Defunding the police and not prosecuting criminals, or releasing them back onto the streets and doing away with cash bail, may be the dream of leftist district attorneys but, as a recent recall election in California showed us, it’s the stuff of nightmares for Americans who must deal with the consequences of such policies.

The death spiral that many believe the United States to be in has moved well past which party will control Congress after the 2022 midterms and who will win the White House in 2024. If the elites paid attention to what’s happening in America far from their gated communities, they might realize that most voters now care about basic quality-of-life issues. Can anyone in the Democratic Party read the room … anyone?

There are many high-level, skilled and empathic Democratic advisers out there who do believe that their party — and the nation as a whole —must embrace more commonsense, pragmatic solutions to America’s problems. But, as I’ve been told, a number of them simply don’t want to deal with the wrath that progressives would direct toward them if they dared to offer opinions.