by 
At
a
time
when
the
world
press
is
obsessed
with
US
president
Donald
Trump
and
his
often
imbecilic
machinations,
perhaps
a
more
consequential
struggle
is
taking
place
on
the
other
side
of
the
aisle.
Trump
and
his
minions
may
completely
control
the
GOP,
but
the
future
of
the
Democrats
is
uncertain.
The
party’s
left
is
locked
in
battle
with
those
who
embrace
the
party’s
traditional
values,
like
support
for
economic
growth
and
enforcing
the
law.
Right
now,
on
a
national
level,
the
Democratic
Party
seems
to
be
continuing
its
movement
leftwards.
Kamala
Harris
is
still
its
front-runner
for
the
2028
presidential
election
and
representatives
like
Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez
and
Jasmine
Crockett,
who
are
further
to
the
left,
are
widely
seen
as
rising
stars.
Looking
at
the
behaviour
of
the
Democrats
and
their
media
allies,
they
seem
to
be
reprising
Talleyrand’s
quip
that
the
Bourbon
kings
of
France
‘learnt
nothing
and
forgot
nothing’
after
the
revolution.
At
the
recent
Democratic
National
Committee
election
for
the
party’s
new
leadership,
there
was
an
enduring
obsession
with
race
and
gender.
Veteran
Democrat
Ruy
Teixeira
described
it
‘like
outtakes
from
a
humanities
seminar
at
a
small
liberal-arts
college’.
We
saw
similar
scenes
in
November,
with
the
backlash
received
by
Massachusetts
congressman
Seth
Moulton
when
he
dared
to
share
concerns
about
his
young
daughter
potentially
having
to
compete
against
male
athletes.
As
a
result,
he
faced
the
resignation
of
key
staffers,
as
well
as
threats
from
one
university
to
cancel
an
internship
program
associated
with
his
office.
Yet
even
as
the
national
party
drifts
off
the
reservation,
there
are
hopeful
signs
of
growing
anti-woke
pushback
in
the
Democrats’
modern
heartlands
–
namely,
in
America’s
big
cities.
There
have
been
successful
revolts
against
the
progressives
in
such
unlikely
places
as
San
Francisco,
Los
Angeles,
Philadelphia
and
Seattle.
These
kinds
of
insurgencies
could
prove
the
best
hope
for
the
party
to
revive
itself
in
the
coming
elections
and
recover
more
moderate
voters.
It’s
important
that
the
Democrats
get
their
house
in
order,
as
the
MAGA
movement
may
be
more
short-lived
than
many
anticipate.
Having
won
by
only
a
modest
margin
against
an
awful
candidate,
Trump
and
his
conspiratorial,
rightist
supporters
may
already
be
pushing
away
some
voters
who
supported
him
last
year.
His
popularity,
never
strong,
is
showing
some
minor
decline
as
he
picks
unnecessary
fights,
such
as
with
Canada.
His
willingness
to
allow
his
billionaire
bro,
Elon
Musk,
to
take
such
a
prominent
role
in
government,
despite
his
frequent
buffoonish
online
outbursts,
appears
amateurish
to
many.
Even
some
Trump
allies
fear
that
Musk
and
the
other
MAGA
oligarchs
are
undermining
the
president’s
populist
appeal.
Given
Trump’s
unsteadiness,
by
2026
and
even
more
so
by
2028,
whoever
controls
the
Democrats
has
a
good
shot
of
winning
the
presidential
sweepstakes.
If
I
were
a
partisan
Republican,
I
would
be
rooting
for
continued
the
ascendency
of
the
progressive
ideologues.
At
the
moment,
the
Democrats
seem
intent
on
continuing
to
lose.
The
new
party
head,
Minnesota’s
Ken
Martin,
is
a
close
ally
of
failed
vice-presidential
candidate
Tim
Walz.
Walz
himself
has
even
mooted
running
for
president
in
2028.
Read
the
rest
of
this
piece
at
Spiked.
Joel
Kotkin
is
the
author
of
The
Coming
of
Neo-Feudalism:
A
Warning
to
the
Global
Middle
Class.
He
is
the
Roger
Hobbs
Presidential
Fellow
in
Urban
Futures
at
Chapman
University
and
and
directs
the
Center
for
Demographics
and
Policy
there.
He
is
Senior
Research
Fellow
at
the
Civitas
Institute
at
the
University
of
Texas
in
Austin.
Learn
more
at
joelkotkin.com
and
follow
him
on
Twitter
@joelkotkin.
Photo:
FDL
via
Flickr,
under
CC
2.0
License.
Go to Source
Author: Joel Kotkin
