates like Kamala or Talarico who were unashamedly leftist and “woke” (in terms of culture war views) who try to tell voters they are centrist and reasonable.
The party isn’t reasonable, the donors and activists aren’t reasonable, and few of these candidates are likely to be reasonable nor buck the donor line in any way. Certainly not Talarico.
I think you are right that the party doesn’t see a need to change and the coming victories will make change even less likely.
In national elections they are really dependent upon that Republican undertow. In 2020, in the midst of a recession and a pandemic, Trump refusing to focus outside of his base and relentless negative media coverage on Trump…..Biden (with great name recognition) only managed to win by 45,000 votes across three states. Incredible. More incredible is his deciding to move left after that.
Kamala lost every swing state to a clown and convicted felon.
The Dem brand is fairly toxic outside of its base of wealthy professionals. The only good news for Dems is that the Repubs have no brand at all.
Running against incompetents isn’t a sustainable strategy- it didn’t work in 2024 and barely worked under ideal conditions in 2020. I would love to see Dems broaden their appeal and change their spots, but there appears to be no call for this and no internal leader. And less of a reason to do so after the midterm victories
This column is depressing. There was hope that Ruy could and would introduce more reality to the intra-party discussions. The democrats need to have these come to Jesus moments to move the abysmal perception of the party.
Instead he spent time outlining and documenting the serial lies being emitted by the democrat nominee to replace John Cornyn of Texas. Ruy outlines in detail Talaricos serial lies on policy and the calls the lies tactics.
Calling lies admittedly crafted to mislead clients “tactics” gets to the root of the sink hole.
If Talarico was selling insurance or automobiles he’d be doing time. The fact that Talarico is featured is the path to democrat victory says all you need to know about why the democrat poll numbers suck.
Perhaps there's just too much frenzy out there over a midterm election that'll see the House swing to the opposition party and not much else. And I believe a great amount of the animus behind it is that tuned-in liberals feel themselves losing the culture war badly, and have no idea what to do about it.
After Trump won in 2024, there seemed to be millions of Democratic voters hitting social media to tell us all that the dumb voters just wanted cheap bacon and got flimflammed into voting for Trump because of it. The idea that their social vision is even in a real competition, let alone losing handily, is a psychological third rail to them. Even someone like Bill Maher, who has been actively flirting with reality for the last two years, is now saying that Trump's base has turned on him because of tariffs and ICE and whatever other nonsense liberals spend all day thinking about. Every election Trump's ever taken part in he's received more votes than the last. And they think he's lost support because some poll on CNN told them so. The willing embrace of total delusion.
MNH may be an effective campaign strategy but Democrats would have to govern that way to avoid creating a long term problem. Will they do that? Ruy seems to have his doubts as do I. As to AI, Democrats seem split rather than totally opposed. There are a number of commentators on the Left that are very pro-AI. Republicans are also split. The data center issue is confounding the opinion spectrum. It is possible to be pro-AI and anti-data center on a local level. Yeah, these people are NIMBYs but that is reality. An analysis of potential Democratic presidential candidates positions on AI show all of them keeping their options open
The hostility to redistribution of any kind combined with the adoration given to economic growth here is more than a little redolent of trickle-down economics. Growth without a social conscious simply results in an enriched oligarchy. What's more, this piece seems absolutely oblivious to the long-term costs -- socially and economically -- of letting your lower classes sink ever lower into impoverishment and social dysfunction.
P.S.: I do agree that much of the Democratic Party is too beholden to radical identitarians.
Ruy, are you encouraging people to vote to continue the GOP trifecta? Because that’s the alternative — one I will under NO circumstances support. Fully understand constructive criticism of Democrats and their excesses, but given a choice I’m an advocate of divided government not a one-party monopoly.
Everybody got problems. Everything is cyclical. Right now we have some simple math to consider. 30% are hard core Democrats...30% are hard core Republicans. The 40% in the middle/undecided group is who must be swayed. Right now they are fed up with the GOP/MAGA political wing. Democrats are going to cash in. What happens in 2028 has yet to be determined.
Good article. I will vote Democratic as a vote against Trump. Hoping Dems read your article and start to govern with common sense to embrace AI while I tackling its problems.
