FROM BUDAPEST TO WASHINGTON:
YOU CAN WHINE, OR YOU CAN WIN
“We must all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” — Benjamin Franklin
Democrats,
If you want to actually win the midterms, especially with all the gerrymandering and corruption, don’t think that Latinos running away from Trump will be sufficient to prevail, you will need to take a page from Hungary and put the purity tests aside, move to subsume as much of the center as possible (the opposition moved to center-right, which for Hungary is actually much closer to the US center today than to the left), focus on a pragmatic approach, engage with disillusioned Republicans and make the midterm elections SQUARELY about Trump’s record, especially his economic record (which the wars on Iran and immigrants and tariffs are part of), and his corruption (which Epstein is part of), which are the greatest common denominators to build the largest and most robust Anti-Trump coalition as possible, which you will actually need despite your false sense of confidence from the echo chambers Zuck and Elon built for you. With a record 45% of the US electorate now identifying as Independents, you cannot conveniently ignore this massive demographic by “moving to the left” which is exactly what Harris/Walz did. There are FAR MORE progressive voters, alienated by Trump, who will gladly go for a candidate with a center-left message against a MAGAt than there are moderates who will vote for a progressive against a MAGAt, far more. Put simply: you will get many more progressives with a moderate message, especially if articulated by a fresh face, than moderates with a progressive message. Run the numbers if you don’t get it. Relying entirely on the progressive wing of the party for messaging in 2026, given the data, is a fool’s errand. Do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. The country cannot afford it, not right now, no matter how aggrieving this realization might be to you and how angry you are, and rightfully so.
As excited as you may be about “Universal Healthcare!”, “Universal Child Care!”, “We want to catch up with Europe! (even though the US has less than half the EU’s population and almost 1.5X its GDP)”, “Israel is buying all the politicians!”, “Trans women are biological women who should play in all sports with women!”, “Moderate Democrats are greedy Republicans!”, “Third-trimester abortion even if the mother is fine is totally okay!”, “This is stolen land—all illegals should get amnesty!”, “The election was stolen from space!”, “Billionaires are all corporatist thieves who have bought neoliberal politicians and stolen from the workers!”, “Everyone vegan now!”[I would actually love that], “Green New Deal Now!”, “Revolution Now!” [these are the caricatures of “the radical left wing lunatics”, some far less exaggerated than others, as you can see in comments from progressives on other posts of mine on this Facebook page, which the GOP media makes, and which, believe it or not, do come across as no less bizarre to moderates as Democratic media caricatures of MAGA], etc. you actually need to make the election overwhelmingly about Trump’s record, and his failure to deliver on economic promises, and be on the ATTACK with an economic message (see Carville’s “It’s the economy, stupid.” and Reagan’s “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”) and not let him control the narrative and bait you and split you from allies in the center with cultural and class warfare. It’s all about Trump and focus. The more a democratic candidate speaks about his or her shopping list, the more he or she will be playing DEFENSE and the more Trump will successfully, even if unfairly, paint him or her as “radical” and, as shocking as it might sound to you, the more he will peel away support for his people. Pet projects were for the primaries, and for later, if the democratic republic survives, which is actually what is at stake now.
So, what should Dems run on, you ask? Precisely on REVERSING the policies, including the healthcare cuts, that led to the affordability crisis and restoring the rule of law and ending the corruption. That’s it. No “pie-in-the-sky” proposals or you will bleed support. In this election cycle, don’t be dismissed as “Dreamers” when you can actually pounce like “Predators”. Stop defending yourselves all the time and put Trump and his current and would-be representatives and senators on the defensive. Be the political AGGRESSOR!
Do not fool yourselves into thinking that large urban centers which have much higher concentrations of progressive voters are representative of the country. They are not. It might be difficult for you to accept this but the majority of the country is not for all for the ideas above, especially in rural communities boosted by the gerrymandering, which means the odds are stacked against you and it is not even about the majority in the first place.
