In conversation last night, our dinner host was talking about his idea for a winning presidential candidate for the Democrats. I’ll get to his suggestion later, but in passing he claimed that the Democrats had totally failed to come up with a winning message in the last election. I cannot argue with the results, Democrats lost resoundingly and lost almost all their political influence at the federal level.
But I don’t think it’s quite fair to say the Democrats’ message was uninspiring, or they lost because they didn’t say the right things. I personally think Joe Biden was one of the most effective presidents in history, and Kamala Harris was an inspiring candidate. She and her party represented noble ideals that humans have aspired to for centuries, and which are aligned with enduring spiritual and ethical mandates. Donald Trump and the Republicans’ message had no positive spiritual or ethical content whatsoever, and not a single ideal that didn’t denigrate and demean one group of people or another.
And here we are, four months into Trump’s American makeover, and the headlines say that Democrats are still searching for a compelling message, as if promoting and defending the basic premises of our constitutional democracy wasn’t a good message. Perhaps we should just repackage it, rebrand our democracy, dress it up so it looks good on Etsy and Pinterest. Not to say that a good PR campaign wouldn’t do our democracy some good, I just think we may have already passed that point.
To me the question is not whether Democrats can come up with a message that appeals to American voters, the question is what to do when American voters have lost their appetite for participating in democracy. If the only option for Democratic strategists is to find a message that appeals, but to do so they have to start hedging on their commitment to democracy because voters don’t care about that anymore, what does it even mean to be a Democrat?
We have to look at what Trump voters were voting for, because any Democratic effort to cut into that demographic would require an appeal to whatever they were drawn to with Trump. Our first observation has to be that Trump voters were not voting for anything, only against. A Trump vote was a vote of “No” on a long list of Big “D” and small “d” democratic initiatives. Joe Biden’s core strategy was to show how government under Democratic control could deliver a strong economy and respond to regional needs effectively. Biden used the levers of power diligently in service of his vision and Democrats’ general commitment to fairness, economic and domestic security, and the rule of law. Clearly, every Trump vote was a vote of “No” to the Biden initiative to show democracy working for the people.
Beyond that, whether one was paying attention to the serious matters of governance or not, a vote for Trump was a vote rejecting the basic principles of the rule of law. There is simply no rational way to vote for a felonious Trump and still stand for the rule of law. The most commonly stated reason people voted for Trump was “immigration,” though their votes had nothing to do with immigration policy, as Trump had no plan for dealing with immigrants under the rule of law or in concert with Democrats. More than anything, a vote for Trump was a vote against foreigners living and working in our country, legal or not, in an orgy of communal racist ire. Anti-DEI is in the same vein.
Another big issue for Trump voters was inflation and the price of eggs. All you had to do to see Trump as a better “economy” president was ignore everything Trump said about his plan for the economy (as sparse, disjointed and discredited as his “plan” was) and ignore Biden’s success in reining in inflation and keeping the economy humming. People who complained that Biden’s “good” economy did nothing for them may have been correct, but to conclude that Trump would do them better required some serious magical thinking. A good “Biden” economy meant a better chance of opportunities for everyone, even if they hadn’t materialized in your neighborhood yet.
So in order for Democrats to appeal to Trump voters, how might they trim their message? Maybe they should give up on that government-working-for-the-people thing, because the people just don’t seem to notice. Or how about going flexible on that rule-of-law principle, upon which the entire premise of democracy rests? On immigration, maybe Dems should start getting spicy with all them furriners, and drop all that LGBTQXYZDEI namby-pamby compassion, let the hand-cuffs and billy clubs and bullets land where they may. And why worry about economic policy if people ignore the results of it? Both Biden’s good economy and Trump’s overt destructive economics seem to have little effect on the people.
Promoting and defending democracy might, in today’s world of AI and manly indifference (or proud ignorance), seem boring, so two-centuries ago. But the choice Democrats face is starkly binary because Republicans have completely detached from the mandates of democracy and the U.S. constitution. Dems have to choose whether to stay true to their principles, or wander along with the Republicans in the magical realm of Emperor Trump, where it’s fun to be mean to people and disregard the credible institutions that built our country.
Or maybe there’s a third way. What if Democrats step back from the cauldron of political foment and focus on a simpler message, maybe not even a message but a symbol. Maybe even a sex symbol. Make Democracy Sexy Again?
The funny thing about my friend’s recommendation for a credible Democratic candidate for president is that I had been thinking of the same guy. This guy is not a policy guy (though he is a guy - that’s critical), he’s not political, he’s not even an overt Democrat! These are all advantages, in that he is not burdened by a deadly association with boring old democracy and swampy politics, he’s an outsider with an established reputation as….. a superhero. And he is the anti-Trump. Where Trump is weak and full of bluster and hot air, this guy is super strong but modest in his report. Where Trump feigns competence, this guy exudes it. Where Trump lashes out with contempt and hatred, this guy, a giant among men, is kind and respectful. Where Trump is old, this guy is young. Perhaps best of all, he’s got some truly stunning tattoos.
But seriously, an assessment of Trump voters’ list of preferences shows a definite inclination for the fantastical. Dems have to know by now that any rational argument will fall on deaf Trumpian ears. And so it might make sense to embrace the fantastical, and put up a candidate whose reputation is intentionally larger than life, but still inclined in the direction of humane democratic values, without getting too specific.
My friend and I are formally committing our support for Dwayne Johnson, a former pro-wrestler known as “The Rock” and now a star of the cinema and a surprisingly good singer and voice of a demi-god in the Disney cartoon movie Moana. (You should definitely listen to his “You’re Welcome” from that movie.) When I imagine Dwayne Johnson assuming the office of the presidency in the wake of the current occupant, I have to admit a little flash of excitement not entirely due to the relief factor. I think I’d like a sexy demi-god, smart but somewhat detached from the tangle of political argument, sitting at the Resolute Desk not acting like a clown.
And all I can say is, you’re welcome.
Excellent
And his running mate is Gretchen Whitmer!!