Jack Butler writes for National Review Online about the limits of left-wing dominance.

The progressive desire to marry dominance of culture with dominance of politics should by now come as a shock to no one. One consequence of the Trump years has been the abandonment of any pretense that much of mainstream media, culture, and academia is anything other than liberal, and the radicalization of many already openly liberal institutions. In response to what they identified as the unique threats President Trump posed to the American political system, many on the left adopted a decidedly antagonistic pose toward him. …

… So the Trump years dragged on, until an election outcome that represented the American political system at its frustrating best: Trump lost, but not in the landslide for which his opponents had hoped; down-ballot Republicans did far better than expected, making gains in the House and giving themselves a good chance to hold the Senate. …

… One answer is that the insulated bubble of elite liberal opinion within the institutions of our would-be hegemons makes those inside of it both less willing and less able to gauge whether their views remain outside of the cultural mainstream. Calling Latinos “Latinx,” a term popularized by academics and used by a vanishingly small number of actual Latinos, did not enable Democrats to win Florida. Talk of socialism and defunding the police may excite Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her fans, but it angered swing-district Democrats struggling to hold their seats, and the party’s House majority shrank when it had been expected to grow. Even Hamilton itself has come under criticism from the far left as an attempt to honor the legacy and extend the appeal of a history that many progressives have come to see as fundamentally problematic. If left-wingers continue to push leftward while castigating those who won’t come along for the ride, then their power could fade even as their control over many institutions lingers.