Speaking as someone who lives in a very blue state (albeit in a more conservative, rural and suburban district) I saw my fair share of Trump supporters in 2020 who were cautious about putting up a yard sign or plastering a conservative-themed bumper sticker on their cars. The caustic political environment was such that displays like those just invited unhinged liberals to rip up your lawn or vandalize your vehicle. A neighbor one block over from me had a Trump 2020 flag flying below his American flag all during the summer and fall before the election and had the Trump flag torn down twice, along with the American flag on the second occasion. (He “persevered” and kept putting them back up.)

Now things seem to be changing, at least in some places. A report from the Associated Press today looks at some rural areas of Pennsylvania where Democrats are few in number and far less publicly vocal about their political leanings. With national approval ratings for both Joe Biden and the Democratic Party at large plunging to dismal levels, these rural Democrats are taking a page from blue-state Republicans and hiding their progressive lights under a bushel basket. Some say that their party is facing “extinction” in their local districts.

Some Democrats here in rural Pennsylvania are afraid to tell you they’re Democrats.

The party’s brand is so toxic in the small towns 100 miles northeast of Pittsburgh that some liberals have removed bumper stickers and yard signs and refuse to acknowledge their party affiliation publicly. These Democrats are used to being outnumbered by the local Republican majority, but as their numbers continue to dwindle, the few that remain are feeling increasingly isolated and unwelcome in their own communities.

“The hatred for Democrats is just unbelievable,” said Tim Holohan, an accountant based in rural McKean County who recently encouraged his daughter to get rid of a pro-Joe Biden bumper sticker. “I feel like we’re on the run.”

I realize that many people tend to roll their eyes when an older person talks about “the good old days,” but I’m here to tell you that it wasn’t always this way. Not that long ago, you could see streets filled with yard signs from both parties, often sitting side by side. You could walk into a bar and hear people actually having calm discussions about differing political views. Nobody was happy when their party lost an election, but it also wasn’t the end of the world. You just had to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try harder next time.

That’s really not the case now. The current political climate is absolutely the most toxic I’ve seen in my entire life. Both sides contribute to this, unfortunately, with the endless online games of owning the libs and owning the cons. But the most pronounced area of contention is the current agenda being pushed by both Joe Biden and the progressive wing of his party.

We discussed this a few days ago when The Hill published an editorial calling on Democrats to face the reality that their party is almost exclusively focusing on radical-left policies that nearly three-quarters of the country either doesn’t care about or finds patently offensive. Saying you think that taxes and contributions to social welfare programs need to be higher is fine. People will be happy to debate that with you or even agree. But calling everyone who disagrees with you about anything a racist and suggesting that they are in league with the Nazis is only going to make them begin to hate you and fan the political flames even higher.

The places where this effect is being seen most sharply are definitely in America’s rural counties. People there feel ignored when Democrats focus almost exclusively on issues that are perceived as primarily being relevant only to “the big cities.” This is a trend that’s been building for a while now. As the linked report notes, in 2008, Barack Obama won 875 counties nationwide. In 2020, Joe Biden carried 527. And the counties that flipped were almost exclusively in rural areas with lower population density.

Democrats can only allow this trend to continue for so long before they become totally irrelevant and can no longer carry a national majority. I remain unsure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. But the current Democratic Party is simply unrecognizable to me as compared to the spirited campaigns we witnessed in the 70s and 80s.