Tuesday night, President Trump gave his first speech to a joint session of Congress.
Few can doubt that he rose to the occasion. He talked candidly to the American people about the country he inherited.
In stark contrast to President Obama, who spent years blaming his predecessor for his difficulties, President Trump sounded far more interested in meeting challenges than in assigning blame.
President Trump outlined a conservative agenda with many centrist elements.
The GOP provided numerous standing ovations. The Democrats sat stone-faced.
With few exceptions, Democratic scowls persisted even as Trump promised to spend a cool trillion on infrastructure as part of his focus on creating jobs — the sort of program Democrats typically love.
In fairness, a stone-faced opposition is part of the game. No one really expected the Democrats to look happy after losing such a bitter election.
But a scan of Congress showed something unusual — and intensely creepy. Democratic women — not agitated activists, but elected officials — coordinated their wardrobes to dress in white.
Though those who know history probably thought first of the "Klanbake" — the KKK-run 1924 Democratic National Convention — the sea of white was apparently intended as a tribute to the suffragette movement.
Having neglected to publicize their campaign or explain the connection to women’s suffrage, however, America’s congressional Democrats looked like nothing so much as a cult.
Though their cult-like appearance may have been unintentional, it was also revealing. The Democratic Party has entered dangerous territory.
Since becoming unhinged following the 2000 election, the Democrats have plunged into an alternate universe.
The second Obama term highlighted the downward spiral, but the shock of losing to Trump has increased the pace. The extent of their dissociation is becoming scary; Democrats in Washington are nearing escape velocity, and it is unclear how to snap them out of it.
From their inability to distinguish George W. Bush from Saddam Hussein to their insistence that a deal permitting Iran to develop nuclear weapons in a decade derailed the Iranian nuclear program, the Democrats have been pretending that the world is as they would like it to be.
From their insistence that no one could doubt Obama’s policy brilliance for any reason other than racism to the focus on high-profile shootings that mostly turned out to be clean police work, the Democrats have been fighting racist demons that America had already buried.
From their opposition to free speech to their refusal to recognize the biological distinctions between men and women, the Democrats have invented a society populated by some species other than human.
More recently, the Democrats have determined that the FBI director and the president of Russia put President Trump in office without identifying any votes that either one falsified or changed.
They marched in fuzzy pink hats to raise awareness about women’s issues without specifying the issues of which the public should be aware.
They embraced the organizational leadership of a known terror-supporter and Shariah advocate, Linda Sarsour; a Brezhnev-era Stalinist, Angela Davis; and a convicted rapist and torturer, Donna Hylton.
Never content to rest on their laurels, they are now adding a convicted terrorist — Rasmea Odeh — to their pantheon of heroines.
Last weekend, the Democratic National Committee elected new leadership, claiming a narrow victory for the "centrist" establishment candidate, Tom Perez.
But Perez is a hard-left radical whose tenure in the justice and labor departments demonstrated utter contempt for due process and individual rights.
The best that could be said for him is that he has had no known affiliation with anti-American, conspiracy-theoretic, hate-mongering organizations — in sharp distinction to his leading opponent, former Nation of Islam spokesman Keith Ellison.
Perez beat Ellison 235 to 200 on the second ballot, promptly declaring Ellison his deputy.
The "women in white" is just one more twist of the Democrats’ downward spiral from serious political party to bizarre cult. While that decline may be good in the short run for Republican electoral prospects, it is disastrous for America.
Competition is as healthy in politics as it is elsewhere, and a loyal opposition is critical to successful governance. An opposition party should temper and improve upon the government’s agenda, bringing to the table people, concerns, and ideas not otherwise represented.
Citizens who disagree with the government should be able to register their displeasure without lining up behind lunatic cultists. More importantly, the Democrats will rotate back into power at some point, and if they have not yet returned to sanity, we are all in dire trouble.
The two-party system has served America well. The country needs two functioning parties.
Given the distance between today’s Democrats and reality, "functioning" is not a word that comes to mind. The remaining sane Democrats must fight for the soul of their party before it is too late. Those giving themselves kudos for handing Tom Perez a narrow victory are conceding that they have already lost.
Bruce Abramson is the President of Informationism, Inc., Vice President and Director of Policy at the Iron Dome Alliance, and a Senior Fellow at the London Center for Policy Research.
Jeff Ballabon is CEO of B2 Strategic, Chairman of the Iron Dome Alliance, and a Senior Fellow at the American Conservative Union's Center for Statesmanship and Diplomacy. To read more of their reports — Click Here Now.
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