A layup. Think about that for a second, because that’s precisely what it should be.
Ken Martin tossed a phone at a junior staffer’s desk. Not at him. Near him. The nuance is vital to lawyers and completely lost on everyone else. What am I saying here? If you are even losing a phone from winging it, no matter what, or swinging your arm in any throwing motion, you lost the fight. You cannot do that to people. Those are fighting words. Anyone would have the right to pop that guy in the face, or at the very least get in his face saying something along the lines of, we can talk anytime, but if you motion like that again, I will F*ck you up. That is what could have, or by law should have, happened in self defense, and I will say it again, he should be fired for acting that way. Whether he wound up to pitch the ball like Steve Carlton, or whether he swung his arm and lost the phone, however, wait a second, he said that he threw it at his or her desk. That does not make that action okay or right by any standard, let alone with regard to Human Resources. You and I would have been fired for way less than tossing a phone at a desk. This single detail, above all the fundraising and polling and internal DNC wrangling, defines the Democratic Party’s prospects ninety-nine days out from midterms they have no reason to expect will be anything less than a layup.
A layup. Think about that for a second, because that’s precisely what it should be. Donald Trump is on pace to well exceed his previous approval ratings, with his promises on prices and groceries evaporating like so much hot air, cabinet and court nominations whittling down his avenues of defense, and a second term spent playing at politics from the opposite side of the field from where he was four years ago. In other words, every gift the political opposition could hope for as it prepares to defend the federal government from a Democratic takeover in 2025 is on display for all to see, and the DNC’s response to this existential crisis? Mortgaging the headquarters, eighteen million in liabilities against roughly fifteen million in cash, and getting caught threatening to sue its own staff for signing NDAs before an internal review could commence. The campaign finance numbers tell a similar story; the RNC has a commanding lead over the DNC in cash on hand, a hundred and twenty eight million to the DNC’s shortfall, the RNC carries no debt at all, and Trump’s personal PAC has four hundred million in reserve. This is all easily understood and obvious common sense, and yet a hundred and ten million dollar campaign finance disadvantage has proven insufficient to shake Democrats out of a defensive crouch when it comes to actually winning either chamber of Congress.
This, however, is not what I am writing about. The issue is not one of resources and it is not even strictly one of messaging, as cynics might suggest who believe the DNC’s internal discussions about a ‘prevent defense strategy’ were merely posturing. It is a question of posture. The Democratic Party has decided, at the institutional level, that prevent defense is the way forward. It is not. It is a philosophy for when a football team is up by two scores with four minutes to play, and the opposing coach wants to make sure the game clock runs all the way down without having to kick a single field goal.
The Democratic party is not a football team that is up by two scores, and it is not even close to having the game clock run out. It is, at best, tied to the opposing team, which is currently in the process of self immolation in front of the entire country, and it is playing not to lose. That is malpractice, and malpractice is the exact word used by Ken Martin when describing the consultant class selling his party on a billion dollar tv buy rate, so that they could pocket fifteen to twenty percent in commission, and then quietly leak out that his internal review would not include certain topics he personally found objectionable, all while keeping the same consultative services. Winning one house will not be enough, and I want the people who read this newsletter to understand that. If the Democrats win back the House but not the Senate, or the Senate but not the House, and the party’s messaging apparatus begins to parse this as a general election mandate, I will be the first one to say out loud that it was a stupid mistake to have taken either chamber under those circumstances.
Both chambers, please. Anything else is a participation trophy. Read The Full Article on Substack!
