FYI, Ross: If Trump were a decent human being instead of a narcissistic autocrat (the basic counterfactual here), Liberals would not be concerned about the systematic destruction of democratic norms and the norms of basic decency. But Trump is not a decent human being, and the proud white nationalists that surround him are even worse, the left wing of your Twitter feed is concerned.
30
Trump is repeating the same thing that got him to victory. Why? Because he is a one-hit wonder. He has a song that his supporters love, but it is a song based on fear. It is the only song he knows, it worked for him so far, and he has no other tools in his limited 'a brain'.
14
I don't like to comment twice on the same piece because there's something about that which offends my mid-western sense of decorum. But let's just pause here, liberals and conservatives and see the reality. We are not dealing with a President who answers to any coherent view of anything except his own utter cynical contempt for anything that stands in the way of his personal self-concept, whatever that is. We are watching a presidency that is strangling the credibility, the prestige, the policy and the enormous power of the United States in the world--to what besides his chaotic, demonically self-absorbed passions for supremacy and vengeance over his enemies? Who, with calculated scorn for any and every norm of decency, engages in a revolt against every ethical standard of prudence and mercy that the three Abrahamic religions put at the core of their world-view. And who drags several millions of self-professed Christians into the pit with him. This stuff is beyond Ross Douthat and his piddling speculations. This is a Lear-like spiritual debauchery of a man and his country. Who doesn't want to hide his eyes from this reptilian spectacle?
40
Right Ross. Trump is simply acting like a real republican. All the campaign promises, like most things he says, were lies.
14
I guess you could call me a "values voter," and the current Republican president and his craven enablers in the Republican Party have violated ever value I hold dear.
29
As a moderate, and as someone who will never vote for anything labelled "Republican" again, I find the views expressed in this column totally amoral and repellent.
It's not just - or even mostly - about winning elections, Ross. That's not what I care about. If either of the " laid out in your column had actually played out, I would be much happier and much less upset - and much more likely to vote Republican in the future.
Because either of those scenarios probably would have made this country - and the world - a better place to live in.
That's what I care about. Not about some grand political strategy game of winning elections.
22
Sure, Mr. Douthat. Tell that to the families of people who were gunned down in the synagogue at Pittsburgh, how their President sees white nationalism same as protests against him; tell that to the President, how his supporters while sending pipe bombs to his opponents are making America great again; tell that to the journalists getting manhandled by Republicans. President Trump has made it clear that he is not President of all Americans and so be it.
Regarding the tax cut, first off they are in effect this year so we haven't seen their real effects yet, and wait until the bills come due in couple of years when we are heading for huge deficits.
22
For the Democrats to speak to the issues of healthcare, fair taxes, the environment, and a living wage, etc. makes perfect sense. The elephant in the room, of course, was the foreign thumb on the scale which Americans are loath to vocalize. It's as if they can not admit that they were bamboozled by the likes of Facebook and Twitter. That failure has resulted in a rift that threatens the foundations of our democracy.
10
Yes, it would be a nightmare scenario for Democrats if, instead of spending his time attacking the press and this country's values, Trump would focus on making the economy better for Americans and making investments that work for the country. Then they might have to vote to support some of the things that he does.
This column signs onto the horse race philosophy of politics to a disturbing degree. Though the Democrats certainly want to win elections, only one of our major political parties has shown a consistent desire to gain power at the expense of actually governing. The nightmares described would cut the electoral knees from under the Democrats by making this a country that more people would want to live in. By making the voices of the people heard.
What a nightmare.
91
I'm a middle of the road democrat from the midwest, I move away from anyone with alarmist or conspiratorial tendencies. I disagree with the premise that most democrats view this as a "normal time and not a terrifying one". My non-radical friends and I agree, these are very dark times. I do feel that the future of our democracy is at stake. I feel that our institutions are extremely fragile and may collapse. I am concerned that the planet is suffering and we doubling down on contributing to the problem rather than being part of the solution. Public education seems to be teetering. Our commander in chief is inept. This has got to end or America really will crumble. To reduce this down to politics comes across as tone-deaf.
200
@Robert
I agree completely, the final nail in the coffin of Democracy is the Republican Congress itself. They have morphed into power for themselves and their donors, checks and balances indeed. McConnell was the king of this power, his Republican controlled Judicial Committee, refused to even hear a a good Supreme Court nominee to gain total control. This was not how the Constitution was written.
55
THE ARTIFICIALLY NARROWED ARGUEMENT
Mr. Douhat, why don't you mention Trump's horrid attacks on the environment, the cancellation of environmental protection laws, the gutting of the EPA and naming of incompetent businessmen who are against environmental causes as its directors, the destruction of national parks on a massive scale, the internment in what effectively are prisons of over 10 000 Latino children and toddlers...why does the debate always turn around economic issues, when other issues cry out to be mentioned? And by the way, the enormous increase of the national debt by corporate tax cuts is also a major concern. So please expand the scope of this debate.
188
@Andre Seleanu We shipped most all our manufacturing to China and largely switched from coal to natural gas for electricity production. Cars are dramatically cleaner. So, maybe the environment is not in such peril as you believe. As for the parks, I have seen the logging in Yosemite and am greatly relieved they are reducing the unnatural fuel load and dead trees which are a serious fire hazard. And you can even see the views once in a while rather than jungle overgrowth.
3
@Tom Sure, we’ve done some good things for the environment, but the vast majority of scientists agree that we haven’t done nearly enough to prevent levels of global warming that have already begun to have dire consequences and threaten catastropic consequences just a few decades from now. By the way, burning natural gas produces half as much carbon emissions as burning coal—not clean enough by far.
30
Our political discourse has been taken over by the most extreme aspects of the left and the right. You can't even run unless you appeal to those fringes. We have seen it so many times; you run in the primary as an extremist, then try and go toward the center a little to win the general election. It is obvious that the system is corrupt as well, with party officials and big donors like the Koch brothers and Soros controlling who gets to run. The media, including this outlet, has also betrayed the electorate by increasingly blurring editorial opinion with news. Most Americans just want to pursue their day to day lives, going to work, raising their families, and enjoying their day. The disaffection with presidential politics is not a recent problem and for decades not much more than 50% of the population actually cares enough to vote. Trump is neither a republican or democrat. He is a reality TV star who is a slick salesman who capitalized on the decaying political landscape. Running for president for him had no downside. As the opportunist who markets his brand, i.e., a narcissistic personality that appeals to the lowest fantasies of people who feel powerless and inconsequential, he understands that winning or losing the election would increase his profile and help him maintain attention and increase his marketability. What he will do in the future is hard to predict as what counts is essentially dominating the political scene via drama and chaos.
35
So, Ross, what you are saying is that the Democrats could more likely win if they did not talk about equality for all, including blacks, if they did not talk about legitimate pathways to citizenship for foreigners who would like to live in America, if they did not say favorable things about the me too movement, if they stayed out of the problems of transgendered people (at least vocally), and if they shut up about trying to give all babies an equal start by providing decent support for all mothers including economic and talked more about the evils of abortion. That they should only emphasize the economic insecurity, the betterment of conditions for the working class including liberal policies like higher wages for workers and favoring unions more? It seems to me that is leaving a whole lot of people out of what America is about. Would you like such an America? What about your Christian faith? Would it be compatible with such an approach? I get it that stridency on these issues turns people off, but it would be distressing if Democrats gave up on all the above "liberal" issues.
97
@Harold Johnson
No the point is that identity politics is firstly a distraction from real economic issues like moving jobs overseas so shareholders are the only benefactors and towns are gutted. Second identity politics is divisive and counter to E pluribus unum. To give Obama credit he emphasized "Out of many One" in his speeches, and got criticized from the the identity politics crowd for not signing onto their agenda.
9
Mr. Douthat argues that the problem with Trump is his style rather than the substance of his policies. Hasn’t he heard that form is inseparable from content? There is no disjunction between rhetoric and policy. The Democrats’ identity rhetoric is inseparable from their drift toward socialism. Trump’s Twitter-storms shore up his populism. Both are profoundly dangerous. If somebody still doesn’t understand the dangers of socialism after the lessons of the last century, they are immune to facts and reason. Populism hasn’t produced as many catastrophes yet but it is tearing at the fabric of global economy, threatening to destabilize whole regions of the world. I would not support Trump or Bernie were they as honey-tongued as Mr. Douthat himself. This is why I would never vote a straight partisan ticket. I really hope that the coming elections will produce a divided government, so it can be paralyzed by infighting, while the economy continues to grow.
5
@Mor
And what is so horridly socialist about the Democrat's slate? Matching the rest of the west in social and health services does not trigger immediate descent into the horrors to the east of the iron curtain. On the contrary, there is plenty historical precedent for catastrophe succeeding national populism.
37
@j my comment was precisely that rhetoric is inseparable from politics. I did not call Bernie a socialist: he called himself. You conveniently shift the conversation toward whatever actual policy proposals the Democrats have, insofar as they have any. This is called misdirection and it is a strategy Trump excels at.
2
@Mor
1) Bernie is not a Democrat because the Democrats are not a socialist party.
2) You did *not* answer the question - what is socialist about the Democrats.
You claim the lesion of history is that what - Universal Health Care - ie - Germany, Canada, Britain, Japan, Australia...doesn’t work?
Really....who knew? They sure don’t.
17
One myth that must be exploded is that there are a lot of Midwestern white people who voted twice for Obama and then for Trump. To be sure, there are always some swing voters. But their numbers have been dwindling in recent cycles of intensifying partisanship. So why did some states deliver for Obama, then Trump, or more to the point some counties or Congressional districts? Differential turnouts, that's why. In 2008 and 2012, Blacks, other minorities and young people turned out in droves to vote for Obama. In 2016, millions of them stayed home, while more marginal, generally older white voters were energized by Trump's appeal to turn out. In fact, Hillary got more than nine million FEWER votes than Obama, while Trump only lagged McCain a bit.
50
We have two major problems in this country:
1. One of our political parties have given up on the idea of making the country a better place to live for all but a very wealthy few. They have also given up on any attempt at practicing democracy. They have given up entirely on lawful behavior, on honesty, or reality based decision making and other prerequisites to competent governance. They have, however, fully adopted pandering.
This makes actual governance to make the country better, as opposed to asset stripping it, "challenging".
2. There is an existential threat from human caused climate change, that must be addressed to preserve some semblance of our lifestyles. Any sane politician needs to be paying attention to this issue, not lying about it. Waiting until major parts of Florida are uninhabitable before deciding to do anything should not be viewed as the optimum choice.
Mr. Douthat should think a minute about how he would begin to address our nation's responses to climate change with anything like our current Republican Party holding any power at all.
4
I think this article misses the point. Liberal and moderate conservative Americans are scared BECAUSE of Trump’s “twitter authoritarianism”, race baiting, fear mongering, etc. The fear that has grown within the vast majority of us has nothing to do with his policy positions. This is not an issue of thinking one side got “lucky” because of the President’s authoritarian behavior and now will have a chance to enact their policies because of that. Nor is it an issue of which political party gets bragging rights that they won an election. It’s an issue of our fundamental values as a country coming under attack, regardless of policy positions, and the need to forcefully denounce any that try to attack our free society or which attempt to vilify entire groups of people.
This article, in my interpretation at least, suggests these behaviors by the president are all “unlucky” distractions for the Republican Party and not what they really are, a fundamental attack on our country’s long held values.
142
"A real center-right majority could be built on economic populism and an approach to national identity that rejects both wokeness and white nationalism"? You can't be serious.
There is no chance of that ever happening any time in the near or even the distant future because:
This is not the election of 1896;
The country is, and has been, left of center for decades, despite the Reagan years, which means it likes the FDR and Johnson programs: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. In fact, if you brought back the Works Progress Administration, the majority of the country would like that, too;
Our country, despite the miserable history of Jim Crow, has always been less racist and white nationalist than it appears; it's been the laws passed by the racists and white nationalists that have tilted the balance. That means there had always been much more support for the downtrodden and racially excluded at large in the population, which is why the national conversation can quickly reflect big changes like the civil rights movement and gay marriage;
A majority of the country understands that our technology connects the globe rather than divides it, so that any sort of economic nationalism is much more difficult to do because everyone in the world knows what the other country has in terms of production, resources. You can't bluff about things like that anymore.
No center-right majority can exist given these facts. The GOP knows that, which is why it cheats at everything to win.
114
The obvious reason for the disconnect between Twitter and real political campaigns is that Twitter, by design, amplifies the most obnoxious voices in the conversation. As for Douthat's fantasy that Trump followed through on his populist promises rather than simply signing the bills the Republican congress placed in front of him: that assumes Trump and his team have far more legislative skill than they actually have, which if pretty close to zero. It also assumes Republicans in Congress would have forgone their agenda instead of leading Trump around by the nose.
35
Ross, you presume that liberals are “lucky” because of Trump’s incompetence. You ignore the fact that many of us are primarily motivated by a desire to see our country thrive. Had Trump governed in a manner that put this country on a sustainable, positive trajectory, we might have been chastened politically, but the sting would have been offset by the knowledge that our children would be better off. Instead, the strong economy you reference has been put on overdrive with a reckless tax cut, the chances of environmental catastrophe have increased, and we are forced to witness the Leader of the Free World fanning the flames of racism and intolerance for cheap political gain. No Ross, we liberals are not “lucky” that Trump has been such a disaster. We love this country and are determined to restore some semblance of checks and balances.
262
Trump is his own worst enemy. After Tuesday Mueller will come back into focus.
3
Some conservatives are eagerly mistaking Trump’s ruthlessness, narcistic personality and his visceral ability to amplify people fears and hate with some sort of genius. These kind of primitive and instinctive abilities are of psychopatic nature and have little to do with intelligence. Sadly, these kind of instincts just fit the nativist and racist nature of American electorate, the same way Adolf H found his personal prejudices and hatred resonated with public sentiments.
Both were genuinely authentic because their personal message went straight to public gut’s fears and prejudices. They arouse emotions that are difficult to contain, we know how it ended in Europe, but the American story may have just started.
We’ll see next Tuesday if America has the wisdom necessary to stop the potential catastrophy.
6
"Democrats’ strongest appeal, their more middle-class-friendly economic agenda"?
Why is this an "appeal"? It's a position and one that clearly distinguishes Trump and the "Republicans" from the Democrats.
The party of the .001% vs the 99% of the rest of us!
5
Ross, In the 1976 election, not particularly fond of candidate Carter's platitudinous campaign, and admiring what I saw as the practical experience, and deep patriotism of President Ford, I for the only time in my life, voted Republican for President.
Since then I've watched from afar as the dog whistles of racism became a part of that parties agenda, as economic reality was tossed aside, as the Republican got into bed with extreme nationalists, militarists, and religious fundamentalists, in order to hide their actual agenda by fomenting the culture war that you aid and abet at every turn.
Now the party that gave us the fourteenth amendment disavowed it, the party whose leader (Eisenhower) warned against the military industrial complex, now embraces it, the party that gave us our first environmentalist President, T. R., makes fun of environmentalist, and works hard to despoil what he tried to preserve. Nixon tried for healthcare and reached out to China, Reagan feared the increase of debt, and raised taxes, and the list goes on.
Now none of these people could last a day in that party it's having embraced money and power for their own sake, and risen to a new fascism in response.
Nearly forty years of malicious lies, and pandering to the fringes of the extreme right, have given us your "Leader" and the lackeys who enable him.
Please stop blaming the liberals, you and yours did it to all of us.
10
Shorter Douthat: If Trump wasn't Trump and the Democrats weren't Democrats then things would be different.
I'm gobsmacked by his insight.
9
I have always held that Trump is a great gift to the Democratic Party. If HRC had won, it would have been disastrous for Democrats, as HRC would have been attacked endlessly and Democrats would be losing in a big way in the election Tuesday.
But the clearly frightening thing about Trump is not just how regressive, racist, and mean he is, but he has demonstrated how a very significant number of Americans share in his despicable ideas and attitudes. He has gone a long way to demonstrating that a large part of America is still mired in the Stone Age.
7
Imagine if we had a Republican Party that had any morals or respect for the American people and would work with Democrats to make our government actually function again.
5
@Jacquie If they had morals they would be forced to retire or switch party affiliation because they don't debase themselves fully upon the altar of Trump.
3
I loathe Trump as much as anyone but the not-so-surprising number of oh-so-self-righteous, the sky-is-falling comments here only prove Mr. Douthat's point.
So the only thing worse than an evil person being in charge is one that is evil AND smart? We should be so grateful.
1
Nonsense! The only person who is the beneficiary of multiple lucky events is Donald J. Trump! First, he was the beneficiary of having no clear, anointed Republican in the primaries and was able to split the votes. He ran against possibly the worst Democratic politician in many cycles and lost the popular vote. Suppose Donald J. Trump had inherited 2 hot wars, an economy in the toilet as his predecessor did AND approached those huge problems in his divisive, imperious, racist, tone deaf, base rousing fashion. His approval rating would be in the 20s. He was the beneficiary of an economy essentially healed by his predecessor, no hot wars to fight and he has had zero major catastrophes (not including hurricanes here...I am talking something like a major attack on the U.S. or an economic collapse as his two predecessors yet to deal with). Let’s see how he does when the inevitable, unpredictable catastrophe occurs...His run of luck has been unparalleled.
3
I've got a feeling many Democrats are more nauseous than they are desperate. Trump will do that to you.
2
What if the Republican party cared about the people, got them effective healthcare? What if Trump were Obama and John Kennedy rolled into one? We'd have two Democratic Parties. What-ifness is a silly exercise.
1
Mr. Douthat, have you not yet noticed, Mr. Trump is a conman, a crook and not a statesman. Sooner or later the chickens will come home to roost.
To not send the Republicans packing would be shameful for the nation. How could it happen in an old and proud Democracy, a wealthy nation with only homemade problems? Why would they re-elect a nihilist government?
3
Counterfactuals? In other words if Trump didn’t act like Trump, but like someone else? Right. And if Pol Pot was not a genocidal madman, but a philanthropist....
1
I’m hoping the electorate will let legislators know what they really think. Due to listening to lobbyists instead of their voters legislators have a distorted view of how conservative the country is.
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/11/study-congress-overestimates-the-publics-conservatism.html
So basically, Mr. Douthat is saying that 45 acting like a jerk is helping Democrats. That we should be grateful that our president is a fear mongering racist, sexist bully because maybe that will help us win some seats back.
How cynical. Nobody's "winning" here--except the guy cashing in on his increased celebrity. And we all know who that is.
4
The sanguinity that Ross opens this article with is seriously misplaced. We have a president who slanders all manner of people on a daily basis, gins up "Emergencies!" that don't exist, turns the rest of us against those who support him in this, and helps every racist, xenophobic subgroup (I do mean "sub"!) feel that they have his tacit approval and support.
Our president is a well-oiled gear in a fascist conspiracy machine, meshing perfectly with Faux Nooze (the original and perpetually fake news), right-wing internet, social media, and talk radio. Hate groups are again on the rise in America, and quite easily arming themselves to the teeth. If your reaction to this is "Ho hum, why get upset?", you need a head reset.
