VDH

 https://x.com/michaelarothman/status/2038389429426147786?s=51&t=cLq01Oy84YkmYPZ-URIMYw

" 𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐂 𝐍𝐈𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐌 𝐇𝐀𝐒 𝐍𝐎 𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐄𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓 Victor Davis Hanson — Hoover Institution senior fellow, military historian, fifth-generation California farmer — just delivered the most precise autopsy of the modern Democratic Party I’ve heard. His thesis: the party died sometime around 2008 and what replaced it is 𝐧𝐢𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞. Start with what he identified as the catalyst: “𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘋𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘥 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱. 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘯’𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘥𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮. 𝘏𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴.” But the madness isn’t the disease. It’s a symptom of something deeper. Hanson went back to the 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟐 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟔 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐬 — and pointed out they “𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘴” by today’s standards. The party that once said “𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯” has so thoroughly abandoned that posture that its own historical language sounds conservative. Then the kill shot: “𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘈, 𝘉, 𝘊, 𝘋.” No economic doctrine. No foreign policy framework. No coherent domestic agenda. Just 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲 — defined entirely by what they’re against. A party without affirmative vision is just a lobbying firm with a voter roll. And lobbying firms don’t inspire movements. They manage decline. 𝐍𝐢𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧."