It officially died on Friday, March 14, 2025. Don’t look at me in that tone of voice! I didn’t kill it.
The Democrats did that all by themselves.
Yep, that’s a pretty specific date. Enjoy it. It’s extremely rare that an exact date gets applied to a political condition.
So, why do I say it happened Friday? The Democrat leadership played themselves. The forced a situation where either they shutdown the government on Friday which would have cost them the midterms or they don’t which ended up breaking their tenuous hold on their fracturing party. It won’t be long now until elected members start jumping ship. Backing down over the shutdown ended the Democrat Party almost instantly.
Oddly enough, people who work their tails off to get into public office aren’t eager to be sacrificed on the altar of a failing political party. We rarely see full collapses of major parties so it will take time for Democrats to really realize what is happening, but the elected Democrats have clearly seen the handwriting on the wall. If the leadership can’t even hold together to get the outcome they want, that’s a big red flag that it’s time to abandon ship.
That their party is stupid enough to force a shutdown fight during Trump’s honeymoon has to be something of a clue, too.
I’m on record that I expect the Democrat Party to fully collapse by June. I will stick to that timetable but danged if their leadership isn’t trying for April. Sure, the flailing is going to be going on for sometime to come – political parties don’t usually go down quickly – but there’s no hope of salvaging the Democrat Party at this point. Oh they’ll try, but I expect people will start jumping ship very soon.
Why? There’s no political future with the Democrats. What the party offers is assistance, both experience and financial, for running campaigns. But if the party becomes a drag on election results, hanging around just means losing office. For the True Believers, it’s worth it to go down with the ship. For the rest, becoming Republican gives them the chance to stay in office and accomplish things.
Yep, I said ‘becoming Republican’. Look, Independents are just Undecideds with better PR. There is no Independent Party as of today. Independents are on their own getting elected which is why so few manage it. The Republican Party can offer assistance an Independent would never get. So, if you’re a moderate Democrat and not a fully on fire flaming liberal, the Republican Party is much more attractive than going it alone.
Sure, they may have to hold their noses at first – that first jump into the pool can be scary – but they will likely settle in pretty fast. As long as leadership isn’t insane and will support their reelection campaigns, most of the former Democrats will fall into line with their Republican cohort. If not, they get to explain both their party change and why they won’t vote with their party. Not a winning campaign strategy.
Translation: There will be some growing pains but it’ll only hurt for a little while.
The insanity wing of the Democrats will probably form a new, short lived party or join up with the Green Party. They will be a pain in the backside for a few more years as they fade into obscurity.
The liberal but not crazy Democrats – all three of them – will try to find a new home then start a new party. No idea if they can get one off the ground but if enough moderates split off with them they have the best chance of forming the seed of the new party that will take the Democrat Party’s place. The fewer members of the current Democrat leadership that get involved, the better their chances.
Which, given the geriatric nature of the party leadership, might work out fine. A lot of the senior citizen members are likely to just retire rather than risk being booted from a nascent party that blames them for the collapse of the last party.
We’ll just have to see how it shakes out. But one thing is certain, the Democrat Party has put the proverbial stake through its own heart.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of loons.
