At the end of last month, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) held its leadership elections. We’ve covered it in bits and pieces here at PJ Media. My friend and colleague Matt Margolis wrote about how every candidate for DNC chair agreed that racism and misogyny were factors in Kamala Harris’ defeat. MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart, who co-facilitated the forum, expressed his approval.
Another friend and colleague, Robert Spencer, pointed out that new DNC Chair Ken Martin is on record saying that he wants to try Donald Trump for treason. Sigh. Robert also noted that the Democrats chose wormy, mouthy beta-male David “Permascowl” Hogg as vice chair; that choice alone should demonstrate how unserious the party is.
The Democrats’ commitment to identity politics made the DNC’s selection process a byzantine mess. Jonathan Chait explained this in an article he aptly titled “The Democrats Show Why They Lost.”
“To ensure our process accounts for male, female, and nonbinary candidates, we conferred with our [Rules and Bylaws Committee] co-chair, our LGBT Caucus co-chair, and others to ensure that the process is inclusive and meets the gender-balance requirements in our rules,” outgoing chair Jaime Harrison announced to the attendees. (Feel free to make your own jokes about where Hogg fits on this gender spectrum.)
Things got even more comical when members of the audience spoke up and wanted to further complicate the selection process. The Wall Street Journal’s Molly Ball reported that one attendee called for “making sure those appointments reflect the gender and ethnic diversity of the transgender community.” Only one candidate refused to commit to that asininity.
Recommended: Even Disney Is Distancing Itself From DEI Policies
The Democrats are in bad shape, and no less of a Democrat than commentator and author Joe Klein has noticed. He wrote in a recent Substack column:
Yes, friends, still crazy after all these years…and the encroaching dementia is not benign. Can this party be saved? I have my doubts. The intellectual corrosion is comprehensive; it is only matched by the self-righteous arrogance. But what’s the alternative? I’ve been through Dems in Disarray syndrome multiple times in the past: in 1972, in 1980, in 1988, in 2016…but, gotta say, this is the worst I’ve ever seen it. There is a vast cluelessness abroad in the party. Its prevailing vision of an America based on identity now resides in the outhouse.
Oof. That’s as brutal an assessment as I’ve seen. Klein lays the blame at the feet of the Biden administration, which he says “resulted in left-nuttiness below the radar throughout the government. Every so often, the nuttiness would surface—as with the chaos at the Southern border—and Biden would do nothing about it.”
But don’t get your hopes up; Klein is still a liberal’s liberal. He has daggers for Donald Trump, and he still thinks there’s hope under the leadership of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), whom he claims has “big time courage.” No, seriously.
Klein also offers advice, riffing on Ruy Texeira, that the Democrats can get back in the game if they stop name-calling, go moderate on immigration, team up with Trump to abandon identity politics, and “embrace energy abundance” (whatever that means). Of course, today’s Democrats aren’t likely to take any of that advice.
The disarray of the Democrats is glorious to behold, but we still have work to do. Even with a new administration in town, you can still count on us to tell the truth and have tons of fun doing it, and you can help us by becoming a PJ Media VIP.
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