Politics in America has long been a battle of ideologies, but in the past few decades, one side has been playing chess while the other has been playing checkers. The Republican Party, particularly since the rise of Newt Gingrich, has embraced a ruthless, long-term strategy of political warfare. Meanwhile, Democrats continue to approach elections as isolated, winnable contests—one at a time—without recognizing the slow, decades-long march of the Right toward ideological consolidation and institutional control.

This fundamental difference in strategy explains why Democrats keep losing. The GOP, guided by figures like Gingrich, the Koch brothers, the Heritage Foundation, and their media ecosystem of Fox News, right-wing podcasts, and conspiracy-fueled social media, has been playing a generational game. They don’t just aim to win elections; they aim to dominate the ideological and cultural landscape for decades. If Democrats ever want to win again, they need to wake up and fight the long war. If you know anything about history, you’ll get this reference: “Peace in our time!”

Newt Gingrich and the Birth of Political Bloodsport

Newt Gingrich didn’t just change the Republican Party—he changed the very nature of American politics. Before Gingrich, politics was messy, but it still operated on a basic set of norms: bipartisan cooperation, legislative compromise, and respect for institutional stability. Then Gingrich came along and said, “Screw that.”

Back in 1978, a young Gingrich stood in front of a gathering of College Republicans and laid out his vision: Politics is war. There is no room for civility. The only goal is power. He instructed Republicans to stop being polite and start treating Democrats like the enemy, not just political opponents. His playbook encouraged using words like traitor, corrupt, sick, and radical to describe Democrats【19†source】.

Through his leadership of GOPAC, Gingrich trained an army of ideological warriors who would carry out this mission. He weaponized C-SPAN, delivering tirades to an empty chamber, knowing that television audiences wouldn’t realize the Democrats weren’t even present. He called Democrats “un-American” and accused them of being pro-communist—rhetoric that was picked up by the media and ingrained into the Republican base【20†source】.

The results? A complete transformation of the Republican Party into an entity that viewed governance as secondary to power accumulation. Gingrich’s tactics paved the way for the Tea Party, Trumpism, and the complete refusal of Republicans to engage in any good-faith governance today.

The Right’s Strategic Takeover of Institutions

While Democrats focused on winning the next election, Republicans were executing a decades-long takeover of key cultural and political institutions. They didn’t just focus on Congress or the presidency; they targeted the judiciary, state legislatures, and key ideological pillars of American life.

1. Annexing the Christian Right: In the 1970s and ‘80s, the GOP actively courted Christian fundamentalists, transforming them from a politically disengaged group into a militant voting bloc. Figures like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson were enlisted to push a moral panic around abortion and LGBTQ rights, turning elections into theological battles rather than policy debates.
2. The NRA Takeover: My dad bought me a shotgun for my 14th birthday. Before he’d let me so much as open the chamber, he marched me off to an NRA Safety Class. As a WW II veteran, I can guarantee you he would be ashamed of the NRA of today. The National Rifle Association (NRA) was once a bipartisan gun safety organization. In the 1970s, however, hard-right extremists took over the leadership, transforming it into an absolutist, no-compromise lobbying force. Today, gun rights are not just a policy issue but a central, religious-like tenet of conservative identity.
3. The Koch Brothers and Dark Money: Billionaire activists like Charles and David Koch built a massive network of think tanks, lobbying firms, and dark-money organizations. They systematically reshaped the American economy to favor corporate interests while undermining unions and progressive movements.
4. The Heritage Foundation’s Extremist Hub: Once a conventional conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation has morphed into a central organizing hub for white nationalists, Christian nationalists, and neo-fascists. It actively pushes far-right policies and drafts pre-written legislation for Republican-controlled statehouses. They invested four years in Project 2025, creating work-around strategies so Trump could undermine the Constitution.
5. Fox News, X, and Conspiracy Media: The Right’s consolidation of media influence has created an ecosystem where millions of Americans consume an alternate reality. Fox News radicalized the Republican base; X (formerly Twitter) under Elon Musk amplifies far-right propaganda; podcasts and YouTube channels churn out conspiracy theories that fuel anti-democratic fervor. This closed information loop ensures Republican voters remain enraged and mobilized at all times.

Democrats Must Think Beyond the Next Election

Democrats still act like they’re playing a game where the winner gets to govern. The Republican Party, however, has long recognized that the real game is seizing and maintaining power—by any means necessary. They gerrymander states into oblivion, stack the courts, suppress votes, and flood elections with dark money. They don’t care about hypocrisy or governing; they care about winning and rewriting the rules in their favor.

If Democrats want to stop losing, they need to abandon their election-by-election mindset and start playing the long game:

1. Build a Coalition as Strong as the Christian Right: Democrats must invest in deep, generational relationships with labor unions, young voters, communities of color, and progressive religious groups. This means consistent, year-round outreach—not just showing up every four years begging for votes.
2. Develop a Messaging Machine: The Right has Fox News, Breitbart, X (formerly blah, blah) and an army of social media influencers. Democrats need a counterweight—progressive media outlets, podcasts, and digital platforms that relentlessly push their own narrative.
3. Flood the Zone with Grassroots Activism: The GOP’s strength lies in its network of local activists who ensure their voters show up. Democrats must build an equally committed network of activists who push voter registration, community organizing, and protest movements beyond election cycles.
4. Invest in State and Local Races: While Democrats focus on the presidency, Republicans have spent decades stacking state legislatures and school boards. These local seats shape policies on abortion, education, and voting rights. Every level of government matters.
5. Embrace Relentless Partisanship: The age of bipartisan compromise is dead. Republicans don’t negotiate in good faith, so stop pretending they will. Treat politics like the fight for democracy that it is.

Conclusion: It’s Time for a New Democratic Strategy

If Democrats keep approaching elections as one-off contests, they will keep losing. The Republican Party—molded by Gingrich’s scorched-earth politics—has spent decades constructing an infrastructure designed to keep them in power permanently. The only way to fight back is to match their long-term commitment to power. Stop ignoring #Bernie Sanders, the soul of the Democratic Party, and #James Carville, the only Democrat that gets: “It’s a war, stupid.”

The stakes couldn’t be higher. The Right’s ultimate goal isn’t just electoral victory—it’s a complete remaking of American society into a Christian nationalist, white supremacist, corporate-controlled oligarchy. If Democrats don’t get serious about countering this with a generational strategy of their own, they will continue to be little more than a speed bump on the GOP’s road to permanent rule.

Wake up, Democrats. The war isn’t about 2024. It’s about the next 50 years.