The Democrats' Shame Offensive

Democrats and “The Shame Offensive”
The View from the Middle

Remember the good old days when politicians differentiated themselves from their opponents by talking about policies they supported vs. the policies advanced by their adversary on the other side of the political aisle? They might have argued that they want more or less taxes, more or less regulation. They might suggest that they are for school choice or not or that they are pro-life or pro-choice. But the Democrats have abandoned the policy debate (I’ll suggest why later) and have embraced a strategy I will call “The Shame Offensive”.

This strategy has two components. First, they must convince everyone in the country that President Trump is a racist, a bigot, a xenophobe, a misogynist, a homophobe, an Islamophobe and somehow an anti-Zionist at the same time. But that’s not enough. In addition to accusing Trump of all of these heinous beliefs, they must also condemn anyone who would dare vote for him of the same disgusting views. They are suggesting that 60+ million Americans are racist, bigoted, xenophobic, misogynistic, homophobic, Nazis. They don’t care that this accusation is ridiculous hyperbole that will tear this country apart. This strategy will pit brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor and friend against friend. It will encourage good people on both sides of the political spectrum to hate each other. But that’s Ok, because for them it is all about power. There are, however, a few flaws in this approach.

First, while this emotionally charged “Shame Offensive” may put their base into a wild-eyed, drooling frenzy, it does the same to the far-right supporters of the President. Even the people in the middle are beginning to sense the lack of substance in this approach and are shifting towards the President, as can be witnessed by recent increases in his approval rating.

Second, it is amazing that this same Donald Trump was not a misogynist or a xenophobe when he was a Democrat appearing on the Oprah Winfrey show. It is equally amazing that he wasn’t a racist or a bigot when he was a Democrat who was donating money to Jesse Jackson and his rainbow coalition. Back then he was charming, noble and generous. But now he is a Republican President who had the audacity to defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. He must be destroyed no matter what it does to this country.

The Democratic leadership also misses a very simple reason why millions of people might have voted for Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton was a horrible candidate. I wrote an article back in 2016 that pointed out that we had just nominated the two most unlikable candidates in the history of presidential politics. We had a virtual tie on the despicability meter. Then Hillary decided to insult millions of people with her “basket of deplorables” comment and to not visit Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in the closing weeks of the campaign. Throw in her actual differences in policy with Trump on things like immigration, education, healthcare and the Supreme Court and there were plenty of legitimate reasons to choose Trump over Hillary.

The big problem for Democrats is that they can’t win on the issues. They have already declared themselves the official resistance to Trump. They must be against everything the President supports, and in favor of everything he opposes. That means they must be for higher taxes and more regulations. They have to be against the criminal justice reform that just passed and they must be for socialism which the President just denounced in his State of the Union speech.

That fact is that many of his policies are working. The economy is roaring. Unemployment is at its lowest levels in over 40 years and it is at record low levels for Blacks and Hispanics. We have a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico which replaced the disastrous NAFTA agreement. Consumer confidence is hitting record highs and the stock market is obviously anticipating an historic trade deal with China. We have moved our embassy to Jerusalem and the world didn’t end. North Korea hasn’t tested a nuclear bomb or launched a missile in over a year. There are other positive things going on in this country that you will never hear about from CNN or the mainstream media, but the Democrats MUST be against all of this, because they are the resistance.

So, where have they gone. First, they must ridicule every American who voted for Trump before and might vote for him again. They can’t win your vote with their policy positions, so they must make you ashamed to vote for him. I just don’t think this is a winning strategy in the long run. Second, they must take positions that are so far away from Donald Trump that they have begun to slip off the left edge of the political spectrum. They are now the party of the “Green New Deal” which the CBO just estimated would cost the country $93 Trillion over ten years (only one Trillion off my estimate of a month ago). They are the party of “abortion during delivery”, and the party of totally open borders (Beto O’Rourke now wants to take down the existing 700 miles of walls on our southern border). Unfortunately, none of these positions are winners with the vast majority of the American people.

I actually fear for the Democratic Party and for the country if they actually get the power they crave. What happened to the JFK’s and the LBJ’s and even the Bill Clintons (minus the moral shortcomings) of the Democratic party? I encourage the Democrats to get off the “hate train” and enter the political debate with some reasonable, positive policy positions. If they do not, I predict another four years of President Trump.