Democrats need a Donald Trump

Democrats have a plan to fix their party, eject the hard-left activists who have run it since President Barack Obama was in the White House, and return it to its roots. Or more specifically, a group of Democrat consultants have a way to fix their party, and some dejected D.C. denizens are excited for it. Of course, the report is already under attack from the left. And signs on the ground all point to none of its ideas being achievable any time soon. Here’s why.

The plan comes from a February meeting hosted by Third Way, a Democrat think thank that, while working to suppress actual third-party candidates, says it is sick of the identity politics and other hard-left ideas animating so much of the professional Democratic Party.

There’s no better (or more necessary time) to change the direction of a political party than after the defeat of a one-term president.

The retreat’s takeaways that Third Way highlighted in its report include Democrats' "overemphasis on identity politics”; “out-of-touch ... elite ... progressive views”; “failure to prioritize economic concerns”; "vague, politically correct, or overly intellectual ... messaging"; intolerance of "internal debate"; loyalty to "elite institutions (academia, media, government bureaucracy)"; "activist groups and progressive staffers”; "reactionary" cultural politics on crime and immigration; insistence on “buzzwords” like "pregnant people" and "Latinx"; and unrelenting criticism of "America's flaws (racism, sexism, inequality)."

It’s a pretty good list of the problems in the party and why it’s gone so far adrift over the past 12 years. But the problem is that the reason the Democrats have embraced these things is they are absolutely central to the philosophies of so many of their professional class. How do you change that with a paper?

Critics were particularly aghast at the group’s calls to “move away from the dominance of small-dollar donors whose preferences may not align with the broader electorate,” "integrate and engage with" corporations, propose "spending cuts where needed," kick the progressive staffers and activists to the curb, and go to gun shows. How dare they.

Other critics pointed to Third Way’s total embrace of former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) as some kind of talisman to appeal to normal American voters. And this gets to the heart of their problem: Third Way (and a lot of its pals) are advocating for a neo-liberal, pro-war, pro-corporate kind of Democratic Party well defined by people like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D, then I-Ariz.). Notice that the former is a failed presidential candidate and the latter was a lonely voice on Capitol Hill before retiring last year after only one term.

Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee, currently under the leadership of a 24-year-old anti-gun activist, was quick to distance itself from the report. "This was NOT a retreat hosted by the Democratic National Committee or the Association of State Democratic Committees," party officer Jane Fleming Kleeb tweeted in response to Politico's Sunday piece on the report.

“It doesn’t suggest that’s the case anywhere in the piece,” Politico’s reporter responded.

We know, but people think it is! Fleming Kleeb replied. Truly amazing stuff.

Chuck Rocha, the founder of Solidarity Strategies, "a 100% minority-run and operated political consulting firm dedicated to progressive politics," complained that no one from his firm was invited to attend (shock), "even though we were the most successful Democratic firm of 2024."

"My sources tell me there were no black or Latino consultants in attendance," he continued. "And no one WITHOUT a college degree."

“I don’t have all the answers to the future of the Democratic Party,” one local elected Democrat tweeted, “but a bunch of consultants at a retreat in the DC suburbs talking about 'embracing masculinity' and avoiding small dollar donors is def not it.”

And then there’s the problem of just how sane even a group like Third Way is able to be when the Cheney-touting firm busied itself during President Joe Biden’s term in office attacking Northern Virginia parents rightfully complaining about identity politics taking over their kids’ schools.

But Democratic reformers face an even bigger problem than embracing failed warmongers and corporations — or even the widespread taint of the past five years of increasingly radical Democratic politics: They lack a visionary leader to actually lead this change.

Take, for example, the Republican Party, which has undergone a massive (though far from complete) transformation over the past eight years from a party of war, free trade, corporate interests, white middle-class voters, and immigration to an anti-war party of tariffs, multiracial working-class voters, and immigration restrictionism. This wasn’t the work of the policy nerds who gathered after presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s disastrous 2012 loss (though they proposed a lot of these same ideas). It was the work of President Donald Trump (much to the chagrin of those same “Reformicons”) and for years was resisted at nearly every turn by D.C. Republicans.

Today, Trump’s new Republican politics is ascendant, with brilliant cultural, business, government, thought, and political leaders like podcaster Joe Rogan, rocket man Elon Musk, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, host Tucker Carlson, and Vice President JD Vance in the wings. The thinking side of the fight was extremely important, and a lot of people from my colleagues in journalism and opinion to the think tanks put in years of yeoman’s work to back it up, but it took the man Politico’s founding editor begrudgingly called “the greatest American figure of his era” to do it.

To put it bluntly, Democrats need a Donald Trump.

There’s no better (or more necessary time) to change the direction of a political party than after the defeat of a one-term president. Incumbents have all the advantages, and American voters very rarely demand change before they’ve had their shot. Even with Biden’s ugly ouster, voters swinging back behind Trump was as clear a rejection of Democrats’ policies, messages, and results as can be delivered. Is anyone listening?

Post-election polling doesn’t hold out much hope. In all three national polls of likely Democratic primary voters, former Vice President Kamala Harris leads former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg by double digits. In a California Democratic primary poll, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) leads Harris by 12. Harris, a hard-left progressive Democrat, was crushed just months ago by Trump. Buttigieg reacted quickly, removing his pronouns from his bio on X. And if California’s out-of-control homelessness, regulation, and crime on Newsom’s watch weren’t enough of a political problem, his largest city just burned down on national TV.

Do any of these people strike you as a Franklin Delano Roosevelt, seizing the moment after three successive Republican presidents? A Ronald Reagan, bestriding the party after the disasters of Watergate and President Gerald Ford?

Democrats need a visionary to lead out of the wilderness. They haven’t found him yet.

The New York Times, February 2025: Democrats fear they are missing the moment to remake the party

The Washington Post:Universities, colleges took prestige and public support for granted. Now they are paying the price

The Spectator: The woke ‘Cathedral’ is finally falling

Politico magazine, January 2025: Time to admit it: Trump is a great president. He’s still trying to be a good one.

The New York Times, July 2014: Can the G.O.P. be a party of ideas?

The Spectator:Trump: Biden told him he blames ‘Barack’ and ‘Pelosi’ for his defeat

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