“Democrats Freak Out”

Are you freaking out? Welcome to the club. Here’s why you shouldn’t.

By Bruce Watson

Each election year, October is haunted by the “October Surprise.”  Rising from the dark depths of misinformation, who knows what sinister news will spew into social media, threatening to tip the election?  A clandestine video like Trump’s “Access Hollywood” tape?  A scathing Harris e-mail?  Some other “Gotcha!” masquerading as truth?  Surprise!

But one October event that is no surprise is the “Democratic freak out.”  The term was coined by the Washington Post’s Matt Bai in a recent column:   “And now we’ve reached the stage of the fall where Democrats freak out and get furious at all the voters who must either be brain-dead or racist, and at an equivocating news media that should be making it clear how terrible Trump is, even though all the media does is talk about how terrible Trump is.”

“Democrats freak out.”  I suspect I’m not alone in thinking the phrase just a slight exaggeration.  Because while I occasionally freak out at 3:00 a.m., I have friends who, each election October, make “freak out” their default mode.  Every conversation, e-mail, and text begins with OMG!

— “OMG! — She’s down two points in Georgia!”

— “OMG! — Did you read what (circle one) Trump/Vance/FOXNews just said?”

Like most freak outs, this one is loosely based on reality.  Yes, the election is disturbingly close.  And in this crazy campaign, anything could make the difference.  So why not freak out?

“Since the traumatic election of 2016,” said Simon Rosenberg of the Hopium Chronicles, “there has been in the Democratic family this worry about our campaigns failing at the end.  The worry hasn’t been adequately countered by the reality that we just keep winning elections.  The challenge is to channel that fear into concrete action.”

But how do you channel fear into action?  In an e-mail interview, Matt Bai explained how he calms a freaker.  “I remind them that Donald Trump has won exactly one election in his lifetime, and it came against a historically weak nominee.  And even then he barely managed it and didn’t win the majority of votes. He’s like Bigfoot or the Yeti.  His overwhelming strength is more myth than reality.”

This October, however, I have renounced all attempts to soothe freaked out friends.  In the past, I focused on bluer polls.  I quoted Lincoln.  I hummed “This Land is Your Land.”  Nothing worked.  The freak outs continued until Election Day, as they will this year.

Something in Democrat DNA, I’ve concluded, leads to freak outs as elections approach.  There is some logic involved.  Fatalism prepares you for the worst, guarding against another Shock of 2016.  Freak outs can also keep you on the front lines, calling, canvassing or donating.  But fear can easily backfire, Simon Rosenberg says.

“Optimism and hope are far more powerful than fear and worry.  Part of what’s made the Harris campaign so powerful is this notion of working from joy rather than fear.  I know there’s a school of thought that people will work harder when losing rather than winning.  I disagree.  If you’re in a campaign or on a sports team, you always want to be ahead.”

Along with fatalism, our freak outs are fueled by the onslaught of texts weaponizing raw fear into fundraising.  You know the meme.

— “It’s Chuck Schumer (or Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi or. . .)  OMG!  Recent polls show Democrats LOSING in Nevada!  This is an URGENT plea. . .”

Read a dozen of those a day and how can you not freak out?  “I think I could contain my freak out if I thought the messaging was just coming from my opponent,” said Susan Wagner of Markers For Democracy.  “But the desperation in the e-mails we get from our own candidates doesn't help.”

Simon agrees with Susan.  “At some point,” Rosenberg said, “the Democratic  leadership should realize that we get dozens of emails every day telling us we’re losing.  Far too much manipulative information is sent to get money.”

And then there are all those polls — weekly, daily, hourly — feeding the freak out.  Polling is based on statistics, but headlines are based on getting your attention.

“Neck and Neck!”

“Closer than Ever!”

How many “latest poll” articles have you read only to discover, a few paragraphs in, that the “razor thin” margin is refuted by another poll, or that the “sizable lead” is within the margin of error?

Simon Rosenberg sees the mainstream media entangled in the “right-wing noise machine.”  “The frequency and variance of the polls contributes to sense of confusion, of not really understanding where the election is.  What I try to do at Hopium is to cut through all the noise and present to readers what is actually happening.”

Hooked on Hopium, or just better data, Rosenberg is not freaking out.  And he says Democrats should not be either.

“The strongest place to be is exactly where we are — a close and competitive election and we’re winning but we haven’t won yet.  We’re ahead a few baskets with a minute to play.    We have to go out and win.”

So it’s another 3:00 a.m.  All the polls, texts, and worst case scenarios swirl around me.  Even in darkness, I refuse to let them ruin my sleep, my hope, my country.  From now until November 5, recognizing how my Democratic DNA amps up anxiety, I will not freak out.  I will not.  And IF. . . then there will be plenty of time to freak.

Tomorrow morning, back to work.