Democrats have become risk takers because they no longer believe America is a center-right nation. From 1968 to 1988, Republicans won the popular vote five out of six times. In the seven elections since, Republicans have won the popular vote once. Democrats have become risk takers because they feel pressure from a revitalized left. By some estimates, the percentage of Americans who have taken to the streets since Trump’s election exceeds the share that did so at the height of protests against the Vietnam War. And this activist surge has given the left power in Congress. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has almost twice as many followers on Twitter, and almost six times as many on Instagram, as Pelosi does.
Finally, Democrats have become risk takers because Trump has shattered the norms that once constrained political action. He’s shown that brazenness works. In so doing, he’s encouraged Democrats to be as brazen in expanding democracy—by eliminating the electoral college and letting prisoners vote—as Trump and his allies have been in restricting and undermining it. He’s encouraged Democrats to be as brazen in defending the rule of law as he has been in defying it.
It is telling that Pelosi has embraced impeachment at the very moment that Warren—who tells her audiences, “You can’t be afraid”—surges in front of Joe Biden in early-state polls. Democrats have become, for the first time in a generation, a daring party. This is more than the audacity of hope. It’s the audacity of desperation, too.
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