{"id":2698793,"date":"2026-11-05T07:44:26","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T12:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignafter-deeply-unpleasant-campaign-season-dems-promise-to-soothe-economically-anxious-americans-with-screeching-lawfare-jihad\/"},"modified":"2026-11-05T07:48:18","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T12:48:18","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignafter-deeply-unpleasant-campaign-season-dems-promise-to-soothe-economically-anxious-americans-with-screeching-lawfare-jihad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignafter-deeply-unpleasant-campaign-season-dems-promise-to-soothe-economically-anxious-americans-with-screeching-lawfare-jihad\/","title":{"rendered":"Dems Promise To Soothe Americans With Lawfare Jihad"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Futm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignafter-deeply-unpleasant-campaign-season-dems-promise-to-soothe-economically-anxious-americans-with-screeching-lawfare-jihad%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2698793&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In the months before a calamitous election, washington was consumed by petty disputes &#8211; whether Donald Trump could put his name on the Kennedy Center, an argument over a reflecting-pool liner, adn an overlawyered spat about removing trees from a federal golf course &#8211; while the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/which-presidential-candidate-can-best-confront-profligate-spending-and-ballooning-national-debt-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Which presidential ... can best confront profligate spending and ballooning national debt? ... ... Examiner\">federal government racked<\/a> up roughly $40 trillion in debt. Those in power mostly watched rather than led.<\/p>\n<p>As Democrats gained big majorities, their message quickly turned to punishment and retribution; the immediate post-election tone was essentially \u201cwe\u2019re coming after you,\u201d with officials publicly calling out specific opponents.<\/p>\n<p>Both parties ran \u201ccontrast\u201d campaigns that were almost entirely negative. Republicans told voters not to support extreme Democrats; Democrats told voters not to back Trump-aligned Republicans. The result was a two-sided campaign of negation that offered little positive vision.<\/p>\n<p>That style of politics &#8211; defining yourselves mainly by what you oppose &#8211; is dispiriting, and it discourages capable, decent people from running for office.The author argues the newly elected class included many unattractive candidates and poor communicators, naming several examples and noting frequent personal attacks and social-media mockery (including a crude attack on a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nancy-pelosi-caught-on-video-elbow-checking-young-daughter-of-newly-elected-gop-congresswoman\/\" title=\"Nancy Pelosi Caught On Video Elbow Checking Young Daughter Of Newly...Elected GOP Congresswoman\">newly elected representative<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>The political system\u2019s inertia tends to draw down the quality of candidates, though occasionally outsiders break through. When politics becomes demoralizing, the piece advises, step away: invest in family, friends, faith, community, and nature; do constructive things locally instead of pinning your well-being on Congress. It highlights Erin Lee\u2019s role in Colorado ballot victories on issues like sex trafficking and girls\u2019 sports as a model of effective local action.<\/p>\n<p>The author doesn\u2019t expect national politics to improve soon but urges readers not to let it dominate their lives. Quoting Camille Paglia, he suggests we may be in a decadent phase where leadership is immature or senile, and counsels persistence.<\/p>\n<p>Byline: Chris Bray, senior correspondent at The Federalist, former U.S. Army infantry sergeant, and a UCLA history PhD; he also writes on Substack at \u201cTell Me How This Ends.\u201d  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>In the months preceding a disastrous election, the hot controversies in Washington, D.C., were Donald Trump\u2019s authority to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2026\/05\/29\/nx-s1-5839349\/president-trump-kennedy-center-name-judge-order\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">put his name<\/a> on the Kennedy Center, a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Acosta\/status\/2077068789091299684\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bitter back-and-forth<\/a> over the liner of a reflecting pool, and a massively overlawyered <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/10\/21\/nutjob-judge-ana-reyes-rages-over-trumps-attempt-to-fix-up-ugly-golf-course\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fight<\/a> over the removal of some trees from a federally owned golf course. With startling precision, the Beltway mostly fought over things that no one else anywhere in the world cared about at all.<\/p>\n<p>Republican control of both houses of Congress and the presidency, with a Supreme Court dominated by Republican nominees, produced no significant course correction as the federal government passed $40 trillion in debt. The people in supposed power were bystanders to the business of the country and its people.<\/p>\n<p>Now, with a massive switch toward Democrat control, the big change being signaled is more punishment and retribution, Beltway-class gamesmanship against Beltway-class enemies.<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>Democrats embraced this message with remarkable uniformity about 10 minutes after the polls closed: <em>We\u2019re going to get you<\/em>.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>Noem, Markwayne, Miller, Homan, Bovino, what\u2019s up? <\/p>\n<p>Clear your schedule.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u2014 Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (@repdeliaramirez) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/repdeliaramirez\/status\/2117823240815215033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 4, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The question in this cycle of narcissistic factional nihilism is whether the imperial green zone has any remaining connection to the country it governs, and can rediscover the existence of the America outside the clubhouse.