An anti-Democratic Party meme that was a firm Republican Party favorite now makes no sense — and the change has sent panic throughout the GOP’s ranks, a columnist wrote Monday.
The slogan “Dems in disarray” has been a cliched soundbite for Republicans for months as their opponents' flanks split between Joe Biden backers and those who pushed for him to step down in the aftermath of his debate performance, political analyst Alexander Nazaryan wrote for MSNBC.
And then there was the attempted assassination of Donald Trump — an event, Nazaryan wrote, which almost handed the GOP the White House.
But in the few weeks since Kamala Harris took over as the Democratic presidential nominee, the disarray talking point has been turned on its head, he wrote.
“In the days after the attempt on Trump’s life, in texts exchanged with Democratic operatives on Capitol Hill and staffers in the Biden administration, I sensed only unmitigated despair,” the columnist stated.
“Everyone was glad that Trump had emerged unscathed, but they also recognized how much that one moment had seemingly shifted the entire political landscape.”
He added, “Morale was plunging. … As Democrats realized the ship was sinking in July 2024, many became resigned to watching a three-month slow-moving defeat — as Trump coasted to perhaps the easiest presidential victory since Ronald Reagan clobbered Walter Mondale in 1984.”
But now, on the opening day of the Democratic National Convention, with less than three months until the election, it’s the Trump campaign that’s floundering, he wrote.
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“The reversal of fortunes since late July could not be more astonishing. As a dispassionate observer who does not vote, I’ve nevertheless watched every Democrat I know wake up as if from a long, frustrating sleep into a sunny reality they did not know could exist.
“Not since the earliest days of the Obama phenomenon has there been this much energy from mainstream Democrats.”
The casting off of despair and rebirth of hope has shaken the election significantly, Nazaryan wrote.
He added. “It is simply true that the Democrats have enjoyed a reversal of fortunes unlike anything I’ve seen in American politics.
“'Trump Is Looking Like a Loser Again,' went the headline of a column by Gerard Baker of The Wall Street Journal, a conservative who likes Harris as much as I like the Boston Red Sox. In no way would I count out Trump — but it’s simply undeniable that his chances of victory are trending downward. He is doing nothing to help his own chances.”