Oceans of ink have been spilled attempting to pinpoint the Democrats’ problem in the Trump era. Democratic partisans insist they have a mere “messaging” problem, not a policy or character problem. A smaller contingent believes the party needs new ideas and a willingness to compromise.
But the truth is simpler than all that. The reason Trump continues to clobber this era’s Democrats is because they think small and act small, all while talking big, which has the unfortunate effect of making them appear even smaller. Meanwhile, Trump, especially in his second term, has set his eyes on history and occasionally hit the mark. He just did in Israel — bigly.
ALL LIVING ISRAELI HOSTAGES OFFICIALLY FREED FROM HAMAS CAPTIVITY
Jubilant scenes are breaking out across Israel in the glow of Trump’s miracle deal in the Middle East. Hostages are being reunited with loved ones after two nightmarish years apart. Precious aid will soon flood into war-torn Gaza. The catastrophic war that saw over 67,000 killed and millions displaced appears to be reaching a merciful end, with the deal providing a groundwork for post-war governance and reconstruction. If it holds, it will reshape the long-troubled region, accelerating ties between Israel and Arab states while marginalizing the Islamic extremists who have held it in darkness.
The achievement cements Trump as a historically significant president who transcended domestic squabbling to reorient the world.
“This is the end of an age of terror and death and the beginning of the age of faith and hope and of God,” he said at the Knesset Monday morning. “It’s the start of a grand concord and lasting harmony for Israel and all the nations of what will soon be a truly magnificent region. I believe that so strongly. This is the historic dawn of a new Middle East.”
The contrast with Democrats, who are largely silent today over the ceasefire they long demanded, could not be more stark. The shrieking fits they pitched in city streets and on college campuses — outbursts of performative rage that resembled nothing so much as a spoiled child’s tantrum — only amplified Hamas’s efforts to vilify Israel, prolonging the brutal war Hamas ignited. In their zeal to be seen and heard, they naively tethered the Palestinian cause to their patchwork of progressive crusades, from climate activism to identity politics, diluting its gravity and alienating possible allies. They had no vision; they said nothing of value; they achieved nothing.
But Trump and his team of adults fused a bold vision of a renewed Middle East with diplomatic savvy. They rolled up their sleeves, got to work, and forged a peace many deemed impossible.
On this issue, as on most others, the Democrats’ small-mindedness and childishness rendered them politically microscopic. They are a small party for small-minded people, now more than ever.
After all, what’s smaller than California Gov. Gavin Newsom‘s phony tough guy act on Twitter, in which the coastal elitist mimics the swagger and bombast of a real tough guy? Than Rep. Jasmine Crockett‘s (D-TX) fake blaccent that masks her high-income, private school upbringing? Than the pejorative “TACO” or elderly hippies waving cringey placards or sudden concern over the Epstein files?
What’s smaller than Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) shutting down the government to stall his inevitable ouster as minority leader?
By contrast, what could be bigger than peace in the Middle East? Than the destruction of Iran’s nuclear facilities? Than border security after four years of chaos?
TRUMP CELEBRATES ‘GOLDEN AGE’ OF ISRAEL AND THE MIDDLE EAST
The choice for America in this age is no longer between parties, but between the small, nagging chatter of irrelevance and the thunderous clarity of a president playing for history.
After today, history will be kinder to Trump than any Democrat would be big enough to admit.