The Desperation of the Democratic Establishment to Believe Everything is OK
By 
These have not been good days for those of us who recognize the Republican Party for what it is. It is utterly astounding how desperate both Democratic voters and Democratic leaders are to believe that, ultimately, everything in the country is OK and if we just get rid of Trump, things will return to normal. Not only does this relate the reality that the old normal was terrible for lots of Americans, but it’s also atrocious politics, both because it is wrong and because it is absurd on the face of it.
It’s already clear that the Biden boom is about voters who believe that a centrist candidate can restore things to normal by reaching out to the many moderate Republicans who want to work together to fix the nation. That this is totally insane seems to be beside the point. The fact that Biden is polling so well among every single Democratic demographic shows how pervasive this is. And of course, it’s all the way through the Democratic Party except for the clear-eyed minority who sees things as they are. Biden of course either believes this or cynically says he does. Amy Klobuchar certainly does. It’s infuriating. We already know what is going to happen if Biden wins the presidency. Republicans will act exactly as they did under Barack Obama, delegitimize everything he does, not allow any but the most milquetoast appointees or judges to get through the Senate, and then move toward full fascism for the 2024 election. This is a well-worn script at this point. Yet the majority of Democrats–both in the Beltway and among everyday voters–simply do not want to believe it is true.
What’s even worse is Nancy Pelosi’s claim that we need a centrist candidate so that Democrats can roll up a big win and thus force Trump out of office. There are so many things wrong with this. First, Trump is going to contest a loss no matter if a candidate wins 271 electoral votes or 350. It will make no difference. He will attempt to stay in office to protect himself from legal prosecution and because he can’t be a loser. It’s entirely likely that a quasi-coup will take place in 2020-21 and that the courts and media will acquiesce to it. This is something we all have to take very seriously and prepare for. But second, we’ve already seen this script. This was how Hillary Clinton was supposed to beat Trump–make the campaign all about Trump’s personality while appealing to mythical Republican moderates. It’s possible that a candidate with a penis might make this work, but, again, even if he does, Trump isn’t going to leave willingly and if someone does manage to get him out, see above. Moreover, what possible evidence is that after 2016 that Americans want milquetoast centrism from anyone?
It’s quite frustrating. I think a lot of people on the liberal-left–at least online–believed that the primary would be a real battle of ideas as the party figured out a new identity to deal with Trump. But in fact, no, it’s just desperation to return things to normal. At best, all this does is bide a little bit of time and then Republicans will against take the presidency and move another giant leap to fascism. Until Democratic voters–never mind Democratic politicians–face up to what the Republican Party actually is and figure out how to fight that, things will continue to get worse. Sadly–as the tepid responses to Warren’s policy proposals for example have shown–there is very little evidence the majority of Democrats are even close to that point. Personally, I think a lot of it is that many don’t actually care all that much about the people who are being hurt by Republicans and many others are just shell-shocked and desperate. It’s a sad state of affairs.
The primaries are a very long time away still, but 2019 has not been promising.