For Democrats, now is the absolute worst possible time to be engaging in internecine bloodshed. With control of the Senate in play in the twin Georgia runoff elections, this is the absolute worst time for Democrats to turn on each other. Nonetheless, this is exactly what Democrats are doing. In terms of the finger pointing that is taking place after the disastrous House and Senate elections, it needs to wait until after Georgia is decided. If not, key parts of the Democratic coalition may end up staying home when Democrats need every vote possible to defeat Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.

Antagonizing "The Squad" Does Not Win Runoff Elections

Much of the blame for the election results has been cast at the members of "The Squad" and the left-wing part of the Democratic Party. The election has proven that Democrats need to shoot for more incremental change as opposed to the big structural change promised by Elizabeth Warren. The country is certainly ready for some change, but is not yet ready for the bigger ticket items.

However, comments by legislators like Hakeem Jeffries that explicitly challenged and called out Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez without mentioning her by name are not entirely helpful right now. One thing about AOC is that she is almost always going to respond to criticism in a very public manner. Joe Biden did a fantastic job or marshalling the progressive Democrats to work on his behalf by giving them enough of a voice in the process that they showed up for him.

The 2020 elections are still not over yet, and the Democrats risk alienating a key part of their coalition. Even if the AOC wing of the party is smaller than the moderate Democrats, they still make up a large part of the constituency. These voters are somewhat new to the political process, and their participation is not always guaranteed. In other words, these are the easiest voters to alienate, and they may just stay home if they are dissatisfied. Even though there was no AOC yet in 2016, it was the non-participation of these voters that put Trump in the White House in 2016. It is precisely these voters that may cost the Democrats the Senate if they stay home in Georgia.

The Discussion Needs to Wait Until at Least After the Georgia Runoffs

Therefore, the soul-searching that the Democrats are doing to explain away their inexplicable underperformance at the polls needs to wait. While moderates such as Abigail Spanberger have a point, they should be waiting to make that point until at least the start of 2021. Moreover, they need to be careful exactly how they make this point. Even if their pleas are made behind closed doors, there is no such thing as a leak-free environment in Washington. The Left will always speak out, and reports of a Democratic civil war are destructive when perhaps the most important Senate election in history is being fought.

Eventually, the Democrats will need to deal with this fissure and come to some sort of an understanding. While the party will never be monolithic like the spineless sheep lining up behind Trump, the diverse wings of the party need to co-exist. However, the stakes are too high right now to have this battle. Even if moderate Democrats feel that AOC cost them seats in Congress, they are best of phrasing their criticism in more delicate terms and finding ways to incorporate her without looking like they are surrendering.

While the Democrats have gotten rid of Trump, nothing big will be accomplished until Mitch McConnell is the Senate Minority Leader. Thus, the Democrats need all hands on deck. With a clear shot of taking back the Senate, personal battles need to wait. This is the exact wrong time to fight a battle for the soul of the party.

The Democrats would likely need to have some vigorous discussions about how to win Senate elections in the future. The best time to have this discussion would be later in 2021, after the runoff elections in Georgia and the beginning of the Biden Administration. What is clear is that the recriminations and clapbacks need to end because the phenomenon of Trumpism may actually be the start of a long-term trend. With Trump supporters engaged, a Democratic schism is the last thing that the party needs unless they want to lose both houses of Congress.