Democrats are facing a choice that Republicans failed to make a decade ago. In the aftermath of democratic socialist victories in New York’s primaries and the ousting of a longtime incumbent by a democratic socialist in Colorado, Democrats have one chance to assure the American people their party isn’t defined by its far-left flank. So far, they’re failing.
Mainstream Democrats are repeating the mistake previously made by traditional Republicans when they embraced President Donald Trump and populism at the expense of traditional conservatism. Once a party becomes associated with extreme positions, it’s hard to ever come back.
One by one, Republican leaders who opposed Trump decided to embrace him for the sake of political survival. One by one, these same Republicans realized the bargain they made wasn’t a guaranteed path to electoral success. As recently as May, Republican Sen. John Cornyn was calling for naming an interstate highway after Trump, an obvious play to the president’s ego. The president endorsed Cornyn’s primary opponent.
Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a medical doctor, voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the Health and Human Services secretary even though he believed Kennedy’s position on vaccines was dangerous to children. Cassidy must have thought his support would be reciprocated. It wasn’t. In the Republican primary, Trump endorsed his opponent.
From former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to former Vice President Mike Pence and countless people in between, the Republican Party is littered with leaders who learned its MAGA wing will never accept dissent and that no amount of professed loyalty will engender a commensurate response. Some of these leaders are pushing back against MAGA’s dominance of the Republican Party, but their work is complicated by their past endorsement and defense of Trump.
Pence’s Advancing American Freedom organization is a repudiation of Trumpism and a call to return to traditional conservative values. In the minds of independent voters and Democrats, however, it’s very hard for Pence to escape the shadow of his previous association with Trump. Pence’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021, were historic and honorable, and that gives him a better chance than most to redefine himself in the eyes of non-Trump voters. Most Republicans won’t have his stature or his unique history of standing up for the Constitution when it mattered most, and they won’t enjoy his ability to separate themselves from the image of Trump.
With few exceptions, Democrats are embarking on the same sad path. In New York, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul endorsed Zohran Mamdani for New York City mayor even though she didn’t believe in many of his policies. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was quick to congratulate the democratic socialists who defeated incumbent members of his caucus in primaries, even though their policies are much further left than his own. A total of 13 Democrats in the House of Representatives, led by Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York, have made clear statements separating themselves from democratic socialism. The rest of the party is mostly silent, forever associating itself with a movement that’s intent on destroying the centrist parts of the Democratic Party.
Democrats will learn, as Republicans learned earlier, that accommodating extreme positions will buy neither peace nor support. Leaders like Mamdani, and the growing number of democratic socialists across the country, will bide their time until they have the power to push traditional Democrats from office. Democratic socialism isn’t looking for an accommodation with mainstream Democrats any more than MAGA was looking for an accommodation with mainstream Republicans. Both are movements intent on destroying the traditional parts of their parties, and no amount of appeasement will change their objective.
Even as Trump’s approval rating hovers near a historic low and Americans lose faith in the future, Republicans who know better remain unwilling to break with the president. Some may be waiting until the president’s collapse is complete and a repudiation of his policies becomes easier and safer, but a move at that point is too little, too late. Many of the 45% of Americans who identify as political independents, along with the moderate wings of the Democratic and Republican parties, want leaders who take principled stands even when it’s difficult and risky.
Democrats have this one chance to repudiate the democratic socialists who are striving to define and control their party. It won’t count nearly as much to reject their policies after the failure of these policies becomes clear.
In the years ahead, criticizing Trump’s approach to governance will become safe and fashionable as Americans realize his leadership failed to improve their lives and they turn against mean-spirited antics and division. The same will be true of future critiques of democratic socialism, as the sweeping promises that government can solve every problem collapse under the weight of reality. The Democrats we’ll remember best are the ones who speak up now when it’s hard, just as the Republicans who never embraced Trump will be remembered well for maintaining their principles under pressure.
Colin Pascal (colinjpascal@outlook.com) is a retired Army lieutenant colonel and a senior fellow at the Orion Policy Institute.
