The Coming Crackup of the Democratic Party

For a delightful account of the partisan melee in the House of Representatives yesterday read Julie Hirschfeld Davis' "House Condemns Trump’s Attack on Four Congresswomen as Racist." The Democrats managed to pass a non-binding resolution "Condemning President Trump’s racist comments directed at Members of Congress" on party lines. (There were four Republican defectors.)

Trump has accomplished one thing in terms of the GOP: He has outed it -- no doubt about it -- as the Dixiecrat Party of the 21st Century. This is a minority party in existential crisis.

On the opposite side of the aisle, "the Squad," led by the talented congresswoman from Queens, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, came out on top in their joust with speaker Nancy Pelosi, who, it is easy to forget, Trump was defending in his "YOU CAN LEAVE!" tweet. The Democratic caucus and Pelosi herself publicly defended the Squad in the non-binding resolution. (I must say I was impressed by the Squad when they read their statements on Monday.)

But the Squad's victory is bound to be short-lived. Thomas Friedman's noxious column this morning, "‘Trump’s Going to Get Re-elected, Isn’t He?’," is a blueprint wealthy donors who control the Democratic Party will likely follow in the coming months: The party, according to Friedman, has lurched too far to the left; it risks handing Trump a second term. The only way to avoid this is to nominate someone who can win the hearts and minds of moderate Republicans:

Dear Democrats: This is not complicated! Just nominate a decent, sane person, one committed to reunifying the country and creating more good jobs, a person who can gain the support of the independents, moderate Republicans and suburban women who abandoned Donald Trump in the midterms and thus swung the House of Representatives to the Democrats and could do the same for the presidency. And that candidate can win!

But please, spare me the revolution! It can wait. Win the presidency, hold the House and narrow the spread in the Senate, and a lot of good things still can be accomplished. “No,” you say, “the left wants a revolution now!” O.K., I’ll give the left a revolution now: four more years of Donald Trump.

In other words, Friedman wants a repeat of 2016. This is how delusional, how truly hopeless, the gatekeepers of the elite consensus have become. There's bound to be a crackup.