The Democratic National Committee’s agenda at its late August meeting should demystify why the “liberal” party’s voter-approval hit an all-time low of 26% in the spring (source: Rasmussen). Start with a Navajo woman performing a “land acknowledgement” (i.e. we live on “stolen land”) in a native language that no one in the audience understood, and end with DNC chair Ken Martin urging attendees to “stand up for every LGBTQ kid and their family who want to play sports like any other kid,” in spite of 67% of registered Democrats opposing transgenders in girls sports.
It is one clueless political party that opens with a useless appeal to 1% of the US electorate (Native Americans) and closes with a passé gesture to maybe 1% of the US population (transgenders). Because Trump won 68% of the Native American vote in 2024 (source: NEP exit poll), there’s no way “native lands” will ever be given back, and 80% of all voters opposes transgenders in girls bathrooms and sporting events.
To open and close with performative gestures that raise hopes for lost causes just proves how rudderless the Democrat Party has become. When it’s not supporting the 20% position (anti-semitism) of 80-20 issues, it’s handing half-wits (Ilhan Omar) the microphone to defend those 20% positions. Bottom line: Democrats are losing we the people so fast, they now are in dire need of a strong leader to re-invent their party.
STEP ONE is to get on the right side of cultural issues, so the party’s new leader must be a persuasive centrist (a “new” Bill Clinton) to pivot away from the woke-liberalism that’s alienated its working-class base (62% of the electorate). This means dismantling all of the identity caucuses before the 2028 primaries. Minority issues are important, but they can no longer be paramount in a presidential election. “Defunding police departments” and “ending cash bail” alienates independent voters, so stop saying it.
STEP TWO is to re-apportion the 448 members of the DNC and 3,949 delegates at the 2028 Convention to look like America’s working and middle classes:
- Replace the college educated and teacher unionists with junior college graduates and trade unionists
- Replace the preachy women and NGO executives with men in hard hats and small-business owners
- Replace the non-binary singletons with married parents
These cross-sections of America represent “diversity” of personal situations, and answer the Democrat Party’s “is it me” question with reassuring optics and sound bites. Above all, this “new” base will embrace the “equal opportunity” and “tolerance” planks that will re-connect the party with Whites (75% of voters) and Christians (67%). The macro-message in 2028 must be Democrats stand for color-blind economic populism.
STEP THREE is to make “A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats” the 2028 convention’s theme, and promote popular solutions like “school choice” and “opportunity zones” for every low-income community, be it urban-and-black or rural-and-white. Further, Democrats must stand for American Dynamism and American Exceptionalism by voicing full-throated support for AI and cryptocurrency. And don’t neglect the small-business owners; let them support “reasonable” taxes and regulations in prime time.
STEP FOUR is to stop talking about President Trump – it just looks like tiny talk to 80% of voters – and start promising to keep what’s working. Decent folks think it is OK to down-size federal employment and support urban police with the National Guard. Then, start talking about what the government is not doing that it should start doing. Like a pathway to citizenship that deports criminals, rewards assimilation, and collects back taxes (e.g.pay something for past entitlements that are reserved for US citizens).
STEP FIVE is to sponsor SMART laws (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) that can gain bipartisan support. Stop delegating a bill’s specifics to un-elected agencies. No more entitlement programs with results that can’t be measured or goals that can’t be achieved. Introduce bills that are relevant to two-thirds of the country. Attach a sunset provision to every entitlement and spending bill; if it is no longer popular or working in 10 to 20 years, it must no longer be the law of the land.
Sadly, the odds of Democrats pivoting away from identity politics and taking the microphone away from Michelle Obama are slim to none, because woke-liberals are too entrenched in the party hierarchy, and need chaos to hold onto their power. So, don’t hold your breath hoping for a competent governor like Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro to drag his party into the 21st century – and why is that?
Look at the Democrats in charge of the largest blue states (see caricatures up top). All three – California, Illinois and New York – have growing budget deficits and shrinking populations – and whose fault its that? Let’s just say broke, dumb, and unpopular is no way to ascend to the presidency.
If ever there were a party in need of a miracle…