Your Independent Journal from the Heartland
This past July, former President Barack Obama told Democrats to “toughen up” and “stop navel-gazing.” Earlier in the month, failed presidential, senatorial, and gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke told Democrats to “meet fire with fire” when it comes to Republicans, and asked: “Why the f—- are we responding and reacting to the other side instead of taking the offense on these things? Democrats are more interested in being right than being in power.”
To his credit, when he ran for governor in 2022 against incumbent Greg Abbott — and this was after the carnage of the shootings in Uvalde, Texas — he confronted the governor: “The time to stop the next shooting is right now and you are doing nothing. You said this is not predictable. This is totally predictable.”
O’Rourke lost by more than 11 points that election.
He would have lost by 11 had he given Abbott a hug for protecting our Second Amendment freedoms.
Obama, meanwhile, made his comments at a private fundraiser at the $2.5 million home of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, telling invited guests to stop “whining” and spending time in “fetal positions.”
(Tough love before the lobster canapés are served.)
In 2004, as keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention, Obama said the country wasn’t divided into red and blue states: “There’s not a Black America and White America and Latino America and Asian America; there’s the United States of America.” At the end of his presidency, 72% of registered Republicans still doubted his citizenship.
One America, though.
When Obama’s choice, Merrick Garland, to replace Antonin Scalia on SCOTUS was thwarted by then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Obama said of Republican opposition, “I hope they’re fair. That’s all. I hope they’re fair.”
He did everything but say, “Pretty please.”
After Trump on in 2016 election, Obama said, “I don’t think he is ideological. I think ultimately he’s pragmatic in that way that can serve him well as long as he’s got good people around him.”
And he’s giving Democrats advice?
Do O’Rourke and Obama believe with better messaging, a Democrat would be sitting in the White House, and/or the party would be in control of either the House or Senate, and/or the Democratic brand would be more popular? Did Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris not sufficiently go after Trump? (They did a better job of it than Obama did.) Clinton proposed free college tuition at state institutions for families making under $125,000 per year and raising the minimum wage (from $7.25/hour, where it still is, to $12/hour). Harris proposed that Medicare cover long-term home-care services and $25,000 in down-payment support for first-time homeowners. Joe Biden forgave student debt and sent billions to red states to rebuild infrastructure.
During his campaigns, Donald Trump talked about his love letters from North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, 400-pound hackers, and Haitians eating dogs and cats.
And Dems have the messaging problem?
Every Democratic House and Senate member voted against the atrociously named “Big, Beautiful Bill.” Six of Trump’s Cabinet nominees received no support from Democratic senators: Pete Hegseth (Defense), Russel Vought (OMB), Tulsa Gabbard (DNI), Robert F Kennedy, Jr (HHS), Harold Lutnick (Commerce), and Linda McMahon (Education).
It’s not the messaging, it’s not the messenger — it’s a country that’s getting darker, dumber, and losing its mind … and proud of it.
In Germany in 1932, 13,418,517 Germans voted, VOTED, for Adolf Hitler — and they didn’t do so because Hitler’s main opponents, Paul von Hindenburg and Ernst Thälmann, had lousy talking points.
But of course you can’t blame voters if you’re a Democrat, because it’s bad politics and feeds into the belief the party only caters to tabby-loving vegetarian transgender volleyball players.
Further, let O’Rourke and Obama tell Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; Sens. Bernie Sanders, Chris Murphy and Adam Schiff; California Gov. Gavin Newsom; and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker they haven’t been tough enough on Trump.
Think of Republicans you know — not the crazy ones, the ones who think Trump belongs on Rushmore or helped Jesus carry the cross to Golgotha — but the sane ones in your life who insist Trump has the best plan for the economy, regulation, immigration. What message could the Democrats have given them?
Republicans couldn’t give them a message … or messenger.
In 2016 and 2024, Trump faced 14 GOP contenders — Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, John Kasich, Jeb Bush, Rick Santorum, Carly Fiorina, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, Ben Carson, Vivek Ramaswamy, Asa Hutchinson, Ron DeSantis, and Nikki Haley, all saner than Trump — and GOP voters chose him anyway, even after he was proved to be genitalia-grabbing mendacious blowhard. And your friends would have voted for Kamala Harris if she was tougher on transgenders in prison or if Chuck Schumer’s glasses stayed on his head when reading his opposition to Trump’s policies?
Please.
Democrats aren’t any more responsible for Donald Trump in America than Turkey’s opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) is in Turkey for Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, than the opposition Hungary’s opposition Tisza party is for Viktor Orban, than the opposition National Unity Party in Israel is for Benjamin Netanyahu … than those opposition parties in 1932 Germany were responsible for Adolf Hitler.
In 2009, Obama went on The Tonight Show and told Jay Leno the story of bowling a 129 and how it was “like Special Olympics or something.” The next day, Obama called Special Olympics then-Chairman Tim Shriver and apologized for not choosing his words more carefully.
In 2016, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump was speaking to a crowd at a campaign event, and, referring to New York Times reporter Serge F. Kovaleski, who suffers from arthrogryposis, which limits joint movements, said, “You ought to see this guy,” while jerking his arms around and bending his right wrist at a grotesque angle.
The next day, Trump denied mocking Kovaleski.
So, what would have changed in America had he apologized for mocking the disabled?
What would have changed in America if Obama hadn’t?
Nothing.
Barry Friedman is an essayist, political columnist, comedian and Iberian correspondent for The Progressive Populist. His latest book, “Jack Sh*t, Volume 2: Wait For The Movie. It’s In Color” is the follow-up to “Jack Sh*t: Volume One: Voluptuous Bagels and other Concerns of Jack Friedman.” He is also author of “Road Comic,” “Funny You Should Mention It,” “Four Days and a Year Later,” “The Joke Was On Me,” and a novel, “Jacob Fishman’s Marriages.” See barrysfriedman.com and friedmanoftheplains.com.
