Democrats Came Up With All the Wrong Answers Once They Reflexively Asked, ‘WWDTD?’ – The American Spectator | USA News and PoliticsThe American Spectator

Democrats lost their way once they allowed Donald Trump to direct them.

What would Donald Trump do? Democrats then do the opposite.

This greatly explains polls showing the party at its nadir. A much-cited NBC News poll pegs approval of the party at 27 percent, the lowest number for Democrats in the network’s polling dating back to 1990. (RELATED: The Democratic Party Is Collapsing)

The great irony of American politics circa 2025 sees Democrats taking their marching orders, albeit to-the-rear marching orders, from their devil figure.

Democrats once advertised themselves as the party of good government. Now they feverishly seek to replace Chuck Schumer as their leader in the U.S. Senate because he agreed to keep the federal government open. MSNBC host Symone Sanders Townsend left the party over this and the mononymous Touré threatened the same. Schumer postponed a book tour because of “security concerns” in the wake of the fallout from keeping the federal government in operation.

WWDTD?

Elon Musk once served as a sort of messiah figure for Democrats who worshiped clean energy the way primitives worshipped the sun. In 2016, their platform promised a “clean energy transition,” a program that relied on “vehicle electrification.” Tesla, more than any other automobile manufacturer, represented this promise. So, rich liberals bought them in droves. Now that the billionaire who voted for Biden in 2020 supported Trump in 2024, and joined his administration to root out wasteful federal spending, they protest and rush to sell their Teslas.  They firebomb them in Portland, Oregon, Seattle, Washington, Loveland, Colorado, and points beyond. (RELATED: ‘Broken Windows’ and the Terrorism of Small Things)

WWDTD?

Democrats used to champion American workers and tariffs that they believed protected them from the unfair trade practices of foreign nations. Now they bemoan them.

WWDTD?

Progressives long questioned the chemicals added to foods and the reliance on processed edibles in the American diet. Then Trump nominated a lifelong progressive and booster of natural foods Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as secretary of Health and Human Services. Democrats launched a smear campaign against him and all voted against his confirmation in the U.S. Senate. Such is the mesmerism of Trump that he can make Democrats hate a Kennedy. (RELATED: RFK Jr. Treatment Proves Democrats Hate Heretics More Than the Heathen)

WWDTD?

Democrats demanded the end of endless wars during the George W. Bush administration. Now they demand that U.S. taxpayers fund them ad infinitum. In Ukraine, where Trump attempts to stop the senseless killing of hundreds of thousands, progressives depict his peacemaking as diabolical. (RELATED: The Left’s Hypocrisy About the ‘Imperial Presidency’)

WWDTD?

From ending the opacity surrounding the John Kennedy assassination by releasing the classified documents pertaining to it to demanding that the federal government respect freedom of speech, Donald Trump finds unyielding opposition from people who once championed such ideas.

WWDTD?

The great danger of taking oppositional cues from a populist involves populists so often rooting their positions in the will of the people. For better and worse, Donald Trump does this on trade, immigration, foreign aid, and so much else. Reflexively doing the opposite, then, means opposing the will of the people expressed through polls and, here, elections, too.

Leftists who subconsciously look to Donald Trump for political guidance might think about consciously looking to him for guidance on how to emerge from the political wilderness.

Recall that when Trump entered electoral politics, he did so by questioning ideas long held by Republicans — a party then in the political wilderness. Trump did not care if some issues he championed occasionally overlapped with positions traditionally held by Democrats.

He saw America not as a crusader state or the world’s policeman but as an end in itself. He rejected the free-trade-über-alles Bush–McCain–Romney consensus and instead sought the best deal for the United States. He toned down social issues (even if social issues refused to remain silent). He veered far away from the amnesty for illegals embraced by Republican elites but long decried by the base.

He succeeded politically in part because he did not allow oppositional politics, or copycat politics, to determine his positions on issues. Put another way, Donald Trump shows himself as inner-directed. Democrats, in orienting themselves by using Trump as the North Star, show themselves as outer-directed.

Democrats lost their way when they lost their minds. And when they lost their minds over Donald Trump, they lost their principles. Once lost, principles prove difficult to find again.

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