Expanding the tent to the Right while Pushing out the Left.
How Dems desire for “villain to ally arc” isn’t working — and won't work with Elon.
You know the old adage: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. So it comes as no surprise that now that Elon Musk has fallen out with Donald Trump, there are a good number of people in the Democratic Party trying to create a “villain-to-ally” arc for Musk by ushering him onto the left side of the aisle with open arms.
It’s as if we’ve forgotten everything Musk’s done over the past several months: creating a made-up federal department in his satire-fueled crusade against government regulation, reinstating neo-Nazi and hate accounts on X under the guise of “free speech,” lending support to authoritarian movements in Europe, and peddling conspiracies like the so-called “white genocide” in South Africa.
And yet, some Democrats want to extend him an olive branch.
Rep. Ro Khanna said we should be opening a dialogue with him and “should ultimately be trying to convince him that the Democratic Party has more of the values that he agrees with. A commitment to science funding, a commitment to clean technology, a commitment to seeing international students like him.”
And after spending most of their time punching left at their centrist-Democrat Lolapooza happening this week, WelcomeFest co-founder Liam Kerr said of course Democrats should welcome Musk into the fold because “you don’t want anyone wildly distorting your politics, which he has a unique capability to do. But it’s a zero-sum game. Anything that he does that moves more toward Democrats hurts Republicans.”
This, unfortunately, fits with an ongoing trend among Democrats in the age of MAGA and Trump: there are a million ways to make room for fascists the one time they agree with us, but no space for Leftists who agree with us 90% of the time and are simply asking us to do better.
We saw this on display during the 2024 presidential campaign and at the Democratic National Convention, where there was plenty of airtime for former Trump staffers and Republican politicians. But when it came time to provide a platform for Young Democrats, progressive activists, and pro-Palestinian movement representatives, we were suddenly “at capacity.”
Online, in the post-2020 era, the Indivisible and Resistance movements of the first Trump administration have repeatedly featured Adam Kinzinger ((who has a lifetime score of 10% with the League of Conservation Voters and 36% with the AFL-CIO) and Denver Riggleman (who had 95% voting score for the Koch Funded Heritage Foundation), calling them pragmatic “American patriots” once they publicly denounced Trump. Yet they continuously bash those further to the left as erratic and out of touch.
On the campaign trail, the Harris campaign booked time and campaigned with former Representative Liz Cheney several times going to three different states with the former congresswoman because she opposed the President through her January 6th investigation but voted with Trump 93% of her time in Congress. Meanwhile, the Harris campaign made little effort to elevate progressive members of the Democratic caucus who voted with Trump 0% of the time.
And what did these gestures of good faith to the Right get us? Trump earned more Republican votes in 2024 than he did in 2020, while thousands of voters who should have been in our corner stayed home—feeling forgotten.
Our constant sprint to the middle to appease the Right is a fallacy. We bend over backward to appeal to people who want little to do with us, while simultaneously punching left and pushing away those who believe in our values and want us to go further. I understand it took a broad coalition to win in 2020, but that coalition included labor movements, Black and Latino social justice organizers, and environmental activists pushing Democrats to do more—not less.
Take the example of Ruben Gallego in Arizona. Arizonans were rightly frustrated when Senator Kyrsten Sinema left the Democratic Party to become an Independent. She had been elected on a progressive platform but continuously stood with Republicans and voted against core issues like raising the minimum wage. A movement grew to replace her.
In walked Ruben Gallego—a Latino Marine veteran, former Arizona state legislator, and U.S. Congressman for nearly a decade. He opposed money in politics, led efforts to recall Sheriff Joe Arpaio over racist and inhumane practices, and stood up for immigrants. His broad support pushed Sinema out of the race, and he won the Democratic nomination unopposed. His steadfast advocacy for Democratic values and strong contrast to Trump-aligned Kari Lake led him to victory by nearly 100,000 votes.
