|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Beto O’Rourke didn’t mince words.
The former Texas congressman and failed presidential, senatorial and gubernatorial candidate spoke Saturday at a rally in Fort Worth. And the progressive firebrand laid it on thick.
“We won power in 2008, the White House, the House, and the Senate,” O’Rourke said. “We won power in 2020, the White House, the House, and the Senate. The American people were watching because we had promised them what we would do with that power, and we absolutely failed to live up to the expectations that we set. So next time we win power, we’re going to drive that car like we stole it.”
Based on the profanity-laced rant that followed, O’Rourke clearly wasn’t joking.
“We’re going to legalize every DREAMer, every DREAMer’s parents, every hardworking American doing backbreaking work that makes this country so g*ddamn great in the first place, even greater as U.S. citizens,” he said.
The rally came on the heels of a take-no-prisoners interview O’Rourke gave the day before in New Orleans, where he issued a call to arms to his fellow progressives against the administration of Donald Trump.
***
“If we fail, if we do not win power in (the 2026 midterm elections), the consolidation of authoritarian control in the hands of Donald Trump will be nearly unstoppable,” he said. “Instead of awaiting the punch thrown by these would-be fascists to hit us in the face and then respond, I want us to punch first, and I want us to punch harder.”
Then he said the quiet part out loud.
“Who cares about the rules right now?” he said. “Punch back, kick back, jump over their heads and win some fucking power.”
O’Rourke is famous for his over-the-top rhetoric. Yet his call for a Chicago-style bare-knuckled power grab when Democrats are in control in Washington, D.C. once again is being echoed in kinder and gentler quarters as well.
Consider Democratic political strategist James Carville – one of the architects of then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential victory. Viewed as a centrist Democrat, he sang a similar refrain about his party’s need to be all-out aggressive the next time around in a recent interview.
“If the Democrats win the presidency, the Senate, and the House in 2028 — which is not impossible — they are just going to have to unilaterally add Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia as states,” Carville said. “There are things they can do. They’re going to have to do it. They may have to expand the (U.S. Supreme Court) to 13 members.”
If these were just the bloviations of two Democrat politicos, it would be one thing. But it should be noted that such Democratic luminaries as former vice president Kamala Harris, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom — all currently mulling a 2028 presidential bid — have said they also support proposals such as expanding the U.S. Supreme Court and granting statehood to Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.
***
RELATED | CROSSROADS 2026: ANDRE BAUER EXITS U.S. SENATE RACE
***
The difference is one of approach. O’Rourke has long had his finger on the pulse of progressives – a powerful force deep in the Democratic Party’s belly that’s always pushing it to the left. So it’s not surprising he would champion a scorched earth policy for getting what that faction wants.
While Harris, Buttigieg and Newsom lack O’Rourke’s bombastic delivery, more and more mainstream Democrats are inching toward that same approach.
Let’s not forget that 2028 is still a good way off. Three years can be an eternity in politics, where things can change on a dime. (And frequently do.)
But at this early juncture, the looming 2026 midterms don’t portend smooth sailing ahead for the GOP. President Donald Trump’s approval ratings are still slipping, everybody hates Congress more than ever, and the inflation causing financial misery for middle-class Americans seems to have pitched a tent and decided to hang around for a while. None of which makes things easy for candidates running with an R beside their name. Add to that the tradition of the president’s party taking it in the shins in the midterms, and Republicans have the makings for, as Elvis once sang, T-R-O-U-B-L-E.
Yet this much is already certain. If Democrats do adopt the radical “Who cares about the rules?” approach advocated by O’Rourke and other progressives to get what they want, the era of hyper-partisan divisiveness will drag on long after Trump has left the White House.
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
J. Mark Powell is an award-winning former TV journalist, government communications veteran, and a political consultant. He is also an author and an avid Civil War enthusiast. Got a tip or a story idea for Mark? Email him at mark@fitsnews.com.
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
7 comments
Meat’s back on the menu, boys!
“There are no rules in this game – f__k the rules! We’re going to do whatever it takes to win!” Robert “the fako Beto” O’Rouke
This numpty thinks there is actually going to be an election in 2028?
It’s time to dust off the Communist Control Act of 1954!
People actually think there will be midterms and an election in 2028. I am 100% confident that Trump and his Gestapo have a plan. My vote is on some kind of “emergency.”
You are all demented.
FEARnews is at it again