Imagine a football coach who, week after week, gathers his team not to review their own fumbles or sharpen their plays, but to replay footage of the rival who crushed them last season. “Look at this guy,” he says, pointing at the screen. “He’s why we lost.” The team nods, grumbles, maybe even gets fired up—but they’re not running drills, not fixing the leaky defense, not figuring out how to score. That’s the Democratic Party right now: fixated on discrediting Donald Trump instead of confronting their own weaknesses and building a winning strategy.
It’s a losing play. Voters aren’t dumb—they can see Trump’s shadow looming over every press release and stump speech. But what they’re not seeing is a party that’s ready to move the ball downfield. Relentless Trump-bashing might juice the base, but it’s leaving swing voters on the sidelines, wondering what Democrats stand for, not just who they’re against. A coach who only talks about the other team’s star isn’t inspiring his players to run better routes—he’s just feeding resentment. Democrats risk the same fate: a campaign of grievance that drowns out any vision of progress.
Winning teams don’t wallow after a loss—they adapt. They study the tape, sure, but then they hit the gym, tweak the playbook, and focus on execution. Democrats could do the same. They’ve got wins to tout—think infrastructure bills or climate investments—and weaknesses to address, like shaky economic messaging or the perennial border security headache. Pivot to that, and they’d look less like a team licking wounds and more like one ready to take the field. Instead, they’re stuck in a defensive crouch, as if keeping Trump in the crosshairs is enough to carry them to victory.
Why the obsession? Maybe it’s fear. Pointing fingers at Trump is easier than hashing out a bold agenda that might expose internal fault lines—say, between the progressive wing and the moderates. A villain unites; a blueprint risks division. But that’s the trap: unity without purpose is just noise. Voters don’t elect noise—they elect results.
The clock’s ticking. If Democrats want to stop reliving their last defeat, they need to stop staring at the guy who beat them and start fixing their own game. Otherwise, they’re not just handing Trump the spotlight—they’re handing him the win.