3
Another Conservative suckered in by Trump, taking him at his word when his history indicated that his word was worthless. You really thing you're safe because you're a "good journalist"?
Trumps "gift" to Liberals was showing the world what the alternative to Liberalism is: xenophobia, tyranny, oligarchy, a government run media, a populace kept in fear and divided, and the country at the mercy of the whims of the"leader".
You can always move to North Korea
2
Trump seduces his fans the way a 19 year-old Lothario trolls for teenie-boppers in a low budget biker movie. With pretty lies.
"Hey, you look cute in that poodle skirt. Now why don't you ditch that Stacy Abrams chick? She ain't qualified to hang with us.
"Here, pull on these leather chaps and hop on. Me and Steve King are going to Australia to meet up with the rest of the clan. Maybe have a really big party, all our own, r-e-a-l-l-y exclusive!
"C'mon! I'm not gonna bite ya!
"I've got c-a-n-d-y . . .!"
So, Trump governs from closer to the middle and his supporters don't get primaried from the right? Neat trick.
My view: the majority is slightly left of center, which you can see in the national popular vote -- and in the current polling on the House races.
The impact of the electoral college and the construction of the Senate makes things redder, and that's going to persist for a while.
But, with the Governors going more Democratic, we may see less voter suppression so there seems to be a path towards the Federal Government reflecting the center left will of the people.
9
At this point, we need to start with Civility, understand that in compromise there are answers that all sides can agree on, albeit grudgingly and know that after a year of Trump as entertainment, we could use some peace and quiet. Democrats have to "Go High" look at the issues that truly effect most peoples lives and come up with easily explainable easily implemented programs. We can touch on some tough things but understand that they may not be 100 days issues. Changing the Electral College and gun control are not one of those issues. Helping with health care, a new tax bill that adresses our deficit and debt and helps the middle class, and an infrastructure bill that everyone who drives on our roads will understand. Then the Country wins, whomever espuses it.
2
There is nothing wrong with liberalism, at all, unless like capitalism or socialism, it is left to run rampant. Why can't we be rational, folks. We need healthcare-all of us. We need roads, bridges and clean water-all of us. We need each other-whether some like it or not. So, let's vote for people who will stop dic.ing around and get some things done. I think we need to vote every last Republican out of office and start over. Ok, some Dems as well but there is no equivalence here. The Rs have mucked it up so many times so lets do what we need to do and VOTE THEM OUT!
13
Mr. Douthat gives an even more improbable version of John Lennon's "Imagine." He writes: "imagine" that Trump pursued a "big infrastructure bill," "tilted his tax cut more toward middle-class families," "spent more time bullying Silicon Valley into inshoring factory jobs" and "made lower Medicare drug prices a signature issue rather than a last-minute pre-election gambit."
In that event, we might as well "imagine" that Trump was an intelligent and decent human being following progressive policies -- instead of following the typical Republican playbook.
I think that "imagining there's no countries or religion" is probably less of a pipe dream.
12
11/4/18 I agree wholeheartedly with your comments. I am a registered Democrat who lives in Maryland with a fine Republican, bipartisan Governor. I consider myself to be more or less a center-right person. I believe in personal freedom, paying my bills, and respecting indivicuals. I am embarassed by our President.
4
There's little to no dissent in these comments. Mr. Douthat is wrong. Trump is wrong. The 49% who elected Trump is wrong.
Mr. Douthat has a point that it seems is being completely missed here. 49% of the populace was unhappy enough with the liberal orthodoxy to vote for Trump. Even a fumbling Trump isn't out of the game. A better leader might have 'flattened liberalism'.
The comments here are smug. We were right. Look! We are being proven right. No. Just fortunate.
1
Republicans did, a long time ago, exist who thought almost as how Mr. Douthat imagines a thinking Trump. They were called Rockefeller Republicans.
Republicans have played a politically and socially dangerous game for over 50 years. They forced the moderate Rockefeller Republicans to leave the party, gave their souls to cultural, religious and social bigots and bullies and sold their souls to those whom they would emulate and by whom they would be accepted.
To quote Bruce Bartlett in a past NYT Op-Ed (July 21, 2016): ”The Republican Party today is basically a coalition of grievances united by one thing: hatred. Hatred of immigrants, hatred of minorities, hatred of intellectuals, hatred of gays, feminists and many other groups too numerous to mention. What binds them together is hatred of Democrats because they are welcoming to every group that Republicans reject.
14
Assuming Douthat realizes "wokeness' refers to social justice why would he think that "an approach to national identity that rejects both wokeness and white nationalism" would be any kind of a good thing and would be a winning strategy? Does he think that a center-right coalition that is against social justice should be promoted?
Actually he seems to have swallowed Republican Kool-
Aid that promotes what-aboutism to excuse the regressive policies of that party.
6
Dubya and the GOP handed Obama and the democrats a complete mess and a falling sword. The GDP had gone negative by 10 percent and 750000 jobs were being lost every month. Obama and the democrats passed a much needed and sufficiently large economic stimulus bill and produced 8 straight years of growth and economic recovery, displaying great crisis leadership. Obama also tried to bring the deficit down.He is one of the greatest presidents.The democrats also get the credit for the growth and drop in employment in the last 2 years.It has come about in spite of an irresponsible and reckless GOP, out of touch with the middle class,worsening the deficit by 2 trillion and giving themselves, the ultrawealthy and their business donors a huge tax break.The democrats passed a historic affordable care act that ensured much broader access to health care than before, and coverage for pre-existing conditions,and also passed a tax bill that helped the middle class and tried to address economic inequality.Obama and the democrats led the country calmly and steadily through an economic crisis.Obama tried to promote democracy in the world.He did not praise Putin and other dictators,nor was he submissive to Putin.Unauthorized immigration dropped sharply and immigrants were treated humanely.The fight against climate change was going in the right direction.We did not have the spate of white supremacist violence and hate that we now do since Trump and the GOP. Inflation and interest rates were low.
8
Your first counter-factual would have posed a real threat to Democrats.
Your second counter-factual posits that President Trump actually is a Democrat who governs as such. That is, a win for Democrats, a loss for Democratic politicians, and an utter bewilderment of 'where do we go from here' for Republican politicians.
Democrats didn't get unlucky in 2016. We got Hillary, on a Republican-like 'it's her turn' in which Obama and the party leaders cleared the path for her. She was an awful candidate -- status quo, zero charisma, tied herself even more tightly to the bankers with her talk-for-cash-in-her-own-pocket speaking tour while all but an official candidate, and her dynastic claim -- all totally against the mood of the electorate. She had a primary, only because a third-party candidate, whom the Democratic Party establishment couldn't shoo out of the race, decided to run as a Dem.
It's ironic: Hillary wanted to run against Donald; Donald wanted to run against Hillary. Hillary might well have beaten one of the staid old-school Rs who ran against Trump in the primary. Jeb! might have been her ideal opponent, although she might well have beaten Rubio or Cruz.
Lets get real about what has happened.
#1- Infrastructure has gone no where and it was a big promise
#2- Illegals to the border more then ever and under Obama reduced number.
#3- Drug prices not influenced except for a very small area )less then 10%) when given out in offices ) 90% of drugs not effected. Companies can up prices overseas and our prices go up in this area. Hardly a help.
#4-Tax cut benefits corporations (85%) and workers 15%.
#5- Iran policy upped the gas prices erasing any tax cut savings to middle class.
#6- Environmental laws erased and pollution increasing
#7- Any health care improvements erased and more expensive and less efficient care now.
#8- Tariffs causing price increases and overall job losses.
11
If democrates take the House they inevitably will test Trump’s populism by proposing infrastructure legislation paid by increased tax on wealthy, and re-building Obamacare.
We’ll see Trump’s populist fakery on full display.
5
One doesn't have to be lucky to outshine an opposition party whose "Republican" stalwarts include the likes of Trump, Roy Moore and Joe Arpaio.
3
Yes, we are lucky Trump isn’t even more Trump than he is.
1
Still having fantasies about reformicons I see. The notion that Trump would push such an agenda is unbelievably foolish. Yes I know he pretended during the campaign. Did you actually believe him?
It's not what the donor class wants and guess what? He's a member of said class He bragged to guests at Mar-a-Lago about how much money they (and he) were gonna get. After having said he himself would be hurt by tax bill. You believed him?!?
Much has been said about the iron grip he has on his party. No republican politician dare oppose him. Hmm. The donor class are generally loving what he does.
Not just taxes and regulations. They love seeing right-wing operatives placed on the Supreme Court. It's not abortion that motivates them it's having right-wing, extremist, activist judges striking down any legislation that constrains them.
They love Citizens United because it helps them increase their political power. They loved the infamous Lily Ledbetter decision where the right-wing bloc on the Supreme Court twisted logic into previously unknown shapes to protect corporations who wanted to discriminate against women. They loved Gorsuch's outrageous decision that a trucker can be fired for saving his own life.
The only real issue the donor class has with Trump is on trade. Otherwise he's done what they want. This could have something to do with the rock solid support that Republican politicians give Trump.
And then there's poor Ross, dreaming his reformicon dreams.
6
Referring to the "hysteria of liberals" reveals Douthat's bias from the outset. It is a pejorative and dismissive term — as when used to describe a woman who is angry ("She's just being hysterical") and implies you don't have to take the person's words seriously.
The article then ascribes the supposed favorable position of the Democrats as due to "luck" — when what Douthat actually reveals as the cause is the misguided and improper actions of the President. That's not "luck." Trump's words and actions are why we oppose him.
11
There are times when it does not matter whether a majority or a minority of people have the commanding ruling voice. If the ruling voice is indecent and immoral, selfish and sadistic....then the ruling few or the many......are totally wrong.
What's the difference between a Christian and an atheist.....and the difference between separation of church and state?
Blessed be those that believe in His name: who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
2
Since this is an if/then exercise, here's the one I have posited from the beginning. If the Republicans had wanted a conservative/values agenda they could have gone for Rubio, or Cruz, or Kasich .. but they didn't. The base overwhelmingly went with the bomb thrower. Trump was elected BECAUSE he is an undisciplined child. Not in SPITE of it.
Ross trots out the old the old chimera that the man would somehow become an adult once he was in office. You still don't get it. That's not what the voters WANTED! They had other (adult) choices. They voted for the selfish, mean, nasty kid on the playground. End of story.
4
Donald Trump is a deeply flawed being. Because he has money (illegally obtained), he believes he can follow his insidious instincts. Those who support him admire the bully, the loud-mouth, the I'll do as I please/hurt as I please mind-set. His one contribution is highlighting the hatred and racism which flourish in this country. Resentment, entitlement, and 'take care of me' expectations have undermined our entire country! Let's turn this upside down; only we can do it! As Adam say below, let the fresh air in.
PS: When the lights go out, when computers spit back at their users, when water is not a readily available commodity, when airplanes crash more often than not, and when a cell phone never works, maybe conservative Americans will understand the contributions of immigrants. They, literally, keep the country going.
4
What will it take before you and the other Trumpologists can read the writing on the wall? Trump has broadcast who he is loud and clear from the moment he descended his golden escalator. Why you choose to believe otherwise is beyond me.
4
"One of the interesting features of this election cycle has been the gulf, often vast, between the hysteria of liberals who write about politics for a living and the relative calm of Democrats who practice it."
Hysteria?! Eleven Jews massacred in a synagogue, two African-Americans gunned down while shopping, and 2 more at a yoga studio in Florida - all this week - and you're writing about liberal hysteria? What's the difference between hysteria and outrage in your dictionary?
Mr. Douthat, your paper reports today that only one party is practicing voter suppression and denial of voter rights. Would this be part of that liberal hysteria about which you write?
Over there at the Post, Max Boot and George Will are telling everyone to vote Democrat everywhere, just to restore balance (checks-and-balances) to the separation of powers. That must be part of the liberal hysteria and relative Democratic calm, too.
6
Imagine! If only "Wishes were horses, then beggars would ride"! You conservatives love to live in an alternate reality where you can have your cake and eat it too. Just imagine if you could give massive tax cuts to the wealthy, set up an economy that concentrates wealth in the hands of a few, but everyone was happy! Wouldn't that be swell! There's even a name for your Book of Fairy Tales: Trickle Down Tales. But sadly, like all fairy tales, they don't match the real world.
In the real world Ross, conservative policies have eviscerated the working and middle class, while ratcheting up their fears, and dividing them to more easily conquer them. The Democrats haven't been "lucky", they've been tone deaf to what's been happening to their erstwhile constituency for decades, and a big chunk of that constituency got fed up with being ignored and sent a big Expletive Deleted to the Establishment by voting for a loud, uncouth, misogynistic, racist, con artist because they saw him as outside the Establishment. Every time he thumbs his nose at the mainstream these disaffected voters love it, despite all his obvious flaws. If you want to talk about "luck", it's the Republicans who are lucky that Trump decided to bring them to the dance, otherwise they'd be sitting on the outside too, which is why Republicans kiss up to him.
If the Dems want to win, they'd better get back to their New Deal roots, not count on luck.
5
The Democrats "biggest liability ... is the way the party’s base is pulling liberalism way left of the middle on issues of race and culture and identity" ???
Wow!!! Imagining, 'as' an 'accomplishable' reality, a nation in which ALL men ... and women, too! ... are afforded equal rights and opportunity -- not just the fiction in a proclamation that it is -- a proclamation hypocritically 'vandalized' since it was 'put to paper' in 1776 … is "way left," radical even???
And "wokeness," 'if not' a 'rough equivalent,' is 'on par' with "white nationalism"???
Well … golly, gee … I better give thanks to trump for 'derailing' the ('exponentially' radical) "center-right"(!!!) 'empire' of your dreams, Mr. Douthat.
1
Everybody watches Rick and Morty I guess, even Ross Douthat!
My simple question, ladies and gentlemen is: is is really necessary to discuss the value of one party vs. another after these last 2 years? I mean whatever possible good will existed between them has been dead for so long now that there really isn't anything to discuss anymore. I don't need to read another column or discuss with someone the merits of the Republicans (who have none) against those of the Democrats (who have few but at least have SOME). I no longer care about knowing all the details of a candidate because I will NEVER again vote for someone who deigns to call themselves a Republican. What little virtue that moniker might once have allowed for no longer exists and ANYONE who could possibly vote in support of this current federal government is my ENEMY and not merely someone with political differences and the reason is that they are seeking to take away from me the rights and privileges and dignity that I, as an American, should be entitled to as a matter of principle. End of story.
6
You mean imagine Donald Trump running government like a Democrat?
That's rich. He may have tried to appropriate for himself many of the good policies that his predecessor, Barack Obama, introduced. That doesn't mean that the rest of us wouldn't have seen it for what it was, or that the GOP or his enraged base would have supported it.
Trump's presidency has always been sustained by the most perilous and fragile support. One breath of air and it threatens to topple over....
7
Ross,
We liberals aren't lucky. Conservatives like you aren't lucky. America as a whole is not lucky.
Donald Trump is just a sad, unfortunate human being and he is our president.
And the country suffers and the widening divisions may never close. Yes, they were always there to some degree, but the test of enlightened leadership is to try to bridge them.
It is going to take more than luck to fix this mess.
20
Hmmm, yeah, well I can't characterize ANYTHING that Trump has done for the country as "lucky" for any of us, liberals or conservatives. "Lucky" would have been Madame President Clinton.
12
And the Dems would be a lot luckier if the press had never covered Trump's outrageous campaign for the nomination like a bunch of tittering teenagers " Wow! Did you see that?! Look what he's doing now!" It was like watching wrestling matches that could not be turned off.
And it persists. Stop. He feeds off it. Instead follow the admonition of Lynn from New York who in response to your editorial board piece today said:
"Instead of turning voters off by treating elections as a sports contest, treat it as the substantive choice that it is. Cover the issues, the votes candidates have made in Congress (eg did they vote to overturn Citizens United through the Disclose Act [btw yes, if they are a Democrat; obstructed that if they are a Republican], the specific policy proposals (not the slogans) of the candidates. "
Yes, voters can be turned off getting down into the weeds so go there in small doses. Start early in the campaigns. Don't let falsehoods stand in the belief that they are blatantly self-evident. Valid information, drip by drip, can wear away the disinformation and distortion of reality that is rampant in Trump rallies.
Take a page from Reagan with Trump's fabrications ..."There you go again..." then nail him with the real facts.
17
As long as we're playing the imagine game, just imagine what this country's politics might have been like over the last 45 years if abortion had never been made a keystone issue. By either side.
6
@laolaohu
......... if it had remained, as it should be, a PRIVATE issue between patient and doctor.
2
I keep thinking of a scene from the first women's march, when a painfully patient group of minority women tried to have a reasonable conversation with a Trump supporter. "Why can't you just give him a chance?" the right-wing woman pleaded. "He hasn't even started yet. Let him try."
I was amazed she claimed not to see why millions of people didn't want to "give him a chance" to "try" the abhorrent ideas he talked about every. single. day.
What I don't understand is how someone like Ross glosses over real, bigoted policy that all started as real, consequential words. It's great you're proud of Democrats for running on level-headed policy, but why pretend scrubbing Twitter would take away the Muslim ban, the transgender ban, the erasure of minorities on the census, the concentration camps at the border, the criminalization of immigrants, the undermining of voter's rights, the sabotage of health care, and of course - the gosh-where-did-that-come-from spike in hate crimes...
13
Once again Ross Doughat, like other Republican or libertarian gives tepid condemnation of Trump's moral imbecility. He writes :"In the leftward reaches of my Twitter feed the hour is late, the end of democracy nigh, the Senate and the Supreme Court illegitimate" without noting that those on the rightward reaches continue to spew xenophobic, racist, and nationalist tripe. And act on it. He continues: "To understand this good fortune, consider two counterfactuals. In the first, the last 21 months proceeded in exactly the same fashion — with the strongest economy since the 1990s, full employment almost nigh, ISIS defeated, no new overseas wars or major terrorist attacks" Exactly the same fashion as what? Continued nonsense from Trump and his supporters? The economic factors had their beginnings in Obama's last term. Than ISIS is defeated is just not true, in abeyance perhaps, but the imagine that the ideology is no longer active is absurd. "No new foreign wars" is on target; we just have the old ones. As far as terrorist attacks go, excuse me? What was the bomb mailing episode? Oh, yeah, attempted terrorist attack. But to say such in the light of the mass murder at the Tree of Life Synagogue is irresponsible and callous. What was that if not a terrorist attack? This piece is shameful.
24
"...no new overseas wars"
Is that really the bar you set, Ross?
10
A truly pointless column - venting frustration that Trump is not the president Douthat wants, and that he has not enacted an agenda of which Douthat would have approved. But perhaps you can take comfort, Mr Douthat, in the fact that most liberals actually don't think Trump's presidency has been in any way "lucky".
9
Mr. Douthat:
I was going to write a lengthy reply to this fantasy. However, as I looked out my window on a glorious Fall morning several pigs flew by and I suddenly was struck by the brilliant logic behind it. I realized that if only everyone was someone else we would be living in an alternate universe.Imagine what history would be like if we had only known this sooner.
