Tinkerbell politics won’t save progressive Democrats 

In J.M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan,” Tinkerbell, the little blond fairy you might picture from the 1953 Disney adaptation, can only live if others believe in her existence. In the play, she’s revived from near death by the audience’s applause. To my knowledge, no production has ever denied her that ovation. Luckily for her, it’s in the script — she survives to the final curtain whether the audience truly believes or not. 

A variation of this “Tinkerbell effect,” the idea that believing hard enough can make something true, shows up in both academia and popular culture. Now, I’ve started to see a political version of it in Democratic politics. (I’ll note it may exist in Republican politics as well, but I know progressive politics best, having worked in that space for years.) 

This progressive “Tinkerbell politics” holds that electoral losses happen because we either didn’t nominate a true believer — someone who champions progressive ideals loudly and without compromise — or because we, collectively, didn’t believe strongly enough in those ideals. In this telling, any defeat is the fault of those deemed insufficiently passionate, loyal or pure. It’s an emotionally satisfying explanation for a painful loss, preserving the moral high ground and avoiding uncomfortable self-examination. There’s no need to analyze what voters liked or disliked about your platform or messaging. Just purge the nonbelievers, and the wins will come. 

A recent experience drove this home for me. Since joining the TV commentary circuit, I’ve appeared on quite a few conservative-leaning outlets. On those shows, I try to make the most persuasive case against Trump’s agenda by choosing my battles carefully, moderating my language, and avoiding the caricature of a “Harris campaign and Biden administration liberal” that conservative viewers might expect. I don’t claim I always succeed, but these are my guideposts. 

In one prime-time segment, a conservative host asked me about the Democratic Party’s historically low approval ratings. My answer was simple: Democrats should focus on cost-of-living issues, the top priority for most voters, and be a big-tent party that can elect both Bernie Sanders in Vermont and Joe Manchin in West Virginia. Without a coalition broad enough to win majorities in Congress, we wouldn’t have passed historic progressive legislation like the Affordable Care Act or the Inflation Reduction Act. 

Afterward, a distant acquaintance commented on my video: “F# that noise. Everybody who voted against us is JUST WRONG.” He called me a sellout and dismissed the very idea of a big tent. I assume he would have preferred I tell the host, the panel and the conservative audience they were wrong and needed to “get with the program.” But how is that supposed to persuade anyone? Even with a more friendly audience, shouting about your righteousness isn’t a strategy for winning hearts or building coalitions. 

I make no claim to grand theories of persuasion. Each campaign I’ve worked on has overturned some piece of “conventional wisdom” and replaced it with new lessons. But I hold one belief that never changes: politics is about addition. To succeed, you must expand your coalition through both persuasion and mobilization. In a diverse, polarized country like ours, that requires humility about your own views and a willingness to meet voters where they are — two things “Tinkerbell politics” cannot do. 

Some progressives might read this as a call for moderation. It’s not. In that TV segment, I could have said Democrats are too progressive; it would have earned easy applause. But I didn’t throw progressives under the bus, because I am one. I believe progressive economic arguments, especially on economic equality, can be electoral winners. But going further left on every issue is not always strategically sound, and writing off those who disagree with us is, frankly, political malpractice. 

In the end, it’s simple: Addition beats fairy dust every time. You win by having at least one more vote than your opponent. I’d like that voter under the Democratic Party’s tent.  

Mally Smith has worked on multiple presidential campaigns, including in senior political roles for President Biden and Vice President Harris. He is also a frequent television political commentator, appearing on networks such as BBC, NewsNation and Fox News.