A lot has been said in the media in the last couple of weeks about the autopsy report on why the Democrats lost the 2024 presidential election. Many people have described the report as underwhelming. The main criticism is that those who carried out the diagnostic exercise either completely failed to address some of the core issues, or skirted around them. In his recent Washington Post column, Romesh Ponnuru says, “The Democratic Party continues to misread America.”
Inflation and uncontrolled immigration were arguably the two biggest issues that bedeviled the Democrats in 2024. Culture wars were another widely known problem. To earn the trust of voters in the next presidential election, party leaders must, at the very least, demonstrate that they have a clear understanding of what doomed their party the last time. It is quite concerning that so many people say they haven’t seen that acknowledgment forthcoming. That is going to give voters the impression, whether that is fair or not, that if they win power again, the Democrats will serve up the same unpalatable menu as they did before.
One-party rule in Washington in the past sixteen months has done enormous damage to the country. President Trump’s chaotic tariff policies have destabilized both the U.S. and the global economy. Heightened uncertainty means that business leaders cannot make investment decisions. The president has alienated every single nation that used to be allied with America. That has left our nation badly isolated in a perilous world. The negative implications of that are immeasurable. We are seeing some of that harm today in the Middle East, where the president’s calls for help to get the Strait of Hormuz open have fallen on deaf ears everywhere.
Partisanship is a natural feature of democracy. However, there was a time when people in Congress spoke up when they saw a president of their party doing things that had the potential to cause grave harm to the country. We live in a completely different world now.
The Republican majorities in this Congress have completely abandoned their constitutional responsibility to serve as a check on the executive branch. They have meekly given President Trump a blank check to do whatever he wants. The president has taken full advantage of the unmanned gates. He has driven through policies in a manner that was once unthinkable in America, a nation that until now was always considered by people everywhere to be the modern-day mecca of democracy.
Divided government is our only hope at this point. Fear of partisan gridlock sometimes causes us to wish for one party to have all the power in Washington so things can get done. What we have witnessed this past year shows the danger of that.
There are times when doing nothing is the best course of action. When doctors have no solutions for some of our medical problems, we expect them to at least do no further harm. It is bad enough that these congressional Republicans are asleep and can’t do anything for us. Worse, even in their comatose state, they have managed to cause significant damage.
This country badly needs a properly functioning opposition party at this moment. That is why it is crucially important for the Democrats to demonstrate seriousness. The far left of the party may be in love with everything on its wish list, but pragmatism is essential for navigating a world that is infinitely complex. The Democratic Party needs to get its act together quickly and help save the republic.