As Democrats, we have two identities. Our internal identity, the way we see ourselves, is the same one we’ve had for a very long time: a traditional political party, focused intently on winning the next election. We like to view ourselves as enlightened, the good guys, the defenders of democracy, but we spend every ounce of our energy on winning the next election. That makes us a traditional political party.

Our external identity with the American public .. the voting American public .. is the one the Republicans have stuck us with. Forget “baby killers” and the MAGA folks. What counts is that huge swath of Americans who don’t really follow politics .. but decide elections. These are the people the Republicans have gotten to. These are the voters that have come to accept that we’re somehow tainted, some vague amalgam of “Socialist” and “taxaholics” and anti-religion and anti-family .. take your pick. We go crazy over the specifics, the “facts”, but that misses the point. What counts for these people is that, subconsciously, Democrats carry the stigma of “bad”. That’s their gut reaction: Democrats = bad, and they may not even know why. It’s the power of endlessly repeated lies: if there’s smoke, there must be fire.