The Illusion of Resistance: How Democratic Compromise Fuels Republican Power

For years, the Democratic Party has warned of the existential threat posed by the modern Republican Party. They’ve called Donald Trump a danger to democracy, a demagogue, a lawless authoritarian. They’ve framed elections as apocalyptic, repeating the refrain that this is the most important election of our lifetime. Yet when the Republican Party creates a crisis of its own making, Democrats swoop in to save the day—on Republican terms.

This cycle of compromise and capitulation has not only emboldened the right but also alienated an already demoralized electorate. In their quest to preserve the status quo, Democrats risk irrelevance. If they continue down this path, they may lose not just elections but their very credibility as an alternative to an increasingly extremist Republican Party.

The Overton Window, the range of policies and ideas considered acceptable in mainstream discourse, shifts over time. In the last few decades, Republicans have mastered the art of dragging it ever rightward, pushing extreme policies while Democrats play defense or negotiate for a so-called reasonable compromise that cements the rightward shift. The GOP proposes something extreme, demands total control, and refuses to budge. Meanwhile, Democrats, believing bipartisanship to be a virtue, water down their own positions and meet Republicans in the middle. What was once considered extreme becomes the new center. The left is left scrambling to defend ground they already lost.

This is how Republicans, despite losing the popular vote in nearly every presidential election since 1988, continue to dictate the terms of debate. Democrats, by contrast, negotiate against themselves. Obama had the opportunity to let the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy expire in 2010. Instead, he extended them, arguing that doing so would prevent an economic downturn. The logic was to trade tax cuts for short-term unemployment benefits. The result? The deficit ballooned, giving Republicans ammunition for their austerity agenda while the wealthy reaped the benefits. When Republicans threatened to let the U.S. default on its debt in 2011, Obama negotiated the Budget Control Act, implementing deep spending cuts that weakened economic recovery efforts. Instead of calling their bluff, he rewarded obstruction and gave them a blueprint for future hostage-taking.

The same pattern repeated with the Supreme Court. When Justice Antonin Scalia died in early 2016, Obama nominated the centrist Merrick Garland. Mitch McConnell refused to hold a hearing, claiming a made-up rule about election-year appointments. Instead of fighting back with hardball tactics, Obama let the nomination fade into the void. The result? Trump filled the seat with Neil Gorsuch. McConnell then abandoned his own rule to ram through Amy Coney Barrett just days before the 2020 election, securing a conservative majority that will shape policy for generations.

Even when Democrats controlled the White House and both chambers of Congress, their instinct was to compromise. The Affordable Care Act, while beneficial, was a shadow of its original vision. A public option that would have provided competition with private insurers was abandoned in an attempt to secure Republican support that never materialized. The law’s reliance on private insurance kept the healthcare industry profitable, while millions remained uninsured. Republicans still called it socialism and spent the next decade trying to dismantle it.

Biden entered office with a $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan that included major climate investments, universal pre-K, and elder care. Instead of fighting for the full package, he split it into two bills. The bipartisan infrastructure bill passed. The Build Back Better social spending package was gutted, then killed by Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. Once again, Democrats trusted conservative holdouts, and once again, Republicans walked away with everything they wanted while Democrats got little in return.

Fast-forward to 2025, and Chuck Schumer has done it again. Faced with a Republican-manufactured budget crisis, he backed a spending bill that largely preserved GOP priorities while giving Trump increased flexibility to gut federal agencies. The justification? Avoiding a government shutdown that would have empowered Trump. Progressives erupted in backlash, with figures like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calling for Schumer to face a primary challenge. Even establishment figures like Nancy Pelosi criticized the deal, exposing the widening fracture within the party. The issue isn’t just this latest Democratic capitulation. It’s the larger pattern. Every time the GOP creates a crisis, Democrats rush to mitigate the damage but end up reinforcing Republican control. This dynamic fuels voter disillusionment and makes the party look weak and complicit.

By refusing to let Republicans suffer the consequences of their actions, Democrats have enabled a culture of weaponized incompetence on the right. The GOP has no incentive to govern responsibly because they know Democrats will always step in to prevent full-scale collapse. Republicans get to break the system, blame Democrats for its dysfunction, and keep pushing the Overton Window further right. Meanwhile, voters grow increasingly disillusioned, many checking out of the political process entirely.

At some point, the Democratic Party must make a choice. They can continue playing defense while the GOP steamrolls the system, or they can fight back with the same intensity Republicans bring to their politics. That means refusing to reward bad-faith actors, using every available tool to block Republican obstruction, and actually delivering for the voters they claim to represent. If they fail to do so, they risk becoming irrelevant—not because the electorate has moved right, but because they have refused to meet the left where it already is.

Voters don’t need a party that warns of threats to democracy while treating governance as a performance. They need a party willing to wield power in service of real change. The question now is whether Democrats have the courage to be that party, or if they will continue their slow march toward irrelevance.