Last weekend, liberal America decided to take to the streets for No Kings Day, a loser exercise which did nothing. We have no king, Trump is still president, and Kamala Harris still lost the 2024 election. The ICE raids will continue, so deal with it. It’s also extra hilarious since liberals wanted Obama to act like a king during his presidency. It’s not just little old biased me saying No Kings was a waste of time: Ruy Teixeira, a liberal commentator and political analyst, threw cold water all over this little protest, saying it’s not enough.
If you’re unfamiliar with Teixeira’s work, he worked for the Center for American Progress but was essentially forced out because his analyses made his fellow liberals angry, namely the Democratic Party’s hard shift to the Left and its denigration of the working class. Ironically, he’s now with the American Enterprise Institute, last time I checked.
On his Substack, he noted that Trump and the GOP’s popularity over the Democrats is the first death blow to this notion that ‘No Kings’ could evolve into a larger movement. The second is that core Democratic voter groups have all turned against the Democrats. Last, he cited David Brooks’ column about why Democrats’ odyssey out of the wilderness won’t be easy. Liberals find themselves on the opposite end of where social trends are going right now: they’re institutionalists in an era where everyone hates institutions. They’re elitists when voters view elections as a duel between the elites and everyone else. While David Brooks isn’t MAGA, he was spot-on in highlighting those structural flaws within the Democratic Party. Now, there were some things about Teixeira’s post that I disagreed with, but overall, he shined a light into how the Left doesn’t get it yet:
This time is different. This time, he’s gone too far. This time, voters will be roused from their stupor and massively reject the Bad Orange Man. If only it were that simple. Here are some reasons why it’s not.
They’re not popular but then again neither are the Democrats. Trump’s approval has gone down since the beginning of his second term, now sitting at 46.5 percent in the RCP running average (a point lower in Nate Silver’s average). But Trump is still running ahead of his approval rating at this point in his first term. And at this point in his second term, he’s actually running slightly ahead of Obama and Bush at this point in their second terms.
In terms of favorability, Republican Party favorability still significantly outruns Democratic favorability (42 percent vs. 35 percent). The Democrats are a dreadful 24 points underwater (favorable minus unfavorable) while Republicans are net negative by a more modest 11 points. And Trump’s favorability is higher than that of his party and of course way higher than the Democrats’.
[…]
[On Immigration] There’s no doubt Trump’s approach to deportation (as opposed to his program to deport illegal immigrants) has been unpopular. Many of the specific actions his administration has taken on deportations have landed poorly with voters and given them a sense that many of the deportations are unfair and arbitrary. As a result, while immigration remains Trump’s best issue, he is now underwater in polling averages on the issue.
Voters clearly feel Trump has overreached on the issue and is not doing deportation right. But what about the Democrats? Do Democrats want to deport anyone? Do they have an immigration policy that goes beyond just opposing everything Trump does? Voters can be forgiven for not thinking so. That’s why Democrats have an incredibly abysmal rating on the issue. Trump may be slightly underwater on immigration (4 points in the Nate Silver average) but Democrats are an astonishing 58 points net negative (19 percent positive vs. 77 percent negative) on the issue in a recent poll of battleground districts from Impact Research.
[…]
“No Kings” is not enough; it’s just another Democratic mirage fooling them into thinking a new slogan and more anti-Trump demonstrations will get them to the promised land. It won’t so that land will continue to shimmer tantalizingly in the distance. But wake up Democrats, it’s just a mirage.
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Now, I can’t embed the images. Still, Teixeira included Nate Silver’s damning data sets: non-college-educated non-white voters and Gen X, Y, and Z are all either becoming Republican or turning against the Democrats. Black and Latino voter blocs writ large are not showing up for Democrats. The only voter group that’s keeping Democrats from dying off is white women—that’s it. Now, we know Trump’s approval rating is higher, as is his immigration policy. If they’re being cited as reasons why the Left can’t counter the MAGA movement, that’s something of a sign, right? Latino voters support mass deportations; it’s a popular initiative. And another thing missing here is the 40-point swing from immigrant citizens to the GOP, especially on immigration.
Another thing I noticed from the numerous ‘No Kings’ gatherings near me in Northern Virginia is that these rallies were dotted with old, crusty boomers who want to repeat ’68. It’s not going to happen, geezers.
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