Policy Trumps Protest
President Donald Trump’s recent address to a joint session of congress presented the American people a Facebook meme version of the Left’s governing strategy: protest over policy.
The Left has been wondering in the wilderness since last November’s election unable to find its footing amid the EF-5 tornado that is Donald Trump. His whirlwind, however, has been generated by decades of conservative policy development just waiting the man and the moment.
Both the man and the moment have arrived and the Left has been caught unprepared. Aside from perhaps Karl Marx’ Manifesto of the Communist Party the Left has no policy depth. Essentially their strategy is tax, spend – and then protest if they don’t get want they want.
It is neither an effective electoral nor governing strategy. Thus, the Left and its governmental vehicle the Democrat Party have been reduced to childish antics. It is typical – perhaps even an American tradition – for the out-of-power party to play the role of the loyal opposition. A responsible political party would do so by presenting cogent alternatives or at least engaging in constructive dialogue.
Today’s Democrat Party is doing neither. President Trump summed it up when he began his speech by noting “There is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or make them stand, or smile, or applaud.” In short order he was proven correct as they refused to stand even for a boy battling brain cancer or for a hostage recently released from Russia.
It got worse. Congressman Al Green was ejected, and subsequently censured after vocally disrupting the proceedings. Many members held up flash cards, a tactic so juvenile it was parried by Stephen Colbert. Having apparently not embarrassed themselves enough, several members the next day produced a Tiktok video of sub-junior high intellectual level.
This, however, is and has been their strategy for quite some time. The oligarchs of the Left are funding protests on college campuses and elsewhere in the mistaken belief that this will actually impact policy. Of course the legacy news media will rush to give air time to the protestors, and Leftwing pundits will pontificate on the cable channels, but the brat fits are essentially ignored by virtually everyone else.
Even the Leftwing strategy of name calling has lost its impact. The joke is how do you tell if you are winning an argument with the Left? They call you names. And usually that name will be one of the “ists.” Don’t give the Left its way you are (choose one) a racist, misogynist, sexist, ageist or, just to add in a bit of variety, a homophobe.
You don’t even have to be a Republican to get called these names. Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey is current engaged is what is shaping up to be a losing bid for re-election. Gainey hails from the so-called “progressive,” read radical Left wing of the city’s Democratic Party. More traditional Democrats have rallied behind Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor who has the advantage of being, well, rational.
Gainey’s frustration boiled over last week taking to his social media accounts to call Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala a “racist.” Zappala, a Democrat, was re-elected last year as a Republican after having lost the primary to a Gainey-allied progressive. To say it is highly unusual for a candidate to unite both Republicans and Democrats in such a manner is an understatement. But Zappala exposed the underlying weakness of the party’s progressive wing, thus earning the enmity of the mayor – and of course getting himself labeled by an “ist.”
Republicans, conversely, are seldom seen protesting in the streets. The focus of the Right has been on policy. Recall decades of Democrat congressional control ended in the 1990s when Newt Gingrich and Republicans developed the Contract with America that outlined an alternative, constructive way forward. They were rewarded at the polls with majority control. Newt Gingrich never disrupted a joint session of congress or danced on a Tiktok video, however entertaining that might have been.
The Trump policy tornado has been made possible by decades of serious research and policy development by conservatives. Collected in the often maligned Project 2025, conservatives were ready with serious policies and the messaging to explain them. The Left realized this during last year’s campaign which is why they embarked on an effort to discredit Project 2025.
It is important to note Project 2025 was developed by the Heritage Foundation, not the Trump campaign. It is the tip of the iceberg of time honored, well-reasoned conservative though. Conservatives realized the way to win elections and effectively govern is to focus on policies that work for the American people.
Policy, not protest, matters.
(Lowman S. Henry is Chairman & CEO of the Lincoln Institute and host of the weekly American Radio Journal and Lincoln Radio Journal. His e-mail address is lhenry@lincolninstitute.org.)
Permission to reprint is granted provided author and affiliation are cited.
