Commentary
As I listen to Democrat leaders Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries and the few progressive microphone seekers looking for their 15 seconds of fame, it’s easy to see why their party is in deep doo-doo.
Rather than tell us how they view the party’s future, they continue to berate President Trump, even though he’s doing what he said he would do and why most people voted for him. You know who they are. The leftist media gives them airtime.
With that, I wonder why they aren’t listening to Democrats who make sense. Believe me, there are a few, and I encourage you to become familiar with them, listen to them when you see their names on news talk shows and read what they write in various publications.
I’m writing about Harold Ford, Jr., Julian Epstein, Mark Penn and Doug Shoen, all of whom have commented on their party in a way you wouldn’t expect. Honest appraisals.
A friend and subscriber to this blog, will occasionally write to me about Ford’s attractiveness as a Democrat. In fact, Ford was a member of the House for 10 years, 1997 to2007, representing Tennessee’s ninth district. After an unsuccessful run for senator, he switched careers and worked for Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley.
At 55, he currently appears as co-host on Fox’s popular “The Five,” where he cites his position on issues.
Then there’s Julian Epstein, incidentally, no relation to Jeffrey Epstein, the sex offender
I first became familiar with him when he was the young chief counsel of the House Judiciary Committee during the 1998 impeachment proceedings. While I disagreed with him, I must admit he was sharp, and over the years I have admired his straightforward honest opinions. Though often looking a bit scruffy, unshaven with no tie, he speaks the truth.
With the arrival of Donald Trump on the political scene and the Democrat Party was busy opening the border to migrants and saw the support of climate change and the Green New Deal as the way forward, I began to see the commentary of Epstein change.
Appearing on Fox radio in November, Epstein admitted that Republicans have “stolen” Democrats’ “real estate,” they’ve “channeled the anxieties of working-class voters on jobs, on trade, on automation, and on crime.
“One of the biggest examples of how out of touch Democrats had become was the electric vehicle mandate and its impact on the auto industry and working-class Americans’ jobs.”
Epstein spoke of the professional elites, particularly females, who stuck with the party while commenting that other than that, the Democrat coalition is imploding because they have not listened to the voters.”
Last month, commenting on Letitia James decision to appeal a ruling that overturned a $454 million civil fraud judgement against Trump, Epstein referred to her “antics” as “doubling down on dumb,” stating that her actions have been “abusive and political prosecution from the start.”
Earlier, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Epstein took on Alvin Bragg as a “hopelessly conflicted prosecutor who campaigned for office on a promise to go after Trump.”
Within the first six months of Trump’s 2024 win, Epstein wrote compelling pieces on Trump “making religion great again,” and another on “How Trump became Washington’s unlikeliest centrist.”
“Love or hate hm, there is no denying that President Trump is on a roll, at home and abroad. In the wake of this, Trump slowly claims the centrist lane of American politics.
“Think of it – abortion (12-week ban), closed borders, balanced budgets, equal opportunity (not equal results) and anti-bigotry on campuses, peace through strength on the global stage, education reform.”
Doug Schoen and Mark Penn, two Democrat pollsters who have been around since the Bill Clinton era, have been critical of their party of today, radicals that have gone too far left. They both frequently appear on Fox and are worth listening to, I just hope the radical left aren’t listening to them.
Last week, during an appearance on Mark Levin’s “Life, Liberty & Levin show on Fox, Penn said, “The Democrat Party is being run more or less now by people who are not in the party, who believe in socialism, taking the means of production, defunding the police, and they are having he biggest influence in the party.”
Fortunately, my advice doesn’t have the reach required to make a difference. I just hope you find my observations useful.
Recalling my role in launching the Sperry Rand Corporation’s “We Understand How Important it is to Listen,“ program, I can’t help but think that the Democrat party could benefit from the work of Lyman K. Steil, a University of Minnesota professor, who the corporation hired as a consultant.
Meanwhile, President Trump did listen to the public. From securing the southern border and addressing safety on our streets and eliminating cashless bail to returning prayer and the American flag to classrooms and restoring the original names to our miliary bases and Columbus Day, President Trump has been active on foreign and domestic issues.
His approval rating on Rasmussen Reports was at 51 percent Saturday while CNN reported a 29 percent favorability for Democrats nationally.
In addition to signing his One Big Beautiful Bill with its tax deductions favorable to working and retired Americans, as of October 9, 2025, President Trump has signed 209 executive orders 54 memoranda and 95 proclamations.
Often ignored is the daily access he gives to the media, providing transparency heretofore not seen by past presidents. Even his cabinet meetings are televised.
Today, we should be thinking about our president’s role in the Middle East.
“We will measure o success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end – and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.” President Trump, Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 202
May God continue to bless the United States of America.