11
"If it's Sunday, it must be Ross Douthat with another 'counterfactual' (whatever that is) column". I guess my "wokeness" must not be up to par but I just don't understand how RD can find a way to excuse Trump and the GOP for their assault on some basic democratic underpinnings, things like truth, fairness, and reason. You shouldn't have to be a "liberal hysteric" to be alarmed by Donald's I-wannabe-maximum-leader-for-life shenanigans and the misanthropic direction he and his besotted mateys are steering the boat. In case it hasn't dawned on RD, Trump is constitutionally incapable of taking the more sensible "counterfactual" courses he suggests, instead relying on pure gut instinct and the thrill of bullying, as only an unintelligent egomaniac can. Yes, the Democrats should be the beneficiary here but don't gloat perversely and suggest that their potential success is based solely on Trump's awfulness and ineptitude - there are many, many Democrats running thoughtful and positive campaigns about real, true issues. And please, please don't think "if only Trump would listen to my advice, we would totally overwhelm that damnable caravan of liberal hocus-pocus and take us back to the good old days for good".
10
But the point is that Trump didn't do any of these things that might have represented a different person. That is exactly why he has threatened so much of what is decent and democratic. How can one even imagine he is what he isn't? This is utterly gaslighting, or just baloney.
5
The lucky ones are Trump and the GOP. Their governing has been very chaotic, destructive and disastrous.Law and order and democracy has collapsed, with GOP white supporters attacking synagogues and sending pipe bombs to democrats and critics, and a deranged Trump and the GOP stoking racism and hate towards immigrants and minorities. Trade tariffs have increased business and consumer costs.The GOP tax bill increased taxes on many, especially in the blue states, and is a total disaster. They are not even talking about it any more, after recklessly and irresponsibly adding 2 trillion to the deficit. The stock market went off a cliff in october after law and order collapsed and Trump appeased a barbaric Saudi arabian prince. His tariffs are a total disaster, increasing consumer and business costs and only widening the trade deficit. Nafta 2.0 is an eyewash.The S and P 500 steadily grew by 22 percent a year including dividends in Obama's 8 years. Bonds yielded 3-4 percent and as much as 6 percent in 2011. Since Trump and the GOP the S and P 500 has threatened to tank anytime.It has struggled to produce 10 percent a year.The Dow Jones index dropped 1400 points a day in October.Bond yields have gone negative. 52 percent of the middle class has stocks and bonds. Their performance is zero to negative.A conservative stock and bond portfolio has returned very little since Trump and the GOP's hostile takeover with Putin's help, gerrymandering and voter disenfrancisment and suppression.
5
Trump could have flattened liberalism. Instead, they did it to themselves.
2
It's not that the dems are lucky, it's that the country is unlucky.
You expected Trump to turn into a statesman? Very silly!
4
It was not until the Republicans tried to take away the Affordable Care Act that Americans realized that they treasured their health insurance. The question going forward is now how it will be expanded - will it be Medicare for All or some other improvements to make health care more economical. We’ve come a long way baby.
3
Trump is an obviously corrupt man who has been actively continuing to try to make corrupt uses of the presidency. Trump clearly could care less about seriously addressing trade issues in a manner that is coherent. Or for that matter protecting Americans from fat cats overturning the whole regulatory regime in the country. Trump sees himself as a nationalist leader. Which places him clearly in the white supremist camp. The 2018 election needs to reign in Trump and the Republicans. If not fascist elements in the country will continue to gain in strength and confidence.
6
"...no new overseas wars or major terrorist attacks..."
Old overseas wars don't count? A serious uptick in domestic terrorist attacks are irrelevant? There were no "new" foreign wars or major foreign terrorists attacks for eight years under Obama. In fact, it's Obama's economy now. Trump certainly had nothing to do with it.
Douthat's argument is that if Trump was a real leader, or even half of one, the Democrats would be in real trouble.
Ergo, lucky Democrats?
7
As a Democrat, I'm not feeling very lucky.
5
So, liberals are fortunate that we have a bollixed fool for a President. I guess I get that. What I don't get and never have is that with his own fortunate position as a columnist for the New York Times, Mr. Douthat could have tried--at least tried--to educate liberals about the real conservative truth. And this truth is complex but enormously significant, which is that a liberal free market cannot operate alone and without limits, just as untrammeled freedom in personal life does in fact have consequences to society. An abortifacient society may actually miss those human beings it excludes from history. But to speak this deep conservative truth requires patience and an ability to see, say, in Hamiltonian policy a root of truth that a clamorous, impatient society such as ours so frequently misses. Here is the simple truth: "liberals" in Mr. Douthat's lexicon profit from a presidential personality utterly free from the truth. Does the country? Of course not.
2
What if Trump was a real populist and did all these liberal things.
I am sorry, Ross Douthat, we know by now that this would never ever happen. Purel fantasy. Trump lied about populism to use it as a wedge. The intent was to deceit. Instead, every single policy was extreme conservative. His drug initiative is also a deceit and the reaults may be far from positive.
9
Such a misguided perspective. Trump's popularity would be ever so much higher if he wasn't so imcompetent. And that makes me lucky?
5
Ah the odd fantasy where racism and oligarchy are not in fact the beating heart of the modern Republican Party. Sure that could be true in some science fiction universe, but it isn't true in this one. And the "culture warriors of the left" is and always has been an oversold meme. "Politically correct" is a phrase coined by racist hate mongerers trying to marginalize anyone who calls them out for racism. We live in a country deeply shaped by it's relationship to race and racism and pretending we could be having this election in a way that would elide that pays no attention to how we actually got here in the first place. Have you already forgotten that Trump got his political career off the ground as a birther?
7
Sir, whether by ignoring or through obliviousness, your views seem desperately uninformed. You seem to believe there are no critical developments which if left unaddressed will deliver terrible outcomes. But in the real world things are happening; moments of truth approaching a step at a time. From erosion of foundations of economic stability to erosion of foundations of American democracy to erosion of foundations of international relations, partnerships, diplomacy to erosion of the thin protections remaining to our world's accommodating environment there is plenty to be informed, and concerned, about. And this without mentioning the erosion of the achieved levels of morality here and across the globe.
I am an Independent. The I is intentionally capitalized. Neither liberal nor conservative is close to appropriate to categorize me. I imagine your monolithic view of who and what "liberals" are fits nicely for you. But it only hides from yourself your own deeply myopic perspectives. I recommend you pause and look at what is happening from the eyes of someone completely without partisan attachments and perspective. There is much happening each with real consequences.
3
To paraphrase that great philosopher, Donald Rumsfeld:
"You get the President you have, the the one you wish you had."
1
You couldn't be more wrong about there being "no major terrorist attacks" in the past 21 months. We have had several. They have mostly been committed by right wing, home grown terrorists who believe that Trump and the Republican Party are validating their deadly attacks.
8
Oh Ross. You can't admit the only party pushing for those great ideas are Democrats. The GOP is Trumpism now. You need to get woke to that fact.
5
Trump has been called mentally ill so many times in comments, tweets, posts, etc. No one seems to ever entertain the theory that his populism is based on one thing and only one thing and it is very deliberate. That one thing is scaring the people who would vote for him into believing that non citizens are coming to take over our country. This is his unique evil. That everything he stands for, all his populist policies are based on this one evil thought because scared people can be counted on to forgive him anything including lying about giving them a big tax cut. That the people he is scaring with the fear of others are turning that fear into violence against American citizens that they also see as others is nothing but a nuisance to Trump because it depresses Republican vote totals is a screaming, flashing red warning that Trump's populism is in no way a good thing for anyone person or any one party. Everything about it is dangerous, destructive and wrong. Nothing can redeem it and it is not an opportunity for anyone. It is the possible end of everything we stand for as a country.
4
In other words, the Republican party that has been coopted by Trump would have done better if Trump did not behave as Trump.
4
You mean what would have happened if Trump wasn't a criminal and the GOP had acted like a responsible political party, hopes for a liberal agenda would be dead? Maybe, maybe not. Unfortunately, Trump is a criminal and the Republicans are fully behind their capo, which makes your argument entirely moot. As for liberals being in a lather, well, when Trump sends thousands of troops to the southern border to repel a non-existent threat, perhaps they have reasonable grounds for suspecting even more dangerous stunts in the future. Trump would be an easy opponent if he played by the rules. But he never has and he never will.
4
“…Pulling liberalism way left of the middle…” Really? I seem to recall a time when the Democratic Speaker of the House and Republican President actually spoke to each other. The came Newt, followed on by Mitch! I think your statement fails to reflect that “conservatism” has been pulled way to the right of Middle; so far to the right that the middle fell off the edge: “Our goal is to make him a one term president,” or “Mr. President, you will not fill this Supreme Court vacancy.”
The unspoken false equivalencies in your argument grants an undeserved sense of disdain on the right towards those of us on the left who advocate for civility in civil government. This is not leftist extremism, it is Civics. You should try it.
9
So glad ISIS has been defeated and the USA has nothing to do with the 14 million starving people in Yemen, the most peaceful place on the planet Earth,
Mission Accomplished Ross. It is all good since 2016..
6
When Douthat says that "...the party’s base is pulling liberalism way left of the middle on issues of race and culture and identity," one has to wonder just how racist he believes Americans are. "Way left of center?" Since when is accepting people as equals regardless of their race an extreme position?
9
@USS Johnston
Hey, I've read that if I'm willing to compromise on taxes, but completely unwilling to discuss racism and slavery, I'm a liberal activist--way off in leftie la-la land.
I used to think I lived in a country where all we did was talk about taxes--what programs we should pursue, how we're going to pay for them, how much national debt should we shoulder while we're paying for stuff like health care, infrastructure improvements, education, etc. etc.
Before the election, I didn't give much thought to 'identity politics.' I didn't realize the right wingers were seething with rage when people got a little too PC. Sometimes, even I would get a little irritated with the PC Police, but I didn't get all bent out of shape if somebody called me out for using the term 'Oriental' instead of the new, preferred, 'Asian.' l just said, OK, no more 'Oriental.' How hard is that?
You do realize that it's right-wing media that's done this to us, right? The message is: all the left cares about is identity politics, taking everybody's guns away, and turning us into a socialist state where people are persecuted for their religious beliefs.
That all came as one gigantic surprise to this liberal Democrat, let me tell you.
1
In other words, if Trump weren’t Trump, things would be different. Duh.
9
The Trump counterfactual implies Trump would cease being a Republican and become a right-leaning Democrat. As well as being honest and devoid of corruption, of course.
5
Mr. Douthat speaks about Trump's overt racism using fuzzy language : "purely-racialized appeals". I have no idea what racialized means, but it sounds better than "racist".
I suggest speaking clearly about Mr. Trump's policy positions. He advocates racism, he advocates discrimination against and hatred of non-whites. He is not "radicalized", he is a racist.
Please speak clearly, Mr. Douthat.
6
After the Democratic Party’s expected (and hopefully slight) underperformance in Tuesday’s midterm elections, the party’s establishment will have to concede that it erred by failing to fully embrace the economic justice movement.
The party’s establishment cannot yet accept the fact that the fiscal “New Democrat” era ended a decade ago. Today, America’s economic health desperately depends on our government’s commitment to a reversal of supply-side economic policies.
Michael Tomasky and I understand this. Read his November 2 opinion piece in the Times, “The Democrats’ Next Job: Bury Supply-Side Economics.” Then read my earlier, April 13 piece in Counterpunch.org, a progressive online news magazine, “Trumponomics is 21st Century Reaganomics And That’s Bad For Working America.”
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/04/13/trumponomics-is-21st-century-reaganomics-and-thats-bad-for-working-america/
Most Americans do not yet understand, as we do, the damage trickle-down economics has done to America’s middle and lower classes, or that broad prosperity among all classes is the only way we are ever going to eliminate the lion’s share of our socioeconomic problems and reach our national potential.
3
So what this author is saying is pretend Trump isn’t Trump. Well he is Trump and he isn’t going to change from being an incompetent reckless liar. Because he hasn’t caused an apocalypse yet, doesn’t mean he won’t. Inflation is rearing it’s head, and with the deficit in the stratosphere, the likelihood of another Republican economic debacle is a real possibility. This man would love to be a dictator if only the Democrats would go away.
5
Hello! This is not luck. The 65,853,652 people who voted for HRC (2,868,518 more votes than received by DJT) and the 8,286,698 voters who voted for neither major candidate knew that he was lying and had NO intention of doing what was good for the country.
The voters (74140,350) these pundits are painting as far left “liberals” are aware that the economic health of the nation depends on the economic health of the working class. This means the minimum wage should be a living wage. This means affordable, excellent education and affordable, excellent healthcare for all should be the law of the land. And unless we invest in these things as well as a solid infrastructure, the GOP tax breaks for the rich are going to turn to dust.
*Election stats here: https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php
3
The economy was improving under Obama. Now it’s inflated because companies are buying their own stocks to drive up value. Rent is still outpacing wages. Isis was on the run before trump took office. What policy has he instituted that takes credit? The environment is being denigrated, but who cares about that right? Also, it’s great that we haven’t had any terrorist attacks! Nope, no mail bombers or right wing nuts shooting up synagogues. Nope, cause it’s only terrorism if it’s done by brown people, right?
10
This seems something like Ross' version of "Imagine" and his vision seems as unlikely to become reality as John Lennons'. Imagine Trump not a race baiting, self absorbed, narcissist wanna be dictator - it's really hard to do! And that's the point Douthat seems to be either missing or willfully ignoring.
7
your analysis of the 'possibilties that did not happen' makes it glaringly clear that the currrent occupant is completely inept and woefully lacking in basic humanity. It also suggests that the Dems continue to be off base. Its a terrifying time to me.
3
The Grand Trump Betrayal
This is Douthat's roundabout, distracting way of saying what he really means: Trump betrayed his voters. He is a fake populist. At the core, Trump is a political idiot.
The Trump Betrayal is quite astonishing, and it should be headline news on the NYT every single day.
healthcare
infrastructure
taxes
Total and complete betrayal. Campaign Trump and President Trump are two completely different people.
This is what malignant narcissists do. They betray those who actually care for them.
What should make Democrats happy is that Trump has lost a minimum of 5 million voters from the Trump Betrayal. He could only afford to lose 76,900
3
Woodward, Lewis, Wolf, Comey, Omarosa, what do all of these books about this totally dysfunctional Administration have in common? They all paint a portrait of an ignorant, untutored and unread man who stubbornly sticks to his own opinions untethered from factual and scientific reality, gets the bulk of his information from avowed propaganda outlets and thinks he knows better than the experts on everything. He is rude, crude, insulting, divisive, bigoted and misogynistic and revels in violent imagaery. He cares only about himself and his personal fortune, nothing about the common voters beguiled by his phony populist rhetoric. His high level cabinet officers and advisors including the few that are still with him, consider him an uneducable moron. If the Democrats cannot defeat this man, they cannot defeat anybody.
9
What a bunch of blather. Douthat refers to hysterical lefties while he writes a column stretched so far over reality that it’s transparent. Why indulge in counterfactuals? The facts tell the story much more effectively. The reason the democrats are telling a reasonable story and campaigning for things that will help people is because that’s who the democrats are. Your party has always been a puritanical bunch of elitists feathering their own nests and allowing some of it to trickledown to keep the help somewhat on board. Now you’re responsible for putting a total creep in the White House. Spare me Ross.
18
Sure, Ross. Now imagine you were born on the planet Krypton, lived in "Metropolis" instead of New York, were named CLark Kent, and had a blue costome wih a red cape. You'd be Superman. . . .
4
Father Douhat and his enemies — the Pope, liberalism, equality.
2
Ross imagine if Hilary had won.
2
Mitch McConnell.
1
If you think, like Douthat, that those of us that see Trump as a direct threat to the Constitution and Our Republic are engaged in "hysteria," than remember:
We have a president who stood on stage and imitated a politician slamming a reporter to the ground, while calling the attacker, "my guy." This reporter was attacked because the politician didn't like the questions he was being asked. He had to plead guilty to assault. But his intent was to silence the press. That is an act of political terrorism, against the 1st Amendment.
There is video of another reporter being slammed to the ground by security at a Trump Rally.
Trump consistently calls the press "the enemy of the people," just like Stalin did while he was killing 20 million of his citizens.
Trump called Neo-Nazis shouting "Jews will not replace us," before they beat up unarmed protesters at a statue to white supremacist traitors from the Civil War, "fine people."
Trump demands loyalty from public servants sworn to uphold the Constitution. He called Democrats that didn't clap for his speech "traitors."
Trump stood on stage on foreign soil taking the side of the head of a foreign intelligence agency against U.S. national security and electoral systems..
It's not funny. These are High Crimes.
See:
How U.S. Law Enforcement Failed to See the Threat of White Nationalism.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/03/magazine/FBI-charlottesville-white-nationalism-far-right.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
10
@McGloin: the facts can't be repeated often enough.
and we can only hope that people will SEE them,
sooner. rather than late. later. too late.
Don't sound so surprised. Hatred is really the only thing Trump knows how to do -- no wonder it is his one-size-fits-all response to anyone who calls him out on his yet-unproven while all but certain treason, or his shameless profiteering from his office.
And you profoundly misread the WWC vote for Obama. They were not voting in favor of a post-racial society. They were sick and tired of Presidenting itself, and made the most transgressive gesture they could think of -- voting for a black man.
1
Let's imagine Mueller Time.
3
blah, blah, blah. the only story here how white people will vote. And if they go with Trump...it will be no surprise to people of color. We know who we live among.
6
"In the leftward reaches of my Twitter feed the hour is late, the end of democracy nigh, the Senate and the Supreme Court illegitimate, and every Trump provocation a potential Reichstag fire."
Kind of like Rush Limbaugh counting off the days of the Clinton presidency as "Day 898 - America Held Hostage" on his daily radio show?
3
“Hysterical?”
Save that term for someone who has earned it, Lindsey Graham.
9
I guess if we do not count the 11 jewish folks who were killed in Pittsburgh, or the numerous folks that received pipe bombs in the mail, then, yes, there have been "no major terrorist attacks" on Trump's watch.
5
More profound insight from Ross Douthat: "If things weren't the way they are, they'd be different."
11
Ross, You are also describing the Catholic Church whose values you supposedly hold so dear.There's the pronouncements of the clergy(e.g. birth control) and the actual practices of the parishioners.Quite a difference.Realizing this, are you any less Catholic?As for your musings about what Trump could have been,"imagine if" Trump's favorite book really was the Bible.
The Democrats may lose some of the important races this time around, but they're coming on...they're the future.In my district, the Republican who usually enjoys a margin of 20% or more is within 3 percentage points of losing."Imagine if" he loses the next election...just "imagine if."
5
Just because Republicans prioritize "staying in the game" and holding on to power at all costs despite the damage it does to our country, doesn't mean Democrats do as well. I think many Democrats would have been quite happy if Trump had followed through on his promises to replace Obamacare with something better and cheaper, cut taxes for the middle class, invest in our nation's infrastructure yada yada yada. Unfortunately, we recognized right at the start what it has taken conservatives two years to figure out: Trump doesn't have the intellect, interest or ability to follow through on his campaign promises. All he wants is to hold rallies and hear people cheer.
