Rachel Hurley post on FB
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"Last night I watched an interview with Beto O’Rourke and he said something that really hit home for me:
“Democrats are more interested in being right than being in power.”
Every word of that statement cuts to the heart of what’s wrong with the party right now.
I see this obsession with moral purity every single day in my comment sections. I post a funny meme or something meant to be polarizing, or even a deep dive into some political grift or Trump’s policies, and inevitably, some Democrat shows up to nitpick a statistic or correct a minor detail - as if being technically correct on every single point is more important than the overall message. They act like we’re in a college debate class where points are awarded for perfect citations rather than a bare-knuckle political fight where the stakes are democracy itself.
Little do they realize - my goal is not to win a Pulitzer - it’s to piss people off. If one more person tells me how Heather Cox Richardson does it - I’m gonna lose it. Richardson is great - but I am not her and our tactics are not the same.
The liberal mindset is political suicide dressed up as virtue. “I think that Democrats have been so scared of being branded as hypocrites or coloring outside of the lines that it has absolutely paralyzed them in this struggle for power in America,” O’Rourke told CNN, and he’s absolutely right.
While Democrats worry about maintaining some imaginary moral high ground, Republicans are systematically dismantling voting rights, gerrymandering districts, and rigging the game.
The current Texas redistricting fight perfectly illustrates this problem. Trump is pressuring Texas Republicans to redraw congressional maps to pick up five more GOP seats ahead of the 2026 midterms, and Abbott has dutifully added it to the special legislative session agenda. Republicans don’t care that this is naked partisan gerrymandering - they care about winning. Meanwhile, Democrats are hand-wringing about whether fighting back with the same tactics makes them “just as bad.”
Here’s what those well-intentioned Democrats don’t understand: there is no morality in allowing bad people to consolidate power through your own weakness. When your political opponents winning means that marginalized communities will suffer, that voting rights will be stripped away, that people will be kidnapped out of their homes or taken right off the street, that the LGBTQ community will be forced back into hiding, that women will die from lack of reproductive healthcare - then winning becomes the ultimate moral imperative. Period.
O’Rourke gets this when he says Democrats need to “match fire with fire” and be “absolutely ruthless about getting back in power.” He’s not advocating for Democrats to become Republicans. He’s advocating for Democrats to stop unilaterally disarming in a political war.
Think of it like a ship that’s one degree off course. At first, the deviation seems negligible - barely noticeable. But the further that ship travels, the more dramatically off-course it becomes. Eventually, you’re so far from your destination that course correction requires a complete about-face. That’s exactly where we are as a country right now.
Every election cycle that Democrats lose because they’re too pure to fight dirty is another degree off course. Every gerrymandered district that goes unchallenged, every voting restriction that gets implemented while Democrats debate the finer points of procedure - it all adds up. We’re not just slightly off course anymore. We’re heading toward an iceberg, and the Democratic establishment is still arguing about proper maritime etiquette.
The fact that Abbott was initially resistant to Trump’s redistricting plan but caved after a phone call with the president shows you everything you need to know about how power actually works. Republicans understand that politics is about wielding power to achieve outcomes, not about maintaining some pristine reputation for fairness.
This doesn’t mean that I am advocating lying - I fact check every single one of my essays before posting. I am just not going to research every meme or news article I post to satirize the ridiculous times we live in. Does it show Republicans or Trump in a bad light? Fantastic - IDGAF if it’s true - Republicans certainly don’t care if what they post is true.
Liberals need to get smarter about the way they perceive things. If something can be reframed in a way that gives an advantage - I say “TAKE IT.” Take the advantage. Stop worrying about being right and start worrrying about winning.
It’s long past time to smarten up and recognize that your highest value should be preventing an authoritarian from destroying the system altogether. Sometimes that requires getting your hands dirty. Sometimes that means using every tool available, even the ones that feel distasteful.
The people who will suffer most from Republican power grabs aren’t going to thank Democrats for taking the high road while their rights get trampled. They need Democrats who understand that in politics, being right and being powerless is just another way of being wrong.
So, if you’re anti-Trump, stop putting in so much effort to help him by arguing with people who are on your side - just to stroke your ego.
Oh, and one more thing - if you want a fact check, then learn how to do a damn fact check." -
"Last night I watched an interview with Beto O’Rourke and he said something that really hit home for me:
“Democrats are more interested in being right than being in power.”
Every word of that statement cuts to the heart of what’s wrong with the party right now.
