My Plea to Democrats: Stop Being Polite, Go Nuclear
A former Republican strategist lays out what the Dems must do if they win back the House next year, including defunding the entire executive branch and nationalizing SpaceX.
After years of Donald Trump’s chaotic and cruel presidency, Democrats win the next election. Their goal is to return to normalcy, focusing on good governance that benefits the middle class. America breathes a collective sigh of relief and rewards Democrats with a renewed surge of support, proving the MAGA era of divide and conquer was doomed to failure.
Sounds great, doesn’t it? This is how politics should work, with a sane, governing party reminding the majority of Americans that Donald Trump’s MAGA was an aberration, not a destiny.
There’s only one problem with this scenario: we tried it, and it failed.
No Rewards
Joe Biden took office in January 2021 with a familiar refrain from his campaign: "I pledge this to you: I will be a president for all Americans. I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did.”
In response to this gracious commitment in the best of the American political tradition, MAGA responded with a screaming, “Fuck you. We don’t want your help.” Or as the intellectuals of MAGA put it, “Let’s go, Brandon.”
Biden delivered for Red State America like no president in modern history. Sixty percent of the energy-related funding of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law went to states that voted Republican in 2020. More than 68% of new clean energy jobs created via the Inflation Reduction Act were in Republican House districts, which received $161 billion in clean energy investments.
Under Biden, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) allocated $1.1 billion to 81 projects via the Regional Conservation Partnership Program in rural, Trump-voting areas. New small business applications hit a record 21 million. Republicans have long championed small business development, dating back to the establishment of the Small Business Administration by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. If I had five shares of Tesla for every time my old boss, George W. Bush, said, “Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy,” I could replace the CEO with someone the Wall Street Journal hasn’t exposed as frequently under the influence of drugs.
Donald Trump was the first president since Herbert Hoover to leave office with fewer jobs than when he started. During Trump’s first term, America lost over 2.7 million jobs. Under Biden, the economy grew by 16.5 million jobs. When Trump took office, unemployment was 4.7%. It was 6.4% when he left. Under Biden, that number fell to 3.9%.
“Let’s be clear: there are times when good policy makes for good politics. This isn’t one of those times.”
As I like to ask my Republican friends, “What did you hate most about Biden? The record stock market or the record job creation?”
How were Democrats rewarded? Harris received over 6 million votes fewer votes than Biden.
Let’s be clear: there are times when good policy makes for good politics. This isn’t one of those times. If Democrats return to power with the same approach as the Biden years, they will be back in the business of losing $5 on every sale but trying to make it up in volume.
Jonathan Last, the brilliant editor of The Bulwark, nailed it when he wrote:
“This is an extraordinary moment, and it requires extraordinary vision and actions. We must stop viewing political life through the lens of American politics as we have known it and adopt the viewpoint of dissident movements in autocratic states.”
Any honest Republican operative – okay, okay, I get it – who worked in pre-Trump elections can point to a long list of races we won that we had no business winning. We weren’t brilliant or particularly clever. But we understood that far more races are won on emotion vs. facts. Voting is a voluntary act with no penalty for non-participation.
Voters should be viewed as sports fans, not a jury pool summoned to a tedious civic task. Why do sports fans get off the couch to spend hundreds of dollars on tickets and swag to cheer like the possessed for their favorite teams? Passion. Teams develop deep and loyal fan bases when their success or failure has a profound impact on the emotions of their followers. Just call up any University of Alabama football fan this week and ask them how they are doing.
“Rule of law” is a good title for a civics class – do these still exist? – but as a rallying cry for a movement, it doesn’t have quite the oomph of “Throw the bastards out.” Or Make America Great Again. To win the big, sweeping victories that are needed to save this country, Democrats must offer their potential voters the promise of the full banquet of sweet joy and vindication that comes with triumph.
What Dems Must Do Day 1
Are you one of the millions who hate watching some pudgy South African fuck acting like he can buy our democracy? The first day Democrats are in power, they should vote to nationalize Starlink and SpaceX under the Defense Production Act. Republicans use the assertion that we’re in a state of war to justify Stephen Miller acting out his immigration snuff film fantasies. Accept their wartime premise and act accordingly. Not sure there is enough ketamine in the world to get Elon through those votes.
Donald Trump views the Constitution like another of his marriage vows, a quaint document that has sentimental value but no practical application. When the gavel comes down on the Democratic House, vote to cut off all funding for the executive branch.
On that first day, vote to defund ICE and reallocate the funds with state block grants to be used for law enforcement. This would be the largest “hire more cops” initiative in the country’s history. Make the Republicans vote against hiring more cops. They all support Donald Trump’s pardon of a mob that attacked cops, so this should be an easy vote for them, right?
