Cal Thomas: Three little words

Cal Thomas, Tribune Content Agency on Jun 5, 2025

Six months after their disastrous performance in last November’s election, The New York Times reports the Democratic Party is “still searching for the path forward.”

Democrats have hired consultants, one of whom asked voters what animal would they assign each party (elephants and donkeys, the traditional symbols for the respective parties, didn’t make the cut).

The newspaper reports the survey showed Republicans were likened to “apex predators like lions, tigers and sharks.” Democrats were compared to “tortoises, slugs, sloths.” Democrats were also called “slow,” “plodding” and “passive.” That’s not the kind of momentum Democrats need going into next year’s congressional races and the 2028 presidential contest.

Some Democrats, like recently ousted Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg, have suggested that older Members of Congress be forced out by much younger people through primary challengers.

It’s not that difficult to fix their problem. There are three little words they need to say: “We were wrong.” It will pain them to say it, but confession is not only good for the soul, it can help restore lost credibility. Polls show their favorability is at a modern low (27 percent according to an NBC News poll). Democrats lack a road map and are clueless about what to do to win over voters, especially young male voters who voted heavily for Trump.

Some ideas for restoring the party are laughable. There have been suggestions that Democrats start attending NASCAR races and UFC fights, even become familiar with video games to attract young men. I haven’t heard a suggestion they attend conservative churches. Maybe that’s asking too much from a party known as being more secular than religious, but it might do them and their party some good.

Unless they are sincere in their contrition, they might come off as condescending, and it could produce the opposite effect.

They need to say, and mean, they were wrong about covering up President Biden’s decline and wrong about some of their own policies, which might include an open border, transgender athletes in women’s sports, ever-higher taxes and unending spending. Favoring some restrictions on abortion and school choice are polling well, yet too many Democrats are stuck in their old and absolutist positions. It also might help if instead of promoting younger Democrats who might share the same ideas as their older brethren, they try to understand the appeal of these and other issues. They might also consider having lengthy conversations with Republican conservatives. People in Washington these days seem to know each other only by labels.

Democrats were once seen as strong on national defense. They were anti-communist and pro-American. Names like John F. Kennedy and Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson (D-WA) come to mind. So does retired Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA). They and others like them were reasonable men who spent more time attacking America’s enemies and promoting the general welfare than criticizing their own party members. Their kind have been expunged from the party like former Soviet dictators who stood atop Lenin’s tomb and watched a military parade pass by, but were later erased from photographs when they fell out of favor. Today’s Democrats probably would not embrace the policies of those Democrats of yesteryear, or want them in today’s Democratic Party.

I’m not expecting Democrats to follow my advice, but at least I tried. A strong two-party system is good for the country, but we can’t have that equality when voters compare Republicans to lions while Democrats are viewed as sloths.

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Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book “A Watchman in the Night: What I've Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America" (HumanixBooks).