In just about every way imaginable, the Democrats’ cupboard is completely bare.
We’ve been talking about this ever since His High Holiness, the self-anointed “Lightbringer” Barack Obama, wrapped up eight years of his “Me First” presidency. Not only did his administration do serious damage to the country, but it also hollowed out his own party. That’s why by 2016, the best the Democrats could come up with was Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine — the most uninspired ticket in modern political history. You could pour Clorox on that lineup and still not get anything whiter or more lifeless.
The Democrats’ decision to drag out Granny Maojackets for another presidential run—eight years after the upstart Obama shoved her off the stage she thought she owned—was the clearest sign imaginable that the party’s bench was empty. They’ve got nothing. No fresh faces, no new ideas, no one the American people actually care about.
And this emptiness doesn’t stop at the ballot box—it runs straight through the party’s so-called “leadership.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer doesn’t play hardball as well as some of his predecessors. That’s putting it mildly. Schumer doesn’t play anything well. It’s why this government shutdown was a political disaster for Democrats. They dove headfirst into it with all the planning and foresight of a bar napkin brainstorm by a roomful of drunks—then woke up hungover and clueless about what to do next.
Now, a growing number of Democrats are openly calling for Schumer to step aside. And look, I won’t pretend it’s not entertaining to watch chaos on the other side. But the problem with cheering for his downfall is that, in the Democratic Party, there’s always someone worse waiting in the wings. That bare cupboard they’ve got? It’s crawling with diseased rodents just itching to take over the kitchen.
Take a look at the names being floated to replace Schumer if he goes. It’s a misfit’s gallery of extremists, opportunists, and ideologues.
Right behind Schumer in the pecking order is Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin — the Democrats’ Senate whip and one of the loudest voices lately trashing his own party’s handling of the shutdown. Don’t mistake that for leadership or principle. Durbin isn’t some reformer; he’s just another career politician sniffing opportunity. I wouldn’t trust an Illinois politician as far as I could throw him — especially not at his inevitable parole hearing. He’s circling a wounded Schumer like a shark that smells blood, hoping to snatch the top job. And if he gets it? He’ll go right back to being the same sanctimonious, big-government hack he’s always been.
Then there’s the rest of the Democratic “bench” — if you can call it that. Next in line: Hawaii’s Brian Schatz, Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin, Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar, and New Jersey’s Cory Booker. That lineup has more in common with a Soviet Politburo than a modern American political party. Schatz might be the quietest of the bunch (which isn’t saying much), but he’s probably the most ideologically extreme. Klobuchar? Everyone knows she’s the most unhinged of the group. And Booker — well, according to him, he’s apparently got the largest bladder in human history.
Just take a quick look at the states represented by Democratic leadership in the Senate, and you’ll see exactly why the party is so hopelessly out of touch with everyday Americans. Their leadership roster is a political echo chamber. Starting with Schumer, you’ve got New York, Illinois, Hawaii, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and New Jersey — five deep-blue states and one that’s purplish on a good day.
These are people who wouldn’t recognize Middle America if you dropped them in the middle of it with a map and a compass. And yet, they still like to pretend they’re the party of the working class — the same working class they haven’t spoken to in decades. Remember when Democrats used to brag about being the voice of Middle America? Yeah, those days are long gone.
It’s no better over in the House. Their leadership lineup comes straight from the coasts and the liberal bubble: New York’s Hakeem Jeffries, Massachusetts’ Katherine Clark, and Californians Pete Aguilar and Ted Lieu — capped off by Joe Neguse from what’s now deep-blue Colorado. Not a single voice from the heartland, not a single leader who actually understands what real Americans care about. And they wonder why their message keeps falling flat.
With the lone exception of Colorado, every member of Democratic congressional leadership represents the literal fringes of the country. From the coasts to the Great Lakes, they’re clustered on the edges — politically, geographically, and culturally. Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois all border the Great Lakes, which is close enough to Canada for me. It’s almost like the Democrats are deliberately sketching a picture of just how out of touch they are with the rest of America.
Let them keep drawing it. The clearer that picture becomes, the better. Maybe then Republicans can double down on Wisconsin and remind voters in the heartland which party actually understands — and fights for — them.
