On January 20, 1961, in his inaugural address, incoming President John F. Kennedy stated, “Those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.” Kennedy’s metaphor was a warning to those attempting to control a dangerous, unpredictable force, the ‘tiger’, and by ‘riding its back’ for political or personal gain, they will be consumed by the power being sought, with them ‘ending up inside’!
Kennedy correctly described the condition the Democratic Party finds itself in going into the 2026 Midterm elections when the party tried to extend its power by allowing the Democratic Socialists of America and the Mamdani communists into their ‘Big Tent’ party. Once these Marxists were allowed into the tent by running as Democrats, endorsed by the party, and appearing with party leaders, the Democratic Party could no longer deny its radicalization. This allowed its most far-out party members to come out of the closet and join with their new socialist Democrats led by Senator Bernie Sanders.
Moderate Democrat voters, who refused to recognize that they lost control of their party to the Biden/Harris Administration Progressives, now have this new reality to absorb or rationalize away.
Even Texas Democrats, in a state with the most traditional voters of both parties in the nation, have nominated radical progressive candidates to each of the top three positions in the state – governor, lieutenant governor, and U.S. senator. Each of their three Texas candidates has supported the Progressive agenda on LGBT+, immigration, and DEI issues. Their U.S. Senate candidate, a Presbyterian minister, additionally believes traditional Christianity is an improper interpretation of the Bible, which contradicts the beliefs of most Christian Americans.
Democratic progressivism has been at the cutting edge of the cultural revolution infecting all American institutions. By letting economic socialism/communism into the tent, the Democratic Party has also set the stage to eliminate American capitalism from the marketplace. From the current platform of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), they describe ‘A Day Without Capitalism’ as follows:
- You work no more than you are able and no more than needed
- You control your own labor and see it going to good use
- You have no debt
- You don’t pay a mortgage or have a landlord
- Food, education, energy, medicine, and transportation aren’t for-profit businesses
- Speaking of bills: you don’t have them anymore
As for our Constitutional form of government, the DSA would create a new constitution, eliminate the U.S. Senate, and reconstruct the U.S. court system. As with all socialist/communist political systems, their leaders create a one-party authoritarian state. When you ride the tiger, you will end up inside!
With the midterms only weeks away, what is a traditional, patriotic Democrat voter to do? The Democrat/Progressives have, for the last ten years, demonized Donald Trump, the head of the Republican Party, who beat them in two out of the last three presidential elections, so voting for his party seems an unlikely alternative for most. Sitting it out and hoping for the best is, at best, a Pollyanna view. Most voters will continue voting their party’s line, despite the changes to their party.
Some, however, may imagine that moderates still have residual power within the party and wait until 2028, when Rahm Emanuel or Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro somehow emerge to save the party. But they are both practicing Jews who support Israel, and the progressives neutralized or drove Jews out of the party when they began actively supporting Hamas and the Palestinians, especially since October 7, 2023.
The U.S. system of government needs two effective political parties who can work together to continue the American Dream for another 250 years. Where is another John Kennedy when the country and the Democratic Party need another hero?
TW3
October 1, 2026
John Whitmore Jenkins
www.jenkins-speaks.com
john@jenkins-speaks.com
