Democrats want to position themselves as the Party of Unresolved Childhood Trauma? It’s a bold strategy, Cotton. Let’s see how it pays off for ’em.
So says Axios, and with good justification. Eleven years of Trump Derangement Syndrome have already created the impression that Democrats have become the Neurotic Party. A little honesty at this point might actually be a selling point:
Some potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidates are introducing themselves to voters in a striking way: by documenting their childhood resentments, family chaos and fights with their parents.
Why it matters: Many presidential hopefuls carry painful memories from complicated childhoods. But few have discussed them as openly as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
- Their frankness about their formative years and family dynamics is a way to shape their public stories before journalists do. It’s also a sign of shifting taboos and a growing desire for candidates to appear relatable to voters.
Ahem. Newsom grew up as close pals and business partners with the Gettys. Pritzker is a billionaire, as are his siblings, thanks to their Hyatt Hotels fortune. Pritzker’s brother Thomas had to step down as Hyatt’s chair because of his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, who exploited underage girls with real daddy issues. Newsom has been the most egregious of the bunch, attempting to cast himself as being born a poor child when he grew up in luxury.
Besides, this is not about “shifting taboos.” Did no one notice J.D. Vance’s campaign in 2024, when he defended his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, a book filled with his family’s traumas and shortcomings? Does no one remember the discussion of Barack Obama’s ‘trauma’ in growing up as a biracial youth with a mother who moved him around depending on who she married? Or Bill Clinton’s childhood, similar to Obama’s but for different reasons? I’m old enough to remember the discussion of Ronald Reagan’s alcoholic father and the formative trauma it created for him.
Frankly, I’ve heard enough about everyone’s “childhood resentments” to last me a lifetime. The only people who didn’t belabor us with their supposedly lousy childhoods were the Bushes and Trump, because they had enough sense to resist demanding pity for privilege … a lesson that Pritzker and Newsom haven’t learned, clearly.
And when these previous presidents talked about their childhood difficulties, they used those anecdotes to note exceptional obstacles and exceptional efforts to render them irrelevant. Democrats in this cycle want to wallow in trauma, not to resolve it and build stronger but to use it as an excuse for their current failings. Worse yet, they want to extend trauma to succeeding generations, most explicitly in their support for pediatric sex-change therapies as a means to deal with other mental-health issues.
Scott Jennings nails it, via Twitchy:
The most miserable party is conducting a miserable primary in a race to see who can make all Americans the most miserable. https://t.co/fL2CMo7pmT
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) March 23, 2026
Voters need to teach Democrats a hard lesson in politics. While we appreciate a good redemption story, we don’t elect politicians to listen to them whine about their traumas while living in political and financial privilege. We elect them to focus on solving our problems, not to wallow in theirs.
Or, to put it more bluntly: Grow the F up and get over it. That’s advice we all could use in a society that has become sadly obsessed with victimization and worse.
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