11
This is an interesting, well-written, and thought provoking article. Things might look quite differentif Trump had been a disciplined and careful politician. It is also worthwhile to consider the other side. It would also be interesting to consider what the election might look like if Evangelicals didn't support the Republican party almost entirely because they care about the Supreme Court choices, if conservative talk-show radio hosts and Fox News had not been demonizing liberals for the past 30 years (often through outright lying), and if Newt Gingrich had not convinced Republicans to use the most hateful possible language towards Democrats in order to win more elections, if there had not been severe (and undemocratic) gerrymandering, and if there had not been a lot of voter suppression in certain swing states. Perhaps under those conditions, we might have a nation that is less divided, and have a government whose policies better reflected the desires of its people.
17
Here's a thought. If Trump would do so much better for himself and his party by adopting Democratic party stances then why not just vote for the real thing? Polls show that on most issues we are a liberal leaning country.
13
The luck was on Trump side in 2016-2018.
Economy was booming already in second half of 2016 on global upswing. ISIS strategy has been already in place in 2016 and Trump did change very little.
Somethimes I think it would be better for the country in long run for Trump to win the House. He would likely made the recession much worse and made the democratic victory in 2020 that much better. Though, on the other side, he might have used the crisis to increase the authoritarian grip on the country, and god forbid, get US in unnecessary war for distraction.
2
Interesting. Thank you for reminding us about the BIG INFRASTRUCTURE project that Trump promised. As a self claimed builder and real estate mogul it was one of the very few programs he might have actually implemented. Alas, as tv reality star, he’s not really a President except in his own head.
10
@macbloom
I am waiting for much better health care at much less cost...another of Trump’s promises.
1
@macbloom
We’re probably lucky that any trump backed infrastructure projects never materialized. Given trump’s business practices and associates, I wouldn’t want to drive across any bridge constructed by trump cronies, or drink from any trump water projects.
2
The country, particularly the "red" states, will be begging for liberalism after this economy collapses.
11
This is what good news sounds like in a world without racism, antisemitism, theocracy, misogyny, and the destruction of the health of the natural environment. In short, Ross Douthat's world. Not mine.
11
Trump has flattened Liberalism in the name of a cult of personality. How is that lucky for anyone?
3
Let's see: "hysteria" of liberals while right-wing followers of Donald Trump are committing murder and threats with pipe bombs. Nice try, Ross. You're as bad as the rest of your party, although in some ways worse: you expect Democrats to be better (thus the use of "hysteria") and then scold them when they tell the truth. I will never read another of your columns again.
14
@CarolSon: No, keep reading Ross Douthat. When such a large portion of the US population is living in a delusional world of paranoid delusions, it's a good idea to keep tabs on what the more rational ones are thinking.
What Ross conveniently ignored is that Trump couldn't do the typical Republican post-election "pivot to the country club" routine used by folks such as George W Bush. Twenty-plus years ago, the baying mobs created by Russ Limbaugh and the rest of the right-wing flamethrowers could be pandered to by Newt Gingrich and the like. Back then, they were content with just words.
Now, these angry right-wingers want actions. Trump won because he loudly promised to actually do what Republicans have subtly promised for years: enact a dictatorship where dissent isn't tolerated. (Example: "Lock Her Up!" is a promise to arrest and imprison Democrats.)
Trump knows that he's in the same position as Robespierre during the Terror: if Trump doesn't keep the right-wing mob happy, that mob will turn on him. This is why Mr. Douthat's counterfactuals are mere fantasy: had Trump tried anything that unites the country, the Republican base would turn on him in favor of a right-wing flamethrower.
4
"Some morsels are just too delicious for journalists and pundits not to sup on."
And as a result, the media are All Trump, All the Time. Not only that, the majority of Americans no longer trust the media, and the default position is to trust Trump.
As James Carville said so long ago, "It's the economy, stupid." He was correct then, and he is correct now. If unemployment remains at 3.7%, wages continue to increase, and the stock market avoids a meltdown, then Trump will be re-elected easily.
1
What you fail to grasp is that Conservatism in American politics is a perspective that cares not a whit for the middle class, international well-being, nor the notion of common good. It is justification for an economic model that favors the wealthy in practice. It's political champions have sought power by and large by stoking the cultural fears, racism, and hyper individualism of the country. Its moral excesses are today evidenced by this president and his crew of opportunists for whom the notion of service to anything other than themselves is foreign, or at minimum a forgotten memory of their foolish youth.
9
Pipe bombs were just sent to the very people, including two former presidents and the press, that Trump has been demonizing as enemies of the United States since he took office. But it's liberals who are hysterical? Eleven Jews were just slaughtered in their house of worship by someone who had responded to Trump's anti-semitic and xenophobic rhetoric, but it's liberals who are hysterical? Trump and the GOP control all of government but he rages on Twitter and at rallies on a daily basis. But liberals are hysterical? No, nice try but way off.
17
Very sour today Mr. Douthat. If only he had of wiped the Dems out we would be in conservative heaven.
It appears Reverend Douthat is irritable because His Man Trump didn’t take the opportunity to finish off democracy for the Grifters of Finance.
Things were so much better during the inquisition!
9
What exactly is way left of center on race? How indeed does race even fit on the left-right spectrum? Is it a lefty thing to expect the police not to needlessly gun down black youth, or to ask the criminal justice system not to incarcerate an insane percentage of African-Americans?
12
You mean if Trump had been a liberal?
6
James Carvelle once declared that “its the economy, stupid.”
If that were entirely true, Karl Rove would be on the cusp of realizing his dream of a one party system with the GOP being that party.
As Mr. Douthat demonstrates, there is one reason why Mr. Rove probably will not realize his dream in spite of the current economy.
Donald Trump.
3
While you’re at it why not imagine that Trump and Republicans in Congress all had lobotomies.
5
There is nothing "lucky" about the political mess we are in right now, Mr. Douthat.
The media would love to see democrats act like republicans and foster hate-anger-fear among the populace. So much to report on.
Fortunately we have three parties - The Con Don republican party, the democratic party and independents. Most independents are centrists and very hard to report on because - news flash - every person is an individual with individual ideas.
Polls do not tell the whole story. Only the results of voting tell the story. I think the story is going to be to get rid of The Con Don and his Robber Baron brethren by de-fanging him and fully investigating and punishing the Robber Baron crooks he put in charge of OUR cabinets and agencies.
WE THE PEOPLE must not stand for their wholesale robbery of OUR hard-earned taxpayer treasure, OUR environment and OUR social safety nets. WE must file class-action civil lawsuits against each and every one of them - including Traitor Mitch McConnell - for trying to destroy OUR United States of America.
No luck involved. ACTION! NOW is the time.
6
Your view of the left is a caricature of an identity politics that never existed. The left has always taken a principled stance stance for minority and women's rights and it always will.
In this past election the left has also advocated a principled and practical path toward opportunity and equality for all. That was Sanders program, Medicare for All, Free College for those who qualified and investment in infrastructure. If you have trouble understanding this I suggest that you follow Sanders or Corey Robin and get to know what the actual left stands for.
Instead you hold out for some fantasy of populist conservatism that somehow delivers tax cuts and opportunity while costing much less than current programs.
13
Good analysis. But it's likely there are also reasoned, less vitriolic viewpoints behind the scenes among conservatives. Furthermore, there's a fair chance that Trump will return to his popular, centrists positions after he has shored up his support from more conservative, establishment Republicans (which were never a given). As long as Democrats continue to villainize Trump and his supporters and refuse to accept responsibility for getting him elected (by loosing the working class, while pandering to new, identity group victims), they SHOULD be pessimistic.
1
@carl bumba
There's no chance Trump will ever return to 'centrist' positions. Any person who spitefully builds a berm to block the view of a Scottish person who had the audacity to oppose one of his golf courses is just mean-spirited. That sort of behavior never changes. Once a normal person gets his building permit, he moves on. He doesn't get back at people who opposed him.
Trump is a guy who puts up his finger to see which way the wind is blowing. He has no positions. Fox loved putting him on TV; Fox positions are what he espoused. He still gets his briefings from Fox News.
In my entire long life as a very left-leaning Democrat, I have never demonized Republicans. That's what the right-wingers tell their base to get them all riled up. That's the Gingrich Playbook on how to use language to denigrate and destroy the opposition instead of having a meaningful conversation on issues.
The people cheering Trump at rallies? They are what sometimes makes me hope Trump continues 'winning.' He will win them right out of Social Security and Medicare. By then, his two terms will be up and a Democrat will be elected to clean up the Republican mess, once again.
@CarolinaJoe
No, I won't. I remember when the Democrats represented the working class and I believe those days are not gone for good. I offer constructive criticism. I see no point in criticizing the Republicans in a forum full of Democrats. It's preaching to the choir. We should work on our own corruption - since the ends don't justify the means.
@CF
Even a mean-spirited person might return to past positions for various reasons (many of which may be self-serving. )
You might not demonize Trump supporters, but MANY others in these forums sure do.
The carefully selected pictures and video clips from Trump rallies do not represent the average rally participant - and rally participants do not represent the average Trump supporter. These rallies usually occur in metropolitan areas, typically affluent, where rural Trump supporters rarely venture.
Mr Douthat's thesis seems to be that the GOP could win elections outright if only they would espouse the economic policies of mainstream Democrats. They would then not require, gerrymandering, voter suppression, and Trumpian demagoguery to retain control of the country.
But then, what would distinguish the GOP from the Democrats but the sotto voce racism, misogyny and general intolerance of "others" that animates its base. I guess that's the point. After all, Ross only suggests advocating popular and reasonable economic policies - he says nothing about actually implementing them. Same old bitter wine in a fancy new bottle.
11
Sorry, Ross--you just don't get it. Without Fox "News" and the Sinclair Group brainwashing the masses, the vast majority of the country would be able to see that the Republicans stand for ONLY the giant corporations and the 0.01% who have been robbing this country blind since 1981. They must use wedge issues of racism, xenophobia, guns and abortion to win elections, along with blatant gerrymandering and voter suppression so that they can continue to work toward the complete corporatization of this country.
Twelve years ago, Republican overreach handed the House and Senate to Democrats, and ten years ago the White House, as well. They gave us 9/11 despite repeated, ignored warnings; they gave us two unnecessary and unpaid for wars that can never end and completely destabilized the Middle East; they crashed the economy and turned budget surplusses from the last years of the Clinton administration into huge budget deficits. And finally, they used every tactic in the book to prevent President Obama and the Democrats from fixing every thing they broke--just to win more elections for their corporate sponsors.
We aren't hysterical--we just are able to see through Republican lies. And we don't like what we see.
41
@Andy Beckenbach Well said, Andy!
2
Douthat has a way about him that takes the actual substance of a situation out of consideration. His tactic is old school conservatism, that is based entirely upon false equivalencies sans good and bad. Thus, strategy 1, based on racism and hate, is no less worthy of consideration than, strategy 2, which is based upon helping people live a better life. In Douthat's world both strategies are on equal footing, and choosing which strategy to follow is made without considering the morality of it. This is the flaw in conservative "thinking".
24
'Strongest economy since '90s, full employment, ISIS defeated, ... no new wars or attacks — except that Donald Trump let his staffers dictate his Twitter feed, avoided the press, eschewed cruelties and insults, and found a way to make his White House a no-drama zone.'
Ross, you mean like Obama's presidency? (Had he remained in power, ISIS would've been taken out too.)
1
"But instead all the Trumpy things that keep the commentariat in a lather and liberals in despair — the Twitter authoritarianism and white-identity appeals, the chaos and lying and Hannity-and-friends paranoid style — have also kept the Democrats completely in the game."
No. Democrats have been -- and will continue to be -- "in the game" because of the ideas they pitch and the legislation they pass. Trump is a side show. A glitch. It's not Trump's blunders that keep the best way to govern in the game. The best way rises, like cream. Trump is a gross, desperate gesticulation, a pathetic reach to our past -- a past steeped in racism, misogyny, inequality. Trump's failures don't keep smart policy in the game. Smart policy speaks for itself.
17
So the point of this column is, “if someone else was president, and the Republican Party was run by entirely different people, things would be different.”
21
Mr. Douthat clearly has succumbed to the right-wing poison of conspiratorial thinking to imagine that liberals and Democrats are engaging in--and are the unwitting and ungrateful benefactors of--some kind of political game. How desperately Douthat clings to the fiction that these are normal times, in the face of anti-Semitic murder, in order to attempt to discredit anti-trumpists and liberals as "hysterics." Read Timothy Snyder and Sebastian Haffner on the early months of 1933 and then consider whether it can happen again. This is one of the most offensive columns Douthat has written, and there have been plenty. The timing makes it uglier still.
20
Personally, I’d rather be “ hysterical “ than deplorable.
Seriously.
19
@Phyliss Dalmatian
Good thinking, Phyllis! Especially since hysteria was originally a badge of womanhood.
1
So insulting to call Dems hysterical - particularly in light of this absurd and down-right alarming administration.
11
Mr. Douthat, to paraphrase an unknown person, you would make excuses for ......, as long as you have a SC that will overturn Roe V Wade.
But you are so wrong about what passes for modern conservatism, and the underlying philosophy that resulted in djt being president.
Willful ignorance.
7
In other words, imagine that trump isn't trump. That Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy are real.
Imagine. . . . just as John Lennon and Yoko Ono did all those years ago.
8
No new terrorist attacks, Mr. Douthat? Charlottesville? Parkland? Tree of Life? Kroger market? While we can debate the causes and motivations behind terrorism coming from Islamic fundamentalists, it seems clear enough that terrorism perpetrated by native-born white male Americans has been unleashed, perhaps encouraged, since the 2016 election.
13
Ah whom are we to believe? Brett who says dems blew it by not being rethuglicans, or Brooks who says much the same but adds that nothing has changed, or Ross who says trump would've done better if he acted like a Democrat (infrastructure and middle class tax cuts)? None of them spent significant time on trump's turn to the dred Scott option on citizenship. Ross at least acknowledges how Donald has used the white nativist card. But oddly Ross sneers at the idea that there are white racist voters (hey so many of them voted for Obama and Trump). In doing so he queerly fails to see that white voters have better angels and devils in their nature, and it is up to the politician which he appeals to.
4
For all the tea leaf reading being done by pundits, journalists and even elected office-holders, all that will matter is the bracing cup of Morning Joe the day after tomorrow, once the mid-term election returns are in.
Certainly, there is good reason to believe that the majority of voters, who actually favored Hillary Clinton in the last presidential election, will rise to the occasion and deliver a resounding slap in the face to a president who feels entitled to grab your you-know-what, and a Republican Congress that simply favors the entitled while grabbing all it can get.
The last two years have seemed like an eon for some of us. For the rest, it may be over too soon. What is not likely to end, however, is the tug of war between warring factions of the electorate, who thrive on roiling the political seas on which the ship of state must sail. The contentious tossing will continue, while what appears to be an increasing majority of Americans remains seasick and eager to arrive at the next port.
4
As long as we're playing alt-universe, let's visit the one where the Supreme Court was still legitimate and didn't install George W Bush in 2000.
17
The quick version: If Trump kept his promises and didn't act crazy, the Republicans would have a lock on the midterms.
Fat chance. Go Democrats!
12
So Ross apparently gets paid well for this kind of thinking. If only Trump had given his "American Carnage" inauguration speech and then -- poof! -- become George HW Bush, a reasonable, moderate Republican who understood the value of democracy and how to behave with dignity, then Democrats would be doomed.
3
I know an African=American guy in his 40s. He is a security guard at a building. He told me that he and other AA males feels like they have targets on their backs. \
It is also revealing that Douthat writes we have had no major terrorist attacks a week after Pittsburg/ the mails bombs and the guy who killed two folks in a grocery store after trying to break into a black church.
The extreme Right is arming and is willing to fight. I see Confederate flags on trucks- in the North. Let us not be delusional.
And Yes, the caravan and whaat it epresents are issues which the Democratic Party is going to have to confront but Trump’s use of that issue is blatantly racist. I mean if he said that he realized Honduras has major problems but that we cannot take everybody, that would be one thing. BUT HE DOES NOT DO THAT.
That AA security guard I mentioned. He said “...We can’t have that...” about the caravan. So, Routhat has a point there.
Wow yeah....if there is anything I'm feeling right now it sure is lucky!
No calculation is worth what this country has endured under Trump. This Presidency is a historic disgrace for all Americans.
It's not all about money Ross.
7
@JKvam May I add to your comment that it's also not all about power? Ross Douthat is equating Democrats with the members of his own party who put power above all. Do I feel lucky that Donald Trump is trying to destroy the country? I don't know a single Democrat who would not have preferred a fair tax bill, or a large infrastructure program, no matter who put it in place.
Imagining a Donakl Trump who would do all the things that Ross would have him do is conjuring a man who never existed.
2
Perhaps I am just not an optimist, Ross.
I figure this administration has done nothing to create the boom, and everything to create the next bust, killing regulations that would put limits on the types of risky investing that caused the last meltdown.
I figure that this administration has pandered to the God Squad, sponsoring freedom of religion to the extent that people have little freedom from it, if they are gay, trans, pregnant, or want birth control or just subscribe to a less Calvinist view of what Jesus wants. They sold out Advise and Consent to Gorsuch and decency to get Kavanaugh.
And in the background, the only real manifestation visible of the growing fascist tilt of the global right wing movement, we have Steven Miller channeling his cyborg self into brutal policy that turns immigrants into something less than human.
And we all go along because a lot of us (but not my neighbors because of our cost of living) got a temporary tax cut.
Yes, it is a time for liberals - small L - to search our souls, and figure out how we can communicate all this to people so that they will care.
The problem? A chicken in the pot always wins over a cloud on the horizon when it comes to voting.
3
A thought on this early morning with the clocks turned back.
I'm too lazy to check but my impression is that columnists like Ross, David Brooks and Bret Stephens had parents more liberal than they are. While groups such as Peter Paul and Mary might have inspired millions (including me), at least with David and Bret you can just picture them squirming as children as they were listening. Why this would drive them to the right is anyone's guess.
Every Thanksgiving Maureen Dowd's has her brother, who is more conservative than she is, write his yearly column. Why not have the the parents of the reactionary trio, if they are still very hopefully with us, write their own yearly column.
2
Trump is, quite clearly, mentally ill. Nobody who isn't tells so many lies. That his followers cannot, or will not, see this, is the scariest part. Humans run off the rails on a fairly regular basis and we engage in witch burning and our civilizations collapse and we have dark ages. There is no reason to believe it can't happen here. There's a horse in the hospital.
6
@sceptic
I have a friend who is distracted by his own life or death illness and doesn't pay too much attention to the current political climate even though he is a leaning right Republican voter. Even he says "Trump is crazy."
I just don't get the point of all this.
What if Trump was not Trump?
Waste of time.
9
Right, Ross. If DT was a different person he would be a better president. However, he is himself, and the country is being destroyed.
7
Ross, Please read today's New York Times article on the rise of white supremacy and right wing terrorist activities. How many murdered people do you believe is okay? How many American lives are you willing to sacrifice? Hate and fear are the pillars of the Republican Party. That is not the basis of a democratic society.
9
"...the party’s base is pulling liberalism way left of the middle on issues of race and culture and identity..."
There's a left, middle and right on economics.
