Barbarians!
They are at the gate. They’re at the side door, too, and the back door, and crawling through the basement windows. They’re everywhere, because the Barbarians aren’t really a person, they’re an idea: that social progress can be turned around, that history can be undone, that if you close your eyes tight enough, you can make it 1950 again.
Yes, Donald Trump is real. And so is the threat of another Trump Presidency. And, yes, we have to do everything in our power to defeat it, every bit of campaigning, every attack ad we can think of. But if defeating him in November is all we do, then we’re going to be left standing right where we were in the aftermath of 2020, the same place we’ve been for the past twenty years: stuck in the mud, looking at an endless struggle to win 51%.
The Barbarians have a message. They have a powerful message, and it’s about more than Donald Trump. It's a clever message that allows you to believe whatever you want as long as you close your eyes and join in. It’s powerful because it’s simple, it’s universal (for them), and it’s emotional.
One If by land, two if by sea
The British aren’t coming this time, but something else is. It’s dark, and it’s dangerous, and it’s definitely out there.
Hope is still leading the race .. the recent votes in Ohio and Kansas demonstrate it clearly .. but Fear, and Confusion, and Hate are right behind, spreading their wings, and their tentacles. But this isn’t a race between us and MAGA, that’s what we desperately have to realize. This is a race between us and ourselves. Are we going to focus on what’s ahead, on the bright light that is our country’s future? Are we going to seize this pivotal moment in American history, when the very direction of our national soul is at stake? Are we going to become the champions of hope? Is our mission going to be setting this country firmly on the road to a just society? Or are we going to remain obsessed with the dark shape that lies behind, the one that always seems to be gaining on us? Are we going to be lost into endlessly defending?
2024: Chaos, or unity?
The chaos part is easy. “2024” means November 5th, and that means fear. Trump. That one word. And we’re all determined to stand against him. All the way. But is that enough? Is that even the right way to look at it? If we attack him relentlessly, then defeat him again the same way we did in 2020 .. by the same margins .. what changes? What will another 51% victory leave in its wake?
The forces that created Trump will still be there. MAGA and its adherents, and the vast money machine that created them, will still exist. So will the deep tribalism they have managed to create. Their ability to take fear and hate and a coordinated campaign of lies, and turn it into a political machine capable of challenging for control of government, that will still be there as well.
And once we’ve defeated Trump permanently .. and losing a second Presidential election will do just that .. what do we do? Once we are no longer united by fear of Trump, what becomes of us? Do we go back to fighting each other, Progressives versus Moderates, elites versus the heartland? Do we go back to pushing this policy and that while regular Democrats, the lifeblood of our party, go back to feeling alienated and demoralized? Fear of Trump has united us. What will unite us once he’s gone?
A special letter to every angry Democrat in this country
Two counties in rural Georgia have just sent a message, and they’ve sent it to you. There’s nowhere redder than Oglethorpe and Gilmer Counties, no people more surrounded by MAGA hats and giant Trump flags and endless personal harassment .. no Democrats more angry and fed up. And now they’ve taken a stand. They’ve said enough! They’ve adopted the Democratic Creed officially, and with it they’ve sent a message
INSPIRE
“Inspire” is the word we’re missing. It’s the emotion we’re missing, as Democrats, as Americans who care about guiding this nation towards a future as a truly just society. If we’re not inspired towards our ultimate goal, if we don’t see it clearly, how will we get there?
MAGA inspires. Trump inspires. They inspire a sense of emotional identity, of enduring passion, something far deeper and far stronger than politics. Why don’t we inspire? Forget the next election campaign and the latest issue, why doesn’t the Democratic Party itself inspire? Why doesn’t who we are as a party cause Democrats to stand up with pride all over this country, sweeping independents and unaffiliated with them?