If your objective is to win in this cycle, with the cards dealt, you will actually have to sacrifice your long-term aspirations for your short-term goal, and if not, it will take you much longer to get there, if ever, because, again, what is left of American Democracy is literally on life support right now.
The winning message for all Democrats in 2026 to overcome a gerrymandered electorate is embarrassingly simple, yet powerful: “Elect me and I will undo the Trump policies which have made things unaffordable for you and your family and deprived all of you of your public services, and I will clean house, restore the rule of law and hold Trump and his corrupt cronies accountable.”
The whole house is burning, let’s focus on putting the fire out first, and then we can talk about what everyone wants under the Christmas tree.
Do not fool yourselves into believing that “The Center got us Trump!”—it actually helped throw him out of office in 2020 as Biden defeated Sanders and then Trump. Harris also polled higher than Sanders against Trump in 2024. Polling also showed that Mark Kelly had a much greater appeal with Independents (and Republicans) than Tim Walz. Harris moved to the left instead of towards the center, and that was a mistake regardless of how you feel about the legitimacy of the election. It is true that very early in the 2016 cycle, Sanders polled higher than Hillary Clinton who still won the popular vote against Trump. That was the honeymoon period for a then relatively unknown candidate with far less “baggage” than Hillary Clinton. Again, that did not happen in 2024 when Harris polled higher than Sanders against Trump. When you get new blood in the center, which is exactly what happened in Hungary, you get great results in America too. That formula catapulted both Bill Clinton in 1992 and Barack Obama in 2006—any of whom we would gladly take over Trump—to victory. Yes, Obama had some leeway as he ran in 2008 which was a terrible year to be a Republican given George W. Bush’s disastrous handling of the war in Iraq and of the economy. The Iran war is currently not comparable to the Iraq war then nor is the current economy with 2008’s. It will take much more destruction from Trump for the center to back as progressive. Barack Obama did the ACA, the Paris Agreement, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and pushed to repeal “Don’t ask/don’t tell” and was a proponent of same sex marriage, but he also typically governed as a cautious center-left institutionalist and pragmatist seeking bipartisan compromises and got a lot of flak for this from his left flank. Obama, who I had the pleasure of meeting multiple times, including before and during his presidency, blended pragmatic centrism with progressive ideals. And if you think Bill Clinton, Barack Obama or Joe Biden, who I also interacted with before he was President, are the same as Donald Trump, you are a complete cretin and the idea of you having kids is fucking scarry. You needed fresh faces with little baggage, like Clinton and Obama at the times they first ran, who could connect with young voters, and conquer the center, in 2024, and you need them now, more than ever.
For the smooth brains who think Liz Cheney endorsing Harris out of concerns for the Constitution made the ticket “centrist”, and who do not fathom that Harris/Walz in 2024 was, in fact, much further left than Biden/Harris in 2020, here is a list of economic policies Harris/Walz chose for its platform which were to the left of Biden/Harris: 1. Federal Price Controls; 2. Housing Subsidies & Rent Control; 3. Enhanced Child Tax Credits; 4. Medical Debt Forgiveness; 5. Taxes on Unrealized Capital Gains; 6. Increase of Top Income Tax Rate; 7. 4X Tax Increase on Stock Buybacks. While this excited the base, it did little to bring in the Moderates, Independents and “Biden Republicans”, and we now have a lava of tyranny seeping onto American streets on a daily basis.
It is also worth noting that Trump did successfully peg the inflation he started by virtue of not containing COVID to Biden, a message which unfortunately worked extremely well on many urban poor and “blue collar” workers, who actually had remained front of mind for President Biden. The Democrats needed to be much more disciplined on messaging. If they give voters a smorgasbord of proposals rather than aggressively move in the center with fresh faces armed with a devastating line of attack à la Never Trump / No More Orban on Trump’s policies and corruption, they will keep jeopardizing their position, and consequently, the entire country.
Do not fool yourselves into thinking that all the things you immediately want existed in the 1950s because you saw a high tax rate for the rich for the times, which is, in fact, much higher than the actual effective tax rate they paid. You would have been miserable in the 1950s, not in the least because the country was far behind on Civil Rights. The idealized images you see do not take into account the poverty and ghettoization of those times.
