“Dumocrats” is currently US President Trump’s favourite insult for the Democrats, one he is deploying with increasing frequency. The President claims the demeaning new nickname was inspired by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. “He’s a very low IQ person,” mused the President during a recent visit to New York. “I said, ‘He’s such a dumb guy.’ I said, ‘Wait a minute, he’s a Dumocrat.’ That’s how I got the name.”
Hakeem Jeffries aspires to be the next Speaker of the House of Representatives, should Democrats flip the House in November’s midterm elections – in which case, the joke would be on Donald Trump. The “Dumocrats” would exercise oversight of the Trump administration, asking the difficult questions Republicans have shied away from.
While the odds are in favour of Democrats taking the House – and even perhaps the Senate, should all the chips fall their way – Trump’s insults have a way of rattling his opponents. Is it possible that Democrats fail in this favourable political environment, even as Donald Trump’s approval ratings plumb new depths – 35 per cent in the latest Economist poll? Let us count the ways this could happen.
Shorts
The shadow of the 2024 election and Kamala Harris’s failure to defeat Trump still hangs over the party. Jill Biden’s breezy new memoir has only revived unanswered questions about how on earth she and the team around Joe Biden ever thought he could run for for a second term.