But how can there be a left, middle and right on race? On gender? And so on...? In those areas there are only justice and injustice.
5
Ross is grossly underestimating the racist element of Trump supporters. They are now able to act with very little pushback and get lots of the attention they crave.
6
HAHA Ross, trump flatten liberalism? I have played the what if game regarding trump: what if he weren't such a chronic liar? What if he, upon election, had ignored the Bannons and Millers and charted a civil path down the center instead? What if he actually wanted to lead people outside his cult? What if he did not empower and bring the worst racist, nationalistic xenophobes out of the shadows? Could he have been a uniter instead of a divider? Maybe. But I gave up pretty quickly, what's the point? He isn't, didn't and won't ever do or be any of those things. He's an impetuous, shrill, impulsive cretin who only operates in his own best interest. You may call it hysteria but I call it reasonable concern when the country is about to be imploded by a GOP congress that is failing to do its job and check a rogue president. Phooey.
5
In other words....if I was a foot taller, could run and shoot....I'd be in the NBA.
He is what he is. Luck has nothing to do with it.
2
Liberal pundits are hysterical while liberal politicians are calm and upbeat. There in lies the gulf. But to be fair to republicans let’s note the following:
Conservative pundits are hysterical and nuts, where in conservative Republicans are hysterical and nuts. Therein lies consistency.
5
It is remarkable that this man, supposedly educated cannot see all the damage that POTUS (in name only, and certainly not by behavior!) is doing to a Democracy and leads one to wonder whether the so-called "conservatives" really do care about being conservative or do they just not want equality for everyone? I wonder if he has ever read the constitution of the US - POTUS would certainly fail the exam that I had to take to become a citizen of the US. And prize is he is the commander-in-chief. All you pundits should pack your bags and go home to do some work instead of preaching nonsense.
4
middle class tax break, infrastructure, keep Obamacare. Yes, imagine how popular a Democrat would be.
6
Donald Trump repeatedly questioned government employment numbers in the run up to the 2016 election.
Now, the Friday before the election, the government releases a wonderful jobs report that says 250,000 jobs were created, a surprisingly tidy number that is 25% higher than the consensus prediction from the financial industry.
Donald Trump has a decades long tradition of making good financial numbers up (and then the business goes bankrupt).
His administration has made up numerous other numbers to further their crony capitalism approach to governance.
Can we really believe his administration's numbers?
2
This is a very sad column. The reduction of what is currently happening in this country to a Democrat vs. Republican paradigm completely misses the truth of what we are facing.
Mr. Douthat’s dismissiveness of “liberal hysteria” ignores the many Republicans, national security leaders, even current Trump cabinet members who are “hysterical” about what Trump has done to our institutions, to our role in the post WW II world and what he has done to embolden our adversaries.
These adversaries too must be hysterical—with laughter at how easily America’s soft power and lofty ideals were toppled.
Put me in the category of one of those “hysterical” Americans that believe that Republicans, by not using their power to hold Trump to account, have abdicated their most solemn responsibility to be a check on the executive and need themselves to be held to account.
11
Mr. Douthat's flight of fantasy isn't as locked down as he believes. Let's say Trump did govern as a populist - that would have been awesome. Democrats would have supported his initiatives and maybe we'd have a better country today. It's not all about winning an election; it's making the country better.
But most likely, the republicans would have blocked those measures, so the midterms would have been the Democrats running WITH Trump to get the Congress and Senate blue again. So in that fantasy world, where Trump totally changes his spots, Democrats would still be relevant, not flattened.
6
What if Trump did this.
What if Trump did that.
Trump lives in the moment and he does whatever he thinks will make people like him in that moment.
9
Mr. Douthat,
Neither the Trump economy nor the victory over ISIS sprang full-blown from the heads of Trump and the Republican Party. Both are a direct result of the policies implemented by President Obama except for the irresponsible tax cuts. Those tax cuts will, in return for a short term jolt to the economy will add well over a trillion dollars to the nation's debt. The majority of Americans realize this. Should the Democrats regain control of The House that will be the reason not luck.
12
I like the optimism about moderate politicians who may have a sincere desire to make the country a better place by focusing on the issues that matter. I find it cautiously inspiring because I believe that the majority of the American voting demographic would actually care if such message were to reach them through the cacophony of extreme partisanship.
In my humble opinion, the Arizona Senator race represents the litmus test whether this strategy can go "nationwide." Krysten Sinema has qualified liberal credentials, but despite some mild protest activity does not have the bullhorn approach to the rights of the identity politics demographic. She seems to have the ability to change her mind and, as of July 2018, voted with Trump almost 60% of the time.
And speaking of Trump, Krysten Sinema made a wise strategic decision in rebuffing efforts to make the Arizona Senate election about Trump, which point Mr. Douthat makes in this article: you don't win if you engage Trump on his terms.
I hope Mr. Douthat is right and that the moderate, but apathetic, voting demographic will once again have a reason to vote.
1
This is all true, but the conclusion fails to note that Trump is incapable of strategic speech and action, and so he could not have acted in such a way as to cement a center-conservative turn.
3
Douthat posits a scenario I tend to agree with. A virtual tabla rasa, the president could have embarked on programs (infrastructure, drug prices, etc.) appealing to the center and center-right. And yes, this would probably have finished the struggling, rudderless Democrats. He could have reached out in meaningful ways to build a cabinet and administration reflective of middle America and its values. A sane man and an able politician would have.
But Trump is neither sane nor an able politician. He is cunning and he is disruptive. But he is not driven by any urges considered normal even in our history of presidents with less than a firm grip of their limits and capabilities. He stands alone, the sweating bull in the china shop of domestic and foreign affairs.
Douthat is correct, the Democrats have been handed a gift by the Republicans. On Wednesday morning we should have a good idea of whether the Democrats were able to seize the prize or merely were left pondering the best way to unwrap the gift without creating a mess.
3
Just for kicks Ross, let’s substitute past leaders like Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, and use your same analogy. What if...should be changed to “Why did he or they do it!” Bad people and Bad parties flourish because Good People make very bad decisions when voting. Maybe this time they’ll get it right. Our Blue Planet is depending on it.
10
Trump is a fascist idiot, Ross. You "Don't Stop, Believing" in him.
Those of us who never liked the fascist billionaire are only railing against ignorant Americans who get hoodwinked by Republicans every time.
13
If Trump had done those things and acted as an adult instead of a tinpot toddler then we wouldn't be so worried about his presidency to begin with.
5
The counterfactual is what America hoped for for months and months. He was just kidding with that "maybe the Second Amendment people can take care of it" stuff. He'd never actually encourage violence! He was just doing that schtick about torturing families to get the rube vote. He'd never actually attack immigrant families! He wasn't really a racist. He's the least racist person you ever met! What Democrats saw, and you apparently deny (or at least gloss over), was and is that Donald J. Trump is at heart the real thing, a fascist dictator wannabe, but in the wrong country and without the cold grasp of reality--and not to put too fine a point on it, the intelligence-- that might have tempered his desire to be President in the first place. Public revulsion at his stumblebum attempts to impose his will on a Constitutional democracy was inevitable, and your pleasant coiunterfactual (would it were so!) not within the realm of possibility. As many have noted, he is who he is.
10
And some folks just hate being lied to by a man/child 24/7 who has the core values of a reptile.
AND soon even the angry xenophobic old white men and their priests get sick of the con.
This tuesday is gonna be a trumpian/gop apocalypse:
Can't wait till his tax returns are exposed -Muller's report is in -OH and that nasty emolluments clause comes home to roost.
5
Dear Ross,
I please don't ever use the term ”wokeness” again. Thank you, from Lefty
6
Oh, the luck of the democrats! The President is an inconsistent, shallow doofus.
5
Ross, this is silly. What you are saying in effect is: "Imagine Trump were actually a good President and pretend his nativism and racism didn't matter."
7
Oh stop already.
The Democrats will split in two once they lose again next week. The leftists socialists will be by themselves. The old school Dems will become Repiblicans.
1
Your party doesn't exist anymore, Ross. Where have you been? This, "what if" piece, sounds like your own self-analysis as to why your former Republican world has come crashing down upon you. Democrats have been the adults in the room, and it's paid off. Meanwhile you and your Republican friends, from across the aisle, are reaping exactly what all of you sowed. Nothing more, and thankfully, nothing less.
6
Sorry, but this column is absolutely too much to bear after the Pittsburgh slayings, the pipe bombs, the murder of African Americans in their SC church, etc. I guess you can say that liberalism "got lucky," but what about all those who died because this president can't stop ginning up racism? It's about more than the economy, dontchya think?
13
Yep. Obviously written by a white dude. No matter what party is in power, you're still well taken care off. Leave the liberal hysteria to minorities whose children are being put in cages and trans folks that are being erased.
6
It is just hilarious that this uber Catholic thinks that 'radical wing' Democratic progressives are a real problem when the radical wing of the GOP base are actual terrorists killing actual Americans.
He seems to think the whole situation so very quaint, maybe because it is blacks, Jews and women being murdered.
2
History will show that the most significant impact of Trump, above all others, has been to supercharge the extremes of our political spectrum.
On the right, white nationalist, anti-everybody else haters have risen in both numbers and prominence, while Trump sends them dog whistles of support through words and deeds, like his attacks on virtually all non-white immigrants and what he said about Charlottesville.
On the left, zealots who want to classify every race, nationality, gender, non-gender and sexual preference into a specialty citizen with his own set of rights and rules have risen to the fore, to supplant the feckless Democratic leaders who have failed to win much in the last 12 years.
Trump has forced everybody into one of two camps. There is no middle anymore. To each side, the other is like the Taliban after 9/11.
I would have used the Nazis as my example but, apparently, there are good people on both sides of the Nazi debate, according to our president.
1
If Jackson had been at Gettysburg, if Hitler hadn’t invaded Russia. What if Trump acted in a logical manner.
6
I think your angry at “ liberals”
Because they have been critiquing you soundly!!!
Lately
Sorry youngster!
I remember .... you do not!
3
Hysteria of liberals? We have your party and its doom-saying supporters consumed with morbid, irrational fear of cultural extinction, and a President sending thousands of American troops to our border to beat back and "horde of rapist immigrants" .. and you describe liberals as "Reichstag" hysterics for calling this out?
That's shameful ...
10
Keep drinking that alternative reality Kool-Aid, Ross. You sound like all of the rest of the delusional bitter GOP voters who refuse to take responsibility for the fact that your party has gone off the rails into a fascist-like, cult member, brainwashed, bizarro-land where respect and decency for all people - you know, manners and common sense - for others not like you, which you call "wokeness," is not a "politically correct" thing to do, it's a human thing to do.
7
Unless and until the likes of Charles Koch, David Koch, Rupert Murdoch, Sean Hannniy, Sheldon Adelson, Benjamin Netanyahu, Vladimir Putin and Mohammad Salman switch sides what will happen to the Democrats rhymes with luck but is a vulgarity for sexual intercourse. The last time the Democrats were so calm and cool was just before Mrs. William Jefferson Clinton was elected President of the United States.
2
I'm sorry, but is this the kind of pathetic drivel that one gets when one makes room for so called "reasonable," non-Fox punditry in a mainstream media outlet like the NYT?
I'm happy to see many other commentators' reactions are as strong as mine.
Reading these so-called "reasonable" conservative voices flailing from column to column these days in the Opinion section of the Times has not been an edifying experience.
4
Essentially Douthat doesn’t care who’s in power as long as abortion is criminalized and certain family values are held sacred. If Trump turns himself into Orban or tills the soil that produces an Orban, he’s willing to have us pay the price as long as his sincerely held pet values are enshrined. This way lies Hell, as it always has. The Inquisition holds no terrors for him, as long as...
2
"In the leftward reaches of my Twitter feed the hour is late, the end of democracy nigh, the Senate and the Supreme Court illegitimate, and every Trump provocation a potential Reichstag fire. "
Guess you must follow Michelle Goldberg, and/or read all the comments by Socrates and gemli. Or just read the front page of the NYT every day.
2
Ross:
Please stop pushing the "it could be worse" narrative. Yes, nuclear bombs could have exploded and all the Jews could be on trains, and that hasn't happened yet.
BUT, Trump and his lapdogs are the greatest threat to our democracy and out nation since the Civil War.
Please stop trying to minimize the horrible damage Trump is doing to the country by comparing things favorably to Armageddon.
Lastly, to the NYT Board: when will we again have opinion columnists that reflect the readership of the Times? This whole thing of trying to show the world that you are not Fox News by giving idiot conservatives column inches has grown a bit tiresome. I want to read the writing of smart people again.
5
Both Ross Douthat and Maureen Dowd fill out their columns today with hypotheticals while we wait to see how brazenly the right wing will try to steal elections (and our democracy) on Tuesday.
1
it's amazing how you and other disillusioned conservatives bemoan about how you had this opportunity to crush liberalism once and for all, as if that were the only issue to be truly concerned with. what a danger we godless liberals are. this godless liberal has been a cantor for the diocese of Las Vegas for the past 20 years and uppity Catholics, like yourself make me sick. who appointed you to be judge of the universe. I have voted Democrat my entire life because of certain ideals I believe in, ideals that you casually dismiss as uninformed and counter to the ideals that so called true Americans stand for. I have been a union member and shop steward for the past 36 yrs and can't count how many times I've been called a communist, in church, by Catholics who think like you. forget the fact that the last 3 popes in succession have stated the need for labor unions. your a blown up, wordy fraud
4
I wish ross Douthat would either come up with something based on evidence rather than faith or vanish from these pages. It is tiresome to see him pop up with his pathetic attempts to be relevant.
3
What we should be glad Trump cozied up to racist and brought the Nazis out of the closet?
2
Ross is right. Things are great and this is all about optics. Unless you care about global warming or gun control. Or financial regulation. Or income inequality. Or reproductive rights. Or gerrymandering, voter suppression or unlimited corporate money in politics.
4
I'm disappointed with this column. Its premise is that it's too bad Trump wasn't more like, of all people, George W Bush, who was an establishment Republican who wanted, domestically at least, to push his party more to the left. And how did that work out?
While i agree with Douthat that the pundit left is much further left than the Democrat candidates (leaving aside Maxine Waters and similar socialists) at least profess to be, my concern is that he ignores the fact that Trump's political message is winning: America needs to continue to be diverse but it's time to find common grounds for us as a, dare I use the word, nation.
Trump is a "toom tabard", which in old Scots means an "empty coat". He has never cared about anyone or anything except himself unless it can be used to his advantage. He probably doesn't care about white nationalism or immigration. Those just happen to be useful topics to whip up the adoration (the only thing he consistently loves) at his rallies. To wonder what would happen if Trump listened to his daughter, if he cared about lower Medicare drug prices, if he made the White House a drama free zone, is to wonder what would happen if pigs turned into birds. Would they fly or be flightless? Since it's never going to happen, pointless to ponder it. As for " good fortune" for Democrats, perhaps every cloud does have a silver lining.
9
@Mary K
Trump probably doesn't care about white nationalism. But there were 6,000 hate crimes by the right in 2016, and Trump is manipulating white supremacist terrorists to win elections.
Trump is just like other right wing dictators from around the world over the last few hundred years that have killed millions of people in the name of white hate.
It's not both sides.
The right bases its ideology in hate, greed, and violence.
The more the left compromises with them, the more extreme they get.
The left bases our policies in love of humanity, generosity toward our neighbors, and a desire for world peace.
For example, when Hurricane Sandy but the tri-state area, most of Occupy Wall Street put down our signs and cancelled our demonstrations to go into EVERY neighborhood affected and bring relief supplies and tools, doing the hard work of helping people recover from nine feet of water.
The Tea Party spent their time trying to minimize aid from the federal government.
Google Occupy Sandy, then Tea Party Sandy to see the obvious difference.
90% of the Republican Party supports a president who supports white supremacist terror to increase his own wealth and power. It's not a secret. It's all out in the open.
Trump calls for his opponents to be jailed and beaten. Trump promotes torture.
Trump is using terrorists financed by global billionaires to become "president for life" of a banana Republic. If we don't stop him, U.S. citizens will be fleeing north in Caravans.
@McGloin
The fact that Trump has fixated on white nationalism and immigration because it is politically advantageous for him makes it no less dangerous than if he was a true believer. Ross Douthat wastes time speculating on what Trump could or should do policy wise, as if Trump was even capable of such a thing. Accept that Trump is only in the political game for his own glory and gain and let's focus on counteracting his hateful rhetoric and calling out his lies instead.
Nice parlor game, Russ. But if all this had occurred, then Trump wouldn't be Trump, now would he?
8
If I understand the point to Mr. Douthat's column, Democrat's are "lucky" Donald Trump is President. Having Trump as President, with his wackiness now exposed to all the world, Democrats will have a chance to regain control of one or both houses of Congress.
Luck it is said, is the residue of hard work. The Republicans have worked hard in the last ten years to alienate: the middle class, anyone who wishes to have health care, women, minorities, the LBTGQ community, and basically anyone who is not an angry white male or a dyed-in-the- wool racist, or anti-Semite. Ross seems to ignore this simple truth.
The coming election will test the vision of the Republican agenda; one which favors rich over poor, men over women, whites over persons of color, and religious based ideologies of sexuality, versus the real world.
The problem for Mr. Douthat and the "luck" for Democrats, is that Trump embodies all of the Republican's values and holds them up for all the world to see. We have seen those values clearly; and if the polls are any indication, Americans are expected to reject them.
Let's hope we're not so lucky to have a leader like Donald Trump in the future.
6
Ross makes it sound like Trump has done a world of marvelous things while he can mainly be faulted for only saying things that take the focus away from his accomplishments. He mentions nothing of Trump's authoritarian and extreme polarizing manner, his attacks on institutions like the press, the judiciary, anyone with whom he disagrees. How about the deeply corrupting manner of how he financially benefits from his position as President while keeping the details secret? Or his appointees who have amassed numerous charges of corruption while at the same time slashing regulations meant to protect our environment and future, our financial well-being, our health? Of course, you could point to Trump's cozying up to authoritarian regimes while at the same time, attacking our allies. These are not far left criticisms of the Trump regime but simply descriptions of the despicable ways he and the Republicans have governed.
8
One and 1/2 years ago I would have been inclined to agree with your opinion. Problem is since then we have a president that:
1. Has called judges and opinions illegitimate.
2. Has said that he can change the constitution by fiat.
3. Has deployed active duty military to carry out law enforcement duties.
4. Has used the office of the president to enrich himself.
5. Has said he wants to weaken free speech.
6. Has constantly called the free press the enemy of the people.
7. Has constantly called the United States military "his" military.
8. Has had people fired from multiple government agencies that don't kowtow to him.
9. Has a disturbing need to have agency heads publicly heap undeserved praise upon him.
10. Has heaped praise upon dictators around the world.
11. Lies. Lies. Lies.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. But it is a stark example of how even the strongest of democracies can be easily felled if passive resistance is the only resistance offered. We have never had this at the top echelons of our government and hence, the urgent calls in bringing attention to it are more than warranted.
