To My Friends on The Left...

Thoughts, musings and advice to my Democrat friends, followers and haters.

Last night on my new 2way show "Meghan McCain's Happy Hour" (which you can join live via the 2way app or on the 2way youtube channel every Monday and Wednesday night at 5pm eastern) - I was joined by my very special friends Clay Aiken, who you may know from his incredible talent as one of America's most beloved singers to come from reality television, and Michael Ian Black who you may know from him making you laugh on tv and in stand up comedy for generations.

I have been friends with both Michael and Clay for somewhere between twelve and fourteen years. I honestly can't remember the exact time frame because I have lived so much life knowing them. Particularly with Clay, who at this point is like my fifth brother, and it is hard to remember a time when we were not friends. Michael and I met when I was a guest on a television pilot he shot and really hit it off when we were taping. We ended up working together and going on a road trip and writing a book together in 2012. Both of these men hold very dear places in my heart. They are both kind, deeply intelligent, hilariously funny, know how to call me out on my bullshit and are both very liberal, lifelong democrats. Currently, Clay and Michael are both emotionally subsisting in Trump's 2.0 American somewhere on the spectrum of being absolutely furious at their party, and utterly exasperated with the state of the country. They aren't alone, in the most recent NBC poll shows the democratic party has reached an all time low in popularity with just over a quarter of registered voters, 27% to be exact say they have a positive view of the party. The lowest in polling history since 1990.

Clay and Michael aren't unique to my life as every democrat friend and acquaintance I know seems sort of rudderless, heartbroken and very, very angry at the status quo their party is handing them. It is easy for me and my fellow Republicans to sit from a perch of success gloating and pass judgment. Hell, I have had my moments of schadenfreude where I want to go around telling all of them - see, I told you all so! I tried to warn you! But that would be neither classy nor productive. I also, truly, never like to see anyone in pain, particularly people I love.

I know better than anyone what the heartbreak of losing in politics feels like. I always joke that everyone I love loses, which is why I have never been invited to one White House Christmas party. It's true, never once. Either democrats are in power or my family is feuding with the winning administration. Feel free to seep very far back in history books to see how much my late father and President Bush disliked each other when Bush was running for President and serving in office. President Bush still candidly isn't my favorite person or politician, no matter how much "left-washing" is done to his reputation and cutesy photo ops. But I digress...

I think more than anything I feel bad for so many democrats in this moment because on one hand they have been so egregiously misled by a left leaning lap-dog media that wouldn't even report the truth about President Biden's health for fear of how much it would help republicans that they were not prepared for the historic loss of the last election. I also feel bad for democrats because on some level, this is probably all a great shock to them given how socially unacceptable it has been in most social circles in major cities, media and entertainment to be conservative. It truly hasn't even occurred to many I know just how out of fashion so much of their thinking has been with the majority of the American public. I think for a lot of democrats, the extreme unpopularity of so many of their policies and just overall temperament and attitude was a legitimate surprise come election night.

I know I can overdo my lists for you guys, but I wanted to give a few tips and uncomfortable truths to my friends on the left on what I think they should do to navigate this time of uncertainty. Feel free to utilize any, all, or none of my advice and political musings...

Here it goes:

1. Keep Calm and Carry On:

Nothing is permanent in life, not even MAGA. This too shall pass. Think of this like you are waiting out a long winter after a storm. In the interim, start making a plan for how you are going to rebuild your coalition heading into the future. A real plan that deeply assesses where things have gone so wrong for the left. Why aren't you reaching the working class and so many disenfranchised voters? Why don't so many Americans trust you anymore? The only way to rebuild is to understand how your party came crashing down to rubble in the first place.

2. Know when to hold 'em, and when to fold 'em:

You're losing the culture war issues, and you're losing them badly. Let these issues go if you actually want to win big elections. Yes, this may be extremely difficult for some of you and yes this may feel like conceding a huge loss. So many of these issues like letting trans athletes in women's sports and telling parents schools know better than they do is seen as entirely unacceptable by a polling supermajority of the American public. In the words of Rahm Emmanuel "I don't want to hear another word about the bathroom until you start focusing on the classroom."

3. It is ALWAYS "the economy, stupid"!:

There are some cracks in Trump's economic policies that are already starting to show. According to a poll from The Guardian that was released yesterday, 90% of Democrats and 57% of Republicans are increasingly worried about tariffs and the recession. I am nervous about the tariffs and a possible recession. Anyone who has been to a grocery store in the past few months has got to be worried. Trump ran on fixing Biden's shitty economy and he has literally no other option than to fix it. If there is pain that continues and things don't turn around, it would likely lead to a crack in the independents and center right/center left voters who pulled the lever for him. If I were a democrat I would start hammering the vulnerability in our economy as much as possible and start coming up with plans to reroute that are easily digestible for the American public to understand.

4. The Elon of it all.....:

Yup, I know Elon is incredibly popular with the MAGA base. I also know he is incredibly popular with a lot of republicans. However, he is also a billionaire running around with a chainsaw at conventions, showing off tesla's in front of the white house, and who was not part of the package deal on the republican ticket that anyone in the American voting electorate knowingly pulled the lever for. I certainly didn't think he would be in the white house every day with President Trump. When you even have comedians like Tim Dillon roasting Elon in the White House, public sentiment isn't all clearly on his side. One noble truth in politics you can bet your election on is that the American public does not like chaos or feeling like things in the White House are out of control. It is a huge reason Trump lost in 2020 and Biden in 2024, there was a feeling at both times that both men were not in control of the country. Elon to me is still quite the roll of the dice, and all of it has the possibility of backfiring.

5. Fear and anger breeds great leadership:

Just because you can't see a pathway forward now, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Some of the world's greatest leaders were bred from anger and fear they experience as normal American citizens who decided to take things into their own hands and serve their country. I caution Republicans not to get too cocky, I have yet to easily see who is the next leader of the Republican party once Trump is out of power. With any vacuum, another person can step up and take the place of the current leadership.

6. Find middle ground, and love thy neighbor:

This is the most cliche and saachrine ending to my advice but it is true. I know and believe in my heart Americans are sick of hating each other and tribalism. Find genuine (stay the hell out of this Gavin Newsom) democratic leaders who don't think conservatives have some kind of disease they are going to infect the country with. Support leaders who want solutions and not more barn burning. If the right messenger who builds it, they will follow and so will the majority of independents and "normies" who determine elections.

That is all I have for you this morning. I hope you are having a good week so far. What advice would you give Democrats right now? Do you agree or disagree with my take? Let me know in the comments below.

More soon!

Love,

Meghan