Let's Talk Democratic Politics for a Second

I didn’t become a Democrat to run for office. I’d love to run for office again one day. I don’t know if I ever will, but that’s not why, eight months ago, I became a Democrat. I became a Democrat to help defend democracy and the rule of law, period. Because my former political party is an existential threat to democracy and the rule of law, period—and, by the way, pluralism, the Constitution, freedom, and basic human decency.

I became a Democrat to help defend those things, to help the Democratic Party defeat my former political party. I’m not a young kid, but I want to stay on the political battlefield. So in order to stay on the political battlefield right now, pick a side. Pick a side.

We’ve got two sides, and I want to get to the day when we have more than two sides, when there is a viable third party or a fourth party. I want to get there. I want to be there, where there is a viable movement of independents, people running for office as independents, and getting elected as independents. I want to get there one day. I want to be there one day. That one day is not here right now.

There are two parties in America right now, and one party is full-on anti-freedom, anti-democracy, anti-rule of law, anti-Constitution, anti-pluralism, and anti-basic human decency. I became a Democrat to help the democrats defeat that party, the republican party. I became a Democrat to help recruit others like me to become Democrats. I became a Democrat to help Democrats learn how to fucking fight.

I say all of this because I know there are people from my space who’ve become Democrats to run for office. And I get it. I know there are others—other Never Trumpers and other former Republicans and other conservatives—who’ve become Democrats in order to run for office. It’s a free country; you can do what you want. All I’ve ever asked is just be honest and tell us why you’re doing what you’re doing. That’s all. Just be honest and tell us why you’ve become a Democrat.

Look, I’ve said this before: I’m still a free-market libertarian/conservative. I’m just a Democrat now. If running for office meant I had to change my positions in order to win a Democratic primary, that’s not something I could do. I couldn’t. I just would never think to be able to do that. I am what I am, and I’m not going to change my beliefs and my positions in order to run for office. I’m a libertarian conservative who’s now a Democrat.

I’m pro-gun rights. I’m anti-taxation. I’m pro-Israel. I’m pro-school choice. I’m pro- and anti- a lot of things that, when it comes to policy, I’m not where most Democrats are today. I know that now. I knew that last June, when I became a Democrat, that when it comes to policy, I’m not where most Democrats are.

But remember, that’s not why I became a Democrat. It’s about things right now, principles right now, so much more important than policy. It’s about democracy and the rule of law and pluralism. It’s about the survival of this, the preservation of this 250-year-old experiment in self-rule. So I wouldn’t change my positions to run for office in order to win a Democratic primary. But I’m sure some folks will.

And by the way, I think it’s also really important that when you are someone like me—or a Geoff Duncan, who’s become a Democrat and is running for governor down in Georgia, or a David Jolly, who became a Democrat and is running for governor of Florida—I think it’s really important that Never Trumpers, former Republicans, and conservatives who are now Democrats help broaden the big tent. That should be the whole point.

You’ve got guys like me, David Jolly, Geoff Duncan, and I’m sure others, who’ve become Democrats. We’re former Republicans, and we’re still on the sort of conservative side of things, but we’ve become Democrats. It’s our job to help make the Democratic tent bigger by helping to expand the Democratic tent into red districts and red states and help attract more moderates and conservatives to the Democratic banner. That’s the whole point.

If somebody from the far, far, far, far left became a Democrat—like Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City, who is a Democratic Socialist—it’s his job to help expand the Democratic tent on the left. That’s his job. My job is to help expand the Democratic tent on the right. Which is why if I ever did run for office as a new Democrat who’s a conservative Democrat, I would be compelled to and I should—if I’m consistent with what I’m doing, which is trying to help make the Democratic Party a bigger tent—run in a redder district or a redder state to help expand the party and win a red district or win a red state where a conservative Democrat like me could win. Like that’s the whole point, right?

Joe Walsh couldn’t and shouldn’t move to New York City or some uber-blue congressional district and run for Congress. I’m a former Republican. I’m a conservative. That’s not my purpose. If I really want to be a team player and help the Democratic Party, it’s not my job to go into a deep-blue state or a deep-blue district and try to get elected. There are plenty of progressive Democrats who can do that, who should do that.

