It's tough being a Democrat these days. After being depressed over Kamala Harris' disappointing loss to Trump last November, there hasn't been much to raise my spirits on the national level. (Locally and statewide in Oregon, Democrats are faring better.)
Just about every Democrat on the national stage either irritates me or fails to inspire me. I get countless, more or less, text messages and emails every day urging me to contribute to some Democratic cause. I never read them before I delete them.
Sure, I realize that Democrats have no power in Washington, D.C. They don't control the White House, Senate, or House. Basically they're limited to delay tactics and making speeches about the outrageous stuff the Trump administration is doing.
But what I want isn't an overnight miracle that stops Trump in his authoritarian tracks. That isn't going to happen even if Democrats take back control of the House in the 2026 midterms. The best we can hope for is slowing down the damage Trump is doing to our country and the world.
My dream, which I'm expressing in the form of a Christmas wish to give the dream five months to manifest itself, is for a national Democratic leader who has a killer political instinct.
I never watched the eight seasons of Game of Thrones when they were first shown. Belatedly curious about the show, I just finished watching Game of Thrones yesterday, after getting hooked on it.
The Dragon Queen, Daenerys Targaryen, was my favorite character. I was hugely disappointed when she was killed by Jon Crow in the final episode. Yes, I get that Snow saw the Dragon Queen as having gone too far when she used her last dragon to demolish King's Landing and kill many of the inhabitants in a fire'y dragon-fueled bloodbath.
She was a fighter, though. She had a literal killer instinct.
The Dragon Queen knew that in order to accomplish her goal of overthrowing the truly evil Queen Cersei, she had to pull out all of the stops. Previously the Dragon Queen had tried the "go along to get along" thing with people she had conquered. That didn't work out for her, because the Dragon Queen's compassion was seen as weakness, an invitation for rebellion.
That's the sort of Democratic leader I'm looking for — someone who will ride on the back of a fire-breathing political dragon and be willing to do whatever it takes to combat the authoritarianism of Trump and his band of Republican acolytes.
If there's collateral damage, so be it. If there's cries of "You're going too far!", so be it. I don't want to follow a play-by-the-rules Democratic leader into the battle for our country's future. I want someone who will do whatever it takes to win back the presidency in 2028 and take back the House in 2026.
At the moment, the only Democrat who seems to fit my Dragon Queen criteria is Gavin Newsom, governor of California. I like that he's taking steps to change the California constitution so that the entire state is gerrymandered in favor of Democrats, potentially leaving Republicans with exactly zero seats in the states's 52 congressional districts. (Currently Democrats hold 43 seats.)
This would counteract Texas redrawing district boundaries to add five safe Republican seats in that state. That's an outrageous addition to an already heavily gerrymandered congressional map. Democrats need to fight fire with fire. If Republicans engage in dirty politics, Democrats need to get even dirtier.
That's the Dragon Queen approach. We Democrats need to ignore Michelle Obama's advice, "When they go low, we go high." Democrats should go even lower when Republicans go low if that's what it takes to win elections.
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