Photo by Anthony Hennen
Guy Ciarrocchi: Democrats tell us who they are by what they fight for
Life coaches like to quote Oprah: “How you spend your time defines who you are.”
We have to concede that it certainly says a lot about you and what you prioritize; what you value.
The political equivalent is: “What you fight for — what you focus on — tells us your priorities, your values.” What a political party (or candidate) chooses to fight for and what issues or causes they prioritize tell voters as much about — if not more — than any position on a given issue.
How are the Democrats defining what they value? Five months into Trump 2.0, Democrats have told us so much about who they are.
They tried to stop Trump from securing the border. They sued to stop him from deporting illegal immigrants — even those with criminal records. They tripped over themselves to fly to El Salvador, demanding to meet with the “Maryland man” (the Orwellian term given to Kilmar Garcia by Democrats and many in the legacy media) — the MS-13 member from El Salvador with protection-from-abuse orders filed against him and now charged with human trafficking. They’re defending the rioting in Los Angeles because they don’t like ICE arresting illegal immigrants and they “fear Trump.”
They not only speak out in favor of keeping men in women’s sports, they vote against all legislation to address this travesty of justice, morality, safety, and fairness. Moreover, Democratic Governors keep vetoing similar legislation. On social media, they mock, ridicule, and vilify female athletes who speak out — and their parents and coaches.
DOGE and the Trump administration have identified billions of dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse of our tax dollars. This money taken out of our pockets forces taxes, interest rates and prices higher; and, often helps advance causes that most Americans oppose and even things that harm Americans and our allies. From Medicaid (taxpayer-funded medical coverage) for gender surgeries and single able-bodied people under 50 to Sesame Street for Iraqi television; from taxpayer funded studies on cow farts to funding USAID boondoggles, including many “agencies” controlled by Congress members’ families, donors, or foreign dictators and thugs.
There was not one time that Hakeem Jeffries, Chuck Schumer, AOC or Cory Booker ever stepped forward and said: “that is outrageous; let’s work together to stop this immediately.” Never. They have not agreed on one program being eliminated, reduced or reformed — out of $7 trillion spent each year. Not one dollar. In fact, they go to court to force taxpayers to pay for programs that Trump tries to cancel.
Many universities have become unsafe for students, especially Jewish students. Some universities have had encampments with Hamas signs and Palestinian flags, where Israeli and American flags were burned. Protestors, agitators, and rioters wear masks, praise Hitler, and scrawl swastikas. Universities like Penn and Harvard did nothing, at best, or defended allowing it to happen. Harvard was warned. They did nothing.
Moreover, when it was revealed that Harvard had an unusually high number of Chinese nationals as students, some with direct ties to the Chinese Communist Party (“CCP”), Harvard did nothing. Trump warned them about losing federal grants. Nothing.
Harvard — getting millions and millions of our tax dollars, while having $50 billion in the bank — tolerated antisemitism and embraced CCP students. So, Trump took steps to end their grants and cancel CCP student visas.
Democrats? They defend Harvard, attack Trump and go to court to try to force Trump to send our tax dollars to Harvard.
With images of 2020 and 2021 still burned into our memories, now we have the LA riots of 2025. LA Mayor Bass and Governor Newsom do nothing. They try to justify the rioters’ anger—including setting police cars on fire, destroying store fronts and ransacking a local mall and stealing MacBooks. Trump sends in the National Guard. Newsom compounds his negligence by suing Trump to get the National Guard out of LA.
Notice a pattern?
Democrats’ reactions in Congress ranged from silence to defending Newsom and the protestors. And Democratic governors across the nation — including Josh Shapiro — issued a joint statement of solidarity with Newsom and attacked Trump. Stunning.
They are wrong on almost every major issue. The Democrats prioritize issues that most people don’t see as a priority. They speak out, vote against, protest and sue to get their way. They cry and scream on TikTok and X. They get louder and angrier as they lose support, like a child throwing a tantrum.
They have become a cult. A cult where they do not allow discussion or debate. A cult where the objective is not to solve problems, but to advance the cult. Results be damned.
They’re not trying to make America great again — actually many aren’t proud of America. They aren’t focused on you making our families great, either.
The focus is to advance their left-wing utopia and appease their “gods.”
They know that 60 to 80 percent of Americans disagree with their positions on these issues. Eighty percent of Americans and 67 percent of Democrats oppose biological men in women’s sports.
Legal immigrants support Trump for his work on the border and using ICE by eight percent over Democrats.
Perhaps that’s why Democrats want open borders; to give drivers licenses to illegal immigrants; to allow them to vote in “local” elections; to be counted in the census for blue states.
Because they’ve run out of votes that they can get from ordinary Americans.
When a party fights so loudly to tell us who they are, we should believe them.
Guy Ciarrocchi is a commentator and strategist who writes for Broad + Liberty and RealClear Pennsylvania. Follow Guy at @PaSuburbsGuy.
You left out a bunch more, Guy, but we get the gist. What irks me is the amount of people who know all this, but still vote democrat. They all must be on the payroll.
FedUp,
There are a lot of old, life-long, union supporting Dems who are good people. Unfortunately they are just old and have no idea what is actually being taught in elementary classrooms nor happening in their local municipalities. They get their “news” from where they always did; however, these local news sources are conflicted because of their revenue sources, extremely biased, and they offer mostly propagandized information. For example, last night Action News at 10 p.m. on PHL 17 reported: TRUMP targeting Democrat run cities… such a disgusting headline.
