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David French: The Birthright Citizenship Ruling Should've Been 9-0
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Democrats Risk Drawing the Wrong Lesson From 2026
At 53:00 · chapter starts 51:55
The danger isn't just who wins and loses in 2026 — it's what narratives get built around the results. French lays out the trap: Platner probably wins a D+14 state by 3, Talarico probably loses an R+8 state by 2, and the pundit class declares the DSA model the future of the Democratic Party. [1] — David French "If Platner wins a D+14 state by 3 while Talarico loses a R+8 state by 2, the pundit class will declare the DSA model the winner. That's the…" 51:40 That would be exactly wrong. Winning D+14 by 3 is actually underperforming — J.D. Vance won Ohio while underperforming a generic Republican, and nobody called that a ringing mandate. Losing R+8 by 2 is still a loss, but it's the kind of loss that suggests a different, more broadly appealing Democratic model could actually compete in states that have seemed out of reach. Miller connects this to 2022: Democrats took the non-red-wave as vindication of the Biden model, when the real explanation was 'Dobbs plus doofuses' — Roe v. Wade's overturn and a handful of extreme Republican nominees. The Biden administration had nothing to do with it, and drawing the wrong lesson set up the 2024 disaster. The same cognitive error is being set up for 2026 right now.
Tim Miller lived through the Tea Party insurgency and warns Democrats against making the same mistake Republicans made: attacking the base instead of acknowledging their legitimate frustrations. The move that empowers the DSA is center-left Democrats saying 'we're doing great, ignore those crazy people.' The move that deflates it is saying 'heard — here's how we change.'
