High school athletic associations often have a “mercy rule” on the books pertaining to football games when the second half score becomes too absurdly lopsided. In order to forestall further humiliation and reduce the risk of injury, the time clock runs continuously to get the vanquished team off the field as quickly as possible and back to the safety of their locker room. Although the losing team likely will be dealing with the shock of the pummeling they have taken, they will be spared having their heads ruthlessly beaten in by a vastly superior opponent.

I am beginning to wonder if we need a “political mercy rule” to allow Democrats some possibility of salvaging their dignity and relevance—before it is gone altogether.

I can understand why Democrats seem shellshocked and befuddled. Rarely in our nation’s history have we seen political reality flip so rapidly and so thoroughly. It is almost as if stripping away the preferred pronouns and virtue signaling from Democrats has sucked away every ounce of their vivacity, leaving them to wallow helplessly in a world that they no longer recognize or understand.

Watching Senate Democrats getting kicked around during the confirmation hearings for President Trump’s appointees has been both entertaining and sad. One could see the frustration and confusion on their faces when the likes of Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. kept slapping them around; Democrats have grown so used to being the big bullies that they cannot understand why their faces are being ground into the dirt by people whom—only a few short months ago—they were certain were tethered to a Presidential candidate they going to obliterate. Just as the 2024 election results knocked them for a loop, so are they shocked the unpleasant innuendo and vicious name calling that previously worked so well to impose their will have failed since Donald Trump strolled to victory.

It does not help Democrats’ cause that Donald Trump has been launching salvos of executive orders, firing those whom he deems disloyal or incompetent, and seizing the spotlight at every turn. Moreover, the reliable Democrat foot soldiers in the legacy news media have been watching their Trump-hating liberal audiences evaporate, laying off employees to cope with declining revenues, and settling multiple lawsuits—brought by Donald Trump. 

Trump has also let loose the DOGE of war on overpaid and underperforming government employees and their agencies, so much of the fabled “resistance” in the permanent federal bureaucracy was busy deciding whether to accept the buyout offer before they were fired. Given that their cozy work-from-home gigs are now ending due to a directive to return to their offices or face immediate dismissal, many Democrat loyalists have already “self-deported” themselves out the door, which will make it much more difficult to slow the steady onslaught of Trumpian governmental and spending reforms.

Of course, it does not help that the Democrat brand has been severely damaged by the incompetency of Joe Biden’s dismal Presidency. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that a stunning 57% of registered voters held an unfavorable view of the Democrat Party, which means that they are at the highest level of unpopularity since this poll began asking the question in 2008. 

Americans tend remember lies like being repeatedly told by Democrats for 4 long years that they couldn’t possibly secure the border without a new law that enshrined amnesty and citizenship for illegal immigrants, yet President Trump has somehow managed to close the border using existing laws with no apparent difficulty. Americans will not forget lies like it was necessary to be locked in their homes to save them from a virus with a 99.8% survival rate that mostly killed the very old and already seriously ill. Disgusted Americans also remember lies like “no one is above the law”, which launched the legal assault on Donald Trump—yet excused the many pardons Joe Biden gave to his family and co-conspirators as he stumbled out the door.

Although it must be remembered that the popularity of political parties waxes and wanes with some regularity, it is clear that Democrats are, at least for the present, playing from a position of weakness. It does not help that Trump policies designed to deport violent illegal immigrants and root out government waste have been quite popular with many Americans. Democrat attempts to gin up sympathy for beleaguered gang members and fentanyl smugglers who are being arrested and sent back to their own countries are unlikely to gain much traction. It is likewise no surprise that Americans are shedding few tears over the plights of well-paid federal employees with gold-plated pensions, who will receive 8 months of salary and benefits if they accepted their buyouts—most private employees could only dream of such an amazingly generous offer. 

Four years from now voters might feel differently, but right now Democrats are being forced to resort to stunts and inflammatory language to salvage their programs and priorities, such as when Democrat House Leader Jeffries recently encouraged supporters to “fight in the streets” against President Trump’s agenda. Democrats’ frustrations are understandable, but one cannot help but ask whether they are harming their own electoral futures by lashing out at American voters rather than listening to their real and ongoing concerns. Perhaps the many lawsuits Democrats and their allies are currently filing across the nation, hoping to win in the courts what they could not at the ballot box, will provide some short term relief for their free-floating rage, but they also risk seeming unnecessarily obstructionist and unwilling to engage in reasoned discussion. 

Worst of all, pushing the insulting theory that Kamala Harris was crushed in the election because of “racism and misogyny” rather than being hindered by her own inability to articulate a thoughtful program for improving the lives of Americans is perpetuating the kind of delusional, hateful, and self-comforting thinking that is eroding their support among voters who traditionally voted for Democrats in the past.

It might be time to send Democrats back to the locker room to analyze their weaknesses and strategize about how to field a wining team.