H/T LYNN
The famously disciplined party is finally breaking ranks.
First, they lost the comedians. They let the politics get in the way of the funny. You never do that. The late-night shows became sappy appeals. Comedy Central would play half an hour of an Englishman explaining how stupid we all are in America. “Clapter” replaced laughter. The message became the point. And funny men like Shane Gillis, Bill Burr, and Dave Chappelle rebelled.
But progressive politics are getting in the way of a whole lot more these days. Public safety is a top concern. Illegal immigration is impacting daily life in Boston, Manhattan, and Chicago. Public opinion on transitioning children is finally — mercifully — starting to sink.
Fear is in the air, panic is contagious, and party discipline is creaking, if not yet cracking.
Democrats are seriously worried about their electoral prospects. A party famous for its discipline and unity on the floor and in primaries (if not in Twitter spats) is splintering.
Hillary Clinton threw her support behind a primary challenger against a sitting Democratic congressman, Squad member Jamaal Bowman of New York. Endorsements don’t often have as big an impact as people pretend, but that’s not the point. The point is the naked aggression against a sitting left-wing congressman from the former head of the party.
A Thursday article in the heterodox, anti-groupthink British publication UnHerd finally highlighted the obvious problem facing Bernie Sanders, Vermont’s longtime “independent” senator and presidential primary darling. Called “Bernie Sanders has lost Vermont,” the piece explains the deepening divisions in the whitest state in the union and the loss of the working class.
It was bound to happen. The quirky old man used to be a color-blind socialist who was OK with his state’s gun culture and had some more libertarian views. There’s no room for that in the new progressivism of the Democratic Party, and by the 2020 primary, he’d gotten the order and toed the line.
And where is Joe Biden in all this? He’s staring blankly, wandering off stage, and moving like he’s made of brittle straw. The White House can deny it (and it does), but it’s plain to see. Fear is in the air, panic is contagious, and party discipline is creaking, if not yet cracking.
On Wednesday, former President Donald Trump returned to D.C. to meet with Apple’s Tim Cook; JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon; the CEOs of Nasdaq, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, American Express, Bank of America; and about 70 other top business leaders who once turned their backs on him. He was well received.
On Friday, Trump pulled ahead of Biden for the first time in 538’s election forecast.
This thing is far from certain, and far from over, but if Trump wins in November, you can expect the slashing and cutting inside the Democratic Party to turn into whooping and shooting. The party of Jefferson and Jackson is heading toward civil war.
UnHerd: Bernie Sanders has lost Vermont
