Where do we go? Where do we go now? Where do we go?
—Axl Rose, “Sweet Child O’ Mine”
The Democratic base is frustrated and demoralized. Ever since President Roomba Biden meandered aimlessly (and mindlessly) in his one and only presidential debate, it’s been one horror show after another. (And not even a good horror show, like those classic “Friday the 13th” movies — I’m talking the bad ones that don’t even respect the viewer enough to include gratuitous nudity.)
Oh, by the way: Biden Roomba’d across the debate stage on June 27, 2024. That was 250-plus days ago!
At this point, the Dems are quickly approaching a yearlong losing streak. That’s just brutal: They’re the jobbers of D.C. The Washington Generals should probably sue the Democrats for copyright infringement.
So, if you’re a Democrat, what’s your next move?
Remember, we’re not their target audience. It doesn’t matter what we think because Democratic coalitions always come from the inside out, not the outside in. In the GOP, an outsider like Trump can force the party’s hand, delivering a new, diverse voting bloc. That’s been the secret to MAGA’s success.
But for better or worse (usually worse), that ain’t how the Democratic Party is structured: Just ask Bernie Sanders.
Theirs is an organizational hierarchy that reflects their institutional media advantage: A handful of powerful Democrats will consult with donors and make key decisions, which they then try to popularize through their sycophants in the media. When the Democrats — and the mainstream media — were at their peak, it was an extraordinarily effective one-two punch.
They won a lot of elections and passed a lot of legislation.
It worked like this: Once the “Donkey Elders” settled on a decision, they’d promote it to the top journalists at The New York Times (and a few other top-tier outlets). Soon, an echo chamber would form; the smaller outlets would fall into line, and the story would be “sold” exclusively from the Democrats’ point of view.
The Democrats are still trying this approach, but it’s just not effective anymore. One of the permanent changes of the MAGA revolution was the diminishment of the mainstream media’s reach and prestige: Walter Cronkite might’ve been “the most trusted man in America” in the 1960s and 1970s, but that was a very long time ago. Today, the alphabet anchors are widely dismissed as “Fake News.”
But since the Democrats still use the same old media tactics, we can “reverse engineer” their PR strategies to know exactly what they’re gonna do next.
For example, we know the Democrats will be auditioning new flagbearers via stupidly glowing media profiles. This week, the flagbearer du jour is Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). Then, when Murphy bombs, it’ll be someone else.
I guarantee you.
And we also know the Democrats will try to sabotage the government, triggering a federal shutdown. Credit to my esteemed colleague, Rick Moran, who broke the story yesterday: “Democrats Look to Blow Up Budget Bill” (go read it!). As Rick warned, "…blowing up the budget negotiations may get some traction."
The Politico story he referenced (“Democrats Are Serious About a Shutdown”) is the classic liberal trial balloon: You float a story out to a “trusted” media outlet, hoping to get a feel for public opinion. If you get a good response, you double down; if the opposite happens, you forget it and move on.
But this time, the Democrats’ target audience is their own base of activists and donors. And after such a lengthy losing streak, the Democrats would rather blow up the whole government than let Trump use it. You see, liberals are in an absolute meltdown ‘cause nothing is working anymore.
Well, if you give ‘em a choice between something and nothing, they’re gonna pick something at every turn:
This time, it’s Democrats who are itching for a fight — over the Department of Government Efficiency cuts that Trump has blessed and deputized mogul Elon Musk has gleefully carried out.
Senior House Democrats have spent recent days privately surveying their members about whether they’d be willing to shut the government down over DOGE cuts, according to multiple well-placed Democratic sources I spoke to over the weekend.
So far, they’re encountering little resistance. [emphasis added]
Your ears ought to perk at the word “resistance”: That’s a term the Democrats used extensively during Trump’s first term. What was once old is new again. And it’s coming directly from the Democrats’ party elders:
Usually shutdown saber-rattling originates on the fringes of the two parties and gains momentum until leaders just can’t ignore it, lest they risk their own jobs. This time, however, the foment is coming from the leadership table itself — where there is growing anger over the lightning-fast Trump-Musk campaign to gut federal agencies and the glacial pace of court action to stop it. [emphasis added]
And that’s the real lede of the story: The Democratic Party leadership has decided to blow up the government. It’s a calculated, deliberate decision.
Assuming this trial balloon is met with rapt applause from angry liberals — which is a very safe assumption, especially after Trump’s barnburner of a speech last night was VERY well received — a government shutdown is now inevitable.
President Trump's speech to a joint session of Congress has radical Democrats in panic mode, and their childish protests won't stop all of the winning.
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