California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is leaning into his aggressive attacks against President Trump, mimicking his online style and adopting his peculiar lexicon.
His efforts have invigorated a Democratic party that’s eager to challenge MAGA on its home turf, using its tactics and adopting its style. Other Democrats are following his lead.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) says he is not running for president, but he takes actions that make a run viable. He recently called President Trump a “chicken hawk” and later told him to “keep our name out of your mouth”, receiving enthusiastic applause from a supportive crowd.
This is a change for Moore, who previously presented himself as a pragmatist interested in holding the moral high ground.
Moore’s changing tone may be rooted in genuine exasperation with the president’s policies. But the timing suggests his behavior is driven by a desire to keep pace with Newsom as he redefines the contours of Democratic resistance to President Trump.
Democrats are at a crossroads. They can mimic MAGA or choose to set an example of virtuous politics.
The latter requires trust that most Americans will support leaders who bring them out of the Trump era, rather than politicians who surrender to its worst parts by adopting its mannerisms.
Becoming MAGA with a different tax policy won’t extricate the country from its current malaise or begin to heal our divisions. Even if Democrats are successful at eking out narrow electoral victories by inspiring their base with name calling and mockery, our core problems remain.
Except for rabid partisans, Americans sense that neither party has been the good guy, and both are responsible for this unhappy moment in our politics.
Republican redistricting in Texas is legal but unfair. Democrats are poised to recreate that dishonorable action in California and elsewhere. But there’s an alternative.
Democrats could make a grand gesture and un-gerrymander some of the districts in a place like Illinois that make it hard for Republicans to win.
This would draw a clear contrast for voters and might be enough to discourage Republican states other than Texas from undertaking similar maneuvers.
A grand gesture by Democrats might extricate us from the current cycle of partisan redistricting and doesn’t preclude them from regaining control of the House of Representatives.
As recently as 2018, Democrats flipped 40 seats, and Texas is only redistricting five. If our country and economy are as bad under Trump as Democrats claim, winning big in 2026 is quite possible. Republicans also realize this.
Beyond the boisterous rhetoric lies several unpopular Republican policies. Parties that engage in unusual efforts at unexpected times to create safer legislative districts, as the Republicans are doing, probably aren’t approaching the next election with confidence.
There are two ways of resisting President Trump and the cultural change he’s unleashing on America. The first is to adopt his tactics and demeanor but doing this concedes that the president has changed us forever.
If Democrats are Trumpian now, our most important reason to resist him is already lost. We’re either a country whose leaders call each other mean-spirited names via tapped out messages on cell phones or we’re not.
The fact that a plurality of Americans identify as political independents suggests that large numbers prefer a more serious and sober politics.
Democrats are struggling to accept the idea that maintaining the moral high ground matters. They point to election losses as proof that being the better-behaved party doesn’t win.
In fact, Democrats have never presented Americans with a clear distinction. Democrats accused President Trump of acting like a dictator and then propagated a “cancel culture” that complicated free speech.
They complained about gerrymandering but undertook egregious gerrymandering of their own.
They told Americans that MAGA was a threat and then supported MAGA candidates in Republican primaries. They lamented the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United but spent $1.2 billion in 2024 through groups that didn’t need to disclose their donors.
Democrats who advocate for fighting fire with fire should realize that the party has already tested that approach.
The result is the lowest approval ratings of Democrats in 30 years and the 2024 loss to MAGA Republicans. Fighting fire with fire isn’t a new idea and isn’t working. Doubling down on that effort isn’t the answer.
Most Americans, don’t want to live in a petty world of social media taunts and retorts. What we want are serious leaders who tackle hard problems and admit when they make mistakes.
Newsom’s latest caricature of himself doesn’t move us closer to that vision. If Democrats follow his lead, as Moore and others seem inclined, our country will complete its transition to something completely shaped by Trump and his presidency.
Colin Pascal is a retired Army lieutenant colonel and a graduate student in the School of Public Affairs at American University.
