Democrats Moving Forward

Democrats in the U.S. must realize as a party that there’s one battle that might be lost to them in the present and possibly for long into the future: A large portion of this country will never vote for them.

Policy won’t matter. Cult of personality won’t sway a vote here. Or there. Patronizing a popular podcast with an earnest effort to “be relatable” won’t change the minds of those surgically fused to an indestructible idea of how this country is supposed to be when it’s time to hand the nation’s highest office to the next candidate in line.

Many MAGA voters describe President Donald Trump as someone they can connect to because he “tells it like it is.” Defining his unfiltered bluster as “refreshing” and a welcome change to the nation’s politics of the recent present. It’s fascinating. A phenomenon that never loses my attention starts with the small town voter who probably finished their education the evening of their high school graduation — and they hustle from job-to-job working for a path to a better life. Maybe this person has a family, and held dependable employment that didn’t require college, but that company has taken up manufacturing overseas for the tax breaks. Also, they don’t have to bargain with American workers and unions. Why would they? They pack up and move because lower labor costs outside of the U.S. means more of the profit remains for those in the boardroom. Not the manufacturing plant employees that build all the wealth.

It’s this person in this exact scenario, that will struggle for years yet get to a point, politically, where they believe Trump understands…them. It’s an unsolvable level of high alchemy. Trump’s using the Oval Office to put generations of distance between his wealth and the dollars the small town voter scavenges for annually.

Trump doesn’t know about striving for the month’s rent – or mortgage. He can’t lower the prices of groceries in any substantial or timely way because he doesn’t understand the cost of everyday cupboard staples. Why would he? He was born under the most vital affirmative action category: Wealth. Being born into financial opulence isn’t the fault of any child. Just as it isn’t disparaging to be born into squalor. An innocent child doesn’t choose the circumstances in which they begin their lives.

It’s these white voters in America that feel heard by Trump and the wealthiest Cabinet ever assembled. Who themselves don’t understand any kitchen table issues of their voting base because they don’t spend much time in any of the kitchens they own. So these voters cling to Trump because he represents a specific identity. The clearest one. Whiteness.

Trump earned a larger percentage of white voters in 2020 than he did in 2016. The trend repeated in 2024 in relation to 2020. He grew his white voter base in all three presidential campaigns. That is America.

Democrats must study the 49.9% of the voting public that chose to elect Trump…after he was instrumental in a coup attempt in the election he lost.

MAGA loyalty is infinite. Even with his overt and abundant racism, corruption, and dishonesty, white Americans hail him as their champion. Even if it doesn’t trickle down to all of their lives for them to partake in it, white supremacy does help white people. White women have also been stripped of the decision to manage healthcare decisions as it pertains to their bodies. They, too, voted for Trump after having that right revoked because…they still directly benefit from white supremacy. They made the calculation that they can take a loss in one area to cling to the other advantages of white dominance in the land of “liberty and justice for all.” Women aren’t a monolith. It’s not strange however to have questions as to why white women would scurry away from Black women, and every other cluster of women of color. They’ll sacrifice some rights because they are still white.

One could’ve guessed that a second shot at a legitimate Madame President in a decade would’ve been a transformative rallying cry. No. Trump was the choice over former Vice President Kamala Harris – and former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton before her.

It’s something about that man.

Democrats need to focus on the variables of electability they can control.

Youth

This country is too large and frankly, diverse, to accept that the only people worthy of running the government must be white, spry, politicians 15-20 years post-retirement age. It’s insane. Insane. Many of the old voices have been at their posts so long that they can’t claim to relate to their constituents surviving on each paycheck. This even goes for the politicians that don’t dip their feet into the insider trading pool that calls to them all. Advanced age isn’t a demerit but when politicians only understand policy that influences tax breaks for the rich, it’s a symptom of consistent attendance in rooms where only the wealthy are invited.

Youth is one antidote for Democrats moving ahead. Whether Trump leaves in 2028 or finally puts the Constitution out of its misery already and remains in office until his last breath, Democrats need to prepare young politicians in blue to be a resilient and varied party into the future.

Experience shouldn’t be thrown to the trash bin. There are boundless contributions that can emanate from older members of the party but they find themselves often stuck in the old machinations of advancing and passing bills. Frankly, the traditional model of operations changed when the former GOP turned fascist after being devoured and reborn as MAGA.

There is no Republican Party. It doesn’t exist. Young Democrats from the progressive cluster understand the fight ahead where Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), etc. don’t. The mature guard wishes to extend their hands across the aisle. MAGA wants to sever their limbs. You can’t negotiate in a game of stakes when one party is willing to die or kill for what they believe. Say what you will about MAGA. They’ll burn the building down if they don’t like the bricks — or storm the Capitol. For…freedom.

