The One Battle Democrats Must Fight...And Why Too Many Still Won’t

How our leaders are squandering the tools they already have to stop Trump’s advance.

The One Battle Democrats Must Fight…And Why Too Many Still Won’t

How our leaders are squandering the tools they already have to stop Trump’s advance.

The Jack Hopkins Now Newsletter #483: Sunday, August 10th, 2025. 2:44 PM CST

If you were captain of a ship…and enemy torpedoes were closing in on your starboard side, would you:

A) Call a press conference to condemn the other captain’s “reckless behavior,” or
B) Order every countermeasure deployed, now…without hesitation?

If your answer is B, congratulations…you already understand what our Democratic leadership still refuses to fully grasp.

We are under attack. Not in theory. Not in “someday, maybe.” Right now. Torpedoes in the water.

And yet… what we see from too many of our own leaders is the rhetorical equivalent of sternly worded memos.

Why I’m Right…And Why This Isn’t Just Opinion

I’m not “bashing Democrats” for sport. I’m diagnosing the patient before the cancer becomes inoperable.

Here’s the reality:

Trump is not a normal political opponent.

He is the spearpoint of an authoritarian movement that has already shown it will break the law…rewrite the rules…and weaponize every lever of government to cement power.

Time is not on our side.

Authoritarian consolidation doesn’t happen with a loud bang…it happens in quiet…cumulative strokes. By the time the public sees the danger in full…the levers to stop it are already gone.

We hold the tools.

Democratic governors…attorneys general…and congressional leaders already possess a wide array of legal…procedural…and legislative countermeasures that could be deployed in rapid succession. (Most of which I have written about in detail in past issues of JHN.)

We are not using them with urgency.

The difference between having tools and using them is the difference between winning and being remembered in footnotes.

The reason I hammer this point isn’t because I enjoy criticizing my own team…

…it’s because winning teams self-correct when they’re playing a losing game. Teams that don’t…LOSE.

Why “Blame Republicans” Is Not a Strategy

Yes…Republicans deserve blame. Yes…they are the architects and enablers of this authoritarian push.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: Blaming Republicans is not a strategy…it’s a sedative.

When you aim all your outrage at the opposition, you accomplish three things…all of them bad:

1. You exhaust your own energy reserves. Outrage burns hot…but it doesn’t move the ball unless it’s attached to a concrete…immediate action.

2. You give your own leaders a pass. If your fire is always aimed outward, the people who actually have the power to defend you feel no heat to act.

3. You reinforce the opposition’s script. They want the fight to be binary…“Us vs. Them”…because it obscures the truth: our side has the lawful power to act right now, and isn’t using it to its full extent.

If we were playing chess…this would be the equivalent of shouting at your opponent’s queen for being aggressive…instead of telling your own rook to move before it’s trapped.

The Point of No Return…Closer Than You Think

Every democracy that has fallen to authoritarianism has crossed a point of no return …that invisible line where free and fair elections become impossible.

Here’s what that looks like:

• Control over the judiciary (check)

• Control over law enforcement (check)

• Capture of the legislative process (partial check)

• Erosion of independent media (underway)

• Intimidation of political opponents (active)

• Manipulation or suppression of the vote (constant)

We are not approaching that checklist…we are living in it.

The point of no return is not the day tanks roll through the capital. It’s the day the system still holds elections…but the outcome is predetermined through suppression… intimidation…and disinformation so pervasive that the result reflects propaganda…not the will of the people.

That’s the track we’re on.

The “Free and Fair Election” Myth

Let me say this bluntly:

Anyone who believes we will have a free and fair election without extraordinary… coordinated…and relentless countermeasures is living in a fantasy.

Why? Because the mechanics of the game have already been altered:

• Voter roll purges in key states

• Gerrymandering that locks in minority rule

• Court decisions that bless voter suppression tactics

• Social media ecosystems that algorithmically elevate disinformation

• State legislatures passing laws that give them power to override local election officials

If you walked into a casino where the owner had already preloaded the slot machines to never pay out…would you still tell yourself, “I’ve got a fair shot if I just play harder”?

That’s where we are. And until our leaders start treating this like the rigged game it is… we’re not playing to win…we’re playing to appear like we’re still in the game.

What Real Strategy Looks Like

Success here looks like:

• Coordinated multi-state lawsuits challenging every unconstitutional act of the administration

• Rapid-response legislative maneuvers that force public votes on protecting voting rights…free speech…and judicial independence

• State-level executive actions to safeguard elections…reinforce local journalism... and protect civil servants from political retaliation

• A relentless public narrative…not once a month…not during election season…that lays out exactly how the opposition is dismantling democracy…and exactly what Democrats are doing to stop it

That’s what an “incredible…relentless offensive” means. It’s not theory. It’s a playbook.

Why This Offends Some Democrats…And Why They’re Wrong

Some Democrats recoil when I call out our own. They hear “criticism” and process it as “division.”

But here’s the paradox they miss:

• Accountability is not division…it’s maintenance.

• Pressure is not betrayal…it’s leadership insurance.

• Demanding action from those who can deliver it is not “bashing”…it’s the only way anything ever gets done in politics.

We are not in a moment where politeness will save us. We are in a moment where only unrelenting demand will.

The Closing Argument

If you take nothing else from this…take this:

We can still win. But only if we stop pretending that words alone…or blame alone… will protect us.

The enemies of democracy are counting on us to stay reactive…to aim our outrage at them…not at the leaders who could actually slam the brakes on their advance.

We must reverse that. Apply the heat inward. Demand a strategy. Demand its execution. And don’t stop until it happens.

History will not remember how cleverly we condemned the opposition. It will remember whether we saved the Republic…or surrendered it without exhausting every tool at our disposal.

Until we grow up as citizens…until we take responsibility for getting LOUD with our own elected officials….relentlessly…until they act like leaders who give a damn…instead of salary collectors doing the bare minimum to look like they’re “fighting”…the last sound you hear before every freedom you cherish is ripped away…will be the bone-deep…gut-twisting groan of democracy’s final breath being stomped out…just before its heart stops for good.

I will leave you with this:

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”

— Frederick Douglass, 1857

Warmly,

-Jack

P.S. If you agree…don’t just nod. Send this to five people who still think “waiting until the next election” is a strategy. It isn’t. The election will only matter if we make sure it’s still real.

P.P.S. If you’re a new subscriber…or would just like a refresher on the strategies Democratic leadership could…and should be using…NOW…. it’s posted below: