This week, I had the opportunity to attend President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress as a guest of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. The energy in the room was palpable ... at least on the Republican side. But while Republicans celebrated their 2024 election victory and cheered Trump's list of accomplishments, Democrats seethed. Disunified and despairing, Democrats sat on their hands as Trump honored victims of illegal immigrant crime, an applicant to West Point, and a 13-year-old boy with terminal brain cancer receiving an honorary Secret Service membership. They sat stone-faced as Trump paid tribute to slain servicemembers and a murdered police officer, to a heroic Border Patrol agent and a female athlete injured by a male masquerading as a female.
When they did protest, they did so in the most desultory fashion imaginable. It began with Democratic women (and one man) wearing pink, in a nod to the feminist protests of 2016; it continued with Democrats in the audience holding up circular placards with statements like "FALSE" and "MUSK STEALS" and "SAVE MEDICAID," resembling a bizarrely political Brazilian steakhouse; it concluded with Democrats sporadically exiting the chamber in fits of pique.
Perhaps the only truly headline-grabbing moment came at the top of Trump's address, when serial attention grabber Rep. Al Green -- a man who launches articles of impeachment each day before breakfast -- began shouting at Trump: "You have no mandate to cut Medicaid!" It was an odd mantra, given that Trump has already repeatedly stated that he has no intention of cutting Medicaid. But it was all Democrats had.
It wasn't much. Within a few minutes, Green was escorted from the chamber, as Republicans sang, "Nah nah nah nah, goodbye."
So, what's the problem for Democrats?
It isn't merely that they lost the 2024 election. It's that their leadership class is utterly exhausted. Rep. Nancy Pelosi was at the address; she looked simultaneously bored and lost. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries seemed confused and bemused. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer disappeared into the wallpaper. And Sen. Elizabeth Warren only became publicly visible when Trump called her out as "Pocahontas."
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Meanwhile, the next generation of Democrats acted like spoiled brat Columbia University students pitching Hamas pup tents while flying transgender flags. They gathered in small colloquies with the other Squad members, before taking their seats and holding up their bingo cards. They booed loudly and razzed Trump vocally, to little effect. Eventually, most just left. Few noticed.
And this is the Democratic Party: Its older generation is exhausted; its younger generation is incompetent. These are the wages of a party ideology that prizes diversity, equity and inclusion before merit: Democrats with actual skill sets are now few and far between. The Democrats seem like a leaderless bunch of grasping boobs because they are a leaderless bunch of grasping boobs.
None of which means that they will be out of power permanently. The winds of politics change quickly: If the economy falls into recession, if inflation continues to grow, if China blockades Taiwan or Russia takes Kyiv, Democrats could find themselves elevated to power once again. But their movement is simply not durable. It relies on a coalitional strategy built around dissatisfaction with Americanism -- and that strategy is wildly uninspiring.
Which is why this week, Democrats seemed so uninspired. It's why they couldn't cheer even the most unifying displays of American success. And it's why, barring exceptional circumstances, they will find themselves in the political wilderness.
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