Democrats Need to Be Like Tintin
What can a fictional mid-century Belgian reporter tell the DNC? A whole lot more than you’d think.
Tintin is the comic book character work of Belgian cartoonist Hérge. Tintin, along with his friends Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus, his dog Snowy, and the detectives Thompson and Thompson, travel the world on adventures, usually centering on Tintin’s determination to uncover some mystery or nefarious plot. Despite never really taking off in the states, Tintin comics captured the hearts of European audiences for decades, later being adapted into an award winning TV show in the 1990s.
In a bit of anachronistic and unorthodox fashion, I want to take a look at Tintin, and compare his escapades and character traits to what I believe are the outlooks and driving forces the Democratic party needs to adopt in order to win the day against an emboldened Trump administration.
Tintin has the Audacity
In Tintin and the Black Island, Tintin is walking around the English Countryside when he notices two men hurriedly and suspiciously trying to start a plane. Knowing that the two men were most likely up to no good, Tintin runs over to them with his dog Snowy. One of the men responds by shooting Tintin, the bullet just barely missing his heart. Thus begins the story of Tintin uncovering a money laundering operation that would eventually lead him to the Scottish headlands.
Tintin took initiative. He saw something that was wrong and threw himself into the line of fire. He took a bullet to the chest for what he thought was right. He didn’t have to. But he did. Because it was right.
That’s the mindsight that the Democratic Party needs. The party needs to be proactive, not simply reactive. We need to meet voters where they are, see the issues they are facing, and work to fix those issues. It’s a hard pill to swallow, given the never-ending state of crisis the country appears to be in under Trump 2.0. But it’s important to remember that there are long festering issues that have simply gone unnoticed by Washington, that have a real impact on real voters.
I say leave the beltway: go to voters where they are, and hear out their concerns. Zohran Mamdani did that in NYC. He saw people fed up with the cost-of-living crisis, and he met them on the streets and pledged to end it. That model of proactive action is one that needs to be adopted by Democrats nationwide.
Tintin has power—and he does good by it
In Tintin and the Piacros, Tintin, Professor Calculus, Captain Haddock, and Tintin’s dog Snowy wind up at the center of a conflict in the fictional South American country of San Theadoros, as they try and help their deposed friend General Alcazar take back power and rescue their friends the Castiphore and Detectives Thompson and Thompson. The climax of the book sees Tintin and company successfully oust the rival government of General Tapioca. In turn, their friend Alaczar, and indeed Tapioca, demand for Tapioca, as is tradition, to be executed. Tintin refuses. He uses his leverage, the fact that he was the one who got Alcazar’s troops sober enough to defeat Tapioca, telling Alaczar he’ll only hand power to him if he promises not to execute Tapioca. Alcazar agrees and is sent away.
The crux of this moment is that Tintin had power, he held the cards, and he used that power to do good things. He could have just let Alcazar shoot Tapioca, reasoning that there was nothing he could do to stop him. But he did not. With what limited power he had, he played his hand well, and got what he wanted.
Democrats have power. That’s hard to believe when Republicans control both legislatures and the presidency, but it’s true. Democrats hold the governorship in twenty-three states, and the mayoralities of almost all the nation’s major cities. The devolved nature of the American government means that this local control gives Democrats immense power to shape policy independent of Washington. They should be using it. As Arnold Schwarzenegger quipped “Just because there’s one guy in there you don’t like does not mean you can hold up progress forever,”.
Policy decisions in Democratic hands have the power to shape voter mindsets for years to come. How do Democrats shake the notion that they are the party of “unaffordability”? How about embracing an agenda of abundance, focussed on lowering the costs of living in America’s major cities, which they themselves govern? Democrats want to be focused on countering Trump’s cuts to public broadcasting and other programs? How about stepping up and funding those with in-state money? As the old Alice Walker quote goes “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”
Tintin has a theory of Power
Tintin in Tibet, and really all of Tintin books, have clear moral virtues for which Tintin acts on. Tintin is very firm in what is right and wrong. In that sense he has a view of what in his world is right, and what in it is wrong. It’s no surprise then when his friend Chiang’s plane crashes in Nepal, he drags his friend Captain Haddock half way across the globe to bear the treacherous ascent into the Himalayas to rescue him.
This, to state the obvious, is an act of incredible valor and death defiance. Tintin put his life on the line for his friendship with Chiang, for ultimately, what he thought was right. He knew wrong from right, and when he saw wrong, well, he was prepared to do everything in his power to defeat it.
Democrats need a theory of power, something to tie together all the ails of America into a single coherent through line. There is clearly, in my view, a deep problem with America today. There is a feeling that our society has simply become more ugly, more bad-spirited, and dare I say evilier. That rears its head when our president condemns millions to die abroad through his cuts to USAID, and when neighbors are at each other’s throats at what were once calm gatherings. People feel that dark energy wherever they are, and through the very core of American society. There are still fragments of an America not touched by that, but I fear they are slowly being drowned out.
Democrats need to take that feeling of hate, and connect it to Trump. This is his fault. His absolute repugnant and ugly conduct has seeped its way into your Thanksgiving dinner table. People need a larger context they can apply abstract governmental principles to, sometimes, to really resonate with a message. They might not be able to understand tax or spending policy, but they see the noticeably darker mood of their neighborhood.
To Conclude
I want a DNC that looks and talks like a brash, young, hip reporter just waiting to take down the bad guys. That’s the type of energy the Democratic Party needs. The party needs a pulse. It needs to get out of the beltway, and into Mainstreet. They need to pull up their sleeves, and put themselves in the line of fire for what’s right. The party needs to look at America, look at what’s going wrong, and get people excited to fix it.
Democrats need to be like Tintin. Right now, the party looks like a bunch of geriatric soon to be retirees. Instead, they need to have the instincts of a young reporter, ready to throw all they have at a fight to take down evil.
Tintin overthrew dictators, rescued friends far away, neutralized assassinations, all in time to be back home in Marlanspike. Who knows what an organized democratic party could do?
