David Hogg’s reign of terror

A lonely caravan, ambushed on the open frontier, circles the wagons. The settlers bring out their long rifles to fight for survival. They endure the first onslaught, but dusk is falling – and the battle has only begun.

It’s a familiar scene in Hollywood westerns. In recent weeks, on Washington’s political prairies, the mainstream Democratic establishment has been living it, too.

The Democrats of the old established order are hunkered down behind whatever cover they can find, defending themselves against a rising, radical flank of their own party. The insurgents call themselves “the Resistance” – but they’re not just resisting Republicans. They are contesting normalcy within their own party.

Take the confidently clueless David Hogg, a Jacobin child of Eden, the Democratic party vice-chair. His strategy for growing the party? Purge it. Drive out moderates in primaries. Burn the center to save the movement. To win the middle in general elections, Hogg would abolish it in primaries. Hogg might agree with Robespierre: “Terror is nothing other than prompt, severe, inflexible justice.” Hogg has sent a signal that the base will consider not being sufficiently enthusiastic about the revolution a punishable offense in Democratic primaries.

And Hogg is not alone.

Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez crisscross the country on their Fighting Oligarchy tour, drawing large crowds, lighting ideological fires to purify their party of moderation. Their war cry is revolutionary socialism. We, too, could become Venezuela, they tell us, if only we eat the rich and support working people by eviscerating their employers.

The Democratic purity test has gone mainstream. A recent poll from Common Dreams reports that 72 percent of Democrats prefer leaders who fight more aggressively for the progressive principles the country rejected in 2024, not those who compromise. That may sound good in a focus group, but in a general election, it leads to landslides for the other side.

Chuck Schumer and his Ancien Régime have never seemed more lost.

Hakeem Jeffries pops his head above the barricades to announce, “No more trips to El Salvador.” Pete Buttigieg grows a beard and appears on a bro-podcast with Andrew Schulz, hoping stubble conveys confidence. And poor Gretchen Whitmer? One day, she’s hiding behind a ficus in the Oval Office to avoid being seen with a president her party compares to Hitler; the next, she’s smiling nervously, shaking Trump’s hand on camera without wearing rubber gloves.

I’ve been a Republican when our party has lost the middle. When you shed swing voters, independents bolt, and the working class evaporates. Your instinct should be to win them back. In my experience, the opposite usually happens. The voices that remain are more extreme, not less. They have fewer limits on their fanaticism. The radicals aren’t weakened by defeat; they’re unbound by it. “You are either with us or against the Revolution,” they shout. And the crowds swell at the rallies to watch the guillotine’s blade drop.

What comes next? The outrage primary. Intra-party contests for President, Senate and the House are won by the loudest, most revolutionary and least forgiving ideologues. Coalition-building becomes heresy. Debate becomes disloyalty. The party becomes more radical. And the last advocates of common sense, outnumbered and outgunned, are left to circle their wagons and wait for what is to come.

Despite Pete’s stubble and Hakeem’s pleas for sanity, many long nights are ahead for the Democratic Party. They haven’t yet hit bottom. It’s dark now for them, true. But as La Rochefoucauld reminds us: “It is always darkest before the deluge.”