Just this week, it was revealed the DOD rejected a DHS request to have active duty troops perform crowd and traffic control inside U.S. borders. By any other name, this is called martial law. If this doesn't alarm you to the extreme that this administration knows no bounds, then please carry on with your passive resistance. The rest of us will do the heavy lifting.
3
@Paul Ferreira
Yes, exactly
Here's another: Trump appointed a Justice to the Supreme Court to obstruct justice. Kavanaugh was taken from the bottom of the Heritage Foundation's list because he has said that a president can only be investigated by Congress. Trump picked him to help kill the Mueller investigation.
The Democratic Party leadership mentioned this a few times, but pretty much let it go. The intent behind Trump's nomination of Kavanaugh was to obstruct justice, a High Crime. but Chuck Schumer couldn't get excited by it. They should never have discussed Kavanaugh's qualifications or relied on the Me Too movement to stop the nomination.
They should have gone directly top the root of the problem, a corrupt president, who's fixer has accused him of crimes picking a Supreme Court Justice.
Yes, Democrats have to have a positive agenda, but Trump keeps committing High Crimes, like mimicking an assault on a reporter, and the Democratic Leadership is just ignoring them.
We have a president who says he ordered the military to respond to rocks as of they are rifles (before he claimed he didn't), He is a threat to our Republic.
Trump has committed so many High Crimes that they can't ask be listed in 1500 characters, even in sentence fragments.
Democrats that pretend that Trump is just another Republican president are helping Trump destroy the Constitution.
If we let him decide who is a citizen, pretty soon only those named Trump will be citizens, inc. Trump Inc.
Then why have a twitter feed? Twitter is what enables Trump to spread his poison. Twitter is what enables anyone on the far right or far left to spread falsehoods, conspiracy theories , hate and fear.
I get almost physically ill when my eye catches yet another headline about two meaningless people in a "Twitter war," elevated by the media into something we're supposed to think is important.
Twitter is a colossal time waster that fools people into thinking they're cleverer than they really are. It's enough already.
3
@Ralphie
I go further than Twitter being a time waster. It does not only carry the poison. It is the poison. The inventors and businessmen who grew it are nothing but drug dealers.
If the Republicans had behaved like generic Republicans and kept Trump under control--as democrats had hoped in January 2017--Republicans WOULD be in good shape. But they didn't. Trump has cast aside, in the name of Republicans, nearly all that generic Republicans had stood for, above all, commitment to the Constitution, domestic law, international law and just plain decency. John McCain, r.i.p. All Americans today, Republicans, Democrats and Independents will have cause to by hysterical if Trump wins Tuesday.
3
Oh, Mr. Douthat.
We "hysterical," "frothing at the mouth" liberals just don't know how lucky we are?
We should be glad that "all the Trumpy things... the Twitter authoritarianism and white-identity appeals, the chaos and lying and Hannity-and-friends paranoid style — have also kept the Democrats completely in the game."
Really?
Why aren't liberals grateful for Trump's authoritarianism (which reaches far beyond Twitter) fear-mongering, white supremacist appeals (come on, Mr. Douthat, tell it like it is), for the lying, the chaos, the fear-mongering, the cozying up to dictators, the channeling of Fox News paranoia and conspiracy theories? Why aren't we grateful that the Republican Party uses and enables them?
Conservatives really have no idea what liberals really care about, do they?
The same, of course, is mostly true of Democrats.
Which is to me the biggest truth that comes out of this column.
Why are Democrats so calm, but liberals aren't?
Because the Democrats aren't really liberals. Because they haven't consistently or strongly stood up for liberal values for a long time. Because they continue to believe, despite all evidence to the contrary, that their return to power is just a few Democratic voters who they can persuade to come out to vote *this* time, away, and that their victory will make everything all right again.
Because we liberals see our country disintegrating before our eyes and see no one with the vision or ability to stop it.
7
Anytime an opinion writer has to present counterfactual scenarios to attempt to explain what's happening you know you're in trouble. let's stop fantasizing. Trump represents an immiminent threat to American ideals. We must do all we can to eliminate his hold on power through lawful means. that also means doing a better job representing his base in our government. Just because some Americans are unhappy with the way things are going doesn't let our politicians off the hook for doing their jobs and preventing a slide into fascism or authoritarianism. It won't be easy but it's our only choice.
6
Some good points Ross but if Trump was not Trump much of the GOP base would not be engaged. The GOP tax cuts and ACA gutting would probably have depressed the GOP base instead they are engaged because of the race baiting and general obnoxiousness of the President.
The GOP base like the vulgarity, likes the show and Trump is giving them what they want. The GOP would be in the same if not worse position as establishment Democrats without their anti-hero.
1
"To understand this good fortune, consider two counterfactuals. In the first, the last 21 months proceeded in exactly the same fashion — with the strongest economy since the 1990s, full employment almost nigh, ISIS defeated, no new overseas wars or major terrorist attacks — ..."
One might also add undermining fundamental American values, the rule of law, and freedom of the press to name two. Undermining trust in the institutions of government and in the civil service. Damaging US standing and credibility in the free world by supporting and praising autocrats and criticizing long standing allies. Abrogating agreements (the Paris climate accords and the Iran nuclear treaty.) Undermine the post WWII order designed, implemented and paid for by the US.
Lying and misrepresenting the truth and verifiable reality thus contributing to an Orwellian distortion upon which honest discourse and trust is built.
Supporting and encouraging racial bigotry and scapegoating of immigrants, further exacerbating racial tensions.
Disastrous economic polices - the tax cut largely benefiting the wealthy. Awful environmental policies. Corruption, nepotism, opening public lands for exploitation, de-regulating the financial industry. Counter factual indeed!!!
7
I'm a liberal currently canvassing door-to-door for Democratic candidates in a desperate attempt to stop Trump, and I have to agree, in part, with Mr. Douthat ("The Luck of the Democrats"). What is blocking the complete side-lining of the left is Trump's and the Republican Party's open appeal to bigotry and, importantly, their near worship of "the free market." As Mr. Douthat points out, a Trump who could ram through an infrastructure bill, tax cuts aimed at low and middle income families with tax increases on the wealthy, and comprehensive guaranteed health care for all (something Trump alluded to during his campaign), would cut the legs out from under the Democrats. Trump could still be his bigoted, loud-mouthed, ignorant self with Mafioso-Don ethics and yet still have another six more years in office.
1
No new terrorist attacks? There was a devastating terrorist attack just last week in Pittsburgh. These sorts of off-hand comments might be individually unintentional. But when conservatives like Ross make them over and over again and are utterly unwilling to examine their ideology -- it starts to reveal their intentions. It's racist (e.g. only muslims may be terrorists). It diminishes suffering of the "other" community (Jewish community). These are not even radical statements, but increasingly, are shut out of conservative discourse.
5
I like playing with alternate universes as much as the next person. But Ross’s “What if dogs were cats, or carrots?!” counter-factuals are stretched beyond any utility.
Vileness, narcissism, bigotry and chaos are not tactical mistakes by Trump; they’re who and what he is. And they’re a large part of why so many decent people oppose him, notwithstanding the GOP’s self-serving attempts to portray principle and common decency as “leftism”.
2
And then you have the suffering of people that both the Democrats and the Republicans won't do much to address. Though Republican get off on intensifying that suffering in ways that even Democratic politicians recoil from. And people like Ross spend their lives factoring human suffering into their brain tripping soulless formulations and calculations.
1
Some good points: infrastructure would clearly have been the way to go for Trump. It’s not controversial that America’s skeleton is falling apart and needs to be replaced, but they tried to replace Obamacare instead. Not smart.
Ross often describes liberals as leftie nutjobs with unreasonable positions on identity, race and culture. My entire city leans Democratic. Yet nearly everyone in my crowd (friends, neighbors, relatives, colleagues) is married, prioritizes their kids, their family, their church, their country and basically lives pretty normal lives. That’s our “identity.” We just judge a whole lot less and pay way more taxes proportionatlely than the 1%.
The people we do tend to judge a lot are the extreme Evangelical right wingers who judge everybody because their actions wind up with people losing their rights, with people’s votes being suppressed, with LGBT people committing suicide, with immigrants living in terror, with minorities struggling with White Dominionism and White Nationalism, with all of us struggling with gun violence, and with pastors standing up in church proclaiming that the most corrupt and profane man to ever pollute the White House is actually God’s will incarnate. It’s the hypocrisy that sets us off. Sorry.
That the absurd, pathetic, hyperbolic, racist, false narrative about this “caravan” is Trump’s constant drumbeat before the election says it all. Nobody is “lucky.” We have all borne this national disgrace for two years.
3
I always enjoy reading Mr. Douthat's columns because, while he clearly has a point of view (conservative Catholic), the columns are not about pushing any particular agenda. His columns are about trying to understand and explain our politics from that point of view.
The only objection I have to this column is that, as others have noted, he treats objections to Trump's overtly racial animus as mere froth and hysteria. Such treatment is only a slightly more acceptable version of a standard right wing rhetorical technique that goes something like this: I say something hateful and if you call me out for being hateful I say c'mon, take a joke, I'm just being politically incorrect.
Objecting to things like forced separation of children from their parents at our border and to lies that call a pitiful caravan of refugees an invading force is something more than froth and hysteria. I think objecting to these things is standing up for the American values.
1
Mr. Douthat has posed some thoughtful and cogent arguments. They are particularly entertaining because they accept the stupidity of Trump's brain-dead politics for all Americans except his "deplorable" base. It is also true however that Republican "luck" has been good as well. No terrorist catastrophes, no economic catastrophes. No shred of evidence that Trump helped either. There have been plenty of scandals and environmental catastrophes however, (which Ross conveniently forgets.)
GOP may have more to fear from Trump than the rest of us. He seems to be poison for anyone who works with him. The GOP has suffered and will suffer far more (I pray) after Tuesday.
Unfortunately the GOP has gained a lot through Trump's criminality: his scandalous cabinet appointments, his collusion with dictators and snubs of allies, his racist and divisive rhetoric, and his unconstitutional packing of the Supreme Court for purely personal goals. The GOP can sit back and watch quietly, hoping to avoid the dirt while benefiting from the results.
This behavior is not a one-off situation. This is precedent setting. Our country has been permanently damaged. Similar outrages have led to the death of Democracy elsewhere as autocrats were able to pick off small aspects of justice and human rights prior to simply taking over. It could happen here too. The GOP would love it. Tuesday may be our last hope for a better future.
1
Woulda, coulda, shoulda.
Simply put that is not now, nor has it ever been the Republican Party. As an unknown and an outsider with no track record and no formal political ties it was easy enough for Trump to pretend to be a populist. But after two years of leading as a white nationalist all he has brought to the party is shame, disgrace, and the usual soaring defecits fed by massive tax cuts for the wealthy.
3
A result of Donald Trump's lying, self enrichment and displays of xenophobia and hate mongering, has been that his popularity remains low in spite of his own good luck in inheriting a solid economy, built on a foundation that was in place when he took office.
As for his support; Many conservatives prefer authoritarian leaders; And in Trump they have a populist autocrat who creates fear and anger and then promises to return "their" nation to a former glorious time, and and save "their" nation from those fellow citizens who are not exactly like them. The slogan "Make America Great Again" is a direct appeal to those frightened and backward looking people and despite all their claims of loving freedom, democracy is not their preferred form of government. Their constant attack on the right of citizens to vote is proof of that.
Mussolini's first step in becoming the fascist dictator of Italy was to destroy the free Italian press and appoint the editors.
Many of us know that Donald Trump, and the US oligarchy that finances the GOP, is a danger beyond any America has ever faced and that "having the trains run on time" is not worth our American democracy.
2
My grandfather’s favorite joke was the one about the man who would hit himself in the head with a hammer because it felt so good when he stopped. Trump is the hammer and the man is today’s Democratic Party.
1
If Trump had done all these things, he'd be Jeb Bush.
1
Imagine if Hillary(who won the popular vote) were actually the president. Your second counter factual would be a reality and we all would be lucky!
Ross, this is excellent. You should be an adviser to Trump, although I wonder if he ever TAKES advice.
1
In other words....all politics is local. And Trump who claimed he would make heaven and earth on his very first day in office.....didn't keep, despite what he claims, the promises he made. Health care. Nope. Infrastructure. Nope. Drug prices. Nope. Unite the country. Nope. He did give them the tax cut. Them being the wealthy. But that massive charge on the card above the credit limit will come back to bite the middle class. And when the bill comes due for that they also realize they will be saddled with that bill. Not the ones with wealth. Whatever gains they see in the short term.....gobbled up by the long term. They would have to be stupid to not realize that. They got their judges. So his usefulness goes downhill from there. And remember....the more his promises car stalls, the less likely it is Pence can ride his tie tails.
1
The other day Ross was writing about liberal delusions. Today Ross is writing about liberal hysteria. Another day, another jab. Are Trumpian delusions and Fox hysteria nonexistent, or what?
Go to a Trump campaign rally and witness the delusions against immigrants and Trump's delusional rhetoric about fake news, guns, healthcare and the Constitution. Turn on hysterical Fox News and watch the Hannity spew nonsense about Trump honesty and trustworthiness. That patronage of Trump is followed by hysterical attacks on political opponents.
So true! Conservatives can be masters of delusion and hysteria. Ross should probably be better at tagging the conservative as hysterical and delusional.
Why is it "luck" that the Dems are talking about the issues that they have always cared deeply about?
So if Trump hadn’t been Trump, he would have “flattened liberalism”? And if you had some peanut butter you could make a peanut butter sandwich if you had some bread?
But Trump IS Trump. And because he has no inclination whatsoever to be anything else—and his party lacks the spine to make him try—the country is teetering on the brink of constitutional crisis, as he continues to fly in the face of the rule of law, stomp on constitutional checks and balances and assume, by the sheer weight of his Trumpian personality, ever greater hunks of executive power.
So what are you advocating, Mr. Douthat, in the cold light of the Trump reality in which we find ourselves? An intervention and makeover for our commander in chief so he could then “flatten liberalism”? Bypassing all that messy drama and simply cutting to the chase, eliminating liberalism with the stroke of executive order in the interest of national security?
The country is in a bad way, Mr. Douthat, precisely because Trump is Trump, and no amount of “if”-ing is going to make it better. So rather than imagining alternative conservative Nirvanas, perhaps you could use this space to work through solutions to our very real Trump crisis. And acknowledge at least a tiny debt of gratitude to the liberals who are doing their dead level best to check the power of our very real aspiring emperor.
2
I think Mr. Douthat's premise is specious. The president is a pathological liar, malignant narcissist, misogynist, and bigot. What Mr. Douthat is attempting the sort of "what if"--OK maybe not quite so extreme--the USA had lost WWII. This is the work of historical fiction. Reality is crazy enough.
The idea that liberal must mean the furthest left of the left is as much nonsense as a similar position for all Republicans.
I am not arguing about the role of luck, including the role of our outmoded Electoral College and the technology of modern social media. Maybe Mr. Douthat can turn his postulates into a novel at a later date.
1
Time after time as I read Mr. Douthat's work I start chewing over his worthwhile observations only to notice that I've begun to choke on one of the bones. He cites Thomas Edsall's recent article on the state of the electorate as evidence that the country is much further from the left leaning positions of the Democratic Party than Democrats think. Aside from the fact that Douthat is misrepresenting the article, he misses the most important point. Edsall reports that Trump has been using the poem The Snake as a closing argument, but Douthat doesn't mention it. The use of the poem is virulently racist. To miss this is unconscionable in one who, like Douthat, likes to wrap himself in the banner of Judeo-Christian values. Happens time after time with this writer. A little self reflection is in order.
2
Ross talks wistfully about what might have been: a big infrastructure bill, a middle class tax cut, bullying Silicon Valley into inshoring jobs, and lower Medicare drug prices.
Ross is describing what would have happened had Hillary been elected: a historic right-of-center alignment under the Democratic Party banner.
6
Very shrewd analysis. The one thing it overlooks is that the rise of Trump is an indicator of institutional and perhaps societal dissolution. Until very recently a Trump-like figure could never have gained traction in the GOP, or nationally. That it happened is an indication of major problems just under the surface of the body politic.
3
The what-if strategy you describe , if Trump had actually acted on a populist economic agenda, is beyond wishful thinking because we all know that he could care less. He's always been a snake oil salesman.
And your follow up paragraph about Democrats: ......their biggest liability, which is the way the party’s base is pulling liberalism way left of the middle on issues of race and culture and identity." Can we now say: "The Republican parties biggest liability is the party's base pulling conservatism way right of the middle on issues of race, culture and identity." Can't we just please say that?!
The asymmetry is mind-boggling. If the Dems come out with a populist set of policies, they are labeled as wild-eyed socialists, spendthrifts and redistributionists. Whereas if the Republicans did it, it would be discussed as how Conservatism has evolved to address the needs of the 21st century.
7
This is pure fantasy. If the Republicans proposed and implemented popular policies? The tax plan? AHCA? If they showed clear vision for governance that didn't favor the rich, and then exploit cultural issues as a distraction? If I had two wheels I'd be a bicycle...
5
I guess you're correct Mr. Douthat, if #45 acted more liberal aka populous he would be more popular. If the GOP passed laws that aided the majority of Americans, I would switch parties.
If sugar, trans-fats, and preservatives were good for me, I'd eat more fast food.
Surely you've got more between your ears than that.
5
Ross, how are we ‘lucky’ that Trump never used his Republican enablers to pass a major infrastructure bill? That implies that it was left to chance, like the flip of a coin. Or more charitably, that it was just a matter of Trump taking some political direction from the right adviser, rather than the wrong one.
The fact is, there was never any chance of an infrastructure bill. Because Trump is a con man without the slightest interest in or facility for actual governance, and the G.O.P. decades ago declared jihad on the very concept of government investment in the common good.
Luck had nothing to do with it. This is who these people are, and always have been.
7
@Pat
One notes the exact thinking, in your comment, that Mr Douthat ascribes to the leftist fringe: "This is who these people are, and always has been." Whoo boy!
Do you have any remembrance of historical events; either in your lifetime, or even before?
Your "...GOP decades ago declared jihad on the very concept of government investment in the common good." This statement appears to be a 'talking point' more than a rational comment.
As for Mr. Douthat's comments about 'what if': the incessant yowling of the far left IS (in my mind) the obstacle, as much as Trump's unhinged Twitter tantrums, to attracting moderates and independents to vote for those individuals who actually espouse "infrastructure", etc.
One hopes the coming election next week will see some rational outcome; say the partisans are weakened (on both extremes), and the middle is strengthened in some noticeable fashion. The pendulum will swing; when and how far will be the cost of fanaticism, a moderate hand would contain a lurch.
Vote one's intellect, not one's emotion.
Mostly true except for this sickening fact: Trump has given legitimacy to the worst elements of our society and they will not fade away when he is gone. Yes, he's the gift that keeps on giving and Democrats are used to cleaning up after Republican administrations, but this time will be different. Now that its ok to be white, angry, and aggrieved, that genie isn't going back in the bottle by itself.
5
Sorry Ross, the Democrats don't need your advice.
On the other hand, to paraphrase your opening line - What is amazing this election cycle is the gulf between what conservatives in politics and the press say or write and what they actually do.
Your ideology is a failure. Your ideas are unpopular at best. Perhaps it's time for a rethink.
