Last night, Donald Trump lumbered onto the House floor and unleashed a 100-minute marathon of bombast – his first address to Congress since reclaiming the White House, clocking in as the longest presidential speech to lawmakers in modern history, per The American Presidency Project.
For an hour and forty minutes, he crowed “America is back,” peddled a laundry list of whoppers, and gaslit the nation with a smirk. He claimed small-business optimism spiked 41 points – a cherry-picked distortion of one NFIB survey metric – while glossing over tanking consumer confidence and an S&P 500 that’s coughed up all its post-election gains (CNN fact-check, 2025).
He bragged about slashing “hundreds of billions” in fraud, a figure even his own team can’t back up, and touted a nonexistent “Green New Scam” he supposedly killed – conveniently ignoring that Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, the real target, remains intact. Classic Trump: reality’s just a suggestion. He propped up grieving widows and freed detainees as human set pieces – Stephanie Diller, Marc Fogel’s 95-year-old mom – parading their pain for applause while dodging the chaos his tariffs and Ukraine aid freeze have already sparked.
Democrats’ genius counterpunch?
Trotting out Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a former CIA agent from the Bush era, to scold Trump with Reagan nostalgia and pitch a “responsible” centrism that reeks of GOP Lite. If that’s their plan – countering a lie-soaked spectacle by hugging the middle – they’re toast.
Here’s why: Democrats can’t beat Republicans by turning into their awkward twin. It’s like showing up to a bar fight with a Nerf bat – nobody’s scared, and you’re just embarrassing yourself. The obsession with “moving to the center” assumes politics is a tug-of-war over a tiny sliver of undecided moderates. Spoiler: it’s not.
The real prize is the millions of Americans who’ve ghosted the voting booth entirely, and they’re not sitting around waiting for a watered-down GOP knockoff to save the day. If Democrats want to win, they need to stop playing dress-up and start lighting a fire under the disillusioned masses. History and data back this up – entrist pandering flops, while bold vision scores.
The Invisible Army You’re Ignoring
Let’s talk numbers, because the math doesn’t lie. In 2020, 159 million people voted – great, right? Except 80 million eligible adults didn’t. That’s not a rounding error – that’s a whole untapped electorate twiddling their thumbs while both parties bicker over the same tired playbook. Pew Research pegs consistent nonvoters at 35-40% of the pool every cycle.
Who are they?
Not the mythical “swing voter” clutching their pearls over tax rates. They’re the fed-up, the checked-out – people who see red and blue as two flavors of the same corporate mush. Gallup’s 2023 breakdown shows 43% of Americans identifying as independents, dwarfing the 27% loyal to each party. Democrats think they’ll win by chasing the center? Good luck – they’re sprinting past a goldmine to beg for scraps.
Centrism’s Hall of Shame
History’s littered with proof that hugging the middle is a ticket to Loserville. Exhibit A: John Kerry, 2004. The guy ran a campaign so bland it could’ve doubled as elevator music – safe, centrist, “electable.” Like a Coldplay album that somehow manages to be both everywhere and nowhere simultaneously, Kerry’s platform dissolved into nothingness the moment you tried to examine it. He dodged big ideas like healthcare reform or inequality, betting moderates would save him. They didn’t.
Bush, despite Iraq and a tanking approval rating, took 50.7% to Kerry’s 48.3%. Turnout? Nearly half the country yawned and stayed home. Fast forward to 2020 – Biden’s “normalcy” shtick edged out Trump 51.3% to 46.8%, but it was no landslide, and 80 million still skipped the party. Centrism might limp across the finish line, but it doesn’t ignite a spark.
Now flip the script. Obama in 2008 didn’t whisper sweet nothings to the center – he roared “Hope and Change” and meant it. Turnout hit 61.6%, young voters surged, and he smoked McCain 52.9% to 45.7%. FDR didn’t tiptoe around Hoover’s turf – he dropped the New Deal like a mic and redefined the game. Winners don’t mimic; they mobilize.
The Center’s a Myth Anyway
People need to realize the “center” Democrats keep chasing doesn’t even exist – it’s a buzzword for consultants who charge by the hour. Ask yourself: what’s centrist in a country where 67% of people (including 41% of Republicans, per Pew 2020) want a $15 minimum wage, and 70% back Medicare for All? The public’s not begging for milquetoast – they’re screaming for solutions. Meanwhile, nonvoters aren’t impressed by GOP Lite. A 2021 American National Election Studies survey found 62% of them think “neither party represents me.” Shocker: aping Republicans won’t woo them – it’ll just make the “both sides suck” crowd nod harder.
The Playbook That Actually Works
So what does work? Giving people a reason to care. Those 80 million nonvoters – many young, diverse, and progressive-leaning, per Pew – aren’t holding out for tax-cut debates. They’re drowning in rent hikes, climate dread, and healthcare bills, waiting for someone to throw a lifeline. Democrats could be that lifeline. Lean into bold ideas: wage hikes, universal healthcare, green jobs. The 2022 midterms hinted at this – Gen Z turnout doubled to 27% (Tufts CIRCLE data). Compare that to the party’s suburban flops after ditching student debt relief to court “moderates.” The lesson? Nonvoters don’t want compromise – they want a fight worth joining.
Stop Cosplaying and Start Winning
Democrats, quit trying to out-Republican the Republicans – it’s a fool’s errand. GOP voters won’t ditch their tribe for a poser, and nonvoters won’t care unless you give them something real. Be the party that says, “if the whole system needs to be torn down and rebuilt, we’re the ones who can accomplish it. We see you, we hear you, and we’re ready to shake this mess up.” That’s not just how you win an election – that’s how you build a wave. Anything less, and they’re just wasting your time and mine.
References
https://time.com/7264688/trump-speech-congress-2025-transcript/
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp3ylpd2n9no
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/03/04/elissa-slotkin-response-trump-speech/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/05/democrats-reaction-trump-address