Politicians Imitating Protestors Bad Omen for Democratic Party – The American Spectator | USA News and PoliticsThe American Spectator

Senator Alex Padilla crashing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s Thursday press conference, shouting over her about her “exaggerations,” and pushing against federal law enforcement officers exemplified the Democratic Party’s sudden preference for stunts over substance.

In the streets, activists engage in what amounts to group catharsis for show. They make gestures. Even the ones that involve violence seem primarily aimed at generating attention. Surely, more effective methods of inflicting harm exist than torching Waymos or Tom Brady-ing chunks of concrete. The injuries that ensue come as a cost, acceptable to the perpetrators, of achieving the main goal of ensuring a captive, cable-news audience for behavior expressing their outrage. (RELATED: Los Angeles Isn’t What’s Burning. The Democrat Party Might Well Be.)

Nobody throws the remnant of smashed-up cinderblocks in Congress — yet. When a party insists on the backasswards strategy of imitation of anonymous activists by elected leaders, one cannot dismiss the possibility of something akin to this happening in the near future.

In the near present, New York Democrat John Mannion screamed at New York Republican Mike Lawler on the floor of the House of Representatives. “Get on your f—ing side, Lawler,” he yelled Thursday afternoon. “This is f—ing madness, man. We’ve had enough.”

Earlier this week, a grand jury in New Jersey indicted Lamonica McIver, a House Democrat, on three counts of forcibly impeding and interfering with federal law enforcement officers. The raw video of the alleged criminal act appears to show a woman dressed in red who strongly resembles the congresswoman shoving uniformed federal personnel at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.

Recall Rep. Al Green of Texas standing up, shaking his cane, and interrupting Donald Trump as he addressed a joint session of Congress in March. The sergeant-at-arms escorted him from the chamber. Rather than chasten his colleagues, they doubled down by holding aloft lollipop signs touting such messages as “false,” “Musk steals,” and “Save Medicaid” while the president spoke. “He owned us,” a Democratic strategist told TheHill.com. “He made us look like what we are: f‑‑‑ing buffoons.” (RELATED: The Best Predictor of Brat Behavior in Congress)

Buffoons do not learn. Lack of consequences remains the primary reason why even the most simple of creatures do not learn.

Al Green won 100 percent of the vote in 2024. Lamonica McIver beat her Republican opponent 74 percent to 22 percent. Alex Padilla secured a full term in the U.S. Senate through a 61 percent to 39 percent vote. Mannion, the outlier here, represents a competitive district.

One cannot help notice that politicians engaging in brat-fits generally represent one-party districts. What serves as a sound electoral strategy in Cambridge, Newark, or San Francisco harms the chances of Democrats in places more reflective of the political diversity of the country. So, even though Al Green acts without electoral repercussions, his extremist behavior makes it more likely that his party loses mainstream districts.

Some Democrats understand how this works. Maine’s Jared Golden, who represents one of those classic purple districts, told Axios of the Padilla incident: “I don’t think politics as theater is what our job is here.”

Democrats do not fear a Republican majority. They fear the looters, vandals, and rioters on the far left of their party. Democratic Party politicians do not excoriate but strangely imitate them — maybe a winning formula for Marin County but not for America.

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