Let’s face it, it just isn’t working. You Democrats have grown too far apart. It is time for a divorce.
After losing the election to political zombie Donald Trump, who arose from the crypt of loss, impeachment, and prosecution, you are looking for a way forward. New leadership is being pushed by your progressives, with rising leftist stars like socialist Zohran Mamdani, Gavin Newsom, and AOC becoming the new faces of your party. Even graybeards like 64-year-old Barrack Obama are urging the defenestration of your “dinosaurs” like Chuck Schumer following the shutdown debacle. Predictably, the older and more moderate traditional Democrats think otherwise.
Some things to consider:
First, you will no longer have the good fortune of facing Trump, a candidate who guaranteed you the support of at least 40 percent of the voters, no matter who you ran as your own candidate. While I am certain that you will thoroughly detest whoever the Republicans run, you won’t hate them as much as Trump, nor will they offer the crazy pronouncements to attack and mock. The best that Democrats could do against J.D. Vance in 2024 was to call him “weird,” allege a “romantic liaison” with a couch, and suggest that he wore mascara. Deprived of your evil totem, and the “yellow dog Democrats” that he inspired, you will need an appealing agenda.
Two, what approach do you take: lower the drama or scream even louder? How’d the shutdown work out for you? You managed to inflict the longest shutdown in history in an effort to “fight Trump” and extort more money and got nothing but voter anger for all the pain you caused. Unfortunately, any approach that will reassure party moderates of your sanity will not give your progressives the cathartic release that they so desperately crave.
Third, your biggest and most difficult problem will be choosing between the policy demands of the moderate traditional old-school liberals and those of the progressives. Who writes the platform in 2028? It is a big gap with little room for workable compromises.
Immigration will continue to be the most difficult issue. Trump proved that it is possible to control border crossings, and even a substantial portion of moderate Democrats oppose an open border. But any sort of actual control of immigration will necessarily result in countless incidents of desperate immigrant families being heartlessly turned away or deported. Are you emotionally capable of enduring that? Voters will not ignore an additional influx of millions of people with “unsatisfactory” immigration status, regardless of how you try and dress it up.
Young progressives demand socialism, while it terrifies the party moderates and independents. Mamdani’s election in New York has made him the national face of the progressives, and the outcome of his experiments will reflect on the party. Government groceries? Free child care? Free public transit? Still higher taxes? A spectacular failure could easily doom the “free stuff” Democrats nationally.
The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is unlikely to go away. How do you reconcile the moderates’ wish to support Israel against attack, with the progressives’ determination to support the intifada and eliminate the Jewish state? Jews are an important part of the Democratic coalition—what will they do?
The transgender agenda will continue to dog your party and receive a lot of media attention. While progressives will see abandoning any part of it as a morally repugnant betrayal, an increasing number of Democrats see the position as a loser. Breaking from the pack, likely candidate Gavin Newsom declared that men in women’s sports was “deeply unfair” and others have followed, but progressives will go apeshit if it is abandoned or ignored. What do you do?
Democrats have long been vulnerable on crime and the police, especially since “defund,” the mass release of criminals in many states, and the elimination of bail. The recent hysterics over deporting gang members and the encouragement of rioting over ICE operations haven’t helped. Progressives want to defund and beat up on the police, while moderates want more police protection. In which direction will you head?
What do you do about DEI and identity politics? It is growing less popular and cost you the last election. Your traditional support among Latino and Black voters is slipping. Still, “identity” politics remain a party fixation.
Divorce is painful, but is often necessary for personal growth. Progressives can hope that the younger, exciting face of the new party can bring in more like-minded kids, while moderates can hope that a return to moderate politics will bring over independents and Republicans who are unhappy with the party under Trump.
Sorry, but you suffer from irreconcilable differences, and it is time for a divorce and for each of you to go your own way. While splitting up the assets and debts will be difficult, at least no one will be fighting over who gets the kids. ∆
John Donegan is a retired attorney in Pismo Beach who is genuinely curious as to which direction the Democrats will go. Respond with an opinion sent to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Holiday Guide 2025.
John:
I pretty much buy a couple of packs of hooks, weights, and fishing line every paycheck I receive. I do this in preparation for a dollar collapse. We can always catch fish out of the ocean.
