From left, Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., entrepreneur Andrew Yang, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke and former Housing Secretary Julian Castro are introduced Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019, before a Democratic presidential primary debate hosted by ABC at Texas Southern University in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Watching the Democrats debate last night — and taking breaks to watch the Washington Nationals advance to the World Series for the first time and record my little show (embedded below) — I was struck by something that made me convinced Donald Trump’s going to win the 2020 election handily.

The Democrats have no new ideas. None.

They have new faces (well, some aren’t so new really. For such a “progressive” crew they really are trotting out some long-in-the-tooth candidates), but the same old basic ideas of wealth redistribution, class warriorism, an uncomfortable taste for abortion, and a decided lack of foreign policy judgment (Seriously. It barely came up.) punctuate every candidate’s vision of the future.

Macrocosmically, what that means is that they still have a firm grip on the philosophy of growing government to save the world (or at least the country). Government-run Medicare For All has replaced government-run Obamacare in the health care space. Taxing the rich to pay for everything has remained the same. Abortion is still touted as a medical necessity for those who want it (it’s not). And the idea that the federal government can swoop in and save people from themselves underlies it all.

But to be fair, there was a new theme that speaks specifically to these times we find ourselves in: Impeachment of Donald Trump.

Every candidate on that stage demanded Trump be censured and impeached, some (looking at you Harris) even want the man thrown off Twitter (hooray First Amendment!).

Trump has become their existential crisis, despite the fact that the very thing they think he’s done wrong is related to an effort they cooked up (Russia collusion) and probably indicts former Vice President Biden more than Trump.

It was just a bizarre scene. But one that I realized — rather sadly — is absolutely nothing new. Pretty standard, really.

Now that Republicans are all over monitoring the way voters are registered to ensure there’s nothing fishy going on (progressives in Georgia call it disenfranchisement), Democrats are really going to have to come from behind if they want to win again. They’ll have to be fresh and new, and offer visionary ideas on emerging policy issues (like tech and trade) if they want to compete.

I didn’t hear any of that coming from the stage last night. Did you?

Join me on this week’s show where I discuss that as well as more on the NBA’s casual relationship with communism and a review of Ad Astra.

Enjoy!

Listen to the show in full below on Spotify. You can also find me at iHeart radio, Apple Podcasts and FCB Radio’s Spreaker.