I see this obsession with moral purity every single day in my comment sections. I post a funny meme or something meant to be polarizing, or even a deep dive into some political grift or Trump’s policies, and inevitably, some Democrat shows up to nitpick a statistic or correct a minor detail - as if being technically correct on every single point is more important than the overall message. They act like we’re in a college debate class where points are awarded for perfect citations rather than a bare-knuckle political fight where the stakes are democracy itself.
Little do they realize - my goal is not to win a Pulitzer - it’s to piss people off. If one more person tells me how Heather Cox Richardson does it - I’m gonna lose it. Richardson is great - but I am not her and our tactics are not the same.
The liberal mindset is political suicide dressed up as virtue. “I think that Democrats have been so scared of being branded as hypocrites or coloring outside of the lines that it has absolutely paralyzed them in this struggle for power in America,” O’Rourke told CNN, and he’s absolutely right.
While Democrats worry about maintaining some imaginary moral high ground, Republicans are systematically dismantling voting rights, gerrymandering districts, and rigging the game.
The current Texas redistricting fight perfectly illustrates this problem. Trump is pressuring Texas Republicans to redraw congressional maps to pick up five more GOP seats ahead of the 2026 midterms, and Abbott has dutifully added it to the special legislative session agenda. Republicans don’t care that this is naked partisan gerrymandering - they care about winning. Meanwhile, Democrats are hand-wringing about whether fighting back with the same tactics makes them “just as bad.”
Here’s what those well-intentioned Democrats don’t understand: there is no morality in allowing bad people to consolidate power through your own weakness. When your political opponents winning means that marginalized communities will suffer, that voting rights will be stripped away, that people will be kidnapped out of their homes or taken right off the street, that the LGBTQ community will be forced back into hiding, that women will die from lack of reproductive healthcare - then winning becomes the ultimate moral imperative. Period.
O’Rourke gets this when he says Democrats need to “match fire with fire” and be “absolutely ruthless about getting back in power.” He’s not advocating for Democrats to become Republicans. He’s advocating for Democrats to stop unilaterally disarming in a political war.
Think of it like a ship that’s one degree off course. At first, the deviation seems negligible - barely noticeable. But the further that ship travels, the more dramatically off-course it becomes. Eventually, you’re so far from your destination that course correction requires a complete about-face. That’s exactly where we are as a country right now.
Every election cycle that Democrats lose because they’re too pure to fight dirty is another degree off course. Every gerrymandered district that goes unchallenged, every voting restriction that gets implemented while Democrats debate the finer points of procedure - it all adds up. We’re not just slightly off course anymore. We’re heading toward an iceberg, and the Democratic establishment is still arguing about proper maritime etiquette.
The fact that Abbott was initially resistant to Trump’s redistricting plan but caved after a phone call with the president shows you everything you need to know about how power actually works. Republicans understand that politics is about wielding power to achieve outcomes, not about maintaining some pristine reputation for fairness.
This doesn’t mean that I am advocating lying - I fact check every single one of my essays before posting. I am just not going to research every meme or news article I post to satirize the ridiculous times we live in. Does it show Republicans or Trump in a bad light? Fantastic - IDGAF if it’s true - Republicans certainly don’t care if what they post is true.
Liberals need to get smarter about the way they perceive things. If something can be reframed in a way that gives an advantage - I say “TAKE IT.” Take the advantage. Stop worrying about being right and start worrrying about winning.
It’s long past time to smarten up and recognize that your highest value should be preventing an authoritarian from destroying the system altogether. Sometimes that requires getting your hands dirty. Sometimes that means using every tool available, even the ones that feel distasteful.
The people who will suffer most from Republican power grabs aren’t going to thank Democrats for taking the high road while their rights get trampled. They need Democrats who understand that in politics, being right and being powerless is just another way of being wrong.
So, if you’re anti-Trump, stop putting in so much effort to help him by arguing with people who are on your side - just to stroke your ego.
Oh, and one more thing - if you want a fact check, then learn how to do a damn fact check."@Rontuner said in Rachel Hurley post on FB:
Beto O’Rourke and he said something that really hit home for me:
“Democrats are more interested in being right than being in power.”Oh wow. This is so accurate, and Hurley's whole statement here is on point.
@Rontuner said in Rachel Hurley post on FB:
if you’re anti-Trump, stop putting in so much effort to help him by arguing with people who are on your side
Yes please!!
