The Democratic Party’s Strange Attraction to Defeatism

Jonathan Chait: “Earlier this year, I wrote a long story arguing that the dominant mood of the American political scene is the exhaustion of the anti-Trump coalition. While Donald Trump’s will to power, and that of his allies, burns hotter than ever, his opponents have slunk into resignation and despair.”

“I reiterated the theme in a column last week, suggesting the Democrats were prepared to essentially abdicate the presidency rather than undertake the difficult and painful work of confronting and replacing a candidate they believe can’t win.”

“This is a very strange explanation for political events — so strange I’ve often questioned my own thinking. Political parties exist in order to win. Sometimes they sacrifice their chances of winning to pursue other political goals (say, advocating an unpopular position they consider important). But the political-science models I learned as an undergraduate generally assume they are attempting to maximize their power in one form or another. There’s no factor in any model I know of to account for a party simply giving up.”

“Yet a raft of new reports this weekend suggest precisely that.”