Democrats are blowing their best chance in history

The purpose of every protest, every call, every letter, every blog post, and every skeet being made in opposition to Donald Trump is the same: Show that what Trump is doing isn’t just wrong, it's also unpopular. Mass protests alone may not be enough to move the needle, but that needle never moves without mass protests. And the calls. And the letters. It takes it all.

The good news is that, when it comes to Trump's poll numbers, it's all working. Despite a national news media that seems disinterested in calling out Trump's goosestepping all over the Constitution, they can't hide the basic chaos and vindictiveness of this regime.

Trump is underwater on the economy, on the war in Ukraine, and even on immigration. He is so immensely unpopular that he has broken the previous unpopularity record set by ... Donald Trump.

In 2018, when Trump was more popular than he is now, Democrats picked up 41 seats in midterm elections—the largest Democratic gain since Watergate. The 2016 election that brought Trump to power had left Republicans with an enormous 241-194 advantage in the House. The first midterms under Trump nearly reversed that result, leaving the House at 235-199 in favor of Democrats.

With Republicans currently holding a slim five-seat lead in the House, a result like 2018 would absolutely swamp them. Trump's polls should be enough to have Republicans quaking in their $4,000 ostrich skin mock-cowboy boots.

A repeat of 2018 would leave Hakeem Jefferies presiding over a House that was 254-181 Democratic. That's the kind of margin that makes for genuinely historic change. With their razor-thin advantage in the House, Republicans should be terrified. Phones should be ringing off the hook at lobbying firms as Republican reps seek to leverage their positions for fresh employment while they still can.

But Republicans are not scared. They look at the polls and see no reason to abandon Trump, no reason to shift their positions, no reason not to back tariffs, and prison camps, and political persecutions.

Because if there's one thing polling worse than Trump, it's the Democratic Party.

In March, the Democratic Party hit an all-time polling low for any party, and it did this as Trump was wrecking the economy, deporting people without due process, and trying to extort minerals from Ukraine. That's one hell of an accomplishment.

The numbers have recovered slightly since then, but polls still show that the Democratic Party is hugely underwater, and despite everything, less popular than the Republican Party on every key issue. Even as Americans are waking to the horror of what Trump is doing, they are not looking to Democrats for help.

You know what the public really hates? Indecision and inaction. That's what they see right now from the Democratic Party.

Going into 2018, it wasn't just that Trump's poll numbers were low; Democratic Party numbers were at record highs. Not only did Democrats enjoy a wide advantage over Republicans, 40% called themselves “extremely enthusiastic” about voting for a Democrat—the highest number ever in CNN's polling.

None of that is happening now. Trump is sinking, but the Democratic Party is sinking more than Trump. Republicans continue to enjoy an advantage in head-to-head polling. If the midterm elections were held today, there's a very good chance that Republicans would only expand their margins in the House and Senate, cementing support for Trump and his anti-democracy agenda.

This is a referendum on Democratic party leadership that has been an absolute paragon of ineffectiveness.

Maybe Chuck Schumer thought all he had to do was wait for Trump to screw up to have the Senate fall back into his hands. Maybe Jefferies felt it was more important to keep progressive voices down than it was to get out and join the protesters.

Whatever they were thinking, it sucks. Trump's second term is a historic challenge to the survival of this nation, and so far, Democratic leadership has failed that challenge at every turn.

Democratic leadership needs to be out there, not just marching with the protestors but leading the protests. They need to be pushing their way into social media and traditional media, shouting down Trump's actions and the support of Congressional Republicans in the strongest possible terms. They need to be angry. They need to be aggressive. They need to be, what's that term? Fired up and ready to go.

They need to stop trying to critique Democrats who are willing to stand against Trump. They need to put down their sternly worded letter pen. They need to stop worrying that Trump is trying to trap them.

The next Democrat who holds up a finger to the political wind should see that finger chopped off.

Trump is historically unpopular. He's going to get more unpopular as prices rise, jobs decline, and people realize they've all been taken for a ride. We're even seeing something this cycle that we didn't see in 2018: A large number of Trump voters waking up to their mistake and looking for an alternative.

Democrats better give them that alternative soon. Or someone will.