Op-Ed: Bonnie Glick: Thanks Obama: Democrats in the wilderness

Democrats have lost touch with the American people.

As part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping electoral victory, he won in regions once thought unattainable for the Republican Party. The GOP has also regained control of the Senate and maintains its hold on the House. While countless analyses will attempt to dissect how Democrats arrived at this juncture, one underlying truth is clear: they have fundamentally lost touch with the American people.

To understand how we got here, we need to look back to the Obama administration. Although many Democrats fondly recall the Obama era, others remember it differently. To these voters, President Obama’s tenure was marked by an attitude that he alone knew what was best for the average American. Few have been as convinced of their own vision as Barack Obama, and many of his political proteges inherited that same belief: they knew better than the public.

The issue today is that these individuals now hold highly influential roles within the Democratic Party and American cultural institutions including businesses and education.

Many point to the COVID era as the period when Democrats’ disconnect became most glaring. Initially, Americans were willing to make sacrifices in the face of a global pandemic. But Democratic overreach soon raised questions among voters who suspected that the draconian lockdowns were not merely acts of altruism but had ulterior, even cynical, motives. 

This perception deepened as looters and vandals damaged cities largely without repercussion, sometimes with tacit approval from public health authorities, while church and synagogue worshippers were not allowed to congregate publicly, adding fuel to an already growing skepticism.

The election of Joe Biden was heralded by Democrats as a return to “normalcy.” What followed, however, was one of the most aggressive leftward shifts in U.S. political history. Trillions were funneled into environmental initiatives that, at best, benefited political donors and, at worst, aided foreign interests like the Chinese Communist Party. Corporate media, closely aligned ideologically with the Democratic Party, refrained from serious investigations, even as President Biden showed signs of physical and cognitive decline.

Meanwhile, inflation soared, driven by out-of-control government spending. Rather than confront the issue, Democrats first denied it, then downplayed it, then attempted to rationalize it. Americans watched as credit card debt spiked and more people took on second jobs to make ends meet. Yet Democrats and the media continued to insist that all was well, effectively telling voters not to believe their lying eyes.

Then, on October 7, 2023, the world witnessed the most horrific acts of anti-Semitic violence since the Holocaust, as Palestinian terrorists filmed themselves hunting and killing innocent Israelis. This tragedy presented an opportunity for Democrats to stand firmly against the atrocities. Instead, the party’s activists, many adorned in keffiyehs, rallied on college campuses and city streets, sparking a surge in anti-Semitic violence across the U.S. and around the world. 

The Democrats had a chance to curb this behavior swiftly, as many of the organizations behind the protests were funded by major Democratic donors like George Soros and the Rockefeller family as well as by foreign interests hostile to America, including Qatar and Iran. Instead, they chose to remain silent.

Democrats have lost touch with the American people. Voters are not only intelligent, they are capable of making decisions about their own lives. Rather than acknowledge this, Democrats have often talked down to them, portraying those with concerns about food prices, inflation, or national leadership as uninformed or prejudiced. 

Worried about the prices of food? The Biden economy is the strongest in history, and inflation is just transitory. Wages are up, unemployment is down. 

Have concerns about Kamala Harris’s policies or abilities? You must be racist, or a sexist or both. 

Troubled by men in women’s sports or bathrooms? Clearly you are transphobic. 

Crime and immigration got you down and scared? Again, the racist card. 

Obama-era advisors have fueled this relentless advertising which was echoed by the Biden administration, the Kamala Harris campaign, and media outlets like MSNBC and CNN. The message was consistent: we know better than you, so trust us. 

Unless Democrats recognize that their policies are seen as extreme and disconnected from mainstream America, they will continue to spiral into irrelevance. Their party is elitist and patronizing. But rather than engage in genuine self-reflection, Democrats will likely dismiss this setback as a communication problem. They and their message could not possibly have been the problem. 

Will Democrats learn the lesson of 2024? Only time will tell.

Bonnie Glick served in the Trump Administration as the Deputy Administrator/Chief Operating Officer of the US Agency for International Development. She is the Vice Chair of Maryland Republican Women Empowered.