It’s a rule in Big Tech: Whenever companies reach a large enough size, they stop innovating. For whatever reason, their creative juices runneth dry.
They simply… stop.
Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft — it happened to all of them. Little by little, America’s most innovative companies lost their ability to innovate.
And today, they only grow by acquiring outside startups.
Google leveraged its search engine revenue to acquire Android, YouTube, Fitbit, Wiz, and DeepMind. Facebook bought Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus. Apple owes its renaissance to acquiring NeXT, and later bought Siri, Beats, and Shazam. Microsoft acquired everything from Forethought (precursor to PowerPoint), Hotmail, LinkedIn, Skype, GitHub, Visio, Minecraft, Activision Blizzard, and a whole lot more.
You’d expect a deep-pocketed tech company with tens of thousands of highly-trained employees, first-mover advantage, tons of resources and/or industry contacts, and an R&D budget in the BILLIONS to have a big competitive edge, but nah. Turns out that successful innovation is less about the dollars and structure — and more about the vision and freedom.
(Which is a cautionary tale that today’s AI monoliths would be wise to heed.)
In hindsight, Steve Jobs was the last of the CEO innovators — the Willy Wonka of Big Tech. He wowed us with the iPhone, iPad, iPod, and iTunes. He developed new ideas in-house, smoothed out the rough edges, and revealed his latest, greatest creations in grand unveilings.
But that’s not how it’s done anymore. Hasn’t been for at least a decade. Big companies today grow by acquiring, not by innovating.
The same thing is about to happen to the Democratic Party.
When was the last time the donkeys developed anything new? A new plan, a new proposal, a new solution — or even a new idea? When was the last time a member of the Democratic establishment/DNC said something that made you go, “Wow, I never thought about it like that before?”
It’s been 50+ years, because their tactics, rhetoric, and ideas are all throwbacks to the 1960s.
By contrast, the Republican Party still spews new ideas like a nimble startup: Trump Accounts, tariffs, Greenland, Opportunity Zones, DOGE, the Space Force, the Abraham Accords — and that’s just during the MAGA era! Not every idea was a home run, but at least the GOP is trying.
The Democrats have given up.
I suspect this “innovation gap” was a self-fulfilling manifestation of both parties’ philosophies: Republicans are the free market party. The strength of a free market is its responsiveness to changes in the marketplace — with the invisible hand and dollar voting. So if you’re predisposed to think of our world this way, you’re probably already a Republican.
And thus, you already value responsiveness. It’s hardwired into your DNA: Free men, trading freely, in pursuit of their mutual benefit, are the ultimate expression of liberty.
“Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.”
It’s how we became the innovation party. It’s why we prioritize new ideas. And it’s why, even after the sun sets on the Trump years, the GOP will continue to innovate.
This is who we are.
But the Democrats haven’t believed in free markets for a very long time. They think they’re exploitive, oppressive, racist, corrupt, and unfair. Therefore, an all-powerful council of (liberal) experts who’ll redistribute wealth, opportunities, privileges, access, jobs, property, and more must aggressively regulate the markets.
If that’s your core philosophy, you’re not going to prioritize new ideas. There’s no incentive.
So instead, you recycle old ones.
This was the story of the Democratic Party up until late 2024. It was a walled garden of watered-down socialism, counterculture retreads, new regulations, government growth, and grievances against Western civilization. The only thing that limited its growth of government were stubborn economic realities: If the Dems crashed the economy, those unappreciative voters would throw ‘em out of office and hand the keys to the Republicans.
So they advanced the growth of government steadily and consistently — while doing their damnedest to avoid overreaching. The Democrats became masters of the balancing act, voting like liberals, yet campaigning as moderates. Been this way for most of our lifetimes.
That chapter is now over.
Eventually, a lack of innovation catches up with you. It always does. He who fails to innovate will fall behind.
As Peter Drucker said, “Innovate or die.”
And today, 100% of left-wing innovation is coming from the Democratic Socialists of America.
The DSA is Ground Zero for left-wing grassroots activism. It’s also where fringe ideas — such as abandoning Israel and backing the Palestinians, replacing capitalism with socialism, banning “Jewish money” (AIPAC), abolishing billionaires, defunding the police, eliminating ICE/border security, confiscating wealth, packing the Supreme Court, transitioning children, and battling the racist/sexist/homophobic Patriarchy — are incubated, promoted, sanitized, and popularized.
Quite successfully, too: Most of those formerly “fringe” ideas are now mainstream Democratic Party positions!
The DNC squandered its credibility by insisting that Joe Biden was as “sharp as a tack.” It was a mortal blow.
All it has left is donor dollars and institutional momentum. That’s pretty much it.
Which isn’t nothing. And if left-wing activists had nowhere else to go, donor dollars and institutional momentum might still be enough.
Pre-2024, the Democratic Party could absorb the DSA.
But not anymore. It’s dead in the water; the DNC’s brand was destroyed. Furthermore, (legitimate) grassroots movements don’t need donor dollars to survive; they rely on passionate, energetic participants. (Which the DSA has in spades.)
In other words, the DSA doesn’t need the Democratic Party anymore — but the Democratic Party desperately needs the DSA’s passion and grassroots.
Most of the Democrats in D.C. already know this. It’s why they’re so terrified of running afoul of the DSA mob: They don’t want to lose their careers by being primaried.
Short-Term Prediction: The DSA will grow steadily stronger, and the Democratic establishment will continue to weaken.
One side is playing fast-tempo offense; the other side is too scared to play any defense at all.
That’s a recipe for defeat.
The Dems only hope for salvation is that the DSA will self-destruct. (And it might.) But that’s not where I’d bet my money. I suspect these trend lines will continue throughout 2026.
Mid-Term Prediction: In blue states, over the next few years, the DSA nomination will become the de facto Democratic Party nomination.
City by city and district by district, the DSA machine will out-compete the DNC machine. And as it consolidates its gains, donor dollars begin to flow to the DSA instead of the DNC.
Without donor dollars or institutional momentum, the Democratic Party is irrelevant. It’s an empty husk of a brand — a hollowed, defenseless shell.
Interestingly, the DSA will be to the DNC what left-wingers hoped the DNC would be the economy: A regulatory powerhouse that picks winners and losers.
Long-Term Prediction: The DSA will absorb the Democratic Party — and not the other way around — leading to a rebranding: The death of the Democratic Party and the birth of the Democratic-Socialist Party.
Yes, it’s true that big corporations only grow by acquiring. But ONLY when the corporation is still a lot bigger.
When they shrink smaller than the startup, all bets are off: More often than not, the canary swallows the cat.
In 2000, an overvalued AOL acquired Time Warner for $165 billion. Didn’t matter that AOL was the plucky startup and Time Warner the established media giant. AOL’s stock soared during the dot-com bubble, and that was enough to claim the crown. Everything else was ancient history.
Today, the DSA is soaring. The DNC is ensnared in a death spiral. A tipping point, it seems, is inevitable.
All it’ll take is a few more election cycles.
It’s a tale as old as time: If Kronos can’t devour his children, his children are destined to dethrone their father.
Either way, one of ‘em is getting eaten.
Editor’s Note: Every single day, here at PJ Media, we will stand up and FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT against the radical left and deliver the conservative reporting our readers deserve.
Help us continue to tell the truth about the Trump administration and its successes. Join PJ Media VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
