If there is one liberal feminist you should listen to and read, it’s Camille Paglia. Yes, she’s a registered Democrat. Yes, she supported Bernie Sanders and voted for Jill Stein in the 2016 election, but she also knows her party has gone crazy post-Hillary Clinton defeat. She also faults her fellow Democrats for not stepping up to the plate and showing some leadership as the hinges were coming loose. In an interview with Jonathan V. Last of The Weekly Standard, Paglia placed blame on the Democratic Party leadership, specifically Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), for not showing any moral authority as their rank-and-file began to become overtaken by Trump Derangement Syndrome. Last asked if Trump is maintaining his populist appeal, noting that Paglia was one of the first of a very small group of liberals who saw the possibility of him winning, especially given how flawed Hillary Clinton was as a candidate. She also worried how her party could grow on the electoral map when they view half the country as deplorable human beings [emphasis mine]:
After Trump's victory (for which there were abundant signs in the preceding months), both the Democratic Party and the big-city media urgently needed to do a scathingly honest self-analysis, because the election results plainly demonstrated that Trump was speaking to vital concerns (jobs, immigration, and terrorism among them) for which the Democrats had few concrete solutions. Indeed, throughout the campaign, too many leading Democratic politicians were preoccupied with domestic issues and acted strangely uninterested in international affairs. Among the electorate, the most fervid Hillary acolytes (especially young and middle-aged women and assorted show biz celebs) seemed obtusely indifferent to her tepid performance as Secretary of State, during which she doggedly piled up air miles while accomplishing virtually nothing except the destabilization of North Africa.
Had Hillary won, everyone would have expected disappointed Trump voters to show a modicum of respect for the electoral results as well as for the historic ceremony of the inauguration, during which former combatants momentarily unite to pay homage to the peaceful transition of power in our democracy. But that was not the reaction of a vast cadre of Democrats shocked by Trump's win. In an abject failure of leadership that may be one of the most disgraceful episodes in the history of the modern Democratic Party, Chuck Schumer, who had risen to become the Senate Democratic leader after the retirement of Harry Reid, asserted absolutely no moral authority as the party spun out of control in a nationwide orgy of rage and spite. Nor were there statesmanlike words of caution and restraint from two seasoned politicians whom I have admired for decades and believe should have run for president long ago—Senator Dianne Feinstein and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. How do Democrats imagine they can ever expand their electoral support if they go on and on in this self-destructive way, impugning half the nation as vile racists and homophobes?
In 2012, conservatives were angered, shocked, and dismayed at the thought of another four years of Barack Obama. Liberals relished rubbing that fact in our faces. Well, what a difference four more years of effete leadership at a home and aboard makes; Trump is the ultimate ‘f**k you’ to Obama’s America. Still, we didn’t torch dumpsters; riot in the streets, and assault people with whom we have disagreements. We didn’t go on an anti-free speech crusade. We didn’t erect safe spaces within the confines of our minds. We hunkered down for the next cycle: the 2014 midterms. The end result was the GOP retaking Congress.
The Democratic Party needs a win, which is why they’re pinning a lot on this special congressional election in Georgia over who will fill the vacancy left by Republican Tom Price. Even if Jon Ossoff, the Democrat, wins Tuesday night—it’s hard to read the tea leaves for the 2018 midterms. Anything can happen on the 400+ days until Election Day 2018. I doubt what happens in GA-06 will be a harbinger of what’s to come, except for the insufferable commentary by the liberal news media that this congressional win by Democrats means the Trump presidency is coming to an end.
In all, Paglia is right. Her party has gone indiscriminately insane over Trump. They’re frothing at the mouth mad—and this will do nothing to help them retake Congress or win the next presidential election.
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