The Democratic Party Will Be The New Conservatives

I was thinking recently about what the Democratic party can possibly do about the complete onslaught of winning they are facing, as well as the lineup of earth-shaking talent. The amount of stage presence (and wealth and intellect) being brought to bear against them is simply overwhelming.

How do you compete with that, other than total near-term capitaluation, along with strongly changing cultural preferences all heading in the opposite direction of identity politics?

• Option A: Embrace and Extend
• Option B: Double Down On Crazy
• Option C: Obstruct and Delay
• Option D: Get Good With Truth

Option C in most government affairs is a given. However, this time it might be different. The level of information and platform weaponry being brought to this particular fight is going to be something never before seen in history. The Democrats are going to have to get used to competing with an avalanche of budgetary dirty laundry and piles of once-closeted skeletons being forcefully defenestrated via X (once kept conveniently secret by a captured corporate media, now open to be taunted before billions on the world stage).

In this new world, remaining truthful may be the new survival tactic.

Another survival tactic might be to reposition from being “progressive” (ideological) to being “common sense conservative.” Donald Trump’s new cabinet of curiosities features prominently people wanting to live forever, go to Mars, end vaccines (and seed oils), among many other things.

The reality for most American’s is that they are experiencing inflation and financial troubles NOW. The high flying tech industrialists and (some might percieve) crazy health conspiracy theorists in RFK will get run of house for awhile.

But this will involve making some fatal enemies. RFK seems set to go directly to war with 30% of the GDP (healthcare spending). These are enemies with tremendous resources to fight back. And they are going to fight in every sense of the word. It is going to be dirty fighting.

I strongly suspect to see the Democrats abandon progressive politics and reground themselves. To contrast against space age industrialists and conspiracy theorists, they will need to abandon the playbook they used for the last 15 years and reposition as “hold on, this is all a bit nuts don’t you think?”

The time for that hasn’t arrived — but making this pivot is going to involve needing to field an entirely new class of highly talented, dynamic and creative entrepreneurs. The old party is completely dead. Silicon Valley and it’s approach to leadership has invaded the government. Once inside the hen house, with access to the internal book keeping — the amount of haywire that will be inflicted is going to make it impossible to return.

One feature of this new administration is the emphasis on Xillenials and late-stage Millenials. The age of the boomers is coming to an end, and the Republicans have been the first to adapt.

Mark Cuban and a line up of washed up celebrities soon to be supplanted by AI will not help the democrats, nor will the traditional media which seems to have completely collapsed, never to return.

The Democrats should be incredibly worried about where they are even going to source talent. I couldn’t point to an individual or even a collection of individuals with the status, prestige, wealth, track records that could be assembled to confront the current Trump administration.

The most likely scenario, given the limited stage available, is that this all star cast of Republicans will ultimately fight with itself and be the source of it’s own downfall. Elon Musk vs. Vivek vs. Vance vs. RFK. These are not friends — They might have this current moment in common, but once things get real, there will be a battle for the top slots.

Still the problem remains — The Democrats have stifled their talent bench. They are going to have to roll the dice again. I am not convinced AOC alone will be sufficient.

Looking at the situation now — It seems that Mark Zuckerberg is the most important player in the game. He is the only one with a compelling enough collection of properties which, if accelerated and glommed onto by Democrats and forced forward could possibly pose a competitive threat to the new Republican coalition.