There is no story line in American politics more beloved than Democrats in Disarray. It’s an ancient narrative that was first and best captured by Will Rogers, who said in 1933: “I don’t belong to any organized political faith. I am a Democrat.” And even though the Donkey Party no longer contains Ku Klux Klan members cheek by jowl with civil-rights activists, as it did in Rogers’ day, it remains a coalition party. And while the GOP has its own divisions, Republicans enjoy pointing out Democratic infighting nearly as much as Democrats enjoy engaging in it.

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Organizational issues aside, Democrats have truly been divided for much of the 21st century between a center-left Establishment that has dominated presidential-nominating contests (dating all the way back to 1972, according to some accountings), governorships, and Senate Democratic caucuses, and a progressive insurgency backed by millions of grassroots activists with important beachheads in major cities, advocacy groups, and the U.S. House. As the Democratic Establishment has foundered during the Trump era, the progressive insurgency is unsurprisingly experiencing a comeback, which has gotten a lot of attention this year as outspokenly left-bent primary candidates have won a string of victories from New York to Colorado. This “surge” has been led by candidates emphasizing both old (Medicare for All, economic populism) and new (fury at Israel, intersectionality) themes, and also championing generational change in a gerontocratic party. Some of these successful insurgents, moreover, are self-identified socialists, often relying on the organized muscle of the Democratic Socialists of America.

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This uprising has alarmed many Democratic centrists, who fear the left’s ascendancy generally and the DSA’s prominence specifically as threats to the party’s electability in its life-or-death struggle against the MAGA-infested GOP. And said GOP, of course, which is suffering from its own extremist leadership and voter “base,” has seized on an alleged Democratic “move to the left” to make itself look closer to the mythical “center.” In his usual over-the-top way, Donald Trump has pioneered this tactic by beginning to routinely call Democrats “communists,” which is rapidly becoming a Republican midterm talking point, stupid and historically illiterate as it is. Here’s how House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is framing November’s elections: “The Bolshevik takeover of the Democrat Party is in full swing, and communism is on the ballot this November against freedom.”

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So at the moment, Democratic centrists and progressives are firing shots at each other in a steadily escalating “civil war” as Republicans and much of the political media egg them on and grossly exaggerate the carnage.

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To be clear, Democrats cannot control the moronic things Republicans say about “communism” and “bolshevism” (Trump began calling the decidedly non-socialistic Harris a “communist” back in 2020) and can’t prevent media types — friendly, hostile or neutral — from lazily latching on to the “civil war” narrative as a prefab source of artificial drama. But they can stop contributing to the nonsense themselves. This is not to trivialize the policy differences and strategic disagreements between Democrats that often emerge as skirmish lines in the “civil war.” And in many state and local elections, Democrats are either incumbents or in a position to govern if they win in November and need to make clear what they’ll do in office.

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But in the national midterm-election battle centered on control of Congress, all voters need to know about Democrats is that they intend to fight Trump and his allies tooth and nail and they agree on the values and priorities (from addressing affordability to ending pointless wars of choice) a decisive majority of Americans want their government to embrace. Midterms are almost always referenda on the governing party, and today’s governing party has a fundamentally unpopular agenda being promoted by unpopular leaders, most of all the president. If swing voters indeed head to the polls believing they have to make a free and equal choice between the two major parties based on who most loudly and consistently communicates with them, Republicans have won two-thirds of the battle. This won’t be a “choice” election unless Democrats make it one by centering their disagreements.

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What this means in practical terms is that progressives need to stop gloating about every primary win as a world-historical event that has destroyed the cowardly and corporate-dominated Establishment forever. And centrists need to stop reinforcing Republican “Red Scare” warnings about the left. It’s that simple.

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And here’s the thing: If Democrats really are spoiling to fight with each other, they don’t need to wait very long. The day after the midterms, the 2028 election cycle begins and then both parties not only can but must determine their future direction and let the configuration of factional forces work themselves out. If the 2028 Democratic presidential nominating contest has anything like the field that appears to be assembling, then every significant point of view in the Democratic coalition will have voices for its perspective. But right now, Democrats should postpone the civil war and wage the crucial fight against Trump and his minions they face this very moment.

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