Counterpoint: All the ways Democrats are out of step

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Andy Brehm (“It’s the Democrats’ message that is the problem,” Feb. 11) and a multitude of others incessantly write about how the Democratic Party is out of step with the electorate. But, you know, they’re right. I made a short list of all the issues that Democrats are out of touch on.

The Democratic Party is out of step with voters who think that ICE should have a quota of 1,500 arrests every day.

They are out of step with voters who think we should open a 30,000-bed prison camp in Guantanamo for immigrant families.

They are out of step with voters who believe there are exactly two sexes.

The Democratic Party is out of step with voters who think vaccines are bad.

It is out of step with people who think Elon Musk and the other two dozen billionaires appointed by Trump to his administration is a good thing.

They are out of touch with people who think feeding starving people around the world is a waste of tax dollars.

The Democratic Party is out of step with people who want to stop parents from accessing medical care for their trans children.

The Democratic Party is out of step with the people who don’t even believe trans people exist.

They are out of step with the government restricting women’s access to reproductive health care services.

They are out of step with people who think we should send the U.S. armed forces to Gaza to build a resort city for Donald Trump.

They are out of step with people who agree with JD Vance when he said “Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.” Aaron Rupar of Public Notice added: “this is the sort of thing you post when you’re ramping up to defying lawful court orders.”

They are out of step with people who think Elon Musk and a few of his 20-something employees should have control of the $6-trillion-a-year U.S. Treasury payment system.

They are out of touch with people who approve of Elon Musk’s team accessing payment and contracting systems at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

They’re out of step with people who want to cut National Institutes of Health funding for medical research.

They are out of touch with people who think Trump won the 2020 election.

They are out of touch with people who think Trump pardoning and releasing 1,500 Jan. 6 rioters who assaulted police, ransacked the capitol and prevented the counting of electoral votes was the appropriate thing to do.

Democrats do not agree with people who support Trump’s purges of the FBI and Department of Justice to eliminate staff insufficiently “loyal” to him.

The Democratic Party is out of step with people who believe that promoting the fair treatment and full participation of all people (diversity, equity and inclusion) is a bad thing.

They are out of touch with voters who think Trump should threaten federal employees with “adverse consequences” if they refuse to turn in colleagues who “defy orders to purge diversity, equity and inclusion efforts from their agencies.”

Democrats do not agree that the Department of Health and Human Services (Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health) should stop issuing health advisories, scientific reports and updates to their website and social media posts.

They do not agree with voters who are happy Trump sought revenge on former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, national security adviser John Bolton, former Trump special envoy on Iran Brian Hook and Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, by personally revoking their security details. All have active threats against their lives.

Democrats still believe in the 14th Amendment establishing birthright citizenship in 1868.

And Democrats still call the Gulf of Mexico “The Gulf of Mexico.” Way out of step!

As I said, this is a short list. Yes, the Democrats are certainly out of touch on many, many issues. And thank God they are.

Gary Maher, of Minneapolis, is retired.