My column today in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: why the Democrats can’t defeat Donald Trump

Bruce Ledewitz: Why the Democrats can’t defeat Donald Trump

Special to the Post-Gazette

Jun 15, 2025

4:30 AM

What next for the Democrats? It should be easy for the Democrats to take back power from the Republicans.

Donald Trump’s presidency thus far is a failure. In only a few months, he has slowed a growing economy, deported mostly ordinary, hard-working people instead of criminals in Constitution-straining raids, surrendered to Vladimir Putin without ending the war in Ukraine, isolated the U.S. on the world stage to China’s benefit, undermined American scientific prowess by cutting spending and threatening foreign students, shrunk foreign tourism and weakened the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

Quite a record.

Now, his budget bill will increase the national debt to such an extent that the Federal Reserve has been forced to keep interest rates high, further curbing economic growth.

He’d win again

Yet, if a presidential election were held today, Trump might very well win again. Why are the Democrats so politically ineffective?

In a recent New York Times column, David Brooks argues that the Democrats need a new master narrative — a new story to tell. We are in a “new historical era,” he writes. He admits that he does not know what that new story should be.

While I am as game for a new narrative an anybody, politics is not really the place for it, as Brooks also admits. Trump’s message — “we’re getting ripped off” — is no epic but it works. So, while we search for new truths, I have two immediate suggestions for my party.

First, stop engaging in group-think. Democrats tolerate even less dissent than Republicans do.

On President Joe Biden’s fitness to run in 2024, the party allowed no debate and hounded dissenters. People want to claim now that they were victims of a coverup by Biden aides and did not know the extent of his decline. But the public evidence was there.

On COVID-19, the party embraced origin and treatment accounts — the animal market in China, a total shutdown of activity — that we now know may have been false and were certainly debatable then. But any alternatives were dismissed as misinformation.

On trans rights, the party refuses to acknowledge that many kids gender-bend for a time. It doesn’t mean they have gender dysphoria. Chemical and surgical interventions for minors should be strictly regulated. Nor is it bigoted to worry, as all major sports organizations do, about biological males competing against biological females. Such concerns do not threaten the legitimate rights of trans adults.

They need alternatives

Once the party is able to honestly debate matters and not sweep them under the rug, my second suggestion is that the party must be able to communicate a clear platform on the major issues. You cannot criticize Trump’s policies without some alternatives.

On immigration, the party’s indecision was the reason Biden failed to address conditions at the southern border until it was politicly too late. We’ll never know whether Vice President Kamala Harris made reasonable proposals to Biden because the party was unwilling to address border-crossing and legally insufficient asylum claims until harshly negative poll results forced it to do so. Biden took control of the border in 2024. Why not in 2022?

If the Democrats want more immigration and changes in asylum rules, they must say so.

On tariffs, the Democrat’s muddle is even greater. The party caved in to Trump on free trade in the 2016 election, when Hillary Clinton rejected President Barack Obama’s proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership — a 12-country trade bloc that she had initially supported. We are still paying the price of China’s rise for that mistake.

Then, Biden kept most of Trump’s first-term tariffs. So, is the Democratic Party for free trade or protection? If Trump is wrong on tariffs, how is he wrong? Voters want to know.

When will the Democrats acknowledge the success of the American economy under Biden in a globalized world? Post-pandemic, we had stronger growth and lower inflation than almost any other country. We can compete without tariffs.

Even on climate change, the Democrats are unwilling to commit to serious policies. Harris hardly mentioned climate change during the presidential campaign. Will the party finally embrace nuclear power as a necessary part of the solution? Will the party finally draw the line on coal — no coal without carbon capture?

If climate change is an emergency, shouldn’t the party act like it?

Finally, on crime, Democrats have to decide whether there is a serious problem that needs to be addressed or whether it was a made-up Republican talking point. Since Republicans have not said much about crime since Trump was elected — aside from defending the ICE raids — there apparently wasn’t any national crime surge.

Of course, some issues, like the war in Gaza, don’t have clear solutions. Sometimes you have to muddle through a lot of bad choices. There is nothing wrong with admitting that too.

Politics over narratives

Big narratives are undoubtedly needed. But effective politics can also be simple. Democrats need to be open to debate on the major issues and then offer clear proposals. The party will not be unanimous, but Democrats have to stand for something.

When it comes to Trump, you can’t beat something with nothing.

Bruce Ledewitz is a professor of law at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University. He writes every other Monday. The views expressed do not represent those of Duquesne University. His previous article was “They Came for Harvard. They’ll come for us.”

First Published: June 15, 2025, 4:30 a.m.