The resistance to the Donald Trump 2.0 era is shaping up, and it’s not pretty.
It comprises fake news outlets, left-wing judges, Democrats in public office at all levels except the White House, and the usual suspects in Hollywood and academia.
Faced with an American public that seems to like almost everything that Mr. Trump is doing, the progressive movement has come to a fork in the road.
One path leads to restoring common sense and abandoning radical causes. The other path is a greased chute paved with policies that Americans have come to loathe.
Judging by recent events, progressives have chosen path No. 2. They have slid into their luges and are grimly hurtling down the slippery slope into yet more folly.
On social media, three prominent Democratic senators posted pictures of themselves with the exact same anti-Trump message, seasoned with the s-word.
At the Trump address to the joint session of Congress on March 4, Democrats pulled all sorts of juvenile hijinks. The women, who had just voted against a bill keeping males out of female sports, wore pink outfits, waved signs, and shouted slogans. Texas Rep. Al Green, who yelled and kept waving his cane, was escorted off the floor.
Mr. Trump introduced family members of people slain by illegal immigrants and street criminals, and the mother and daughters of Cory Comperatore. He’s the hero who died shielding his family from the assassin’s bullets meant for Mr. Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The president also announced the arrest of a suspect in the terror bombing that killed 13 U.S. servicemen in Afghanistan. Democrats yawned.
The most widely publicized snub was the Dems’ refusal to cheer DJ Daniel, the 13-year-old black boy with brain cancer who wants to be a police officer. Mr. Trump told the Secret Service to make him an honorary agent, prompting tears and cheers – from Republicans.
Democrats sat stone-faced and silent. Had Mr. Trump told them that the boy was secretly yearning to be a girl he might have aroused their interest.
Alas, the Democrats are not ready to applaud anything associated with Mr. Trump. If they had been told that Mr. Trump had provided the air in the room, they would have held their breaths, turned blue and collapsed on the floor.
The only effective resistance so far has been the more than 100 lawsuits filed in federal courts run by judges appointed by Presidents Biden, Obama and Clinton. They are busily issuing injunctions to undo spending freezes triggered by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Judges are also issuing orders showing they don’t realize that the transgender jig is up. Two federal judges – one in Seattle and one in Baltimore – told hospitals to ignore President Trump’s executive order prohibiting doctors from subjecting minors to chemical or surgical sexual mutilation.
“Health care institutions across the country are now free to resume or continue providing the gender-affirming medical care that is necessary without having to worry doing so will cut off the money,” said an attorney for Lambda Legal, which filed the Baltimore lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union.
Hooray! Junior is no longer safe from mad scientists who want to turn him into Susie, or his sister into Chuck. If this doesn’t generate votes for Democrats in the upcoming mid-term election, nothing will.
Some progressives have refused to pile onto the luges and are warning their party to drop the more exotic stances.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is obviously running for president in 2028, did an about-face on transgenderism, at least in sports. On his new podcast, Mr. Newsom told conservative activist Charlie Kirk that he now opposes male athletes in women’s competitions, saying it is “deeply unfair.”
Rahm Emanuel, former mayor of Chicago and former Obama chief of staff, told the Economic Club of Chicago this past week, “We’re having a debate about pronouns right now.
“What if you have two-thirds of your kids who don’t know what a pronoun is? You just had the worst reading scores in 30 years, worst math scores in 30 years, and we’re talking about bathrooms and locker rooms.”
Mr. Emanuel recently returned from Japan, where he was President Biden’s U.S. ambassador. Japan has problems, including an aging population and a birthrate below replacement level.
But the Land of the Rising Sun is not consumed by racial hatred, socialism, or sexual dysfunction like the Democratic Party.
Mr. Emanuel may or may not be heeded by leftist zealots. This is the party, after all, whose members booed the re-inclusion of God and Jerusalem in the party platform at the 2012 convention.
Dissing a boy recovering from cancer just because you hate Donald Trump also reveals what Democrats care about most, and the public took notice.
More than 36 million people reportedly tuned into the Trump victory speech. A CBS News/YouGov survey said 76% of Americans who watched it approved of Trump’s remarks, with only 23% disapproving.
For Democrats, it’s a public relations nightmare that will keep biting them until that road not taken looks pretty good.
This column was first published at the Washington Times.