Project 2028: A New Obama Coalition

As we’ve seen in the last three parts: things went HORRIBLY for the Democrats in 2024. And so, after alienating practically every single voter block they could find, what can they do? The good news is, the pendulum always swings back; while the Republicans may be confident now, if Trump’s second term is anything like his first, Democrats will be in a much better position. No incumbent has won reelection since 2012, and unless economic conditions drastically improve, both in America and worldwide, the anti-incumbency wave will come back to bite Republicans in 2026 and 2028. And by all indications, things are going to be much, much, worse, with a literal Fox News host running the Pentagon, an anti-vaxxer in charge of public health, a pedophile and sex offender running the Justice Department, a dog-killer running Homeland Security, and a reality TV star-turned convicted felon running the country. Democrats, having lost the popular vote for the first time in 20 years, are now in a similar position to where they were 20 years ago, where they must either remake themselves or face electoral doom. Democrats need to revamp their image, and this means appealing to the voters they’ve alienated.

Wake Up and Stop Woke

Rather than demonize men for voting for Trump, Democrats need to ditch the far-left “woke” rhetoric and actually reach out to men and voice their concerns. Rather than demonize the working class for voting for Trump, Democrats need to cut the neocon bullshit and strike a more populist tone. To win the suburbs, Democrats need to disprove the allegations that they are putting men in women’s sports and women’s bathrooms, regardless of how true or false  these allegations are. To their credit, the party already seems on course to do this, with New York and Massachusets Representatives Tom Suozzi and Seth Moulton finally coming out against biological men in women’s sports and AOC removing pronouns from her bio. Rather than letting terminally online young women dictate messaging and touting celebrity endorsements that they paid for, Democrats need to come out and market the fuck of their working-class friendly policies, many of which were already in their platform this year but were basically ignored.

Stop Dancing on FDR’s Grave

If Franklin Roosevelt, the man whose policies and presidency have arguably defined the Democratic Party for a century, were to see the state of the Democrats in 2024, he’d throw a fit. Rather than campaigning with union leaders, Kamala Harris and the Democrats decided to be pals with the Cheneys, a neocon family that stands against everything the Democratic Party supposedly stands for. In 2028, rather than paying billionaires like Oprah for endorsements, Democrats should campaign with union leaders such as Shawn Fain. This election is proof that money doesn’t win elections; Democrats out-raised and outspent Republicans more than 3 to 1, and still lost badly (while still somehow ending up over $20 million in debt too!) In 2022 and 2024, progressive policies remained popular, such as raising the minimum wage and repealing right-to work laws, and even more radical policies like universal healthcare are still popular among the electorate. 

Yes, Republicans will scream that this is “socialism,” but honestly, have they ever not? Democrats could literally run Ronald Reagan and Republicans would scream that they’re socialists, almost like the boy who cried wolf. Rather than waving the perennial bloody shirts of abortion and “orange man bad,” Democrats need to make the case to the voters of why they should vote for them, not just vote against the GOP. In short, Democrats need to rebuild the Obama coalition of working-class voters, and while they probably will never fully win back every Obama-Trump voter, gains in the suburbs can offset this. The Democrats can win, but they need to choose victory with the electorate over vicotry with the donor class to do this. And after raising so much money just to end up losers in debt, what the hell do the Democrats have to lose? The Democratic Party stands at a crossroads, and it can now choose: to go down as a neoliberal elitist party, or to win as a populist working-class party for all, not just rich woke coastal elites.