J.D. Tuccille: America’s Democrats embrace radical socialism

There’s an old saying that you should never interrupt an enemy when he’s making a mistake. It should go without saying that you should also not watch your enemy make a mistake and take it as an opportunity to make even worse decisions. Yet, as the U.S. Republican Party continues its slide into authoritarian populism and cult-of-personality boosterism around President Donald Trump, that’s what the Democratic Party is doing. Rather than embrace a chance to be the reasonable choice, it’s instead morphing into a vehicle for revolutionary socialism and bigotry.

Nationally, even after disgraced Democratic candidate Graham Platner tucked his tail and withdrew from the Maine Senate race, progressive candidates are racking up victories in Democratic primaries with platforms that promise a much larger, more expensive and wildly intrusive government, as well as policies hostile to the world’s only majority Jewish state.

As NewsNation summarized last week, “the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is drawing new scrutiny after more than 35 DSA-backed candidates won primaries heading into the November midterms, forcing what analysts call an identity crisis inside the Democratic Party.” The DSA’s recently adopted platform, NewsNation added, calls for government expropriation of private corporations, state-owned housing, racial reparations, “universal healthcare at no cost to individuals,” the abolition of the Senate, and “a free Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital” after the end of “all military and economic aid to Israel.”

Those plans require government officials to seize a much larger share of Americans’ wealth than is now the case so they can enforce policies and target enemies. With their “influence on the rise” DSA candidates “are eager to tax the rich and enact anti-Israel policies,” notes The New York Times.

The radical candidates are winning for a reason — they’ve tapped into an ideological shift among Democratic voters. According to June YouGov/Economist polling, 58 per cent of Democrats have a favourable opinion of socialism. Sixty-two per cent would vote for a “Democratic Socialist” candidate.

Likewise, 58 per cent of Democrats in AP-NORC polling consider the U.S. “too supportive” of Israel, which 52 per cent of them say has committed genocide in its defensive war against Hamas. As CNN observes, “an ascendant faction of the left … sees opposition to Israel as a Democratic litmus test.” Many Jewish Democrats, CNN added, experience this as questions about their loyalty that have crossed the line into explicit antisemitism. “They point to references to Jewish or Israeli interests nefariously controlling politics with money or suggesting that Jews aren’t fully loyal to America or to Democratic values.”

The looming problem posed for this wave of radicals capturing Democratic nominations, and for the party they’re rapidly transforming, is that they’re veering far from the beliefs of the rest of the country. In that same YouGov/Economist poll, only 30 per cent of independents and 11 percent of Republicans had favorable opinions of socialism. Just 24 per cent of independents and 3 per cent of Republicans would be willing to vote for candidates espousing such views.

On Israel, AP-NORC found, “Republicans have shifted in the opposite direction, with a majority now saying U.S. support for Israel is about right.” Just 13 per cent of GOP voters and 31 per cent of Americans overall buy the argument that Israel has engaged in genocide.

Progressive candidates are successfully capturing one of America’s political parties, but they have yet to enjoy the same victories over the hearts and minds of the public beyond the Democratic faithful.

Mainstream moderate Democrats see an opportunity slipping away as their party slides into hate and economic authoritarianism.

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, former Chicago mayor and one-time chief of staff to then-President Bill Clinton Rahm Emanuel warned last week that “the DSA and others are saddling the Democratic Party with nominees whose wildly unpopular positions will protect Republicans from having to pay the price of Donald Trump’s corruption and economic incompetence.”

Emanuel cautioned that the once strong Democratic lead going into this year’s midterm elections has narrowed and threatens to evaporate as its party’s candidates outside left-wing strongholds get tainted with the radicalism of hard-core progressives. The Trump administration may be shambolic, but Democrats are throwing away any advantage by presenting themselves as a crazier alternative.

“In November, a continued focus on defunding, decriminalizing and decolonizing will highlight cultural issues that alienate many Democrats, not to mention a huge swath of independents (who make up a record-high 45 per cent of the electorate) and disenchanted Republicans,” Emanuel continued.

CNN’s Senior Data Reporter, Harry Enten, agrees that what flies in New York City’s “commie corridor” and similar left-wing strongholds won’t win races in more moderate parts of the country. He recently pointed to polling showing that Democrats stand alone in warming to socialism. “Socialism has become increasingly popular among Democrats, but it is a much tougher sell in the rest of the electorate.”

Enten cautioned, “there is a reason why Republicans nationwide are licking their chops, and why there are at least some Democrats who are a little bit worried. Because what is true in New York City in a Democratic primary ain’t necessarily true nationwide with the general electorate.”

What’s remarkable here is that Democrats should have an opportunity to exploit the last decade’s transformation of the Republican Party from a generally conservative and market-oriented political party into a personal vehicle for one man and the populist movement that he leads. Many Americans remain wary of the new GOP and the figure who dominates it. President Trump currently has an average 58 per cent disapproval rating and 39.1 per cent approval. That could herald a mass rejection by the voters of the Republican Party just as they turned away from similarly unpopular Joe Biden and his Democrats.

But to exploit the moment, Democrats would have to be willing to work with American voters where they are, as supporters of capitalism and a relatively limited government who are largely uninterested in vilifying a small minority and the one country on the planet where Jews constitute a majority.

Instead, Democrats are undergoing their own radical transformation. They’re embracing socialism and hate. That leaves little for Americans to choose from, unpersuaded as they are by such political lunacy.

National Post