Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s offhand call for more “alpha energy” in the Democratic Party is less a strategy and more a confession of failure from a party that has spent years choking on performative pieties while voters’ lives fall apart. Slotkin made the remark on PBS’s Firing Line, explaining that Democrats often constrain themselves out of fear of offending people on the internet — a stunning admission that the party’s leadership bows to Twitter mobs instead of defending working Americans.
She doubled down in recent interviews, bluntly saying colleagues told her they won’t take certain positions because “Twitter will be mad,” and even unveiled a so-called “war plan” meant to fix messaging and rebrand a party that has signaled weakness to the country. That honesty is useful only because it reveals why Democrats keep losing: they are terrified of internal purges and online outrage, not terrified of losing elections to the left.
Slotkin’s prescription — more boldness, less caveating, and a focus on pocketbook issues — was the same refrain she aired when outlining her plan to counter Trump’s appeal and re-engage middle America. Yet her solution rings hollow when the party platform she serves still embraces policies most Americans see as out of touch, from punitive energy transitions to cavalier immigration stances. If “alpha energy” means actually fighting for mainstream voters instead of lecturing them, Democrats should have started yesterday.
Instead, what we get are public hand-wringing sessions and virtue-signaling spectacles that leave everyday citizens wondering whether Democrats care more about trending hashtags than their paychecks. Slotkin’s speech criticized elitist climate policies and a fear of enforcing immigration laws, showing even some Democrats recognize the disconnect between coastal political theater and middle America’s needs. That disconnect is fatal to any party that thinks cable headlines trump kitchen-table economics.
The real test of “alpha energy” is not clever branding or soundbites; it’s the willingness to put forward clear, commonsense solutions and defend them against the mob. Republicans have long owned the role of boldness in the public square, and when Democrats finally admit they’re afraid of Twitter, they show why voters prefer leaders who will stand up for the country rather than stroke an outrage machine. Slotkin’s comment is a tacit acknowledgement that the party’s problems are structural, not merely rhetorical.
If Democrats are serious about reclaiming credibility, they’ll stop performing for their online hall monitors and start delivering for the people who actually vote. Until that happens, talk of “alpha energy” will sound like another empty slogan from a party too busy policing language to protect livelihoods. Conservatives should welcome the honesty, expose the hollow remedy, and keep pushing for real policies that grow the economy, secure the border, and put American families first.
