OPINION:
Tuesday night, Sen. Elizabeth Warren was silenced on the Senate floor by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Mr. McConnell ordered Ms. Warren to stop talking, saying she impugned the character of a fellow senator, Jeff Sessions — a violation of chamber rules — by reading a letter from Coretta Scott King, the late wife of Martin Luther King Jr., that accused Mr. Sessions of working to intimidate elderly black voters.
It was an unsavory move — to condemn a sitting senator, of whom Ms. Warren has had no qualms with until he was appointed as attorney general.
After her microphone was cut off, Ms. Warren took to Facebook and continued reading the letter. She then started the hashtag #shepersisted on Twitter, got it trending, and then appeared on as many cable talk shows as she could on Wednesday morning to speak about the injustice.
It was all political theater to help launch her presidential run for 2020 — and I love it. Keep talking, Ms. Warren — bully those Democrats into becoming more progressive.
For Ms. Warren’s ultra-liberal politics are going to be a hard sell in states like North Dakota, where President Donald Trump walloped Hillary Clinton last year and moderate Democrat Sen. Heidi Heitkamp is up for re-election in 2018.
In fact, five Democratic senators are up for re-election in traditionally red states in 2018: Ms. Heitkamp, Montana’s Jon Tester, Missouri’s Claire McCaskill, West Virginia’s Joe Manchin and Indiana’s Joe Donnelly.
Democrats are going to have to decide whether they want to defend those seats, or sacrifice them in the name of the resistance, which Ms. Warren clearly thinks she’s heading.
For many in Middle America, Ms. Warren’s politics are unpalatable. They see the rioters at UC Berkeley trying to shut down free speech, the women dressed as uteruses at the Women’s March on Washington, the limos that were set on fire in the streets during Mr. Trump’s inauguration, and some in Hollywood such as Sarah Silverman calling for a military coup, and they see the left doubling down on crazy.
What they want — and what they voted for — was to feel safe in their streets, the promise of better jobs, and repairs to their local bridges and highways. This is the agenda of Mr. Trump. Other than hate and unhappiness, what does the resistance have to offer?
So yes, keep talking, Ms. Warren. You undoubtedly will be hailed a liberal hero by the coastal elites and by those in the media, but you’re not identifying with flyover country — you’re actually turning them off.
For most Americans want to give Mr. Trump a chance, and are curious to see what he and his largely private-sector Cabinet can do for the country. They want to see the Supreme Court seat filled, their wages increased, public schools improved, and U.S. foreign policy dominance restored.
They don’t care much for identity politics, protests that turn into rioting, Hollywood’s public service announcements and political grandstanding.
So, please Ms. Warren, keep it up. And mainstream media, please keep giving her the podium. For the more Middle America sees of progressivism, the more they will understand the true motives of the radical left.
And with that, the Democratic Party could be diminished to minority status for a generation.
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