Older Democrats in power have connections that the young class of the party lack. That can’t be overlooked. However, many of those deep pocketed donors don’t believe in democracy as a whole. Most of the money funneled into politics is for opportunists. They’ll sway blue or red – or both – when there’s favorable legislation to buttress their financial ideals.

There’s a voter in America that is too rooted to 1860 and the generational racism that this whole nation is built upon to abandon Trump or his chosen successor. Try to clip 2-5% of his supporters. Don’t break your back or spend valuable campaign time contorting your ideals to soothe their impenetrable bigotry.

Money Inside Politics

The MAGA Party would never agree to comprehensive campaign finance reform. Limits on monumental donations would horrify them no differently than Dracula’s alarm forcing him to rise inside his Aruba condominium at 8 a.m. for his feeding. Problem is, the Democrats drink from the same faucet. They too are glad to accept contributions that usually come with conditions attached. Wealthy donors don’t usually cut checks for the sake of retreating to a corner to cheer from the background.

Donor money is sticky. The person behind it will have their own motivations for offering the financial gift. Even if it’s not directly said, the donation on its own expects acknowledgement one way or another.

Fundraising at the grassroots level has to become the normal operating procedure. It allows the candidates to focus on their campaigns and elections without doing return favors for the donating class. MAGA has sold their soul in every way imaginable. Democrats aren’t much better in this arena. This is a moment for Democrats to turn away from the wealthiest donors so that no amount of zeros deposited into a campaign account damages the efficacy and integrity of the politician.

The Supreme Court made a troubling problem far worse with the Citizens United decision. A Constitutional amendment could help but that truly is impossible in the Trump reign. The last amendment to it was in 1992.

Legislation can still be passed limiting donation maximums per party. Democrats have to engage in that battle and fight for it. The minority party will always have the disadvantage. That’s understood. Yet, that frame of mind never swayed Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY.) from controlling Congress from the less powerful position. Fight that way, Democrats.

In this proposal, presidential donations would be hard-capped at $15K per company or person. If multiple donations are made through a corporation with endless tentacles, subsidiaries, and shell organizations, any donation after the initial $15K is funneled to a bipartisan campaign finance body. The extra funds would then be split equally amongst the two political bodies that didn’t try to cheat. For instance, Company A donates $15K to Mr. Doe; Democrat from Maine. Company A also uses it’s smaller brands, Company B and C to donate an extra $15K each. That $30K is now flagged and doesn’t reach Mr. Doe. It’s sent to the RNC and the INC in the next election cycle to use for their campaigns. Lastly, Company A is fined four times any amount above $15K. The $30K lacking-all-tact payment is now a fine of $120K. That money is halved and dispersed to the most underfunded schools in the states that the competing Republican and Independent politicians represent.

Seats up for election in offices that sit below the presidency come with smaller caps: $10K, $8K, $7K, $5K, etc. The same penalty system from above applies.

Also, all campaign contributions under this new bill would tear away layers of secrecy behind what dollars went here or there. The Citizens United ruling has turned campaigns of every size into malignant monsters of commerce and closed mouths. That needs to be revised and ended.

Every donation would now become publicly known and a simple internet search away from being verifiable by a bored journalist or a grandmother who has ten minutes of reading time to herself before spoiling her grandkids on Friday night. Through Citizens United, super PACs are the grotesque progeny and the shepherds of dark and unlimited bags of money easily injected behind this candidate, the next, or everyone running at the same time. Up and down the ticket. The legal loopholes that shield the generous benefactors must be rendered ash so that no candidate, super PAC, special-interest group, organizing committee, CEO, or tech trillionaire can hide in plain sight. Or, at least until their influence is obvious when the confetti falls on the stage of the horse they propped up to cross the finish line.

Super PACs spent more than $1 billion in the 2024 presidential election. No. Not any longer. No matter if there’s a capital D, R (M, honestly), or I next to your name. PACs run ads in support or against political figures and help voters get to a choice. Organically, or by blunt force due to flooding your streamer commercial breaks, online browsing, social media algorithms, or traditional television with 10-60 second spots with information. Whether the contents are factual or littered with lies isn’t relevant. PACs were confined to spending limits of $5K annually, per candidate, per election. Citizens United removed that hard ceiling.

Democrats must force a rewind back to the former spending limits even though it confines them. Wealthy secret donors flood super PACs with amounts that nullify the small donor. Punitive measures must be locked into place to catch blank bags of cash careening from the skies.

In the 2022 midterms, just 21 of the biggest donor families contributed $783 million and billionaires provided 15% of all federal election financing. A five percent cap would be a good start.

End disclosure protections. Unlimited money shouldn’t also come with walls of privacy. A Constitutional amendment might have the teeth to accomplish this all and solidify it. Constitutional amendments are all powerful law as we all know as U.S. citizens.

I barely got that last sentence out without gagging. Democrats, move now.

When Americans were presented with the choice of a reasonable alternative, 49.9% of voters selected this administration.