A sound plan, but what are you going to do for “chips” (french fries)? The spud cartels will be controlling things, and fry oil is likely to be carce.
John:
I can get a 25lb bag of bread flour for $7.25 at Costco. From there, it costs pennies to bake a loaf of bread. A nice piece of fresh, locally caught, grilled cod with a squeeze of a purloined lemon on top of a slice of my baked bread, lightly toasted, is a meal in itself. Best of all, the damn fish is FREE. Don’t tell anyone, but our inshore waters are TEEMING with fish.
What I don’t understand is why the Irish starved to death during their multiple famines in the 19th century when all they had to do was send a dory out and catch fish.
I’ll be damned if that happens to my family as our economy crashes and the dollar dies. I literally have four fishing poles. I’m going to get some fish this weekend too, caught one from Smuggler’s Cave in the rain last weekend. I could cast out and retreat to the dry interior of the cave and wait for a bite. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt more alive. Between the smell of wet sage, ocean spray, and a roaring ocean, I think if I died right there, catching fish, my life would have been complete. So grateful to be a Californian and live by the sea. If only I had my own avocado tree …😂
Fly: Maybe you can find an unattended avocado tree which is still producing. Across the 101 from El Capitan campground near Santa Barbara, there was an old untended avocado orchard which still produces. It takes a while for them to ripen, but the price is right.
Interesting, I know where you are referring too. Just south of El Refugio State Park? I used to work in the Los Flores Natural Gas Processing plant there. That is some nice land down there, there’s nothing like taking the train through there and seeing a cow grazing on an ocean cliff. I’ve heard there are some nice halibut down that way too. Those avocado groves are huge down there. With the way things are and knowing my luck, I’d get shot trying to get an unattended avocado. Nice sentiment though. I do remember, as a child, walking by groves of tangelo oranges on my way to the school bus in the 1970s in Valley Center in San Diego county. Boy did those tangelos taste great and we kids helped ourselves to as many as we wanted. How about orange blossom and avocado blossom honey, huh?
Living in America now is like living on the Titanic. There’s a generation of people who live in nice quarters with a fresh breeze on the upper level, while most people under 75yo live in the steerage compartment. We have hit an iceberg named “Greed” and we are sinking. My only consolation is knowing those on the upper deck are going down too, otherwise why do they have their lips affixed to the national printing press, dependant on bailouts of a dying dollar for salvation??
Donegan claims to have his finger on the pulse of the Democratic Party, but this commentary proves that he is the “dinosaur.” Talking about a divorce among Democrats is like the adage of “calling the kettle black.” At least we’re not rife with assorted racists, antisemites, and incompetent nincompoops.
With my “finger on the Democratic pulse” I can tell you that the party is in ventricular fibrillation, and will quickly die without the immediate use of an political AED. Soon the Democrats will be as influential as the Whigs.
“Racists”? Which party functions under the assumption that all Black Americans are helpless wards of the Democratic party, and can only succeed with the help of their white benefactors?
” Anti-semites”? With your progressives support of the intifada and support of Hama’s atrocities, we all know where the anti-semitism is these days. Your friendly media has shown us a pretty vivid portrayal.
“Incompetent nincompoops? Despite spending half a billion more, you managed to get Trump re-elected, despite the fact that perhaps 40% of the voters hate him, and a big portion of his own party dislike him and only voted for him as the ” least bad” choice. Running a candidate who was supported by less than 5% of your own party in 2020 wasn’t the brightest move.
Come on, John. You have no idea who I support. Your critical thinking skills have obviously deteriorated, as there is no proof that progressives support the intifada or are pro-Hamas. You’re an artifact, a dying breed. Tune into Fuentes and Carlson for your party updates.
You made who you support pretty clear in your May, 2025 column. All you needed was a “Rah rah, go Hamas, push ’em into the sea!”
40% of all dollars in circulation were created over the last 5 years. If anyone wants proof of a dying dollar, look no farther than the typical $850,000 wooden, Depression era, termite infested shack in SLO. These should be 40% less if the dollar wasn’t debased over the last 5 years. Buy physical gold before it’s too late. The dollar is about to COLLAPSE.
I make sure to fold the New Times so Mr. Donegan’s column is facing up toward the perch in the bird cage.