But now Gallego is conceding to the Right on the issue of trans students
While campaigning for Senate, his website under LGTBQ issues read:
Ruben is an active supporter of the Equality Act, which outlaws discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in housing, banking, jury selection, transportation, and public accommodations. His commitment extends to veterans, ensuring those discharged due to their sexual orientation or gender identity receive the VA benefits they’ve earned.
Discrimination has no place in our society, and Ruben is unwaveringly committed to fostering a future where everyone can live authentically and without fear. While substantial progress has been made, the fight for equality is far from over.
In 2018, he signed onto a letter to the Secretary of the Veterans Affairs to end the ban on medically necessary treatments for transgender veterans.
In 2019 he signed onto a letter to the Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to reinstate protections for Transgender Students.
And then just a week ago, Gallego seemed to change his tune by saying:
“As a parent of a daughter, I think it’s legitimate that parents are worried about the safety of their daughters, and I think it’s legitimate for us to be worried also about fair competition. And I think the parents of these trans children also are worried legitimately about the health and wellness of their kids…Hey, listen, we love you. We want you to be part of our community, but this is just the one place you can’t play, and let’s find other activities for you to be involved.”
Why? Gallego wasn’t punished at the polls for his earlier stances—he held his seat for a decade and just won a Senate race. So why abandon vulnerable children now?
Why are Representatives like Seth Moulton and Tom Suozzi so quick to blame marginalized groups like trans kids in sports for Democratic losses? Why do we play into these manufactured culture wars instead of standing firm in our values and giving voters something to vote for?
We screwed up in 2024 by failing to appeal to our base and chasing voters who were never on our side to begin with. If the number one issue keeping someone from voting for Kamala Harris was transgender athletes, the truth is: they were never going to vote for us.
There are too many Democratic representatives voting for policies like the Laken Riley Act—which denies due process to immigrants—in a failed attempt to win over conservative members of Congress. But there’s nothing to show for it. The Republican caucus continues to make no concessions and pushes its MAGA agenda through without hesitation.
Too many Democratic candidates are turning their backs on unions and labor rights to appease Big Business, and all it gets them is the same tired smear: that they’re still “radical leftists.” Republicans will never stop calling us that, even when we disavow the very issues they accuse us of supporting.
We’ve lost our message in the weeds of trying to look like the more “reasonable” option. When we bend over backward to appeal to Republican voters, we come off as baseless, spineless, and weak—only worsening our massive image problem. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: we must stand by our values while building a broader coalition. We don’t have to concede our beliefs to prove we can govern—we can do the work, improve lives, and let that speak for itself.
Two things can be true at once: we can expand our coalition with resonant messaging and refuse to sacrifice our values—especially not by throwing trans people, immigrants, or progressive activists under the bus.
Many in our coalition are shouting what should now be obvious: it’s not worth chasing the middle or appeasing the Right on every fabricated culture war controversy. If we keep sinking to their level, we won’t win. We cannot allow people to suffer for political points. We have never benefited from that—and we never will.
As we move forward into the 2025 general elections in Virginia and New Jersey, and into the 2026 midterms nationwide, my hope—beyond hope—is that we embrace those to the Left of us and stop chasing the shadow of Republican support. Too many people feel unseen and unheard. They feel passed over for the approval of people we don’t even agree with.
When people vote, we win. But right now, too many aren’t voting Democratic or Republican—they’re simply staying home.
Voters of color, young people, working-class communities, rural Americans—these are the folks we need to reach. Not by watering down our values, but by showing up and delivering for them. Let’s bring them back into the tent—and stop opening it for billionaire fascists like Elon Musk.
By the Ballot is an opinion series published on Substack. All views expressed are solely those of the author and should not be interpreted as reporting or objective journalism or attributed to any other individual or organization. I am not a journalist or reporter, nor do I claim to be one. This publication represents personal commentary, analysis, and opinion only.