Craft store Hobby Lobby’s entrance into Tribeca, a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, challenges Democratic political posturing after its presidential election loss. As always, constituents represent the reality of the party’s trajectory.
For Democratic voters in New York County, New York — the deepest-blue segment of the state — President Donald Trump’s second term means little more than resistance. So too for representatives across the state, as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) lead in those efforts. But the Democratic Party is in somewhat of an identity crisis, especially as its messaging steers in the wrong direction. Its response to Trump’s sweeping victory has few negotiating ploys left, the most prominent of which is an appeal to down-to-earth conservative modes of friendliness and charity. The opening of a Hobby Lobby is a hypothetical, though soon-to-be reality, that disproves how incompatible this pivot is with Democratic fundamentals.
