Compromise Is Dead, and Some Democrats Are Finally Acting Like It

An excerpt from my book on why compromise keeps failing, and a look at the Democrats who are starting to move past it.

If you’re still waiting for Republicans to meet Democrats halfway, you’re going to be waiting forever. The Democrats’ search for common ground with Republicans is a fool’s errand. Good luck with that, Quixote.

Bipartisanship is a myth. Even when you think they’ve found it, what does it get us? This is a Republican Party that has shown time and time again that it’s not looking to come to the table. They’ll change the rules when it suits them, and they’ll change them right back again when it’s no longer convenient.

Merrick Garland should be on the Supreme Court, but for a rule change. But when that pesky rule stood in the way of confirming Amy Coney Barrett, poof. It was gone.

If you’ve been trying to make sense of how we got to this place, this is the clearest way I can explain it. Here’s an excerpt from my upcoming book, The Day After:

One of the great fallacies of the Biden, Obama, and Clinton years is the notion that if only Democrats would compromise with their Republican counterparts, their goodwill would be duly reciprocated. If only they capitulate to the GOP, this time - this time - the Right will lay down its arms and a golden era of bipartisanship would emerge. “I’ll hold the ball,” Lucy explains to Charlie Brown, “and you come running up and kick it.”

When Republicans are in control, they wield power in a take-no-hostages manner. When Democrats are in control, they seek compromise, practice good governance, defend the institutions of government, and even make sacrifices to the minority in the hope that their selflessness, their righteousness, and their virtue will be rewarded. As was the case with Clinton, Obama, and Biden, they never are. Lucy isn’t known for letting Charlie kick the football.

The political truth is this: Democrats like to signal their virtues, while Republicans like to swagger their virility. Democrats believe that being good is good enough to win elections. They think that Americans will admire them for standing up for civil rights and democracy, expanding health care, or saving the planet. They think they can even win over Republican support by moving to the center and offering morsels of compromise.

Republicans, on the other hand, think that Americans will admire them for looking strong, for wielding power, and for extracting personal wealth from public well-being.

Compromise is not part of their vocabulary.

How Power Actually Works

One side treats the rules as unbreakable. The other treats them as tools that can be bent to their will.

That’s why, no matter how many times they try, Democrats’ attempts at compromise keep failing. They’ll never make a convincing enough argument, because the target keeps moving.

Until Democrats accept that reality, they’ll keep getting steamrolled.

Here’s the good news. For the first time, predictive markets have Democrats favored to win the Senate, 55% to 45%— and that’s with a very unfavorable map for Dems. That’s because of this new class of Democratic candidates who, more than anything, are running against the status quo and are willing to fight back.

Texas Senate candidate James Talarico in Texas is speaking directly to his constituents when he says that the biggest fight in this country is not left versus right, it’s top versus bottom.

Sherrod Brown in Ohio is touting a similar message, that politics isn’t left versus right, it’s whose side you’re fighting for. His messaging is relentless on labor rights, the dignity of work, and lifting up the working class.

Rob Sand is running for governor in Iowa on a platform that includes jail time for public officials who misuse taxpayers’ money.

They’ve all made it clear that they’re intent on actually delivering. And they all know that the litmus test for success is not about identity politics or upholding “norms,” it’s the willingness to fight. It’s a willingness to hold people to account and to actually use the levers of power in our government to make good on campaign promises and make the government work for the people.

It’s going to take people like this who aren’t willing to be steamrolled by a Republican Party that’s walked all over Democrats in the past if we want to repair a broken system. And let’s not forget who broke it.

Trump has shown that government institutions aren’t sacred. He’s been undermining them for evil. But it’s also possible to barrel through those institutions for a virtuous cause. And that’s exactly what our next class of Democratic leaders needs to be able to do.

And frankly, what do they have to lose? Worst case scenario, they’re on the receiving end of a Strongly Worded Letter from Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin.

The institutions are not an end; they’re a means to an end. Among the Democrats currently in office, there’s this feeling that they’re there to protect these institutions rather than the people they are built to serve.

If this helped you make sense of a chaotic news cycle, the full book goes much deeper into how we got here and what comes next.

The Day After is out July 14. Please pre-order it today using the button below.