DEMOCRATS CAN PRAISE SETH MOULTON ALL THEY WANT -- THE RIGHT WILL STILL CALL THEM COMMIES

D.C. Democrats are largely maintaining radio silence about Donald Trump's incoming administration. But Republicans are still messaging. Take a look at the reaction to an innocuous story by The Hill's Amie Parnes: "Ranking the Democrats: Here’s Who the Party Could Nominate Next as President." Parnes's list of potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidates is, in order:

Kamala Harris
Gavin Newsom
Gretchen Whitmer
Josh Shapiro
Pete Buttigieg
JB Pritzker
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Boring, right? Not to the right-wing media. Right-wingers have seized on the list's seventh name and have synchronized their message to suggest to the Republican-base audience that DEMOCRATS WILL NOMINATE A COMMUNIST IN 2028!!!1!1!!!

And I mean literally a communist. Here was one reaction to this story on Fox:

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) could prove to be a formidable candidate if she decides to run for president in 2028, according to Monica Crowley.

Crowley, who served as a top public affairs official in the Department of Treasury under former President Donald Trump, appeared on Fox News on Friday, where she was asked about AOC’s presidential prospects....

Crowley ... claimed that the 2024 election was a rejection of “communism” and “wokeness,” but that nevertheless, Republicans should not dismiss Ocasio-Cortez.

“However, just a word of warning to the Republicans, to my party,” she added. “Do not underestimate AOC. She’s young, she’s vibrant, she’s attractive. I think she’s wrong on everything, but she does have real grassroots support. And all of the energy and activism in the Democrat party remains with the revolutionary left, of which she is a part. So, every time the Republicans have underestimated the Democrats, we ended up with Bill Clinton, Barack Obama,

All of the energy and activism in the "Democrat Party" remains with the revolutionary left! Did you know that?

Pollster and fake Democrat Doug Schoen also appeared on Fox and weighed in:

A former adviser to President Bill Clinton, Doug Schoen, said it would be a “disaster” if Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) runs for president in 2028.

“I believe the Democratic Party needs to move to the center on cultural issues and on fiscal issues, and be more fiscally disciplined and AOC represents the opposite,” said Schoen, who is a Democratic pollster and strategist, during a Friday appearance on The Ingraham Angle.

He continued, “I think if she runs, it would be a disaster for the party....”

The Democrat Party is the party of AOC! The entire right-wing media delivered this message in perfect sync. RedState: "‘Lost and Rudderless’ Democrats See AOC as 2028 Presidential Contender." Daily Mail: "AOC for President in 2028? Furious Speculation Sweeps Social Media That the Squad Member Could Be Running." Gateway Pundit: "Socialist Starlet AOC Could Make a Run for President in 2028 Along with Other Radical Leftists." John Solomon's Just the News: "As Democrats Search for Next Leadership, AOC Put on Venerable Hill Newspaper's '28 Presidential List." Townhall: "Will AOC Run for President in 2028?" Breitbart: "The Hill Floats AOC as Potential 2028 Presidential Candidate."

I don't see this. I see far more top-level Democrats embracing the message of Seth Moulton's recent Washington Post op-ed, which is "tack to the center and sell trans people out."

Two days after Donald Trump’s victory, I gave an example of how Democrats spend too much time trying not to offend anyone, even on issues where most Americans feel the same way. Speaking as a dad, I said I didn’t like the idea of my two girls one day competing against biological boys on a playing field. My main point, though, is what I said next: “As a Democrat, I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”

The blowback, which was swift, included the chair of a local Democratic committee calling me a Nazi “cooperator” and about 200 people gathering in front of my office to protest a sentence....

What has amazed me, though, is what’s happening behind the scenes. Countless Democrats have reached out, from across the party — to thank me. I’ve heard it again and again, from union leaders to colleagues in the House and Senate; from top people from the Obama, Biden and Harris teams to local Democrats stopping me on the street; from fellow dads to many in the LGBTQ+ community: “Thank you for saying that!”

Kamala Harris, of course, didn't stick up for trans people on the campaign trail this year, though pro-trans statements from her 2020 campaign were dredged up by Donald Trump's campaign. On immigration, Harris embraced a bill that was largely written by Republican hard-liners and repeatedly pledged to sign it if elected. Moulton pretends that never happened:

Two years ago, I asked a House colleague who wanted to lead our messaging strategy how we should address the southern border. “We should not talk about immigration!” I was told. Republicans are just “weaponizing” the issue, so, if we respond, we are “playing into their hands.” Another version: Trump is “just tapping into fear and resentment.”

But it turns out that voters knew better, and wanted answers. When 94 percent of Americans said they worried about the border crisis, Trump said he’d fix it.

But the coordinated "BEWARE THE RED MENACE!" message from the right-wing media makes clear that tacking to the right while selling out parts of the Democratic coalition is an exercise in futility. Republicans will still portray Democrats as left-wing extremists.

Most Democrats seem to believe that the party can't possibly out-message the GOP -- there's no Fox News on our side, and Democrats don't have a large enough network of partisan news sites or podcasts. If that's the case -- and it might be, although I think Democrats give up too easily -- then loud rejections of progressivism by Democrats like Moulton are utterly futile. Republicans will always be louder, and they'll always say that Democrats' real leaders are far to the left.

Kamala Harris raised a lot of small-donor cash this year. Maybe it's time to crowdsource the financing of a new Democratic media apparatus, if left-leaning billionaires won't do it. Meanwhile, the right-wing media and Seth Moulton seem to agree on one thing: Democrats are too far to the left. Seth Moulton may think that message helps Democrats, but it doesn't.