I was a hard agree on most of the first half of the essay. Dems will win but without making any changes necessary. I kind of half agree on environmentalism, not worth spending federal money on it, but it is happening regardless. Worldwide more electric cars are being sold this year than internal combustion. Texas leads America in the growth of zero emissions energy. Tesla Full Self Drive is about to change personal transportation. Don't buy any other car.
It will be interesting to hear if Vance or Rubio have any ideas after the midterms.
The tax the millionaires noise is silly. We choose 400 villains instead of facing reality. Our debt comes to about $300,000 per household. Billionaires wouldn't put a dent in it. Sanders back when he was more sane used to talk of taxing millionaires and billionaires, didn't last long.
I love hearing about productivity growth as my portfolio jumps in leaps and bounds. Unfortunately productivity, and GDP generally have become disconnected from wages. My wealth increases, my neighbors continue to struggle earning wages. While we need an improved safety net, people in the lower three quintiles also need to make higher wages.
Ruy - I generally agree with the sentiment of your column, especially on economic growth. But what are the answers? We definitely need an economic growth program!! Share your thoughts on some of the key elements, with AI being a key one.
You didn't ask me, but I'd frame an entire campaign about energy.
Every state will add the same number of nuclear reactors as they have congressmen. We will make clean energy so abundant that companies will want to set up shop here.
Battery research and production. Being able to store energy is the key to unlocking renewables.
Update the whole electrical grid. Like the highway initiative, only with electrical lines. Make electricity easy and affordable and accessible... which can also get us out of the sandbox wars.
Kumbaya, indeed. Left Liberals & progressives are congenitally programmed to happily believe the 1960s and Great Society days are about to be here again. Were it not for $4 and up gasoline, however, exactly how much of an expected blowout would November be? That said, it’s a wide open question of how to reconcile the manifest dangers of AI development, very much including the data centers that run it all, with the needed economic growth.
Ruy, I’m almost as old as you, so I can remember the days when it was cool to be a Democrat - peace, love, tolerance of all were hallmarks of the Dems in the 60’s and 70’s. During the decades following that era, the Democratic Party gradually became less tolerant, less loving and far less cool for normal people. Today, the party is unrecognizable for people of our age - it requires strict conformance to the party line, it requires support of open borders, boys playing girls’ sports, discrimination dressed up as DEI, belief in climate catastrophe fairy tales, etc.
The left even supports the Iran sponsored terrorists in Hamas and Palestine along with the radical Islamists in the US who refuse to live in accordance with US laws. In short, the party has become repulsive 🤮 and effectively unAmerican. While there are still some normal people left in the Democratic Party, most have left the party. It would be best for the US if the Democratic Party splintered, forcing the radicals to become an irrelevant minority party. Good luck! 🍀
> It would be best for the US if the Democratic Party splintered,
I think this goes for the GOP as well. It would be good for all involved if there were a serious opponent for the Democrats. Going up against the clown college that is the current GOP enables and empowers a good deal of the nonsense on the Brahmin left.
The best outcome would be no political parties. An possible working alternative might be adding two more (Greens, Libertarians) since so many don't fit in the current GOP/Dem.
is there a market yet on how many times the democrats will impeach Trump this congress? Cause that is all that will happen for the next two years.
It is unbelievable that Democrats are running on affordability. I live in a blue state, going back decades, with tiny blips of Republican administrations. If the Democrats picked just one rational proposal, like reduce electric rates (the cost of which reverberates throughout the economy) it would be a positive economic policy. But all I see is tax and spend and vicious taxes to punish those who have been successful and employed huge numbers of people. They need more time, and failure to put their revenge behind them and start thinking about growing the economy.
I suppose if they want to run on affordability they can. But 1 look at California would prove they were liars...
Same. I’d be happy to the pay the extra $1000 a month in property taxes I was just assessed if the local schools were thriving, the homeless had actual help and weren’t just surviving on our streets, people weren’t getting shot at food festivals, and we had usable public transit. Not to mention the increased taxes on our business that keep us from actually providing more jobs to people. I want to continue to be Dem, but man do they make it hard.
The Democrats will do in 2026 what they did in 2020: Celebrate victory, then forget every promise they made and proceed to lose the next Presidential election.
Read their 2020 platform. They promised to raise the minimum wage--and left it at $7.25 an hour. They promised to repeal Trump's 2017 tax cuts--and left them in place. They promised to override state right-to-work laws--and did not do it. They promised a "21st Century immigration system" which turned out to mean 12 million more illegal aliens. What did they do instead? They impeached Trump again.
