Much Ado About Losing

This isn’t history in the making—it’s cosplay for cameras.

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”
– William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”

If Shakespeare’s timeless lines ever needed a modern-day comedy for the stage, it’s the one being offered by the Democratic Party, or at least what remains of it.

A decade ago, the Democratic Party stopped acting like a political coalition and started auditions for roles in “America’s Next Top Meltdown.” Indeed, as the curtain has risen on Act II of Donald Trump’s political career, the Democrats, far from accepting their exits gracefully, have instead stormed the stage, flailing through a farce of their own making.

In Shakespeare’s day, audiences understood the difference between a comedy, a history, and a tragedy. Today’s Democrats do not. They enact tragedy when the script clearly calls for history, and due to their overwrought dramatics, we are now witnessing an absurd political comedy. Tickets still available.

Consider their most recent actor to take the stage, Alex Padilla, who plays the role of a U.S. Senator from California. He theatrically lunged forward in mock agony at Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem during a recent press conference last week, as if channeling the spirit of Brutus at Caesar’s feet. With bulging eyes and a voice cracking with the passion of a high school understudy, Padilla aimed to portray himself in front of news cameras as a martyr of injustice. Instead, he landed with a thud, somewhere between Hamlet and Elmer Fudd -- impassioned, incoherent, and completely off-script.

Stage left, we find Governor Gavin Newsom, California’s answer to Macbeth, minus the eloquence but with twice the hair gel. Faced with riots, federal buildings under siege, and law enforcement under attack, Newsom did what any tragic hero might do: sue the Trump administration. That’s right, the governor who refuses to protect his constituents now seeks legal recourse against those who will. Shakespeare gives us King Lear’s madness, but even Lear has the excuse of a deteriorating mind. Newsom’s is self-inflicted, his entire act governed by hollow indignation.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has also refused to exit the stage, one that’s been burning beneath her feet since January, when she allowed much of the city to go up in flames. This past week, as her world descended into a lawless whirlwind of flash mobs, looting, and riot-driven retail, she delivered soaring commentary about mostly peaceful protests... just before her nightly curfews to quell all the violence.

The LAPD is understaffed, downtown businesses are leaving faster than Bass’s approval ratings, and yet she insists on rewriting the narrative to blame the Trump administration. What’s next? Trump not supplying enough federal broomsticks to clean up after the mess?

And then there’s Maxine Waters, the longtime congresswoman who never met a TV camera she didn’t mistake for a mirror. While Trump’s team works to restore order and economic stability, Waters plays the perennial role of Cassandra, shrieking warnings of fascism while encouraging citizens to "push back on them" in restaurants, gas stations, and presumably PTA meetings. If Shakespeare wrote fools for comedy, Waters is his crowning achievement.

Elsewhere on this stage-turned-three-ring-circus, we’ve seen Democratic Members of Congress audition for bit parts in Les Misérables by attempting to physically storm federal immigration facilities. Apparently, shoving security guards and tweeting through tearful filters now counts as “oversight.” Forget legislation or governance—this is method acting with a side of Instagram.

Let’s not forget the nationwide chorus of blue-state governors and mayors who declared their states and cities “sanctuary zones,” only to cry poor when busloads of migrants showed up at their doorstep. Chicago, New York, and Boston, once proud bastions of open borders, suddenly resemble the last act of Macbeth -- frantic, confused, and searching for an exit.

Yes, it’s all very tragic, until it’s not. What started as Democratic grief over a lost election has turned into something far more embarrassing: a three-act disaster without an intermission, no identifiable plot, directed by cable news producers, and no clue how to end.

Through it all, the Democrats have mistaken their audience for a captive one. But voters are no fools. They arrived expecting governance, not a soliloquy. They wanted border security, not staged outrage. They voted for economic security and safety, not gender-neutral war rooms and taxpayer-funded displays of political self-pity that their “No King” protests were scripted to provide.

Here's the rub for the Democratic Party, as the Bard might say: history is not undone by performance. The 2024 election happened. Donald J. Trump is president -- again. And no amount of performative protest, no lawsuits masquerading as soliloquies, and no overwrought tantrums on the House and Senate floor will change that.

In the end, the actors must leave the stage, the lights will dim, and the audience -- America -- will judge the play for what it was.

Somebody cue the orchestra. This comedy isn’t over yet.