No, my job is to make this Democratic tent bigger. So win a state like South Carolina, win a state like Tennessee, win a congressional district that is more of a Republican congressional district. That’s what we Never Trumper/former Republican/conservative-now-Democrats are called to do, if it’s about the team. David Jolly’s doing that down in Florida. Geoff Duncan’s trying to do that in Georgia. Georgia is a purple kind of a state.

A guy whom I’ve always respected and think highly of, George Conway, has announced he’s running for Congress in New York City, in the 12th Congressional District, which is like the bluest, most progressive, most Democratic district in the country. I love and respect George Conway, but I don’t get that. George is doing the opposite of what I think we should do, those of us like George Conway, Joe Walsh, Geoff Duncan, and David Jolly.

We’re all former Republicans. We’re all conservatives who became Democrats. Why move into a super-blue, liberal, Democratic, progressive district like New York City’s 12th and run for Congress there, George Conway? That’s not helping to make the tent bigger. That’s not putting the team, the Democratic team, first.

A Democrat’s going to win that district. A solid progressive, liberal, good, genuine lefty Democrat, God bless them, is going to win that district. That’s a Democratic district. That would be like me moving back to Chicago and running in the bluest Congressional District in Chicago. Why would I do that when they are going to win that seat no matter what? The people in that district are progressive. They’re all Democrats. Long-time Democrats. They’re progressives. They shouldn’t be represented by a new conservative Democrat like me.

Again, free country. I respect George Conway. He can do what he wants. But I’ll put it like this: I couldn’t do that. I wouldn’t do that. Because I think it’s about the Democratic Party first and putting the team first. And for those of us who are new to the team, like Walsh and Geoff Duncan and David Jolly and George Conway and anybody else, our job is to help win this fight—remember, keep your eyes on the prize—to help win this fight against our former political party, the Republican Party, which is an existential threat to democracy and the rule of law.

Our job as conservatives-become-new-Democrats, our job is to help make the tent bigger from the middle and the right, to help bring more moderates and conservatives into the Democratic Party. I consider that my job. George Conway, new Democrat, that’s his job, as a former Republican, a former conservative. Same with Geoff Duncan down in Georgia. Same with David Jolly in Florida.

And so if any of us want to run for office then, it makes sense and it’s the right thing to do to run in a more red district, a more red state. And if we all put country first, team first, instead of ourselves, that’s what we’ll do. Progressives will represent progressive districts, blue districts. More conservative Dems will represent redder states and districts. That’s how you have a big, big successful party that can defeat today’s Republican Party.

And this is our mission now, because our democracy is on the line. It’s not about us individually, it’s not about our own egos. It’s about doing what’s best for the only party right now that can defeat the party—my former party—that’s an existential threat to democracy and the rule of law. That’s all it is. That’s all we are called to do right now.

This is what I’ve always said since I became a Democrat: the party should be big enough for a Joe Walsh on the right and a Zohran Mamdani on the left. Zohran Mamdani couldn’t win down in South Carolina; Joe Walsh couldn’t win in New York City. Joe Walsh shouldn’t think about running in New York City. Zohran Mamdani should never think about running in South Carolina. We should put Democrats on the ballot in South Carolina who can win in South Carolina. We should put Democrats on the ballot in New York City who can win in New York City. We’ve all got to do our part to help the party defeat the existential threat to democracy and the rule of law.

And as much as I love and respect George Conway, I just think that’s a missed, wasted move there. I don’t get that. That Congressional District in New York City is going to have a Democratic representative until the cows come home. George, you’re not adding anything running down there.

And by the way, George Conway, you’re a former Republican. You’re a conservative Democrat. You can’t represent the interests of those good, decent, long-time progressive Democrats in that district. A good, decent, long-time progressive should represent that district. Come on, let’s put the party first, so that we can put the country first and defeat our former political party.

Thus endeth today’s Meltdown. But again, that’s just my take. Free country. We all get to believe what we want and do what we want.

God bless everybody. Be brave.

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INTERVIEWS & QUOTES FROM THE PAST WEEK:

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