Democrats need to bust out the Stars Hollow strategy

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The news, in brief …

• New York Attorney General Letitia James indicted following Trump push

  The president has advocated forcefully for a case against the New York attorney general. Read more.

• Marjorie Taylor Greene blames GOP for shutdown, excuses Trump

  Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene attacked House Speaker Mike Johnson's leadership while giving a pass to President Trump. Read more.

• Professor targeted by MAGA says “someone” canceled his flight

  Rutgers Prof. Mark Bray, who studies anti-fascism, said his flight to Europe on Wednesday was mysteriously canceled. Read more.

• Drake’s “Not Like Us” defamation lawsuit against UMG dismissed

  A federal judge ruled that Kendrick Lamar calling Drake a "certified pedophile" was "hyperbole." Read more.

Make me smarter …

Trump turns to the prosperity gospel for fundraising efforts

Trump is telling his MAGA followers that giving him money is a divine act that will “save America.” Read more.

Feeling lonely and so cold …

The farmer’s almanac says the peak fall foliage season is fast approaching.

As someone who has never lived north of New Orleans, I wouldn’t know much about it. Trees around here go from green to bare, if they bother to mark the season at all.

A body’s gotta find some way to mark the passing of time, though, and I’m as big a sucker for tradition as your average leaf-peeper, apple-picker and hayrider. The onset of (relatively) crisp 70-degree evenings means I’ll be embarking on another unsuccessful attempt to watch “Gilmore Girls” all the way through.

My house contained two younger sisters and one television throughout this cozy drama’s original seven-season run. I’m more than familiar with the headlines that came out of Amy Sherman-Palladino’s quirky New England town.

I can argue the merits of Team Jess vs Team Logan with the best of them. I have strong feelings about “A Year In The Life” and Rory’s desire to write for “Condé Nast.” And I always appreciate returning to the fast-talking, low-stakes squabbles of Rory and Lorelai Gilmore’s dysfunctional families (actual and adopted). I just can’t quite give myself over to the show entirely, though. As you might imagine of someone who’s never managed to watch the full series in order, real life always manages to intrude on my annual vacation to Stars Hollow.

I can already feel the outside world creeping into this year’s attempt. Looking again at the relationships of the titular girls (Rory, Lorelai and matriarch Emily), I can’t stop thinking about the haplessness of the Democratic Party.

At its core, “Gilmore Girls” is a story about trying and failing to not become your parents. For all the zippy “yes and” dialogue that would become Sherman-Palladino’s trademark, the relationships of the three protagonists are all about negation. Distant Emily raised her daughter Lorelai, knowing only what type of woman she didn’t want her to become. Lorelai rebelled from that cold upbringing and set out to be the exact opposite of her mother. She raised her daughter in a chaotic but friendly household, often falling short when Rory needed stability. Rory, in her deep desire for the defined track of the blue-blood life her mom abandoned, tries to live a no-nonsense life in a town that is nothing but. Because all three women only know what they don’t want to be, they fail to define any positive goals and, ultimately, fail to reach them.

So it goes with the United States’ current opposition party. The Democrats have ceded control of most legislatures and lost twice to the least qualified presidential candidate in modern memory. That’s all because they can’t tell voters who they are. Kamala Harris couldn’t even draw a meaningful distinction between herself and an 82-year-old man.

Republicans' vision for America is a fascist dystopia built on state violence and graft, but it gives supporters a sense that something new is being done. Ten years of running as “not Republicans” has left the party completely out of power and with little in the way of a strategy to get back into the catbird seat. It’s atrophied their plan-making muscles to the point where Trump can ask, “Who the hell is leading the Democrats?” and expect a room full of political reporters to have to stop and think about it.

The solution that the Gilmore girls never found is something that Democrats should mull over while navigating an autumnal shutdown of the federal government and three more years of Trump. Put forth a positive vision. Tell voters what you want to do and not just what you won’t abide. It’s too late for those fictional New Englanders to change, but the Dems can still take a stab at the narrative laid out by Carole King at the top of each “Gilmore Girls” episode. Where they lead, voters will follow.

What do you think? Can the Democrats put together a positive vision for America before 2028? Will they be able to break the cycle of reaction that got them into this mess? How the hell did Rory not have a single pitch for that magazine meeting? Sound off in the comments.

Before you go …

GOP health care cuts will hurt kids like mine

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