Liberal: Democrats’ Path to Recovery
“Three months after the Democrats’ electoral drubbing, the party is still reeling — leaderless, rudderless, and more unpopular than at any time in modern American history,” notes Ruy Teixeira at The Free Press. Instead of “doubling down on their least popular policy agenda items,” Democrats “should seek compromise on issues” where Trump has popular support and oppose him on issues where voters do — “such as blanket tariffs on U.S. trading partners.” A moderate policy agenda should embrace “a secure border” and “an end to runaway illegal immigration” and admit “voters care more about cheap, reliable energy than fighting climate change.” “To rebuild their shattered party,” Democrats will “have no choice but to exercise restraint and choose their fights with Trump wisely.”
From the right: End of the ‘Diversity’ Regime
President Trump’s recent executive orders “could mark the end of the affirmative-action, diversity, and DEI regime,” smiles James Piereson at The New Criterion. “In the wake of the George Floyd episode in 2020,” DEI advocates “went too far in pushing the movement in an increasingly radical direction,” transitioning “from equal opportunity and fair play toward an agenda that required the re-education of Americans in every walk of life.” If Trump, and potentially his successor, “can keep the pressure on” for four or eight years “then advocates will find it difficult to recreate the regime” because by then they “will be out of their jobs and scattered to the four winds.” “It would be a major breakthrough if Trump can end the diversity regime once and for all and scrub its pervasive and malignant influence” from American society.
Watchdog: A Revolt Against NY Gov’t
In polling by Morning Consult, “New Yorkers by a margin of more than two-to-one said they aren’t getting their money’s worth from taxes they pay in the state,” the Empire Center reports. Other findings similarly suggest voter dissatisfaction with state and local government services and policies: “Only 30 percent of public school parents said they would send their children to ‘your neighborhood public school’ ” if “money wasn’t an issue,” while 65%% chose private schools, charters or homeschooling. And 59% “said the state’s greenhouse gas-reduction strategies should not increase the price of energy, even if that slows progress toward reducing emissions” — while another 20% back “doing ‘everything [the state] can to reduce the price of energy’ even if it means higher greenhouse gas emissions.”
Journalist: Dems, Don’t Die on USAID Hill
While some Democrats see the US Agency for International Development as “a rallying point following Donald Trump’s presidential victory,” warns Politico’s Rachel Bade, others fear that’s “a monster miscalculation,” as “some prominent Democrats told me they have serious strategic reservations about how their party is fighting back.” Strategist David Axelrod warns, “My head tells me: ‘Man, Trump will be well satisfied to have this fight.’ ” Similarly, Rahm Emanuel declares USAID “not a hill I’m going to die on.” Instead, James Carville says, the party needs to “cry foul on a billionaire coming in and slashing government services for Americans.” All three agree, Bade notes, “that Democrats need to save their outrage for issues that will resonate with voters,” like dismantling the Department of Education.
From the left: Let Godzilla Eat Washington?
“Trump has been in office two weeks and changes are coming so fast, even I’m freaked out,” marvels Racket News’ Matt Taibbi. “He’s Godzilla, stomping on everything” from “billions in federal grants” to “DEI, Mexico and Canada and China,” and “maybe the Department of Education.” The “opposition” is “in total message paralysis,” as “harrumphing bureaucrats are now daily rushing to defend the indefensible,” whether it’s “slanderous” misreporting or “waste and budget scammery.” Many “double-down” on defending “the two-party scam: we never cut, always adding to the mountain of self-dealing.” Despite “the questionable legality of the DOGE team’s bypass of Congress,” the idea of Elon Musk “unleashed as a punishment for something scans. Now we’re seeing the foul vapors and mutations and scurrying things of the contracting world rush in the open.” “At least our taxes are paying for a good movie this year.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
