Measuring the depth of Democrats’ bankruptcy cannot be done using conventional methods. The reason is because it wasn’t created using conventional methods. Instead, this bankruptcy has occurred despite every advantage America’s elite could shower on Democrats.
Biden’s final approval ratings suffice to show where Democrats’ performance on issues stood with the American people. On the economy, he had a 59.5 percent disapproval rating; on foreign policy, 61.2 percent; on immigration, 64.8 percent; on inflation, 63.3 percent; and on crime, 59 percent.
As abysmal as these ratings are they don’t fully capture Democrats’ poor performance. For one thing, the issues surveyed don’t include some of the Democrats’ most extreme positions — for example, transgender surgery and radical environmentalism. More broadly, Democrats earned these terrible ratings despite having been extended every possible political advantage.
The unedited transcript of CBS’s 60 Minutes interview with Vice President Harris reminds America how great the Democrats’ advantages were… and are. Breccan Thies summarized Harris’s video airbrushing in the Federalist: “CBS deceptively edited the interview to help the Harris campaign with her comically poor ability to answer questions coherently.” (RELATED: FCC Pulls a ‘60 Minutes’ on ‘60 Minutes’)
Undoubtedly, no one on the right (or simply anyone who is unbiased) is surprised. However, this single interview is just the iceberg’s tip when it comes to Democrats’ political advantages. Of course, as the CBS interview — and NBC’s last-minute SNL appearance — demonstrate, Democrats had the establishment media in the bag. On one hand, they gave all they could in the way of favorable coverage. On the other hand, they covered up all they could throughout the Biden–Harris administration — Biden’s incapacity for over three and a half years and then Harris’s limitations for the campaign’s final months.
However, Democrats had far more than simply favorable media coverage. Their campaign had hundreds of millions more to spend — enough to literally fritter money away. They had a surplus of over four million popular votes from California and New York. They had an overwhelming level of support from the A-listers of movies, television, music, sports, business, and academia. In short, Democrats had America’s entire elite fronting for them. (RELATED: Campaign Grifters Ironically Killed Dems’ Government Grift)
Even this does not measure the full extent of Democrats’ advantage. For over eight years, Donald Trump was vilified by Democrats, the establishment media, and America’s elite. He was investigated relentlessly while in the White House and was impeached twice. After he left the White House, he was subjected to lawfare: four different indictments by Democrat prosecutors. He was called a “fascist,” a “threat to democracy,” and his supporters “garbage.” His overall media coverage was overwhelmingly negative. (RELATED: How Democrat Lawfare Launched Trump’s Comeback)
Despite all the advantages, Democrats lost. Badly. They lost all seven swing states — despite having hundreds of millions in extra campaign cash to focus on them. They lost the popular vote for the first time in 20 years — despite having a four-million popular vote advantage from California and New York — and the electoral vote by almost 100.
Yet as bad as their defeat was, imagine its magnitude if Democrats had competed on a level playing field. Or on a playing field as tilted as Americans’ own opinions against Democrats’ extreme policies.
Democrats could only try to hide their extremism. And the best candidates they could tap for this were first, Joe Biden and then, Kamala Harris. These patent frauds of moderation — Lunch Bucket Joe and Kamala’s campaign of joy — were as close as Democrats could get to mainstream candidates.
They had to try — even with Biden and Harris — because the party’s positions were so extremely bad. They chose abortion as an issue, but they wanted to expand it to virtually any point until birth. Their immigration position was illegal immigration and open borders. Their economic agenda meant inflation to America’s middle and working classes. Their foreign policy record was devoid of anything that could remotely be called a success.
The common perception of Harris’s inability to say why she wanted to be president in the edited 60 Minutes interview is that she was too inarticulate. The more likely answer goes to the Democrats’ bigger problem: she, and they, cannot utter aloud the extremist ends that they seek power to implement.
Against all of 2024’s objective political evidence of their extremism’s failure, Democrats are still embracing it. As their frustration builds over America’s rejection of them, Democrats are becoming still more extreme: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries pledged to take their fight to the streets, Rep. Al Green has filed new impeachment articles against Trump, and Democrat demonstrations are breaking out across the country. (RELATED: Taking It to the Streets … Democrats Finally Revert to Vindictive Form)
The depth of Democrats’ political bankruptcy is far deeper than it appears. But it is less than it will be soon. Both are true because Democrats cannot help themselves; they cannot because they cannot stop being who they are.
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J.T. Young is the author of the recent book, Unprecedented Assault: How Big Government Unleashed America’s Socialist Left from RealClear Publishing and has over three decades’ experience working in Congress, the Department of Treasury, the Office of Management, and Budget, and representing a Fortune 20 company.