January 1, JUMPING SHIP: Longtime Democrat Insider Finally Admits the Truth About His Party

Wyatt’s Take

• A longtime Democratic insider just publicly abandoned his party, saying “the lunatics are in charge of the asylum” — and he’s backing a Republican instead.
• The Democratic Socialists of America are taking over the party, pushing out moderate voices and embracing radical policies that would destroy our free market system.
• While establishment Democrats cower in fear of progressive challengers, working Americans need to remember what made this country great: capitalism, not socialism.

“This is a party that is jumping off a cliff, and I don’t intend to jump with them.”

That’s Julian Epstein, a Democrat political operative who spent decades serving his party, including working as chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee and helping Hillary Clinton’s campaigns. Now he’s had enough.

In a post that’s sending shockwaves through political circles, Epstein declared, “I think the Democrats have gone off the deep end… the lunatics are in charge of the asylum.” He announced he’s supporting Mike Rogers, the Republican running for Senate in Michigan, over the progressive Democrat candidate Abdul El-Sayed.

Why? Because Rogers is what Epstein calls “a very practical middle-of-the-road normie guy who would’ve been very consistent with where the Democrats were during the Clinton administration.”

Think about that for a second. A lifelong Democrat is saying the Republican candidate is closer to where his own party used to be. That tells you everything you need to know about how far left the Democrats have lurched.

Epstein didn’t hold back in his explanation. He said there’s “no room in the tent for people who want to destroy our constitution, there’s no room in the tent for people who want to align themselves with radical Islam, there’s no room in the tent for people who align themselves with antisemitism.”

Strong words. And long overdue.

The Socialist surge really picked up steam with the election of Zohran Mamdani as New York City mayor last year. Since then, membership in the Democratic Socialists of America has exploded. These are mostly highly educated young liberals who’ve been taught to hate America’s success without understanding why that success happened in the first place.

Sure, housing is expensive and starting out is tough. But let’s look at reality. Americans’ median income is $72.07 per day — that’s 32% higher than Britain, 70% above Japan, and five times what people make in China, according to World Bank data.

Nearly everyone in America has a cell phone. People regularly pay $6 for coffee. We have one of the highest standards of living anywhere on earth. But these socialist-minded youngsters take it all for granted.

The Socialist movement has successfully primaried longtime Democrat incumbents, like Adriano Espaillat, head of the Hispanic Caucus. That’s put the fear into every sitting Democrat. Instead of standing up for common sense, they’re cowering and pandering to the radical left.

Pete Buttigieg is campaigning for El-Sayed, the far-left candidate in Michigan. Gavin Newsom now supports a national wealth tax. Kamala Harris wants to “revisit” the Electoral College, pack the Supreme Court, and grant statehood to Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.

Even Chuck Schumer, who represents over a million Jewish New Yorkers, has embraced candidates who attack Israel. Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat, welcomes the DSA crowd into his “Big Tent” even though they booed him at his own victory party and won’t commit to making him Speaker.

These establishment Democrats are showing themselves to be exactly what they are: cowards who care more about keeping their seats than defending American values.

But Epstein’s most important point is this: he condemns “people that don’t have any interest in building for the next generation but only want to redistribute what others have created and basically tear down the free market that has been the most effective anti-poverty liberation machines that human beings have ever invented.”

Exactly right. This is why socialism fails everywhere it’s tried. Cuba, Russia, Venezuela — collectivist states don’t succeed. And it’s why Democrat-run blue states are losing population and businesses to GOP-managed red states.

Democrats have spent so long demonizing success and wealth that they’ve forgotten what makes America work. It’s not Big Government that creates jobs and innovation. It’s the competitive free market and the opportunity to build businesses and create wealth that made our economy the envy of the world.

There’s a reason immigrants like Sergey Brin, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Vinod Khosla brought their talents to America. This country has always celebrated those who make, not those who take.

Today’s Democrats have abandoned that principle. But voters haven’t. Polling shows Americans overwhelmingly prefer free-market capitalism over big government socialism.

The question is whether enough Americans will show up in November to send that message loud and clear.

Wyatt Matters

When a party insider who spent his whole career serving Democrats finally says enough is enough, that’s not just one man’s opinion — it’s a warning sign. The socialist takeover of the Democratic Party isn’t some fringe movement anymore. It’s the mainstream. And every American who values the freedoms and opportunities that made this country great needs to pay attention. The choice in November couldn’t be clearer: the free market that built the American Dream, or the socialist policies that have failed everywhere they’ve been tried.