If you did that with a printed copy of one of comments, poor Tweety would turn utterly incontinent.
Totally agree! Not sure why NT perseveres with this comment section. Most publications have eliminated them. I guess Cal Coast News still has one, but guessing no one would read that rag without it. It’s quite a sewer, way worse than this one.
I’d be crushed if they discontinued the comments. I always enjoy the feedback, even when it is negative. It is sort of like having a peephole into a lunatic asylum.
I’m sorry Mr. Donegan, I didn’t realize your world was so narrow.
Maybe the time is finally ripe for a true populist party. George Soros must be broke, after sending checks to seven million paid protesters, so who’s left to pay off the superdelegates? Trump isn’t fooling anybody anymore; he now says affordability is a dirty word, and the gilded ballroom doesn’t enhance his ‘drain the swamp’ ethos. Even MTG sees his endorsement as the kiss of death. Ya think executing Mark Kelly would consolidate his loyalty among the military? Probably only those that now are allowed to have swastikas on their lockers.
Steve:
You ever wear a military uniform?
Did Trump?
Steve;
You’re deflecting. Until you’ve had the privilege of wearing this country’s military uniform while under arms, you are nothing more than this era’s version of the scum who denigrated draftees sent to Vietnam when they returned home. Perhaps if you spent a little more time engaged in self reflection or systemic analysis, you wouldn’t be so compelled to project your own deficiencies on to someone else (Trump). I seriously doubt you walk on water either.
The office of the president is but one of three coequal branches. Perhaps your party should have actually improved the average person’s material conditions during the decades they had the opportunity to do so. Instead, your party doubled down on creating the hellscape we now find ourselves in. Many of us voted for Trump as a protest, not because we are convinced of his convictions. He’s from NYC, why in God’s name would any of us want a New Yorker in ANY office?
Steve, it’s never too late to engage in public service, there are plenty of volunteer opportunities to do so. Not to toot my own horn, but I still do, in a uniformed volunteer capacity. Unfortunately, Steve, to do so you may have to keep your opinions to yourself if you are truly mission oriented. It also requires putting the welfare of the team over your own petty interests. Are you a team player, sir, or just another member of the peanut gallery? Are you even capable of thinking of anyone other than yourself?? Have you ever even considered trying to find a higher calling? Or, is everything all about Steve? Is the world revolving around poor old Steve?? I seriously doubt it. If it did, we would all be eating tofu, flying rainbow flags, and wearing dresses instead of pants, lol. I’ll pass. You’re free to do that, Steve, but don’t expect the rest of to do so.
Just caught a FAT 18″ Cabazon off a cliff.
Kudos, but be careful you don’t trigger all the pescaphobes, who will be quick to demand that you switch to a vegan diet.
John:
Thank you. When the pescaphobes are willing to put their money where their mothers are and feed my family, I’ll stop plucking delicious, FREE, fish out of the ocean. I suspect that as our economy collapses and the dollar is rendered nothing more than a regional currency instead of the world’s reserve currency (as is now happening), more and more of these “pescaphobes” may soon be joining me scrambling around the rocks and cliffs of the ocean trying ways to feed themselves as well as their families. We are entering if not already in, a Depression. Our local farmers might either want to consider installing floodlights around their fields or fences. I’m just curious how long their strawberries will last when all the Americans barely surviving now just throw in the towel and just say “to hell with it,” and through all social norms and civility out the window.
I’m not sure, but I think Lenin or somebody associated with the Russian revolution once said, “All societies are only three missed meals away from revolution.” We’re getting pretty damn close.
*Edit
“…willing to put their money where their MOUTHS are ..”
Oh. Actually, I rather preferred the original version, envisioning a maternal banking system, where money would be given to dear old mom to hold in her cookie jar or whatever. Besides fish, venison will be readily available to those who are not squeamish about legal restrictions, or in the event of a complete social breakdown. The hills are swarming with deer. With a little luck, and a big buck, I could not only feed myself, but also fashion a hat with antlers which would make the buffalo outfit worn by that 1/6 rioter pale in stylish glory.
It’s been so interesting watching the adventures of Bob Menendez and George Santos. I should be thanking them for providing hours of entertainment.