Well.... And I'm not going to make any friends. The reality is the Democrats will do as usual.... Nothing.
They may emphasis may pass articles of Impeachment against DJT. But since they have no chance of getting 66 votes in the Senate? It will be a meaningless pantomime.
Some questions and thoughts:
When was the last time the Democrats actually made a serious attempt to lift the minimum wage? Above the making pretty speeches level, I mean?
Have the Democrats ever made a serious attempt to reverse Citizen's United? Again, above the pretty speeches level?
Have they ever and I mean ever faced up to what the "Free Trade" agreements they supported without question did to Private Sector Unions and the Working Class they purport to support?
Have they ever faced to the fact working class voters are aware of the Law of Supply Demand? And might even be aware of the fact that Millions of people coming from out of the country, whether "Undocumented Immigrants" or H1B's really do have an effect on the wages? Or might even be smart enough to figure out that the increased amount of people chasing the SAME amount of Housing really will affect rents? Despite the claims of the Brahmin Left otherwise?
I have no love for the GOP, they're no friends of mine. But I'm male & Working-class... 2/3rds of a trifecta... Which means the Democratic Party is no friend of mine either. If I was white? They would flush me down the commode with a big smile.
Maybe if I was from Mexico or Guatemala, they would be on my side? But when it was proclaimed by a Democratic Candidate to the cheers of the Brahmin Left that she would trade 1 illegal for 5 American citizens... It became clear the Democrats are the Party of someone else NOT the working-classes for all their lies!
I'll be staying home this Fall and likely in 28. All I can say is NEITHER Party is for Working Classes and a Plague on both houses.
What we have ISN'T a Democracy it's a sad pitiful joke. On the Working Class who benefit NOT at all.
During the 2006 and 2018 blue waves the Dems chose ostensibly moderate candidates (often military vets) in swing districts and states.
The problem is that, after the election, these candidates followed the Pelosi agenda down the line. They became (by and large) loyal foot soldiers for the groups.
There are very few reps or senators who are independent gadflies. They know the money comes from the left and their primary risk comes from the left.
We have recent examples of this in executive positions, too- Biden and Spanberger campaigned as ostensible centrist and immediately became leftists in office.
Now they run candidates like Kamala or Talarico who were unashamedly leftist and “woke” (in terms of culture war views) who try to tell voters they are centrist and reasonable.
The party isn’t reasonable, the donors and activists aren’t reasonable, and few of these candidates are likely to be reasonable nor buck the donor line in any way. Certainly not Talarico.
I think you are right that the party doesn’t see a need to change and the coming victories will make change even less likely.
In national elections they are really dependent upon that Republican undertow. In 2020, in the midst of a recession and a pandemic, Trump refusing to focus outside of his base and relentless negative media coverage on Trump…..Biden (with great name recognition) only managed to win by 45,000 votes across three states. Incredible. More incredible is his deciding to move left after that.
Kamala lost every swing state to a clown and convicted felon.
The Dem brand is fairly toxic outside of its base of wealthy professionals. The only good news for Dems is that the Repubs have no brand at all.
Running against incompetents isn’t a sustainable strategy- it didn’t work in 2024 and barely worked under ideal conditions in 2020. I would love to see Dems broaden their appeal and change their spots, but there appears to be no call for this and no internal leader. And less of a reason to do so after the midterm victories
This column is depressing. There was hope that Ruy could and would introduce more reality to the intra-party discussions. The democrats need to have these come to Jesus moments to move the abysmal perception of the party.
Instead he spent time outlining and documenting the serial lies being emitted by the democrat nominee to replace John Cornyn of Texas. Ruy outlines in detail Talaricos serial lies on policy and the calls the lies tactics.
Calling lies admittedly crafted to mislead clients “tactics” gets to the root of the sink hole.
If Talarico was selling insurance or automobiles he’d be doing time. The fact that Talarico is featured is the path to democrat victory says all you need to know about why the democrat poll numbers suck.
I'm in TX & can't stand Paxton but will hold my nose & vote for him because there's no way even holding my nose I could vote for Talarico. No Way!
