David Kaufman: The woke counter-attack on Trump - National Post
Copy URL Facebook Linked In X (Twitter) Loading account options Sign In Manage Account Close account menu Sign Out By David Christopher Kaufman November 5, 2026 at 6:04 a.m. Last Updated: November 5, 2026 at 8:09 a.m. A blue dawn is rising across America, as the adoring nation that President Donald Trump inherited two years ago has unequivocally turned against him. From coast to coast, Democratic wins have delivered a shocking rebuke of the White House that even Trump may not be wily enough to counter.
Although votes are still being counted in crucial contests, such as the mayor’s race in Los Angeles, Tuesday’s stunning Democratic sweep has done more than merely turn the House and Senate blue. It suggests a broader cultural shift that’s likely to end America’s brief respite from the grievances and identity politics that dominated Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s presidencies.
Trump’s immediate rollback of DEI policies suggested that the United States was truly unshackling itself from the yoke of woke. Megawatt blondes with inch-thick makeup were suddenly triumphing over blue-haired radicals with nose rings and keffiyehs.
While the former will continue to clack their stilettos across MAGA-land, the latter are now set to gain unprecedented, if not unimaginable, levels of legitimacy. True, the biggest democratic wins — besides Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan — were among moderates, such as Jon Ossoff in Georgia and James Tallerico in Texas.
But the Democrats’ far-left fringe has now proven to be both survivors and king-makers — able to dominate the future of a Democratic establishment that’s still unsure about what to do with them.
What this could mean is that while the Democrats begin to wage a very public and vocal war against the White House, a quieter war could end up brewing within the party itself.
Make no mistake: the victories of extremists like Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York and Melat Kiros in Colorado are entirely different from the wins by Ossoff and Tallerico.
The latter were powered first and foremost by an anti-MAGA backlash, its accompanying immigration overreach, and a desire to return to cultural sanity and affordability. And they were powered by the voters most directly impacted by these policies.
The far left and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), meanwhile, garner much of their support from white hipsters, many of whom are newcomers to their districts. They have very little at stake in the radical policies they preach.
This is politics as a community-building exercise — performative, manic and a replacement for traditional forms of community and belonging, such as religion and the family.
There is little surprise that the ascent of the DSA accompanies a similar rise in mass familial estrangement across America. Both are fuelled by social-media propagandists and both reflect an indulgent nihilism steeped in misplaced rage and immediate gratification.
The most immediate agenda items of this new Democratic reality will be to rein in Immigration and Customs Enforcement and punish Israel. The former will be tricky — at least in the short term.
Enacting new legislation to curtail immigration policies takes both patience and political dexterity — and the new crop of young Democrats have amassed little of either. Which is why taking on Israel will be far more tantalizing to them.
In July, most House Democrats voted to end U.S. aid to Israel in a symbolic move that had little chance of passing when the Republicans still controlled Congress. With that control flipped — and Trump himself announcing an end to Israel aid this week — we can expect that vote to be recast posthaste, along with calls for even more severe anti-Zionist measures.
In fact, such calls have already been heard. “Ending military aid is not enough. We need to end U.S. taxpayer funding for Israel’s war crimes, a full arms embargo, and the Palestinian right of return,” Chevalier wrote on X.
Ending military aid is not enough. We need to end U.S. taxpayer funding for Israel’s war crimes, a full arms embargo, and the Palestinian right of return. https://t.co/WAzSZs2j3R
Such escalations are only likely to be the beginning as the vehemently anti-Zionist DSA begins to demand its philosophies become policies across a range of highly influential Senate and congressional committees.
Indeed, despite possessing zero foreign policy experience, El-Sayed is rumoured to be aiming for a seat on the Senate committee on foreign relations, which authorizes arms sales and global aid and vets foreign-policy legislation.
With “accountability” always the most potent word on the far-left, El-Sayed will not only be held accountable to voters, but to the political kingmakers who were equally responsible for securing his win.
Already, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has felt the wrath of even more extreme ideologues who claim he has not been tough enough on Israel; El-Sayed could easily meet a similar fate.
No fate is more in flux right now, however, than that of Vice-President JD Vance, who dutifully assumed the MAGA mantle and now could find himself crucified upon it.
Having styled himself a shadow-Trump, the president’s defenestration on Tuesday leaves even less of a shadow for Vance to follow. With so few discernible achievements during his time in Washington, Vance has little to cash in on besides his adjacency to Trump, which now appears to be of diminishing returns.
Should the Democrats choose AOC as their presidential nominee — a very real possibility following the DSA’s midterm gains — Vance’s presumed inevitability could erode beyond repair. The 2028 presidential race, of course, is still in the speculation stage, but as Vance’s star fades, Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s is rising — and fast.
He will, of course, be saddled with the baggage of President Trump’s endless war in Iran. But as a Latino in an administration that may, ironically, only have identity politics left to work with, Rubio could finally emerge as the most viable Republican presidential candidate this time around.
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