Democratic Senator Tests 2028 Waters After Fighting To Free MS-13 Suspect
Progressive policy ambitions meet practical realities as Americans weigh costs and consequences.
Chris Van Hollen flew to El Salvador on behalf of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man federal authorities say has MS-13 ties, and now he's out there telling NBC that Democrats just haven't found the right words to win back voters. That's the tell right there. He's treating the problem as a messaging issue when the actual problem is the message itself.
New Republican Times Editorial Board
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, the Maryland Democrat who drew outrage for flying to El Salvador to fight for the release of a suspected MS-13 gang banger, is teasing a possible 2028 presidential run. In an interview with NBC, Van Hollen said Sunday Democrats have failed to effectively communicate their alternative message to disenchanted voters ahead
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New Republican Times Editorial Board
Chris Van Hollen flew to El Salvador on behalf of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man federal authorities say has MS-13 ties, and now he's out there telling NBC that Democrats just haven't found the right words to win back voters. That's the tell right there. He's treating the problem as a messaging issue when the actual problem is the message itself. Voters watched a sitting senator burn political capital and a plane ticket defending an accused gang member's release, and his takeaway is that Democrats need better branding.
There's something almost admirable about the confidence it takes to do that trip and then pitch yourself for 2028 like nothing happened. But it tells you where a chunk of the Democratic bench still thinks the fight is. Not on the border, not on gang violence in American communities, but on optics and delivery. Van Hollen isn't wrong that his party has a communication problem. He's just misdiagnosing which part of the message is the problem.
Regular people don't need a focus group to understand what happened here. A guy allegedly connected to one of the most violent gangs in the hemisphere got a senator in his corner, and that senator wants a promotion for it. If Democrats keep sending guys like this to the microphone in 2028, they can keep workshopping the language all they want. The voters they lost aren't confused about what they saw. They're just not buying it.
Commentary written with AI assistance by the New Republican Times Editorial Board.