CSG OPINION: Democrats: Get out of Washington and into the real world

Martha Mitchell was once one of the most famous women in America. A conservative socialite from Pine Bluff, Ark., and wife of President Nixon’s attorney general, she was known for her sharp wit and even sharper tongue. Time put her on its cover, calling her a “figure of ridicule to liberals and a public embarrassment to many a traditionalist Republican.” She was the “Mouth of the South,” the second-most in-demand GOP speaker after Nixon himself.

But when she spoke the truth about Watergate, Nixon’s allies tried to destroy her. They labeled her crazy, mocked her in the press, and even drugged and held her against her will. Her name now defines the Martha Mitchell effect, which occurs when someone tells the truth but is dismissed as delusional because it sounds too outrageous to believe.

Democrats are quickly falling victim to the Martha Mitchell effect.

For years, we’ve been sounding the alarm on Donald Trump — his corruption, his attacks on democracy, his reckless rhetoric. Much of the country tunes us out. Why? Because when everything is an outrage, nothing is.

We’ve become Martha Mitchell, shouting into the void, convinced that if we just scream louder, voters will finally listen. Worse yet, we keep pulling the wrong fire alarm, so to speak. Instead of making the case for how we’ll actually improve people’s lives, we’ve positioned ourselves as defenders of democracy— a message that might resonate in Washington and in college faculty lounges, but not in the places where elections are decided. And that’s not on the voters — that’s on us.

We’re fighting the wrong battles in the wrong places.