the.com/rearguard action politics
fighting the last war so hard you forget you already lost it.
means a defensive political strategy aimed at delaying or minimizing an inevitable loss rather than actually winning.
from borrowed from military tactics, where a rearguard shields a retreating army from pursuit, sacrificing ground to buy time and cover an orderly withdrawal.
not surrenderstill fighting, just for smaller stakes
time not territorythe real prize is delay, not victory
often bipartisanboth sides do it once trends turn against them
for instance
segregationist filibusters — us senators stalling civil rights act for months in 1964
brexit backstop battles — mps refighting settled votes through 2019 to slow the exit