By David Himmel

Before we dive in, let’s be real clear up front: The Patriarchy and all its ills must burn and die. But if the future is female, then the women of the Democratic Party need a Come to Jesus Moment like no other.

In two weeks, the Democratic Party might win enough seats to turn the House blue. That’s a good thing for the balance of power and it’s a great thing to help slow any further dangerous actions President Donald Trump hopes to take during the rest of his first term. This victory, I’m concerned, will be short-lived. Unless the Democratic Party can unglue its head from deep within its bowels, it will not win the Senate or the White House in 2020. And it will probably lose the House.

For a party claiming to be pro-gun control, the Democratic Party has shot itself in the foot with everything from .30-caliber muzzle loaders to AR-15s to .22-caliber wheel guns. The fault should be shared by all elected Dems currently serving in the United States Congress and those associated with the Democratic National Committee (DNC). But lately, a small section of the party’s most influential women leaders have been screwing things up for the rest of us. Rep. Maxine Waters, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz have said and done things that have fractured the Democratic Party, alienated moderates and true believers alike, and fed the beast that is President Trump and his supporters. All of this has led to heating up our Cold Civil War and put the Dems in a position to receive another ass lashing in 2020.

That said — and this is important — the screw ups we’re about to get into do not justify any violence or attempted violence against anyone. The packages sent to members of the Democratic Party last week is abhorrent. Good people who do dumb things do not deserve to be hurt or threatened by some dongbucket who thinks he’s doing America a favor.

“But what about the men of the Democratic Party, David?” Like I said two paragraphs above, they’re culpable, too. However, the men of the Democratic Party have been feckless in recent years. Tim Kaine is their spirit animal. The real leaders of the Party right now are the women, which is why their screw ups are so alarming.

The mid-terms are important. The election in 2020 is more important. It’s two years away, which means that the women of the Democratic Party have one year left to keep screwing things up before it’s too late to save the sinking ship.

To fix the problem, we must address the problem. Let’s look at the culprits and their crimes.

Rep. Maxine Waters
Back in June, Maxine Waters became the Left’s champion of divisive politics, unseating Hillary Clinton, when she said “If you see anybody from [Trump’s] Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them and you tell them they're not welcome anymore, anywhere.” We saw it happen in restaurants with White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Mitch McConnell. And that’s just the big three we know about. I don’t like the politics or demeanor of any of them, not one bit, but why aren’t they welcome?

If I owned a restaurant, a department store or a gasoline station, and Huckabee Sanders, Cruz and McConnell walked in, I wouldn’t kick them out. I might spit in their soup or keep bringing them the wrong item of clothing or shut off the gas to their pump but I wouldn’t protest against them. And if I did, that would be my choice as the owner of the private establishment. In the actual instances, the owners didn’t tell them they weren’t welcome; it was patrons, strangers off the street — people who had no right to tell anyone whether they were or were not welcome in a private establishment.

It’s bad sportsmanship. It makes the Left look like assholes. If the Right is the place where the hateful assholes live — and it might be, because when you consider the broad opinions of the base on issues like race, LGBTQ equality, police brutality and bro-country music, they do — the Left needs to stop appropriating their behavior.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein
Fully acknowledging the immeasurable love I have for my grandmothers (ages 94 and 82) and that this sounds a little ageist, there are just some things the elderly shouldn’t do. This includes, but is not limited to running with the bulls, learning to rollerblade on a rocky hill covered in ice and legislating for a first world country. Feinstein, who is 85, was elected to the Senate during the first Year of the Woman in 1992 following the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearing to the Supreme Court that turned Anita Hill into a harlot. Feinstein has been around long enough to know better, which is why I hold her 100 percent responsible for allowing history to grossly repeat itself with the debacle that was the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearing.

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford submitted her concern over Kavanaugh’s temperament to Feinstein in July when Kavanaugh was still on the short list. Ford wanted to remain anonymous. Feinstein could have and should have brought those concerns quietly to the Senate Judiciary Committee and any other area of government to prevent the alleged sexual assailant from becoming the nominee. There were other conservative stooges on that short list who would have caused less of a fight and fuss. Instead, Feinstein held onto it until Ford’s identity was leaked and Feinstein used the accusation as a Hail Mary play to discredit Kavanaugh and embarrass the Republican Party.

We all know that’s not what happened. What happened was that things got worse. Sexual assault victims of all stripes are now perceived by many to be liars first, sluts second and Clinton operatives third. Feinstein never cared about Ford or about women or sexual assault victims. She was playing party politics and it backfired. Hard.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth Warren thought she was President Barack Obama. She thought she could shut down insults from Donald Trump by proving that she was, in fact, of Native American descent. But where Obama brandishing his birth certificate removed all ability to doubt and insult (save for the morons) Warren’s genetic test revealed nothing. She’s as Cherokee as the rest of us, which is to say, not at all. Not enough to claim that heritage, anyway. My wife, Katie, who was raised evangelical Christian, did not convert to Judaism when we married, has never been to a bar or bat mitzvah and does not believe in God, is more a Jew than Warren is Cherokee.

