Democrats Never Went “High” — and Nate Silver Knows It

Elections analyst Nate Silver is exhilarated. The Democratic Party has been batted around like an orca’s breakfast for long enough. Suddenly, “perhaps for a change,” he wrote, “they’re in the mood to fight back.”

He cites the polling that has long shown that Democrats want a more pugilistic party. We don’t need survey data to confirm that. It’s the little things, like the Democratic base’s desire to see their elected officials get shot and their insistence on taking every morsel of bait served up by Donald Trump, that suggest a restlessness is abroad on the Democratic left. That’s hardly oracular wisdom. Still, Silver contends, the Democratic Party’s willingness to throw sharp elbows is something new.

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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Elections analyst Nate Silver is exhilarated. The Democratic Party has been batted around like an orca’s breakfast for long enough. Suddenly, “perhaps for a change,” he wrote, “they’re in the mood to fight back.”

He cites the polling that has long shown that Democrats want a more pugilistic party. We don’t need survey data to confirm that. It’s the little things, like the Democratic base’s desire to see their elected officials get shot and their insistence on taking every morsel of bait served up by Donald Trump, that suggest a restlessness is abroad on the Democratic left. That’s hardly oracular wisdom. Still, Silver contends, the Democratic Party’s willingness to throw sharp elbows is something new.

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.