Over in The Atlantic, Tyler Austin Harper urges the Democrats to emphasize their populist stances and to accept some differences of opinion on social issues, concluding, “whichever party can credibly combine economic populism with moderate social positions will win elections. There is no mystery here.”
The thing is, the majority of people who make decisions in the modern Democratic Party – the elected lawmakers, their top staffers, the leaders and top staffers at the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, some influential columnists, television hosts, talking heads, etc.… well, they all like themselves the way they are, and they’re not going to want to change.
They may like having Jon Fetterman around, and prefer him representing Pennsylvania to Mehmet Oz, but they don’t want to act, think, speak, vote or dress like him.
The current leadership of the Democratic Party loved making abortion rights the centerpiece of their argument in 2024. Polling consistently indicated that, at most, it was tied for a distant second-most important issue on voters’ minds, tied with the border and illegal immigration; the economy, inflation, and cost of living was always the top issue, pollster after pollster, month after month. It’s not that top Democrats didn’t know voters were worried about the economy. It’s that they didn’t care. They wanted to win the election by pledging to keep abortion legal, everywhere and always.
Top Democrats genuinely believe that “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs are a good thing that makes everyone get along better, and will likely never accept the research indicating that “some DEI programs not only fail to achieve their goals but can actively undermine diversity efforts” and “increase rather than reducing racial resentment.”
Most top Democrats genuinely believe that someone born male who identifies as female should be allowed to use women’s restrooms and locker rooms, and participate in women’s sports, and that any perspective different from this is horrific bigotry. Massachusetts congressman Seth Moulton dared question that position and he’s getting his very own Salem Witch Trial over it.
Top Democrats loved the idea of the U.S. taxpayer paying for their college loans. (At least 30 senior White House staffers owed as much as $4.7 million in student loans.)
Twenty-nine percent of Americans believe “marriages between same-sex couples should not be recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages.” The modern Democratic Party will not only never agree to this position, they are unlikely to ever want to be in the same room as someone who holds that opinion. In many cases, they likely believe that the reason they are in politics is to drive this perspective out of American life.
This crowd is never going to want to get rid of affirmative action, build additional border fencing, or support widespread deportation of illegal immigrants. They believe that their purchase of electric vehicles – often with a generous taxpayer-funded rebate – makes them a better person than those who buy trucks and SUVs. (In many cases, the whole point of purchasing an electric vehicle is to demonstrate their loyalty to the correct tribe; note the popularity of “I bought this before Elon went crazy” bumper stickers for Teslas.)
Considering how quickly a progressive can adopt changes in language, perhaps terms like “Latinx” and “birthing person” will rapidly disappear from their lexicon. But at root of that is a philosophy of “no enemies to the left,” a jaw-dropping unwillingness to accept any idea proposed by progressives and an extreme reticence to criticize anyone on the left, no matter how . (Elizabeth Warren’s perspective on the assassin is a vivid recent example, as well as the Democratic Party’s overall response to the fanatical anti-Israel protesters.)
Sure, you can find your share of nutty ideas floating around in Republican circles. But try proposing “abolish the police” or “abolish ICE” at your next backyard barbeque or holiday party. Somewhere along the line, probably in the late Obama years, the alleged responsible adults in the Democratic Party lost the ability to say, “no, that’s a stupid idea, and you’re a stupid person for suggesting it.”
So yes, in 2026, Democrats can follow Harper’s suggestions and talk up raising the minimum wage (again) and how public college should be free and emphasize that “making sure everyone has health-care coverage is the government’s responsibility” – positions that polling indicates a majority of the public supports. But it will be a long time before the leaders of the Democratic Party moderate on all of these other issues, if it ever happens. It’s just too central to their identity for them to give it up that easily.