7
@Ross This is one of your most facile commentaries. Most on the left aren’t screaming like Chicken Little. They’re reacting to a real threat in the way they need to to get Democratic and independent voters to the polls. As usual, you demean any reaction that doesn’t fit your overarching far right agenda.
Secondly, the opening for Democrats isn’t the result of good luck, those of us who know and have been following Trump for years know that he can’t behave any other way. Good luck would have been Trump’s rabble rousing costing him the Presidency in 2016.
What’s going on now is only what needs to happen to keep the USA from backsliding so badly we never recover.
And the economy was growing just fine under Obama without unnecessarily giving corporations and the rich a windfall, while exacerbating the gigantic inequality problem we have.
6
Unfortunately for Trump, he is correct. The information about Michael Flynn was illegally leaked, as well as the 'dossier' etc. Nevertheless that didn't stop it from having it's intended effect. Ever since then Trump's Presidency has been about deflecting from the collusion, and filling his pockets. So imagining Trump being anything other than Trump is fantasy.
1
This is arguably the worst President in US history. He was, by general consensus, the worst presidential candidate in history. Yet he won and he is poised to not be humiliated in his first midterm. Those facts point squarely to the ineffectiveness of the strategies and candidates of the opposing party and not, as they seem to think, to the “deplorableness” of American voters. It is the Democrats in power who own this mess and it is they who seem unable to address it with anything except whining.
1
Your ability to dismiss the centrality of race to US politics given the reality all around us every day is a new wonder of the modern world.
4
Cynical, dangerous and historically revisionist to so flippantly gloss over the lawlessness of this presidency and administration. Trump's treasonous behavior regarding accepting putin's denial of election interference despite the stream of Muller's indictments is "weird" behavior with Putin? "Hysteria" to describe those justifiably concerned with "unpresidented" abuse and degradation of the office, strong arm tactics of our elected republican senate and congress, unethical and often unconstitutional policies, "plowing through" of an unfit SCOTUS withholding 100,000 documents from review (14,000 additional handed over less than 24 hours before hearing commencement)
after having refused to give Garland a hearing?
No mention of the true hysteria mongering of a malignant narcissistic whose primary goal is to keep himself in power (the caravan coming to slaughter our people), the tax cuts to the 1% with simulataneous attacks of all social support structure, the deficit increase, the stock markets tumble, the tarrifs, the destruction of the EPA, the corruption charges against numerous appointees, the criminal investigations of Trump's business and family? Douthat's attempt to normalize is as misguided and manipulative as this president and his administration.
11
Often disagree with Mr. Douthat, but, both campaign strategies described in this piece were so obvious, and yet, totally ignored by Trump. I have two explanations for these obvious counterfactuals: 1) Embedded in Trump's DNA is the absolute need to punch back and provoke---no opponents behavior goes unnoticed or unpunished; 2) the processes for governing is boring, very boring..they involve reading, discussions, and rewriting, etc. Trump has neither the intellect or temperament for such mundane matters---he just can't get enough of flying around in Air Force 1 and doing stand up comedy for his adoring groupies.
3
In two years from now, will most Americans be fed up with immorality in politics? If not, Trump will go through a second mandate.
If I may summarize the article:
Imagine a world where there is none of the bad aspects of Trump and the GOP, and all of the good. And this world includes the booming economy. In that world, the GOP would be very popular.
Oh yeah, and the left are a bunch of whiners. Never forget about that part.
Somewhere inside, you actually thought this was insightful, Ross?
(Pro tip: As a writer, you might want to brush up on the meaning of the word "luck".)
4
This is just a long-winded, roundabout way of saying what we already know: Trump and his GOP are the true extremists, and moving to the center---which is what most Americans would have preferred---would simply have confirmed what the Dems had been saying all along. I disagree that the Dems have moved "way" to the left, as Ross says. It just looks that way to people inured to the extreme right-wing hogwash that pushes the GOP to allow candidates with horrible private and public records, all standing staunchly behind the worst president that Americans ever elected.
2
You can never flatten liberalism because there is a direction to history. If you're on the right side of history you know it's just a matter of time. You can take a step back but then you always make a bigger jump forward. We know this, for example, because the Republicans are now promising protections for pre-existing conditions; that's just a small example.
Douthat seems to be in denial; denial that the Trump movement is primarily fueled by racism and white identity anxiety. That can't last. Douhat seems to want Trump to be something that he isn't. There is a reason he is umping up the racism ahead of the election, that's what his movement is, that's why it's working with his base.
2
"Democrats are being upbeat and talking about health care and taxes."
It would be nice if the Republicans would talk about issues rather than just attacking people.
1
Ross if you don't recognize the existential threat we face from the likes of Trump and the GOP that has blatantly shown its true colors under him you really are hopeless.
But for the record:
Most "liberals" I know - including myself - just can see past some antiquated proscriptions regarding how adults conduct their lives,
We seek the do least harm and afford most good whenever possible.
We recognize not everyone is or needs to be the same in nature or actions.
We recognize each of us needs to find their own way to their own happiness.
We recognize we're all fellow travelers and that we should help one another best we can.
But we are not fools or anarchists (like Trump BTW) - we recognize the game of life must have some rules. Just not contrived ones. The rules must be based on real needs against real objectives and be fair and secular - that is testable, factual, evidence laden.
So for instance we would NOT deny people life saving condoms because they might "reduce the evil connected with immoral activity".
But we'd probably deny a company a license to destroy our progeny's water supply.
Yup today that makes us "liberal" vis-a-vis the current GOP.
Yup we do not want a theocratic plutocracy tinged with regressive demagoguery.
These upcoming elections cannot be based on a few shiny illusions Trump/GOP can dangle to enchant us momentarily.
Our existential nature is at stake 2018/2020. Hopefully we'll not sell our soul to the devil for a few fleeting shekels.
2
You make a fair point Ross, but the 'what if' Trump you describe sounds like a Democrat.
2
I can’t get past the statement that there have been no new “major terrorist attacks” while Trump has been in office. Really? If an ISIS inspired Muslim man had shot up a synagogue in Pennsylvania and killed 11, I’m pretty sure it would be considered a major terrorist attack. The fact that we aren’t raising alarms because a white, right winger did it is a huge problem. Is it going to take casualties on the scale of Oklahoma City for the nation to wake up to this threat? Even then, would half of the country acknowledge it in this political/media climate? If even the reasonable conservative intellectuals like Ross Douthat aren’t woke to the threat coming from the fringes of their side (stoked by the President and his preferred “news” outlet), I have little hope of this sad, frightening, violent trend getting better any time soon.
2
A recent study released last week on CNN found that only 38% of American jobs could be classified as supporting a middle class lifestyle or higher. Meaning 62% of jobs support a lifestyle below middle class. Please STOP talking about how well the economy is doing.
3
@thebigmancat
The macro economy is doing okay, except for the national debt the Republicans used to scream about but now don't seem to care about whatsoever.
We have almost the highest (Norway beats us) per capita GDP on the planet. Sadly, most of the 'capitas' just aren't getting enough of it here in this country, and their hundred dollar a month tax break isn't going to do squat for them.
They just don't get it.
1
So I believe you're right that had any other Republican nominee in 2016 become president (except perhaps Ted Cruz), they and their party would be unbeatable right now with the economy humming along. I'm not sure who said it right after Trump's election but the idea was to judge Trump in the coming years vs. any normal Republican nominee. On that score you could check off tax cuts for the wealthy, conservative supreme court judges, and regulatory rollbacks as standard Republican fare. Trump distinguishes himself with his dishonesty, racism, corruption, and of course his big mouth. There are no doubt other Republicans who share his views but most are clever enough to keep it quiet and maintain a lilly white veneer. The Democrats did indeed get a "gift" but its one I think they, and the rest of the country, would gladly give back.
3
First of all Democrats and "liberal" are not exactly the same thing. Democrats can be "conservative", depending on what that means. You suggest that Democrats are somehow frothing at the mouth because of silly things like continuous lying, proto-authoritarianism, white supremacy movements, clear tax advantage for oligarchs and all sorts of pugnacious moves that have no real benefit other than for his ego and votes to retain power. I wonder how many of our fellow citizens enjoy being in the "Trump Show", a dystopic view of the whole world full of characters from House of Cards, all households and friendships divided into "tribes" unwilling to work together, marry, or trust each other anymore? So we have no belief in climate change, a policy of destroying NATO and poking all our allies in the eye, while kow towing to Russia, and trying to make China an enemy instead of a partner. Yes Trump had an opportunity to be a uniter, but just blew it right out of the box.
“pulling liberalism way left of the middle on issues of race and culture and identity.”
Are you suggesting here that full civil and human rights for all of us is too liberal a concept? Could you give us an idea of what is the appropriate political position on issues of race and identity? For instance, should certain ones of us be held to a stricter standard of scrutiny by law enforcement when we are going about our business while being black? Or, should we go back to the good old days when those of us who are gay could be arrested for simply congregating in a bar?
2
Problem left out:
Republicans don’t seem to want any of those ideas: they said no to infrastructure; no to middle class tax cut; no to making health care work better. What Trump could have done is scorch a path down the middle, except he’s not a leader, or as it turns out, a Builder!!
2
Mr. Douthat,
I used to occasionally donate to local Democratic campaigns. This year I gave to about 20 in 12 different states. I used to enjoy weekends playing tennis and knocking around the yard. This summer and fall, I have spent my weekends knocking on doors in a congressional district where I don't even live. I used to sleep easy believing that our democracy was safe. Donald Trump ended that by among other things, calling you "the enemy of the people".
Lucky...? OK....I guess you have to believe that you're lucky when you wake up behind the wheel doing 90 and the engine is on fire, with just enough time to maybe steer the car away from the cliff.
1
Your scenarios of a normal Trump acting normally and achieving great respect might make sense if they were possible, but those Trumps would never have been elected. Without the race-baiting, collusion, corruption and Make America the 1950's Again screed, Donald Trump might have had conventional conservative arguments but not the panic and appeal to bigots that gave him the election.
1
Imagine the columns Mr. Douthat would be writing about a Democratic President with half the moral, ethical, and intellectual shortcomings of Trump.
He would be in high dudgeon if a Democratic President did not act "Presidential" on the world stage or spent his time attending rallies with his base voters spouting angry rhetoric.
Imagine the columns if Hillary Clinton had won and put her daughter and son-in-law in the White House, or worse yet, Bill.
Imagine the reaction to midnight Tweets and constant lying.
It seems that even uber-Catholics can make a deal with the Devil.
1
No need for counterfactuals--we had a president who led a no-drama White House, "eschewed cruelties and insults and weird behavior around Vladimir Putin," and supported the ACA, a big infrastructure bill and tax cuts weighted toward the middle class--all at a time of no new overseas wars or major terrorist attacks. That president was Barack Obama.
4
My wife's memorial service (she died of cancer at age 48) was fourteen years ago, but I remember it as if it were yesterday. I asked her father to speak, and he began by saying "I shouldn't be here ... parents should not have to bury their children." He was devastated, my mother-in-law was devastated.
With that as background, consider the feelings of the parents of Heather Heyer, who died at age 32 when a "Unite the Right" protester at Charlottesville, Virginia, deliberately rammed his car into her:
Heather was not only taken from her parents.
She was not only taken from her parents at a young age.
She was not only taken from her parents at a young age, painfully.
She was not only taken from her parents at a young age, painfully and deliberately.
She was taken from her parents at a young age, painfully and deliberately, by a person whom President Trump said was surrounded by "very fine people".
Mr. Douthat now has a duty to tell the parents of Heather Heyer why their dead daughter was so lucky.
We have known for a long time that Mr. Douthat is able to ignore, twist, and even fabricate "facts".
We have known for a long time that he is an ideologue, not a thinker.
We have known for a long time that he is immoral, urging people to break their promises (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/opinion/you-must-serve-trump.html).
But until now I have not known how deliberately cruel and malicious Mr. Douthat could be.
4
Trump could have flattened liberalism? I think not. To think so is to give far too much credit to one who deserves little, and one who simply manipulates far too many. That his followers can be manipulated is not news either, as that has been going on for centuries. Liberalism will survive regardless of the outcome of our elections, and will eventually overtake our culture again, as the excesses of the authoritarians come clear. The real questions are how much longer will it take, and what costs need to be paid before liberalism can once again flourish?
4
If we had any moderate conservative politicians in this country, I would be sympathetic enough that I wouldn't mind the Democrats making deals (compromises) with them from time to time. Conservative thought flew out the window long before Trump came along to proclaim its burial.
What we have now is a dead-enders conservative effort that is, literally, dedicated to bankrupting the federal enterprise, ripping away environmental protections, eviscerating regulatory enforcement and ensuring, through cutbacks, that there can never be any tax increases to pay for any generalized benefits. This is not conservative unless the late 1890s are your guideposts.
What Trump sells is fear: fear of immigrants, fear of people with different sexual orientations, fear of paying taxes, fear of having guns taken away and accommodation for those who use dire fears as their calling cards, like white nationalists. Fear is a powerful motivator, more so than cooperation and modesty.
Can any good come of this? Perhaps Trump, along with Mitch McConnell and the nihilistic obstructionism by Republicans in the last six years of Obama are showing us that the federal government can't succeed any more in a nation of 340 million, with political opposition turned rancid and backed by 100s of millions in corporate and billionaires' money. Could the states, empowered, do any better? Maybe not, but their failures would be more directly evident to voters, who could then insist on changes.
109
@Doug Terry: Before the traduction of American English by money-motivated political vandals, conservatives were expected to conserve, and liberals were expected to liberate.
10
@Doug Terry
I think they WANT the federal government to not succeed, and they are doing their best to make it fail, so they can return the country to 1859 and have a do-nothing Republican president backed by an ultra-conservative court, just like in that year.
However (jokes on them!) they've got something worse than a do-nothing president. They have a teenager checking his phone every 4 minutes for president.
And that's because, whatever Trump's base really wants exactly, its clearly NOT a do-nothing president.
The problem with the states today, though, is that gerrymandering and voting restrictions have allowed them to become basically the same thing.
Maybe they are the place to start though: get rid of all of the "Scott Walkers" out there, (and their ultra-conservative courts), and maybe they CAN become empowered again!
11
Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda. It’s the Republican lament of election 2018. If only we Woulda exercised some control over a president in over his governing head on so many issues. We Coulda made real progress with middle class tax reform, badly needed infrastructure, health care reform, and legislating sensible immigration reform. We Shoulda done all these things and more. Instead, precious time and capital have been wasted by a president interested only in reliving the 2016 election in front of his loyal fans who helped make this day possible; a president of Me, Me, Me.
10
Depends on where you are sitting or voting in regards to "the end of democracy nigh". 1)The voter suppression and disenfranchisement are gaining critical mass. 2) Gerrymandering is having significant effects. 3) Citizens United gives way too much influence to the wealthy. 4) The President is attacking the free press. 5) The President is deploying troops for political purposes. 6) The President engages in nepotism and allows himself and those in his administration to benefit financially from their positions. 7) The Supreme court is acting politically and will certainly do so more in the future. 8) The government essentially ignores foreign threats to voting integrity. 9) The President bows to, compliments and ignores deplorable actions by dictators. 10) The President has already engaged in obstruction of justice. 11) The President wants to take the law into his own hands thru executive action. There are plenty more anti-democratic efforts underway.
Really Ross ,you think there is no threat to democracy? The wealthy in this country would be very happy with a plutocracy and are close to getting it.
17
Mr. Douthat - Your counterfactuals remind me of Kellyanne's alternative facts. Both are not worth considering in that the reality (yes, there is a factual reality underneath all the spin and hype) of what's happening to our country demands our full attention. Anything less than this will distract from the many tasks that must be undertaken if we are to stop the slide into chaos that Trump and the Republicans have created.
The first task must be to send a message with our midterm votes on Tuesday that clearly rejects the Faustian bargain suggested by your article, i.e. that a little more consideration for the middle class or infrastructure development would be worth sacrificing our democratic ideals. I just hope that there are many others like me who understand that no matter how much you try to trim the rough edges off of Trump and the Republicans you'll never eliminate the hateful and terribly dangerous core at the center of all they represent.
20
I disagree with your conclusion that, its the Democrats who are lucky. It is Rump who was lucky.
There was no miracle change to our economy with his presidency. Recessions/depressions take time to recover from. The recovery and economy owes more to the last administration than the current. Rumps policies have had only a marginal impact on growth, but carry with it long term negative costs. The rest is economics.
Wage growth is due to the unemployment rate, 10% in 2009, 4.7 in 2016, now 3.7. Its only dropped a point in 21 months. Yet he pushed a massive stimulus package in his tax cuts to spark growth when it was not needed. This is failing because it went to the wealthiest who have what they needed. If it went to the middle class it would have hit the consumer economy. Secondly it will be paid for by our children. Reckless deficit spending is stealing from your children's future earnings.
Furthermore the infrastructure is a mess, we are abandoning the 21 century energy economy in renewable's to support fossils, and our workforce is still not ready for this economy.
Rump was lucky and America Unlucky. If he acted as you described in your third scenario, (a successful moderate leader) we should all vote for him.
Two defeat this menace to America we need a 1, 2 punch. Candidates should run on issues and goals, not fear. Let the pundits point out the fallacies so we may see that the emperor and his cohorts have no cloths... truly frightening.
11
This is not a game.
Trump is manufacturing fake crises while real ones are exploding in our faces, most importantly the slow-motion cataclysm of climate change and the economic, health and social damage it will cause.
If indeed Trump’s behavior in office makes it more likely that Democrats will be elected, that doesn’t make me feel lucky. It makes me feel a small spark of hope that I almost fear to notice, lest it wink out in a few days.
23
@Karen Yeah. Southern and coastal towns are suffering right now because of climate change, the Saudis, Russians, and Chinese are eating our lunch, and Public Enemy #1 is...Honduras.
The point is, Trump and Republican party have no intention of implementing any of the populist policy proposals. His goal is to implement the unpopular policies that financially benefits him, his family, his friends and his donors. Their playbook is to use racism and cultural wars to distract folks from actual policies and get them to vote for them against their economic interest. It is actually a brilliant strategy. Currently, Republican party holding presidency, Congress and governorship and legisletures in most states, purusing policies that are in many cases supported by less than 30% of the public. Isn't that an amazing achievement?
18
@Max you nailed it. Now, that said, how do we get him impeached?
Despite your analysis i feel that the Democrats face a real problem. If they win this midterm they are winning after a prolonged economic growth cycle. The odds are that in the next two years there will be a slowdown or even a recession. The Donald will immediately respond by stating "I told you so" and there goes the hope to dethrone him him in 2020.
5
@Alan
If you fear winning will make you look bad and harm your party, you must be a Democrat.
I feel that this president is the one that is fortunate.He inherited an economy that had been improving, while saying he inherited a "mess."
So as the economy has continued to improve, he is trying to grab all the credit for it. When the economy stops growing (it will no matter who is president), he will blame the other side.
Remember President Obama had to spend the first couple of years steering the economy in the right direction. Unemployment was above 7% and was reduced to under 5% on his watch. It took awhile, but the economy finally started recovering. You can dispute it all you want, but most economists advocated stimulus spending to help us recover from the recession. So President Obama kept his cool and didn't spend his entire presidency blaming others.