This move, as Hall wrote last week, was the truest display of submitting to Trump’s bullying and, thus, playing right into his hands. Warren revealed herself as someone too concerned with the shiny penny glistening on the sandbar when she should be focusing on the squall overhead and the bull shark headed straight for her. There’s a lot of talk about Warren running for president in 2020. I used to think she wasn’t a bad option, but now, no. Warren can’t be president. She’s too entrenched with the Liberal American pettiness that continues to fracture the Left and the Democratic Party and embolden the Right and the Republicans. And it’s now clear that she’d make a losing opponent to Trump because she’d crumple at every jab he threw. What’s most concerning is that this kind of behavior is what alienates the undecided moderates — the very people the Dems need if they’re ever going to win again.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Where do I start? OK, first, HRC would have been a perfectly fine president. Yes, she would have been dogged by accusations from the Right every single waking moment of her presidency but she is a knowledgeable, experienced public servant. She knows the world and the world knows her. And while a sizable clot of America hates her, the rest of the world doesn’t mind her. She can get along with people. Sort of.

HRC is the only person in the known universe who could have lost to Donald Trump. She’s too polarizing; been in the Washington game too long; has been beaten down by the media over the last 30 years so bad that she’s barely human. It is unfortunate and unfair. And because of that, she was a horrible candidate. Would have been a fine president, but fine presidents can’t be horrible candidates. Her campaign should be used in political science, marketing and advertising classes as an example of what not to do. Ever.

1. “I’m with Her” is not about the country. It’s a decree of a cult of personality. That campaign slogan makes her election to the Highest Office in the Land about HRC and not about the future and benefit of the United States and its people. It is egotism at best and Trumpian narcissism at worst. (And just a quick comment on Trump’s campaign: You know what helped him win? “Make America Great Again.” That slogan was brilliant. It was about the country, and maybe for the first time in his life, not directly about Trump. It was specific enough that people could envision a great America but vague enough that it required no hard supportive evidence. Trump’s campaign followed the exact same marketing logic as Barack Obama’s in 2008; “Hope” is just as specifically vague and made the American people feel good and, yeah, hopeful about the future of their country.)

2. “Love Trumps Hate” is bad copywriting. One rogue apostrophe and she’s rooting for the other guy. And for Christ’s sake, why would anyone in her campaign sign off on using the other guy’s name in their campaign materials? Why would you ever allude to your competitor when trying to get people to think about you? It’s just stupid.

3. When HRC came down with the flu, she hid the truth for no good reason. Now, this is less about her poor thinking as it is the result of decades of having to protect herself from possible attacks over the smallest of infractions. The system broke her and this flu denial thing was the sad result. But she had an opportunity to rise above it. If she had said outright, “I had the flu and pushed myself too hard,” most people would understand. We’ve all had the flu. Hell, admitting it from the start would have humanized her — something she desperately needed. But instead, HRC and her campaign ducked and dodged the assumption out of concern that Trump and his people would accuse her of being too ill to be president. That is, of course, ridiculous. And anyone who worked “But her flu symptoms” into their “But her emails” arguments would most likely be perceived, rightfully, as a fucking moron. However, by hiding the flu fact, HRC managed to do what HRC does best, give credence to the fear that she’s hiding something can’t be trusted.

4. Only a member of the 1919 White Sox and Butch Coolidge — people who want to lose — would think insulting the electorate was a good idea. No doubt that every presidential candidate from George Washington on up said some pretty wretched things about their opponent’s base, but never in public. Calling Trump’s base deplorables only empowered them. And, I’m afraid, it encouraged the Them vs. Us Cold War we’re in right now.

5. And then there’s the alleged collusion with the DNC to cheat her way to the nomination…

HRC is unquestionably a leader. She should set the tone here. She can start by backing off the campaign trail. She is much like Trump in that all her presence does is rile up the loyalists and upset the opposition. She’ll never win over the desperately needed moderates and undecided voters.

Former Chairperson of the Democratic National Committee Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Allegedly, and quite obviously, in this writer’s opinion, Debbie Wasserman Schultz was part of a coordinated attempt to manipulate the outcome of the 2016 democratic primary race for president favoring Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. Even Elizabeth Warren believed there was collusion. This is problematic because it’s cheating. And the only reason anyone has to cheat is if they know they can’t win. Part of the allegation is that the Clinton people bought the support of Wasserman Schultz and the DNC. Sanders would have likely won the primary, and because HRC was the only person on the planet who could lose to Trump, the Dems blew the whole lot. If Wasserman Schultz had let the electorate of her party speak instead of (allegedly) manipulating the odds to favor a deeply flawed candidate, we might not be living in Trump’s America. Although, that would mean Stormy Daniels would likely have never received a book deal, which would have been unfortunate for her and a travesty for historians who will look back and laugh their assess off at 2016–2018 America.

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As I said at the start of this piece: the Patriarchy and all its ills must burn and die. But if the future is female, then the future needs a Come to Jesus Moment like no other. If they don’t, the future will be lost to the mongrels currently in the lead. Scoundrels in the image of Sen. Orin Hatch, Sen. Lindsey Graham, McConnell and Cruz will be the future. If this occurs, the Dems will have no one to blame but themselves.

Even if the Dems pull off a win in 2020, if the Party’s most prominent don’t stop acting without thinking of the consequences, the future may indeed be female, but it will be a future led by women who are just as self-serving and stupid as any man ever has been.

I hope they can get their act together. I’m rooting for them.