Rebranding

 

Prominent Democrats ... have been explicitly rejecting tenets of liberal orthodoxy in high-profile ways, often in venues that might attract independent or pro-Trump listeners.

--Naftali Bendavid

Item. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, in the first episode of his new podcast, said it was “deeply unfair” for transgender athletes to participate in girls’ sports, breaking with the Democratic Party. More recently Newsom traveled to Tennessee to appear on a podcast hosted by Shawn Ryan, "a conservative, tattooed former Navy SEAL, who opened the show by handing Newsom a Sig Sauer pistol that the Democratic governor proclaimed 'too cool' ” (Bendavid).

Item. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro joined a podcast hosted by Ted Nugent, the pro-Trump activist and onetime hard rocker, to discuss his support for allowing hunting in the Keystone State on Sundays.

Item. Former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel appeared on the Megyn Kelly Show, where he said that a man cannot become a woman — then joked that given the likely reaction of his fellow Democrats, that answer would cause him “to go into a witness protection plan.” (We remember this asshole, how he treated Howard Dean. That's cause enough to need a protection plan.)

What's going on is a party rebranding that, if not necessary, was inevitable. I won't get into every previously fringe thing that has gotten itself written into Democratic hymns of community, but starting with all the gender dysphoria and the hyper-correct way to address her/them/him/yourn -- hyper-correct, if you know what's good for you -- all the so-called "cancel culture" that actually does exist and from which conservatives have their stereotypes of liberals. I agree with some of that criticism that the creeping loopiness on the Left does not a practical (winning) campaign make. I very well know how far some members of my tribe will push their personal crusades. I lived through the civil rights/anti-war/up-against-the-wall-m-effers street action of the 1960s.

I want to win back our democracy enough to allow actual good Democrats to piss off some sector of our coalition. Including me. If they are otherwise the best alternative to an ass-kissing trumpster, I don't care about orthodoxy. I don't care if they do some blatant pandering. I want them to win. I want them in office. I want the other side out of power. Decisively.