Perhaps there's just too much frenzy out there over a midterm election that'll see the House swing to the opposition party and not much else. And I believe a great amount of the animus behind it is that tuned-in liberals feel themselves losing the culture war badly, and have no idea what to do about it.
After Trump won in 2024, there seemed to be millions of Democratic voters hitting social media to tell us all that the dumb voters just wanted cheap bacon and got flimflammed into voting for Trump because of it. The idea that their social vision is even in a real competition, let alone losing handily, is a psychological third rail to them. Even someone like Bill Maher, who has been actively flirting with reality for the last two years, is now saying that Trump's base has turned on him because of tariffs and ICE and whatever other nonsense liberals spend all day thinking about. Every election Trump's ever taken part in he's received more votes than the last. And they think he's lost support because some poll on CNN told them so. The willing embrace of total delusion.
MNH may be an effective campaign strategy but Democrats would have to govern that way to avoid creating a long term problem. Will they do that? Ruy seems to have his doubts as do I. As to AI, Democrats seem split rather than totally opposed. There are a number of commentators on the Left that are very pro-AI. Republicans are also split. The data center issue is confounding the opinion spectrum. It is possible to be pro-AI and anti-data center on a local level. Yeah, these people are NIMBYs but that is reality. An analysis of potential Democratic presidential candidates positions on AI show all of them keeping their options open
The hostility to redistribution of any kind combined with the adoration given to economic growth here is more than a little redolent of trickle-down economics. Growth without a social conscious simply results in an enriched oligarchy. What's more, this piece seems absolutely oblivious to the long-term costs -- socially and economically -- of letting your lower classes sink ever lower into impoverishment and social dysfunction.
P.S.: I do agree that much of the Democratic Party is too beholden to radical identitarians.
Ruy, are you encouraging people to vote to continue the GOP trifecta? Because that’s the alternative — one I will under NO circumstances support. Fully understand constructive criticism of Democrats and their excesses, but given a choice I’m an advocate of divided government not a one-party monopoly.
Everybody got problems. Everything is cyclical. Right now we have some simple math to consider. 30% are hard core Democrats...30% are hard core Republicans. The 40% in the middle/undecided group is who must be swayed. Right now they are fed up with the GOP/MAGA political wing. Democrats are going to cash in. What happens in 2028 has yet to be determined.
Good article. I will vote Democratic as a vote against Trump. Hoping Dems read your article and start to govern with common sense to embrace AI while I tackling its problems.
Hope over reason.
I was a hard agree on most of the first half of the essay. Dems will win but without making any changes necessary. I kind of half agree on environmentalism, not worth spending federal money on it, but it is happening regardless. Worldwide more electric cars are being sold this year than internal combustion. Texas leads America in the growth of zero emissions energy. Tesla Full Self Drive is about to change personal transportation. Don't buy any other car.
It will be interesting to hear if Vance or Rubio have any ideas after the midterms.
The tax the millionaires noise is silly. We choose 400 villains instead of facing reality. Our debt comes to about $300,000 per household. Billionaires wouldn't put a dent in it. Sanders back when he was more sane used to talk of taxing millionaires and billionaires, didn't last long.
I love hearing about productivity growth as my portfolio jumps in leaps and bounds. Unfortunately productivity, and GDP generally have become disconnected from wages. My wealth increases, my neighbors continue to struggle earning wages. While we need an improved safety net, people in the lower three quintiles also need to make higher wages.
Ruy - I generally agree with the sentiment of your column, especially on economic growth. But what are the answers? We definitely need an economic growth program!! Share your thoughts on some of the key elements, with AI being a key one.
You didn't ask me, but I'd frame an entire campaign about energy.
Every state will add the same number of nuclear reactors as they have congressmen. We will make clean energy so abundant that companies will want to set up shop here.
Battery research and production. Being able to store energy is the key to unlocking renewables.
Update the whole electrical grid. Like the highway initiative, only with electrical lines. Make electricity easy and affordable and accessible... which can also get us out of the sandbox wars.
Kumbaya, indeed. Left Liberals & progressives are congenitally programmed to happily believe the 1960s and Great Society days are about to be here again. Were it not for $4 and up gasoline, however, exactly how much of an expected blowout would November be? That said, it’s a wide open question of how to reconcile the manifest dangers of AI development, very much including the data centers that run it all, with the needed economic growth.