By the way, do you know who successfully got the Civil Rights Act passed? LBJ. You know how he initially presented himself before becoming one of the most transformative Presidents in US History? That’s right, as a center-left pragmatist. You know who else is a center-left pragmatist kicking ass and actually getting things done? Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada who you would also swap Trump for any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Canadian Liberals knew that their national sovereignty was in the balance, they put country over party, and their wish list on hold, and chose someone the Independents and a number of Conservatives could live with, and they won, and kept Poilievre from coming in and begging Trump for an Anschluss. The Canadian Liberals saved their country, and the American Democrats must do the exact same now, too.
Do not shame MAGAts either, though you understandably despise them. The more you do that, the more motivated they will be to spite you and support Trump’s picks. Like in a cult, which is what this thing actually is, let them know it is safe to leave. Talk to them about their gas and food prices. And if they respond with: “It is the price of greatness!”, calmly ask them exactly what that means and how much they and their families are willing to sacrifice at the altar of the Orange Cockwomble.
Trump is very weak now. This is not the time for you to put your makeup on, it is time for you to jump into the dirty mud with as many Allies as possible and beat and punish him electorally. The fate of American Democracy, of the Americas and of Europe depend on this!
To be crystal clear: fresh Democratic pragmatists Bill Clinton and Barack Obama (who could afford to be a bit more progressive) won in 1992 and 2008, respectively; Hillary Clinton lost, not because of her centrist policies, but because of her baggage in 2016; Joe Biden, used his age and experience as assets when he provided a steady hand to steer the country out of the COVID pandemic and won in 2020 because, in no small part, he could attract the urban poor and blue collar workers as well as peel off moderate Republicans, all of whom deserted the Harris/Walz ticket (again even while Harris polled ahead of Sanders against Trump), the former because of undisciplined messaging which enabled Trump to peg the inflation he started on Biden, and the latter because Harris/Walz was to the left of Biden/Harris. And yes, misogyny, mostly on the right, did not help Hillary Clinton nor Kamala Harris, nor did racism, mostly on the right, help the latter, though Barack Obama could initially overcome it in the crisis year of 2008. The key thing is that 2026 is not a time to reproduce the unforced economic messaging and policy errors of 2024, it is a time for the Hungarian maneuver: to defeat the MAGA agenda and flip as many red seats in Congress as possible and have a chance to usher in real change later, the Democrats must pummel Trump on the economy and take the center, and fast. In 2026, ANY D is better than every R: no purity tests, and no self-congratulating delusion about “the real change” you and your progressive friends “feel” from the electorate. No BS.
I grew up in Europe and visit Hungary a lot, and have a family home there. A lot of Americans are fantasizing about Europe. Yes, Hungary has universal healthcare, but the quality of care is not nearly up to US standards, not by a long shot! Hungarians who can, and that’s very few of them, go to Austria for their care and pay for it in cash. And no, I am not trying to serve my “interests”. Getting to universal healthcare quickly in the US would likely very much benefit my own company, and I am telling you to resist the urge to make that a core issue for now. Again, a lot of Americans are idealizing Europe but those who actually know European history understand that saving the US from full-blown dictatorship is the highest priority.
I left Europe and came to America when I was a teenager. I love America. I am standing up for her now, for the very same reason as I have when jumped on Elon and helped drive him out of the White House: the danger is REAL.
“There is a tide in the affairs of men [and women],
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.”
— William Shakespeare (Julius Caesar)
We must all be Hungarians now, or, most assuredly, we shall all be Russians later.
Dr. Philip Low, Ph.D.
Chairman, CEO & Founder | NeuroVigil
Frmr. Professor | Stanford School of Medicine
Frmr. Researcher | MIT, Salk, UChicago, Harvard
PS. Study what took place in Hungary, which ironically is far more representative than some liberal states of what could happen in the US. Start by clicking on the photo below.
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