The Republican Party has become a cult that worships/fears a pathetic, mentally addled New York real estate grifter because if they don’t, their voters have threatened to kill them. Despite this reality, the Very Serious Mind of the Great Centrist Punditry and their associates have once again decided that nothing at all has changed since Election Day and the Democratic Party must do away with silly things like principles if they want to win any election ever again.

The latest example of this came this week in the form of a “study” done by a center-left group called Welcome. It was released via the centrist news site Semafor, because of course it did. Here are the main bullet points:

Okay, let's get into the text…Here are their bullet point recommendations: Talk about the economy! Don't talk about immigrants or climate or "social issues!" Criticize the ultra-wealthy, but in a very-not-socialist sort of way!This is… just popularism? Didn't we already do this?

— Dave Karpf (@davekarpf.bsky.social) 2025-10-28T16:31:15.915Z

Some of this…fine. But some of it is just not really true:

Elected Dems have moved to the left since 2012! (true, but largely attributable to retirements and electoral defeats of some old moderates, particularly in the Senate.)And Republicans have, uh, only gotten more extreme in some ways? They've totally moderated on issues like abortion. (Wait. What?)

— Dave Karpf (@davekarpf.bsky.social) 2025-10-28T16:33:54.027Z

The “Republicans have moderated on abortion” is nuts. But a lot of other things in it are also not true, and are the usual “let’s pick people in our coalition to throw under the bus” stuff that Democratic consultants are unabashed enthusiasts of.

But there’s another aspect of this, and it is best exemplified by this section of the report:

The paradox here is that many of the policy ideas that one might point to as “left” are in fact popular, like taxing the wealthy, and yet so many people believe the Democratic Party is “too liberal.” The classic centrist whipping boys are mentioned, including the usual claim that Democrats talk too much about trans rights. Which anyone with both feet in reality and has paid attention to Democratic politics the last few years can tell you, is not something Democrats have been doing. In fact, Kamala Harris pretty much ignored the issue in 2024.

Also, we talk too much about climate change? Really? A large majority of Americans are worried about climate change. This is not a political loser.

But let’s get back to the belief that trans rights are something Democrats go on and on about. Why would these Americans think that, if Democrats aren’t really discussing it? The reason is something that the report really doesn’t touch on: Right-wing propaganda.

For years and years, right-wing media led by Fox News has been blasting nonsense at the American people nonstop. The Democrats haven’t really figured out an effective way to combat it. Part of the reason for that is due to the right wing getting an assist from centrist pundits in making it so effective.

Take transgender rights, which is one group the GOP most certainly shows nothing but hate toward. A lot of centrist and mainstream pundits apparently share this feeling.  The New York Times, for example, is kind of obsessed with the trans issue, and they are definitely not trans-friendly.

Along with outwardly supporting GOP propaganda, stuff like the Welcome report is one of the goals of the lying: Create a situation where Democratic leaders and strategists feel they must abandon our principles to win. Reports like this one are doing that work for the right, even if they aren’t aware of it.

And finally, this is basically just popularism, the concept that Democrats should only push things that are widely popular. But that is saying you don’t want to do any politics. The work of politics involves persuasion, something the more moderate Democrats seem to be allergic to. You don’t have to throw trans people under the bus! You can point out that the Republicans are lying when they claim that Democrats support forced conversions, which is an absurd throwback to the hateful idea that gay teachers would try to convert their students. You can tie in that transpeople are also, in some cases, part of the working class, and that hysteria about youth sports is a disingenuous attempt to exercise bigotry at a greater level. Countering misinformation and the power of persuasion is mysteriously absent from the report.

The part that really shocked me was climate change. As I pointed out above, climate change is a legitimate worry, and as the harmful effects become clearer and clearer, it will become even more of a concern. Plus, it’s simple to tie climate change to economic kitchen table issues! Solving climate change is a job creator, and deaths from climate events do not just affect people in hurricane-prone regions.

Look, I’m not against an open discussion of ideas within my party. I just want them to be a little more based in reality. And there are better reports out there. On Monday, I’ll talk about this one.

The last word on this Halloween goes to, IMO, an all-timer as far as songs for this dark October holiday, Blue Oyster Cult. They do such a great job setting the Nosferatu tale to music.