Democrats Have Become What They Claim to Hate

Joe Biden’s infirmities and their contributions to the president’s maladroit performance have imposed a paradox on the country. The Democratic Party has been reduced to making the negative case for Biden — not that he is a particularly adept president or that his presence in the Oval Office is desirable in itself, but that he is a better steward of the executive branch than Donald Trump. That wouldn’t be a remarkable strategy for an unpopular incumbent save the fact that the incumbent and his movement increasingly mirror all that they despise about Trump.

With barely concealed self-satisfaction, Democratic partisans observed throughout the Trump years as the GOP talked itself into backing their party’s unfit nominee by indulging a variety of wild hypotheticals. Joe Biden will “destroy the suburbs,” Donald Trump warned. He had set out to “kill the American Dream,” “dismantle your police departments,” and take a torch to so many American institutions that “you won’t have a country anymore.” Trump’s supporters mimicked his rhetorical overreach, adopting his presuppositions and taking them to their logical, if extreme, conclusions.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.

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Joe Biden’s infirmities and their contributions to the president’s maladroit performance have imposed a paradox on the country. The Democratic Party has been reduced to making the negative case for Biden — not that he is a particularly adept president or that his presence in the Oval Office is desirable in itself, but that he is a better steward of the executive branch than Donald Trump. That wouldn’t be a remarkable strategy for an unpopular incumbent save the fact that the incumbent and his movement increasingly mirror all that they despise about Trump.

With barely concealed self-satisfaction, Democratic partisans observed throughout the Trump years as the GOP talked itself into backing their party’s unfit nominee by indulging a variety of wild hypotheticals. Joe Biden will “destroy the suburbs,” Donald Trump warned. He had set out to “kill the American Dream,” “dismantle your police departments,” and take a torch to so many American institutions that “you won’t have a country anymore.” Trump’s supporters mimicked his rhetorical overreach, adopting his presuppositions and taking them to their logical, if extreme, conclusions.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.