Democrats sacrificed their causes to the process (and there's hell to pay)

“Process, process, process!” That’s the rallying call of the 2025 Democrats.

This battle cry isn’t exactly “Remember the Alamo!” or “Deus hoc vult!” Even a last stand could use a “Come on, you sons of b*****s, do you want to live forever?”

Instead, with their party in disarray, the only thing the Democrat leaders have offered is the charge that President Donald Trump and his White House are breaking the rules. This sort of politicking might seem normal in a vacuum, but in real time, the shift is remarkable. For 18 years, Democrats have marched in lockstep, first behind Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi, then Hillary Clinton, and eventually Joe Biden.

Lawsuits and injunctions often achieve more than political street theater. The problem for Democrats is that their resistance now revolves entirely around process.

During Obama’s presidency, Democrats advanced their agenda at a steady pace. Under Trump, they accelerated into a full sprint.

For five years, the country endured lockdowns, identity politics, cancel culture, and corporate struggle sessions. The left waged a relentless moral crusade, pushing movements like “defund the police” and glorifying the likes of George Floyd.

Now, that crusade has stalled. The banners have fallen. In their place remain legal battles, bureaucratic wrangling, and endless nitpicking over process.

Look at their causes célèbre: They include whether the illegal immigrant gangbangers were associated with the Venezuelan government or not and where the planes were when the judge told them to stop. They include fighting over who is in charge of wasteful foreign aid and chirping about the power of Congress over an executive agency established by a prior administration.

When the president reinstated the ban on transgender military recruits, Democrats didn’t bathe the capital in rainbows and take to the streets — they sued. When the president challenged the governor of Maine to her face over boys playing in girls’ sports, she responded that she’s “complying with state and federal laws.”

“They don’t have a positive message,” University of Chicago political science professor emeritus Charles Lipson told my wife over at the Washington Examiner. “They don’t have an effective messenger. And their normal channels of communication, the mainstream media, are ebbing in influence. So all they have left is frustration and friendly courts in blue states, and that’s what they’re relying on.”

This isn’t to say these plays are ineffective. Lawsuits and injunctions often achieve more than political street theater.

The problem for Democrats is that their resistance now revolves entirely around process. It lacks an accompanying showdown at the White House, where their liberal icon champions a man’s right to trounce a woman in her chosen sport. No senators or representatives are rallying in the streets for Venezuelan gangbangers whose children were separated from them by law enforcement.

The passion has faded, replaced by legal maneuvering and procedural battles.

Remember: We had process fights in Trump 45, too. Tons of them! They just went along with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.) sobbing at a border fence, marches through the streets, and ever-shifting megaphoned chants. There was a cause. There was #TheResistance. Its flags, yard signs, and bumper stickers were everywhere.

Some Democrats still don’t realize the revolution is on its heels. They’re learning the hard way that when polling sinks, the ranks of true believers shrink faster than expected.

Most of their colleagues were happy to join the cause at its peak but have since abandoned their bold progressive rhetoric. Now, they rely on judges, parliamentarians, and other uninspiring procedural tactics to shield them from political fallout.

Imagine the shock to someone like AOC. She went from attending Boston University in 2011 to traveling the country protesting in well-funded left-wing camps to Congress along the peak and crest of the wave. Do you think she’s ever had to really argue the merits of her case? That she’s ever really been challenged on her ideas in those heady years?

It’s no wonder Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is in her crosshairs. His focus on pragmatism and process (without fighting on the substance of progressives’ incredibly unpopular ideas) is at direct odds with what AOC and her allies, including Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), want.

Of course, Schumer’s not alone, but unlike, say, Govs. Gavin Newsom (Calif.), Josh Shapiro (Pa.), or Sen. John Fetterman (Pa.), he's not quite in the running for the presidency – so he’s fair game.

They don’t have a positive message. The one the progressives are pushing is polling in the gutter. So for now, this is it. They shall fight them on the particulars; they shall fight them on the details; they shall fight in the margins; they shall fight them in the process.

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