Inside baseball: Democratic players need to step up

Published 1:30 am Sunday, August 17, 2025

If politics are baseball, the Republicans are knocking it out of the park. They came out strong, hit home runs early with the bases loaded, caught an impossible fly, tagged out a Democrat as he slid into home base. And the Democrats, where are they? Where’s their star pitcher? They beat their chests and then strike out. R fans are out of their seats, cheering. D fans are demoralized, and angry.

But wait, here’s slugger Beto O’Rourke from Texas, challenging the Texas R’s gerrymandering, suing them back, getting the crowds out of their seats. Now Gavin Newsom from California is in the game, swinging hard, beating the Rs at their own game. Cory Booker is full of fire. Alexandria. Jasmine. Elizabeth. My senator, Patty Murray. All in the fight. Bernie, sleeves rolled up, coaching from the sidelines. Fans catcalling in unison: Epstein. Epstein. And the big R owner throwing illegal tacks all over the field.

Politics isn’t baseball, but we are in a fight of our lives. Can our legal structures hold bad actors accountable? Will the ultimate referees, SCOTUS, bend the arc of justice back, and stop the grift? What’s at stake? Protecting the long hard fight to include all races, classes and genders in “we the people.” Protecting our public lands from being sold to the highest bidder. Protecting the EPA, to keep toxins like PFAS out of our waterways, and retain Obama’s key “climate change finding” that holds the line on fires, floods and extreme weather.

The R’s are literally unleashing the whirlwind.

Democrats, Independents, traditional Republicans must now be an All-Star Team and lead the political resistance. We the people out here in the bleachers can boo all we want, write letters to the editor, post on Facebook, host podcasts, call Congress, organize — and we are — but we need fearless politicians protecting our laws, our people, our privacy, our rights, our freedoms and our democracy. Game on.

Vicki Robin

Langley