In 2015, when Donald Trump ran for the Republican nomination for president, a refrain often heard by his supporters and mocked by his opponents was: “He’s fighting.”
It seemed empty and without substance, but in fact it represented some core issues that Republican voters felt their party was ignoring, or at least not prioritizing. Today, it is the Democratic base that is demanding its party’s “fight.” But fight for what?
Newly elected mayor Zohran Mamdani (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump’s core issues, and those of what would become known as MAGA, were a bit unclear at first, but eventually became very clear: secure the border, ditch globalism and bad trade deals, and fight the culture war.
What are the issues or policies that are fueling the current militancy within the Democratic Party? There are three that are dominant.
WHEN WE CALL EVERYTHING AN ‘ISM’ WE NO LONGER HEAR WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT TO VOTERS
The first problem can roughly be called wealth redistribution. We should avoid using the term socialism here because it is vague and toxic, and what Democrats are really talking about is the purpose of the social safety net, from Social Security to food stamps.
At least nominally, the Democratic Party’s position for half a century has been that welfare programs are a hand-up, not a hand-out. As John F. Kenndy put it, they are the rising tide that lifts all ships.
Senator Bernie Sanders, Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pose for a photo in Astoria, Queens, September 6, 2025. (@ZohranKMamdani via X)
In practice, this has created a permanent underclass funded by high-earning taxpayers, but Democrats have long refused to admit this. Democratic socialists have ripped off the band-aid. Enticing the rich to pay for the basic needs of the poor and working class is their proud new mantra.
SOCIALIST WAVE SPREADS COAST TO COAST AS PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS GATHER AROUND ZOHRAN MAMDANI’S WIN IN NYC
It turns out that people like newly elected New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani have Democratic voters with them on this detour. A recent Gallup poll shows that 66% of Democrats have a positive view of socialism, while only 42% say the same about capitalism.
Former President Joe Biden used to whisper that billionaires should “pay their fair share.” Today, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., are shouting. from the rooftops that the rich should pay much more than their ‘fair share’, and in effect subsidize everyone else.
The second major issue that Democrat Socialists have focused on is Israel, and America’s relationship with and military financing of the Jewish state, something the party supported as fundamental policy even a decade ago.
BILL MAHER SAYS DEMOCRATS HAVE ‘FAIR BIG SPLIT’ IN THE PARTY AFTER ELECTION WIN
According to a Pew survey, the percentage of Democrats with a negative view of Israel has risen from 53% to a whopping 69% since 2022, and the lean and hungry New Democrats know it.
Rep. Ro Khana, D-Calif., who has been quietly crafting a new vision for his party, recently posted a list of issues at the heart of his mission. They include “Medicare-for-all,” childcare for ten dollars a day, housing, and then, right at the bottom, “No bombs for Israel.”
Meanwhile, pro-Israel Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., has all but admitted that there is “no room” in the party for those on his side of the issue. That’s not good news for the political future of moderates like Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
DEMOCRATS LIKE ZOHRAN MAMDANI CLAIM TO EMBRACE YOUNG PEOPLE. They betray them
The third issue clearly firing up the Democratic base is immigration, and when I say they’re firing up, I mean apparently normal people jumping in front of federal authorities’ cars to stop them from deporting illegal alien criminals.
Take Mamdani’s acceptance speech last week in Brooklyn: “Thank you to those so often forgotten by our city’s politics who have made this movement their own. I am talking about Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas,” he said. ‘Senegalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses. Chefs from Trinidad and Ethiopian aunts. Yes, aunts.’
The key words here are: “who created this movement.”
The far left has taken control of the Democratic party platform, and that is turning voters away
Make no mistake, this new version of the Democratic Party will not only try to grant amnesty to anyone in the United States illegally, they will reopen the border and their voters will cheer the invasion.
It wasn’t just establishment Republicans who underestimated Trump’s appeal in 2015, it was the entire country. What we didn’t see at the time was that he was tapping into a real popular zeitgeist on his three big issues, the border, globalism, and the culture war.
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Today we are at a similar point, regarding wealth redistribution, Israel and immigration. The Democrat-Socialists have found a popular policy in their base, and all the Chuck Schumers in the world can’t talk them out of it.
Just as Trump took over the Republican Party before anyone knew it, the Democrat-Socialists have found the same battle path to gain dominance among the Democrats, and for the few moderates left, it already seems far too late to stop this.