Pass the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act, first introduced in 2021. That calls for a 2% annual tax on net worth between $50 million and $1 billion and a 3% on net worth over $1 billion. Modify the original bill so that 20% of the total revenue is allocated to an untouchable Social Security fund. I’ve never seen a poll that didn’t show raising taxes on those making over $10 million as a 90+% issue.
Vote to make all stock trading by members of Congress and the Senate illegal.
Vote to require the president, vice president, members of Congress, and Cabinet secretaries to release 10 years of tax returns. Any “acting secretary” for longer than six months must also release returns, to short-circuit a favorite Trump ploy to avoid Senate confirmation.
Vote to erect a statue in the Capitol’s National Sanctuary Hall commemorating the brave law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol from a Trump-inspired mob.
Vote to require Ghislaine Maxwell to be moved from her yoga class, Club Fed, back to a real prison.
Vote to launch an investigation into the possible criminal activity of DOGE with a budget sufficient to hire as many outside investigators and lawyers as needed. Assume the Justice Department and FBI will be part of an active cover-up.
Congressman Jamie Raskin announces a presidential corruption hearing that will begin in a week with an unlimited time frame.
This is just a start. Donald Trump and his Republican cronies love to put Democrats in the position of crying, “You can’t do that.” It’s time to reverse that trend. Make Donald Trump run to the courts to try to stop the Democrats’ sweeping agenda.
This will be called all the predictable names: radical, socialism, communist, anti-American. Respond with one blanket rebuttal: Republicans are saying that we are committed to changing how our government works and who it works for. They’re right. Are you with us or against us? For the status quo or change?
To demonstrate to America the seriousness of your commitment to transforming the status quo with real change, keep the House in session for 24 hours. Make the first day the long day that America deserves.
Stop Being Polite
Take the fight out of Washington. Hold town halls with multiple members across the country. Go to Brownsville, Texas, Youngstown, Ohio, Erie, Pennsylvania, Clarksdale, Mississippi, Yankton, South Dakota, Billings, Montana. Flood the zone. Live stream every event. Embrace the inevitable chaos that will come with counter-protesting.
This isn’t really complicated. With less than 30% of the country saying we are heading in the right direction, every election will be a change election until that number moves north of 50%. Who knows if that will ever happen again, but until it does, the political party that offers the most dramatic changes is going to win.
There is no ideology remaining in American politics. The center-right party is now the pro-Putin, sweetheart deals for child sex predators, nationalize key industries and flood American cities with the US military party. Republicans think they can turn a mayor of New York who wants the city to try opening five grocery stores into a poster child for socialism. Those are the Republicans who are now for government takeover of key industries like Intel. Democrats should attack, attack, attack, not defend. You really think this will stop with Intel? Are you insane? The bell will soon toll for Apple, Meta, Google, Berkshire Hathaway, and Boeing. Taking Intel is why the first hit of crack is free.
And my last plea to Democrats: stop being nice and polite. Anybody who votes to confirm the town drunk as secretary of defense is not a patriot. Say it. Senator John Thune, you have betrayed your country. You are not a patriot. JD Vance is married to a woman who is a US citizen, as a result of the 14th Amendment, which Vance opposes. Who attacks the legitimacy of his own family? Call it out. What’s wrong with this guy? It’s not that RFK Jr. was a long-time heroin junkie. The problem is that he has said heroin worked for him, and he’d still be using it if it still worked. He’s a broken, deeply disturbed man who deserves pity but no respect. He’s a nut. Call Tulsi Gabbard a functioning agent of the Russian Federation. Don’t weasel-word your way to invisibility.
Republicans think they can force the Democrats to play by different rules, that they can shame Democrats into refusing to go where they go every hour. Prove them wrong.
In 1929, the man who ran the US intelligence efforts decided to shut down the State Department’s cryptographic bureau, which had been intercepting and deciphering foreign diplomatic messages since World War I. When asked why, he explained his reasoning with the now-famous remark: “Gentlemen don’t read each other’s mail.”
Cut to 1945. That same man, Henry Stimson, is the secretary of war and is deciding which Japanese cities should be destroyed by nuclear bombs. That’s quite a transition. Why did he change? Because the world changed.
So, Democrats, please, can we move beyond the “gentlemen do not read each other’s mail” stage and get to the nuclear bomb targeting? The world has changed.
Stuart Stevens, a former Republican political operative, worked on George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns and was the chief strategist for Mitt Romney in 2012. He is the author of nine books and a senior adviser to the Lincoln Project.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of Zeteo
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Brilliant blueprint. Stuart Stevens and Elie Mystal should be co-chairs of the DNC, with Mehdi on speed dial. Memo to Ken Martin: THIS!
Yes. WOW. That's right! It has to be in your face politics. Roll up your shelves, plant your feet, have your facts straight and let loose with no apologies. The sports analogy is perfect. When dealing with the base you have to be basic.