Froma Harrop

As Elon Musk takes a jackhammer to American institutions, Democrats seem frozen in confusion.

That’s in part because Donald Trump serves as wingman, diverting attention from the sabotage of government services through a carpet-bombing of bizarre plans, most recently, having the U.S. empty Gaza of Gazans to build a Mediterranean resort for “the world’s people.” Plus invade Greenland, plus invade Panama. And in what twisted nightmare did Canada become our enemy?

Rather than respond to the provocations with their practiced fury, Democrats should consider letting the breakers of American institutions break themselves. A number of Trump-friendly Americans are reportedly feeling stunned by the attacks on services and benefits they were told were off the table. Consumer confidence is already caving.

Beneficiaries of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) are getting quite nervous. Participants in Obamacare make up a heavy part of the MAGA base.

And so, here are three things Democrats should do:

Number One: Republican voters are responding negatively to Trump’s most lunatic ideas. Let the voices of protest be theirs. Don’t think you’re helping matters by filling in. Clearly, few elected Republicans have the spine to disagree publicly with Trump, even to vote against nominees who threaten American security. Leave the spotlight on them, bearing in mind that midterms are less than two years away.

Number Two: Democrats need new voices to show they’ve moved away from the radical crusades that spooked so much of the electorate. The problem with their warhorses, like Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer, isn’t that they’re old. It’s that their act is old. Warren shaking her fist in front of the Treasury recalls the humorless hectoring that got so many Democrats in trouble.

They should be mindful that the public rightly grew alarmed by the millions of undocumented migrants entering the country in the Biden years. It’s not enough for Democrats to note that Biden brought order to the border. He did it only at the last minute and under intense political pressure. Democrats must convince the public that they will not tolerate chaos at the border. Period.

Replace the pushy left-wingers whose antics brighten the screens at Fox News. When Elon Musk said he’d kill off USAID (the U.S. Agency for International Development), the Democrat protesting before the cameras was the obnoxious Rep. Ilhan Omar.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently threw a tantrum on the House floor over a Republican bill that would ban biological men from female sports. Better to let Rep. Seth Moulton, a Democrat from the Boston suburbs, speak common sense on the matter.

“I have two little girls,” he said. “I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat, I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.” He shouldn’t be.

Democratic primary voters had the good sense to replace the flamboyantly unlikable Cori Bush in Missouri and Jamaal Bowman in New York with smart progressives. And for all the attention paid Vermont socialist Bernie Sanders, it is notable that in 2024, Harris got more votes in Vermont than Sanders did the last time he ran for the Senate in 2018.

Number Three: Lighten up. Old school militant stunts, such as Democratic Reps. Judy Chu of California and Gwen Moore of Wisconsin barging into House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office without an appointment, only speaks of desperation.

Mockery is far more powerful anger. But where are the wits on the Democrats’ side? The most clever anti-MAGA quipsters are the Never Trump Republicans, conservatives appalled by the Trumpian demolition of institutions, democracy and decency.

Democrats, don’t get waylaid by the right-wing loons, flapping their beaks and laughing maniacally. You do have new faces with smart politics, and several are young besides. Hand over the reins.

Froma Harrop can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com.