An accurate description and explanation: ICE is targeting so-called “sanctuary cities” which are mostly Democratic-leaning, which exploit legal ambiguities and restrict local police from detaining immigrants whom have been taken in for processing because they were arrested for another crime altogether. Yes, ICE is targeting these so-called “sanctuary cities”, because ICE’s focus is about the policy of targeting immigrants that break other laws – besides simply illegal entry. “Sanctuary cities”, like Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, making them logical targets for ICE. That Action News PHL17 “news” story was pure propaganda and intentionally misleading. Many old and foolish Democrats hear “Trump is targeting Democrats” and they lined up for “No Kings” day. Alas…”No Kings” is that silly old July 4th concept… apparently these people are too drunk on Pride.
“When men are shameless, they are past all hope.”
— Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War
They also show up because they’re paid and have nothing better to do. There’s no old fool like a Dem old fool. A lot of them are aging flower power hippies or retired teachers living off union pensions. Yellow journalism is a trademark of the left. That’s why WAPO and NYT, CNN and MSNBC are on a respirator.
How do I get paid to protest? So far I have been doing it for free
Call your buddy Soros.
How many of the 1/6 insurrectionists were paid protestors?
Just the embedded FBI agitators.
I want to share a Native American belief: “You are remembered by the tracks you leave behind.” In today’s society everything is for the moment and for instant gratification, those who are participating in the riots and the demonstrations, who are working to demolish the American way of governance and with-it American society, don’t realize that their remembrance is being crafted right now, whether or not they know it. Perhaps if they realized the opprobrium they will be remembered for, they would be more rational and generous in their life.
Democrats are telling you what we fight for.
We fight for due process under the law.
We fight for laws to be followed instead of ignored to do harm to others.
We fight for the rule of law when elected officials fail to follow them.
We fight to root out Fascism when it is used as an excuse to take control of what universities teach and when a man tries to blame Jews if they lose an election.
We fight for equality for those who need it the most and have the least.
P.S. Could someone please tell me what threat Big Bird is to the children of Iraq.
Like immigration laws?
Like equality for hardened criminals to benefit from US taxpayer dollars?
Like weaponized justice department that shelters democrat politicians and their offspring?
Like federal judges overstepping their authority?
You have a short memory.
Like immigration laws? – Yes they should be enforced starting with people who have criminal convictions, first. Instead people who are going through the asylum process are being deported including an Afghan who was a translator for the U.S. military. Without due process.
Like equality for hardened criminals to benefit from US taxpayer dollars? – How are illegal aliens getting taxpayer money?
Like weaponized justice department that shelters democrat politicians and their offspring? – Like how Trump pardonded everyone from 1/6, including the ones who assaulted 108 police officers. Do you back the blue?
Like federal judges overstepping their authority? – Do you have any examples of Federal Judges overstepping their authority. All I see is Trump refusing to abide by court rulings against him and follow the law.
Judah, every one of the so-called ideals democrats are fighting for are conceptual and subjective. Due process, for example, is a vague, non-descriptive term which has legal force and effect as a judge rules its application. For example, what due process specific to you did you lose? How about your Neighbour, what due process was lost? Every item is depended on the interpretation of the person or organization attempting to assert it. As to due process, I would say that republicans are fighting for due process because of having due process stripped from them by the January 6th Committee. How is that for an argument?
There is nothing vague about due process, its is defined as;
“a fundamental principle of fairness in all legal matters, both civil and criminal, especially in the courts. All legal procedures set by statute and court practice, including notice of rights, must be followed for each individual so that no prejudicial or unequal treatment will result. While somewhat indefinite, the term can be gauged by its aim to safeguard both private and public rights against unfairness. The universal guarantee of due process is in the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which provides “No person shall…be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law,” and is applied to all states by the 14th Amendment. From this basic principle flows many legal decisions determining both procedural and substantive rights.” In other words you have to follow all of the laws as each case is required. Due process applies to everyone inside the United States, regardless of citizenship.
Trump is arresting people without cause, warrants or law enforcement identifying themselves. Which they are legally required to do. They are also legally required to provide them with lawyers and time to gather evidence for a judge. How are Republicans fighting for due process, when they are stripping it from others?
I could not let this go by. Please explain why the United States is responsible for introducing Big Bird to the children of Iraq? In addition, what gives the United States the right to intrude on Iraqi culture with Big Bird and its social messaging? Was there a plebiscite in Iraq demanding the united States send Big Bird. Your comment on Big Bird is the height of arrogance, it also implies a kind of cultural aggression.
If you had read the article instead of the headline, you would have seen this ” to Sesame Street for Iraqi television”. “Sesame Street is broadcast in more than 120 countries. The show has been adapted into numerous international co-productions, with localized versions reaching children in various regions, including Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Europe. These co-productions involve adapting the show’s content to reflect the cultural nuances of each region, with the help of local experts.” No one is forcing the Iraqi government to broadcast it or foricing children to watch it.
What threat does Big Bird pose to the children of Iraq?
Excellent. You’re getting into a lather over a cartoon character. Time well spent.
Actually the author is getting into a lather of a muppet.
“DOGE and the Trump administration have identified billions of dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse of our tax dollars. This money taken out of our pockets forces taxes, interest rates and prices higher; and, often helps advance causes that most Americans oppose and even things that harm Americans and our allies. From Medicaid (taxpayer-funded medical coverage) for gender surgeries and single able-bodied people under 50 to Sesame Street for Iraqi television; from taxpayer funded studies on cow farts to funding USAID boondoggles, including many “agencies” controlled by Congress members’ families, donors, or foreign dictators and thugs.”
So like I asked, what is the problem with Big Bird?
Nothing. Let Iraq pay for it.