<\/p>\n<p>I wrote in September that we were having an <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/09\/22\/republicans-are-allowing-the-election-to-be-about-nothing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">election about nothing<\/a>, as Republicans declined to offer a record or an agenda, instead framing the contest as a \u201ccontrast election\u201d in which the message was purely negative: Don\u2019t vote for crazy Democrats. But the Democrats did the same, meeting a contrast election with a contrast election.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>There\u2019s a reason Trump just endorsed Michele Tafoya \u2013 she\u2019s been with him every step of the way.<\/p>\n<p>Watch my new ad: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/FmoBS74KYQ\">pic.twitter.com\/FmoBS74KYQ<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u2014 Peggy Flanagan (@peggyflanagan) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/peggyflanagan\/status\/2112558379990413803?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 20, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump, they explained. <\/p>\n<p>So the Republican message was <em>don\u2019t vote for weird Democrats<\/em>, and the Democrat message was <em>don\u2019t vote for Trump Republicans<\/em>. It was a double-negative election, two messages about negating and impugning. <\/p>\n<p>This descent into the politics of pure negation and repudiation, a politics of what we aren\u2019t that doesn\u2019t have a whole lot of what we are or what we hope to be, is a <em>massive<\/em> bummer. It\u2019s unpleasant to watch, unpleasant to think about, and deeply unpleasant to join. And one of the effects of such a spectacularly miserable politics is that very few sane, smart, decent people want to run for office. <\/p>\n<p>The single most striking fact of this election was how hard it was on the ears. A bunch of repellent fools won: Troy Jackson just absolutely sucked as a candidate, and Peggy Flanagan just absolutely sucked as a candidate, and Amy Klobuchar\u2019s voice has the precise effect of fingernails on a blackboard, and Arizona reelected a dead-eyed toddler as its governor, and so on. Mary Peltola\u2019s voice is an irritant. <\/p>\n<p>The odd little Talarico man-boy barely seems like a real person. The upcoming freshman class in Congress is made up of a bunch of people who are just <em>dreadful<\/em>: dreadful as people, human beings whose voices grate. Katy Padilla Stout just won a seat in the House, and she can\u2019t <em>speak<\/em>. She struggles to form sentences in which the words mean something:<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">JUST IN: Morbidly obese congressional candidate Katy Padilla Stout, who was recently exposed for spending thousands in campaign donations on gourmet cookies, tacos, and liquor, was harpooned in her debate against Brandon Herrera yesterday. She was outraged because Brandon made\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/a6yEfkF91F\">pic.twitter.com\/a6yEfkF91F<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bad Hombre (@Badhombre) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Badhombre\/status\/2110430451361796336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 14, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>I would bet a kidney that this woman struggles to find the cognitive firepower to complete her order at Taco Bell, and she\u2019s headed for the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re in a lull, a part of the cycle in which the dismal impotence of a system only attracts dismal impotents. Someone occasionally breaks out of one of these cycles, as we saw in 2016, but the sewer seems to have a whirlpool effect that drags people back to the bottom. <\/p>\n<p>When politics is broken, the first thing to do is to decline to be broken along with it. Turn to family, friends, faith, community, nature. Find health and life in other things. Don\u2019t ever stake your sanity on the quality of Congress. Keep your perspective and look for healthy things that you can <em>do<\/em>. Leave the house and do something. Look to the brilliant example of Erin Lee in Colorado.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>Erin Lee <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Erin4Parents?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Erin4Parents<\/a>: \u201cwe have won\u201d three initiatives with \u201csweeping victory\u201d declared on Prop 133 (Penalties for Sex Trafficking) and 5-point spread on Prop 134 (Girls\u2019 Sports) and 135 (Underage Surgeries). 95% counted.<\/p>\n<p>Making history in Colorado! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/XDMkaySFIL\">pic.twitter.com\/XDMkaySFIL<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u2014 Travis Morrell, MD MPH (@MorrellMDmph) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MorrellMDmph\/status\/2118056125111423354?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 4, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>We\u2019re probably not headed into an enormously healthy period in national politics. Don\u2019t give it power over your life, and we\u2019ll look for the chance to change it. \u201cSociety is in its late or decadent phase,\u201d Camille Paglia wrote about another moment in history. \u201cThe ruling hierarchy consists of the senile and the adolescent.\u201d It happens. Keep going.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Chris Bray is a senior correspondent at The Federalist and a former infantry sergeant in the U.S. Army. He has a history PhD from the University of California Los Angeles, not that it did him any good. He also posts on Substack, at &#8220;Tell Me How This Ends,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/chrisbray.substack.com\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pre-election fights: Trump Kennedy Center pool trees<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2086,"featured_media":2698794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/stout-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[3685,16727,38654,37408,32515],"class_list":["post-2698793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-democrats","tag-lawfare","tag-policy-debate","tag-political-rhetoric","tag-us-politics"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/stout-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2086"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2698793"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2698797,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698793\/revisions\/2698797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2698794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2698793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2698793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2698793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}