Anti-Democratic Party Hysteria Is Out of Sync With Reality

Democrats’ successes should not be ignored; plus a note on Senator Lindsey Graham

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) passed away suddenly Saturday night from an apparent tear in his aorta. Unfortunately, Senate colleagues and most legacy media outlets are avoiding the hard reckoning he deserves. Few American politicians have been as disastrously wrong in their advocacy for regime change in the Middle East, not just once but twice, or in their indulgence in an Israeli right-wing government that took Israel (and in turn, U.S. policy) down a morally abhorrent road of domestic repression of Palestinians. He supported authoritarian rule in derogation of Israel’s professed democratic values and reckless violence aimed at the utterly unattainable goal of obliterating military threats to Israel’s survival at the expense of attainable diplomatic solutions.

Domestically, he played a small but critical role in trying to steal the 2020 election, assisting Donald Trump’s campaign to “find” nonexistent votes to swing Georgia’s election results. His role in demagoguing and running roughshod over now Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s alleged sexual assault victims marked a low point in Supreme Court confirmation hearings and helped steer the court toward its downward spiral into rank partisanship. More generally, his support for a corrupt, racist, conspiracy-mongering president who threatens the fiber of our democracy leaves a legacy of moral cowardice. As someone who formally supported comprehensive immigration reform, his indulgence of the rank racism and domestic campaign of terror against migrants exemplifies the rot at the core of the Republican Party.

We leave it to others to scrounge for redeeming features or accomplishments that contributed to the well-being of Americans and the advancement of our democratic values. His career should stand as a reminder that, in the end, access to power and electoral success mean little. History will judge him harshly for his role in the MAGA assault on democracy and America’s disastrous loss of international stature.

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Republicans have stood by an adjudicated sexual abuser, grotesquely corrupt, and mentally deteriorating president. They nominated for Senate the scandal-drenched Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who gave a pedophile a slap on the wrist — and recently paraded around Britain on a 4^th of July jaunt with his mistress, the center of his wife’s filing for divorce on “biblical grounds.” They are steadfastly backing the chief architect of the Epstein file cover-up and the slush-fund-for-insurrectionist schemes, Todd Blanche, for US attorney general. Yet, after reading or listening to a slew of legacy media pontificators and hand-wringing Democrats, you would think the Democratic Party is the one that “cannot go on like this,” as the New York Times editorial board intoned after Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner was forced out of the race.

Republicans’ utter lack of self-reflection, dissent, or remorse for their backing of serial miscreants and their refusal to break ranks on disastrous policies — e.g., unleashing murderous, rogue ICE shock troops; enabling a disastrous Iran war; taking healthcare coverage away from millions — or challenge Donald Trump’s reign of corruption earn a shrug from corporate media. Ho hum, “Republicans acting like Republicans.” Unflinching unity in the face of manifest malfeasance shields them from the level of scrutiny and condemnation commensurate with their conduct.

Democrats operate in a different universe. Moving in unison, albeit not as quickly as one would hope, to eliminate bad actors or to balance diverse parts of a big-tent coalition might not warrant applause. But the searing criticism that has followed responsible party action boggles the mind.

Democrats certainly could have collectively defused the Platner ticking time bomb months ago. But they did move swiftly in response to a credible rape allegation to dump him, just as they promptly chased former California congressman Eric Swalwell from the governor’s race in the face of allegations of his sexual assault.

To pretend there is any moral equivalence between the parties when it comes to handling moral depravity is to become an apologist for the party that has eschewed every standard of decency in favor of ruthless pursuit of power and cultist loyalty to a depraved narcissist.

For all the caterwauling about Democrats, their position heading into the midterms remains exceptionally strong. They have broken through on virtually every policy issue, from affordability to immigration/ICE abuse to forever wars.

The furor directed at “the Party” (as if there is a single locus of power directing a sprawling party’s primary choices in hundreds of races) and constant rage at the “establishment” has become farcical. For all the grousing about “the Party,” Democrats’ electoral success over the last year (e.g., a run of special election wins, stunning turnout in primaries, sweeping victories in November 2025) suggests they are doing something right. Democratic analyst and data guru Simon Rosenberg reminds us that Senate polling shows “establishment” Democrats backed by leadership (e.g., Roy Cooper, Mary Peltola, Sherrod Brown, Josh Turek) “outperforming 2024 by double digits throughout the battleground [states],” while Gallup shows Democratic Party ID at a 35-year high.

(Credit: Douglas Rissing)

Generic congressional polling, if anything, seems to underestimate Democrats’ advantages in the races that matter. Last week’s polling, for example, shows that in a key swing race in the NY 17^th, Republican Mike Lawler is down by 6 points, a 12-point swing from his victory in 2024. In the PA 7^th, firefighter Bob Brooks has a small but decisive lead over Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, who flipped the seat in 2024. Zeroing in on swing voters (the truly persuadable), Democrats have a 12-point lead.

The actual campaign landscape bears no resemblance to the gloom-and-doom commentary that Callais was going to ensure Republicans kept the House majority or that sniping about socialists winning in safe Blue seats spelled disaster (Democrats in disarray!).

FiftyPlusOne’s massive data analysis concludes that if the election were held today (it isn’t, so take it with a grain of salt), “Democrats would take the House pretty comfortably with a median of 226 seats — well past the 218 they need for the majority.” Not bad for a party supposedly suffering from moral and political failure (according to the compulsive hand-wringers).

On the Senate front, replacing Platner with a noncontroversial Democrat will return the focus of the Maine race to Collins, an unpopular, weak figure whose refusal to stand up to Trump and role in putting MAGA justices on the Supreme Court to scuttle abortion rights obliterated her “moderate” façade. However they got there, Democrats’ decision to dump Platner spells trouble for Collins, whose campaign lost its best shot to cling to power.

Coupled with strong polling for Sherrod Brown in Ohio (and Jon Ossoff’s pulling away in Georgia), James Talarico’s impressive campaign — as evidenced by his fundraising juggernaut — in Texas, and Mary Peltola’s success in shifting Alaska into the “toss-up” column, Democrats should be cautiously optimistic about netting 4 seats to win the Senate majority.

Furthermore, Democrats’ prospects in governors’ races continue to improve in places like Arizona, Maine, Ohio, and Iowa. If Republicans are looking to the top of the ticket to help them out in down-ballot races, they are likely to be severely disappointed.

So, why the excessive gloom and doom, moral finger wagging at Democrats, and stunning lack of exacting coverage of Republicans’ habitual deceit about everything — from the health/functionality of its incumbents (e.g., Rep. Tom Kean, Jr., Sen. Mitch McConnell) to the disastrous results of the Iran war over which they abdicated responsibility?

Well, billionaire-owned media thrives on coverage that induces Democratic doom-scrolling and attempts to reassure Republicans that they get “fair” coverage (i.e., coverage that forgoes moral judgment, indulges in outlandish moral equivalence, and reduces all issues to process/horse-race politics). There is a ready-made market for Democratic hysteria mongers. But that does not mean the rest of us should buy into the “sky is falling” narrative.

It should not be so difficult to convey the real contrast between a flawed but decent pro-democracy party that polices its own and has made tremendous strides in sharpening its message, and a depraved “blood and soil” fascist movement reliant on scapegoating, lies, and violence devoted to propping up the most corrupt presidency in history. Fortunately for the fate of democracy, voters seem to have a better grasp than much of the punditocracy on the choice we’ll face in November.