So the current Congress passed a tax cut, which primarily benefited the top earners, while at the same time INCREASED defense spending, and increased the debt. They didn't tell us how they were going to pay for a tax cut. Thanks to Mr. McConnell, we now know how Repub$ plan to pay for the tax cut (by cutting spending for Affordable Care Act, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security).
The biggest difference between the parties is that the Republicans exist primarily to protect the assets of the wealthy and force the rest of us to listen to their "preaching" about social issues.
We need a president that is president of ALL the people, not just those with a conservative viewpoint.
15
@delmar sutton Actually Under Obama the unemployment rate fell much more (not from 7 to 5, but from over 10 percent (once the freefall stopped) to under 5 percent (the year he left). So it was a real turn around. Unlike Trump's "sugar high" .
1
@delmar sutton There is nothing "conservative" about the current administration. To conserve is to maintain, protect, and save. These people are hell-bent on destruction. Every single cabinet member appointed by this so-called president is working to diminish, obstruct, and reverse the remit of the department/agency of which s/he has charge. Miseducation, Environmental Destruction, Ill Health and Human Disservices . . . need I go on?
Ross Douthat, for those of us who have not read your books, please explain what you mean by right-wing populism, which you claim to support. Would your brand of populism include a public health insurance plan? If not, what happens to the millions of people who don’t get health coverage through their jobs, and don’t earn enough to purchase health insurance in the private market?
And what about taxes? As a populist, what kind of fiscally responsible tax plan that helps the middle classes do you support?
If you and your fellow conservatives can’t provide a detailed and realistic answer to these questions (among others), don’t present yourself as an economic populist. Your rosy picture of what might have been if only Trump didn’t send out vile tweets and give vile speeches at rallies seems to ignore just about everything important about what Republicans and conservatives stand for.
21
"The same environment that’s making liberals feel desperate is, for Democrats, one of the more fortunate of possible worlds."
Maybe, but a prudent person wait wait to Wednesday morning before making this claim.
1
I think Ross is describing the presidency of Marco Rubio or perhaps John Kaisch. That kind of political economy would work for a while. The longer term problem is structural. How does capitalism distribute wealth to the bottom 50 percent of the population and probably the bottom 80 percent when technological changes in the global economic system favor the value of capital and capital goods over most forms of labor blue and white collar? Since 1980, capitalism in the United States has rewarded the owners of capital with enormous gains. The top 1 percent now has 23 percent of national wealth versus 12 percent in the 1970s. A rising tide lifts all boats, one would think, but in fact, the average high school educated white male earns much less, I believe 20 percent less today than in 1970. Most of the work force, until the last year or two, had not received a raise in decades. The current labor shortage that is pushing up wages may not last. In fact, it shouldn't. It should revert to the underlying trend line for the last two generations.
So the question then is, can the Republican Party's unashamedly pro capital ideology survive a political economy that continues to aggregate wealth at the very top of the pyramid to the detriment of the larger society? No doubt, Trump's victory was underlaid by this contradiction. However, Trump has no answers and I don't think Ross has an answer either.
13
And here I thought Trump was the best thing ever for corporate Democrats and their consultants since fundraising has never been easier. He seems like the gift that keeps on giving, a gravy train that won't run out of track. Shows you what I know.
1
This column is just another example of sports-style analysis, whereby Mister Douthat invites the readers to watch the games and amuse themselves with how much more skillful and smart and lucky some players and coaches are.
But instead of the sports model, what we need is an analysis focused on readers/citizens as actors and beneficiaries or harmed parties of the political process. What we citizens need, and what pundits should be focusing on, is candidates for elective office who pursue beneficial policies, not necessarily those who are more skilled or lucky in the art of campaining.
19
@Manuel Alvarado Yes, but there might be some differences of opinion on what are considered "beneficial" policies. It is obvious to anyone not prejudiced that SOME of Trump's policies have actually been beneficial, and some of Obama's policies, especially his interference in Libya, Syria and Ukraine have had disastrous results. (I do not mean to condemn Obama for that, for most presidents make some mistakes).
1
More effects from a prime pundit. Like we need to know more about Trump.
Unless the media addresses the cause, which it never does these days, there's no hope to get democracy back from the billionaires.
Guess what, Ross. There is an urgent need to repeal Citizens United.
32
@John Q ... and institute massive campaign finance reform incorporating public funding of campaigns and limits on campaign cycles ... and institute a reasoned, consistent national system of primary elections ... and establish independent congressional districting commissions ... and reimpose the Voting Rights Act.
24
@John Q "Like we need to know more about Trump. "
You do because you are like a cup entirely full of beer into which it is impossible to pour coffee even if it is coffee you need to drink.
You need to "unlearn" some things about Trump which you "know" and look at him with fresh eyes. Douthat is doing just that but your false beliefs prevent you from seeing that there is something about Trump that you need to know.
I somewhat agree Ross but the essential issue is Trump's very election would still have driven democrats to distraction no matter how the tax cut was skewed. They were promised Hillary by the mainstream press (even if a lot of them didn't like or trust her) and ended up with Trump - that shock defeat has warped all discussion for almost two years. Never mind that unemployment is historically low (including for African Americans and Hispanics), wages are finally rising and the stock market is up 33% - most dems would accept high unemployment, falling wages and more food stamps if Trump would just go away.
6
@Chris I do see the Democrats' behavior as analogous to the crucial scene in Woody Allen's movie, Match Point. Trump, despite his rudeness, was much more bipartisan than most Republicans and Democrats could have decided to work with him. Ivanka Trump and Chelsea Clinton were good friends for instance and Trump did, once or twice, endorse single payer.
Democrats could have said, "actually he is not that bad" but the left wing of the Democrats became furious at Trump's election and the moderate Democrats did not have the sense to tell them to quiet down.
1
@Chris
"Never mind that unemployment is historically low (including for African Americans and Hispanics), wages are finally rising and the stock market is up 33% - most dems would accept high unemployment, falling wages and more food stamps if Trump would just go away."
What an assumption. Although he's claiming credit for good economic numbers, to me it's like the rooster claiming credit for the sun coming up.
Trump is the worst human being to ever occupy the highest office in our land. So don't give him credit where it's not due.
@Chris This is wrong. Trump's egregious behavior after the 2016 election has (justifiably) doubled and redoubled Democrats shock and revulsion at him and his supporters, enablers and defenders. Most Democrats have almost forgotten Hillary!
Ross Douthat imagines what would have happened if Trump had "followed through on the populism he promised in 2016, dragging his party toward the economic center", missing the fact that this is not at all what Trump really offered to those who voted for him. The common wisdom that Trump voters were working class people largely concerned about the economy has been debunked many times now. In fact, Trump voters weren't even by and large working class, with Hillary Clinton voters having a lower average salary than those who voted for Trump. It would be more accurate to go on and on about "working class Hillary Clinton voters", if you actually
went by the numbers.
The sad fact is that Trump's racism and xenophobia is precisely what he "offered" to his voters, and it's what he delivered once he was elected. If you're looking at a given population, the strongest correlation by far is between those who are fearful about other races and immigrants, and those who voted for Trump. They're the same people.
So Douthat starts by lazily buying the common wisdom that's based on a myth, and then spins things out from there. He does this partly because he wants a narrative that fits with the "centrist" philosophy, which basically says that if Democrats would just continue to be nice and not kick up too much of a fuss, everything would be fine, as opposed to the "hysteria" as he calls it, of those no longer willing to accept this deal.
52
@Jeo Trump's "racism and xenophobia" are almost entirely imaginary. Trump is actually popular in Africa, and two Indian American women, daughters of immigrants, are members of his administration, Nikki Haley and Seema Verma.
But we no longer LOOK at reality. We learn about reality from what people tell us. If the MSM tell us that Trump is racist and xenophobic, we do not ask, "But IS he?"
2
Douthat is right to reveal Trump's biggest blunder. That Trump chose not to be the vanilla white Republican President who would hew to his 'promises' of items such as a national infrastructure bill or a tax cut that favored the middle class. Trump could have acted like Ike Eisenhower. Eisenhower oversaw an economy tat was in very good shape. He also oversaw the passage of a highway act that would create the Interstate Highway system. But it's too little and too late for Trump to change his course. In the 1950s, most Americans 'liked Ike'. Today, most Americans 'despise Donald'. Even Douthat, a conservative columnist, is forced to realize that Democrats are on a vastly improved footing. Eisenhower may had been a favorite President. But his successor would be a young Democrat named John F. Kennedy.
9
Ike was the last republican to not appeal to racial divisiveness. In spite of Ross’s claim above race is a big deal to republicans.
Ross, the republican party you fantasize about would not be a center right party, it would be a center left party, and it certainly wouldn't be a "republican" party. Republicans are DEFINED by their threadbare policies of tax cuts for the rich and moneyed interests, deregulation that hurts consumers and the middle class, and mindless support for Israel and the Saudis at the behest of the Israel lobby, the arms industry and the big oil companies. These things are what the republican party is. The party you envision, that would promote middle class tax cuts, health care, infrastructure, etc, but without the identity politics, and mindless pro-immigrant stance, would be a version of the democratic party, one that is devoutly to be hoped for.
37
My take is that there are many " liberals" in the big three: Independents, Democrats, and Republicans however there are few on the "left" or right.
1
Despite the Times' conservative columnists all posing as liberals this season, they all three seem to have agreed to keep pushing the narrative that the economy is roaring and the only problem with Trumpism is POTUS's quirky authoritarianism, as if the worst problem we've ever faced, i.e., a looming environmental apocalypse while our deficit and national debt have spun completely out of control, isn't the issue every commentator with any guts ought to be talking about.
The earth can no longer sustain what neoliberalism and the GOP hath wrought. We are in serious trouble here.
91
Why do people say we have a strong economy when, in fact, we’re living off borrowed money?
If I used my credit cards and revolving credit to their limit, I could enjoy a swell lifestyle too.
Until the day when I have to pay for it.
66
@David G Can you print your own money?
5
Straight out of the GOP playbook. Cut taxes, borrow trillions of dollars on your children’s and grandchildren’s credit cards, and claim to have created a “great economy”. The only GOP president who tried to buck this pattern, GHW Bush (“read my lips, no new taxes”, followed by higher taxes) was the only one not to win re-election. Let’s see if it still works in 2020.
1
I thought Republicans preach that printing money is evil because it devalues the base money supply, e.g. what is in their pockets.
I find it rich that a guy who writes in a newspaper seems so nonchalant with a president who regularly attacks the press as enemies of the people. I find it rich that he seems unconcerned with a president who proclaims he can change the Constitution alone. I find it rich that he seems entirely unconcerned with the rise of hate crimes. I find it rich that he is unconcerned with the deportation of actual American citizens. I find it rich that he doesn't apparently worry about a president who considers the use of the military for purely civilian law enforcement and proudly proclaims that he is ordering lethal response to non-lethal attacks for unarmed people seeking asylum. I find it rich that he seems so unconcerned with children of detained immigrants being given in adoption without consent from their parents. It seems pretty clear that this conservative white Catholic, who wrote an entire column on the intellectual superiority of people with religious beliefs over atheists, only objects to Trump as a pure exercise of intellectual snobbery.
169
@SoFedUp.
You nailed it, thanks.
12
@SoFedUp Douthat is unconcerned with everything you cite about Trump just BECAUSE he is a conservative white Catholic.
7
@Big Frank This is really good.
3
Ah, but if Trump had done any of the things you mention in your counter factuals, he wouldn’t have been Trump. If Trump had actually done the items in your second counter factual (actual middle class tax cuts, not heeding Steve Bannon or Stephen Miller), I suspect that many Democrats would even have been happy to vote another term for him.
Both those counter factuals assume that Trump could be a person with substance, or even a soul. Trump is an empty vessel whose fervent ideologies can turn “on a dime”, depending on what he perceives will provide him the most adulation. I think he does actually believe the things he says when he says them, but Trump can also forget them easily when they no longer serve his purposes. Trump has decided to mirror the portion of the USA that worries about losing ‘status’ and he feeds their grievances. I wish that either of the counter factuals you mention were possible, but they aren’t with the current POTUS.
29
Trump is a weather vane that believes whatever direction he points will become true. To him, he creates the way the wind blows..
As a lifelong Democrat I want to thank Mr. Douthat for setting me on the correct path. I should have been happy as a clam these last two years all along! it should have been glorious to watch Trump corrupt the office of the Presidency, lie like a rug every day, weaken alliances and cosy up to every authoritarian on the planet and give the white nationalists here a pat on the back because it might help Democrats in the end. The damage that this man has done to our democracy has been enormous in just two years-and I hope with all my being that the Dems win the House to put some roadblocks in his lurch toward authoritarianism, but it will take years for the cosmic mess he has made of our nation to be cleaned up-if it ever is.
47
Democrats were "unlucky" to lose the election but "lucky" that Trump is such a bad president? Not so - most Americans are "unlucky" on both counts.
But really, since the US is a democracy, neither outcome can be put down to luck at all.
15
President Trump certainly has been very lucky, there's no doubt about that.
11
Ross,
You are right. If Trump reduced taxes for the middle class, passed a big infrastructure bill and coerced Silicon Valley execs to bring jobs back to the US, (without resorting to his ridiculous rhetoric), he and the Republicans would be unbeatable.
The problem is that Trump needs an opponent to beat on (especially when it comes to identity politics) and the liberal media is always willing to step into the ring.
Trump is not Trump unless he can denigrate, bully and bluster an enemy. He relishes the fight more than he wants to win elections.
In the meantime, Trump is winning his base while he digs his own political grave. Unfortunately by playing his game, the liberal media is digging their grave as well.
Hopefully, Democrats will win big this November and do the work of the people, rather than see who can prove that their DNA contains Native American genetic material.
I am always fascinated how conservative pundits turn themselves into pretzels trying to normalize this President and any (regardless of political stripe) are in the throws of ''hysteria'' whenever there is even the slightest push back.
The response to that push is almost action per action from what happened 80 years ago, you know where.
It's not the 5000+ (and counting) verifiable lies.
It's not the way that this President has demeaned and demagogue almost every group. (including republicans)
It's not that this administration got help from a foreign power to defraud the American electorate to win an election.
It's not that there is still an investigation (with many indictments and guilty pleas) as to how much this President and family were a part of that conspiracy to defraud.
It's not that once in office, this President and republicans have abused the office in such a way, never seen before.
It is just that republican policies in general are bad.
61
In the case of Donald Trump, the appeal to the white racist vote is not a side dish, but the main meal. It is impossible to consider Donald Trump even having the self-control to use a strategy that appeals to those millions of Americans who are repelled by the politics of hatred and bigotry, much less the desire to do so.
The cult of personality that has been built around Trump is not based on a great infrastructure build out, or a fake plan to lower drug prices which will probably disappear after the election. No, the 30 or 35% of Americans who would follow Trump into a burning building do so for the very reason he repels the rest of us: the contempt for the "other," the lack of thoughtful and reasoned speech, and blowing off the interests and ideas of anyone who is not part of his "base."
17
Interesting thoughts. The thought that is lodged in Trump's mind is what's the point of getting elected if you can't be yourself in the White House. My guess is that Trump is having the time of his life. Trump is on every news show every day and even the liberal crowd is focused on Trump and talking about Trump. The presidency is Trump's Valhalla.
22
Douthat is claiming the Democrats:
1. Are unified as a party in this election.
2. Have policies and positions that are more than "I hate Trump."
3. That liberals are smarter than Independents ("swing voters.")
The mainstream propaganda media is going to yank his press credentials!
However, if things are as rosy under Trump as Douthat claims (I love the constant claim you can will ISIS out of existence), then why isn't the Republican Party running on their economic record?
They have not made a theme or narrative about the tax cuts or the job creation or the low black unemployment or the increase in manufacturing jobs.
No, it's all about "Kavanaugh and caravans."
Maybe this is because Trump and the GOP know what goes up must come down and when the sugar high of:
Unfunded tax cuts
Increased defense spending
Skyrocketing deficits
Comes into contact with the reality of:
High interest rates
High inflation
High mortgage rates
High gas prices
They don't want people, meaning voters, to blame them for it.
After all, that is what a Democratic controlled Congress is for.
6
Mr. Trump might be Marlene Dietrich, too. Except he’s not.
Mr. Douthat’s point is...?
18
Center-right majority? Ha ha, you had me going there for a second, Mr. Douthat.
In this very paper about a week ago, statistics were quoted revealing the exact opposite--that a solid majority of Americans support healthcare as a human right, reasonable gun control laws, fair-minded immigration laws, access to women's reproductive healthcare, expanded Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. That's Center-Left and common sense.
What they don't want are tax cuts for the wealthy, lousy gig economy jobs with low pay and no security, and healthcare which doesn't cover pre-existing conditions which costs a fortune, all Republican gifts.
And if the propaganda machines of Fox, Russian Trolls, the Republican Party and our Liar-in-Chief stopped muddying the factual waters, those numbers would increase.
As far as the nonsense about those who switched from Obama to Trump, see the above paragraph and throw in some sleight of hand for three states' electoral college numbers and their voting machines. Clinton still had a +three million popular vote in spite of the stolen votes.
Trump hasn't done anything good for the country. He's been riding on the Obama economy and overheating it which will soon turn to a serious recession. This is why thinking people are scared. They know what is around the corner.
And soon those who are propagandized will know, too.
17
Trump is not particularly interested in saving Republicans. He is only interested in Trump. He has been very selective in campaigning for Republicans who are winning, not those in trouble. He surprised everyone with how successful his act has been for him personally and he is still winning- for himself.
4
That’s been the salient fact for two years: Trump is not for Populist Economics or for Peace Through Strength or Make America Great. Trump is for Trump and he measures success in his office by his poll numbers and his pocketbook.
If a Supreme Being came down and offered him all that plus golf every day and some nubile maidens on the side, Trump would drop his office in a second.
It’s as simple as that.
1
@Nancy Rathke @Jack
Thank you. Could not agree more. I get so frustrated reading so many articles that are trying to explain “Trump’s agenda or strategy or political talent” , when it is really as simple as you describe it.
Not hard to see where this is coming from. Democrats are lucky that Trump is crazy, but luck has nothing to do with inheriting a strong economy that Democrat policies created. Really?
It always amuses me when it is suggested that the Democrats attempt to protect minorities (women, blacks, immigrants) is depicted as identity politics, but resistance for the benefit of the ruling class (white males) has nothing to do with identity.
There are many more fallacies that would support the thinking offered by this column, but the overriding principal is that change is something to fear. Admittedly, liberal extremists come close to being as bad as conservative ones. But, liberal policies deliver the most good for the most people across the world.
18
I agree with most of this letter, but who are these “Liberal extremists”, Bernie Sanders supporters?
@SkutchBernie Sanders’ supporters would only be considered extremists by conservatives and only for shock value. Most of his policies are just to the left of Center, and already implemented policy in modern economies worldwide.
There are liberal extremists— People who advocate for an open border (they exist), those who would have you believe that Thomas Jefferson should be stricken from history books, and many proponents of income redistribution that would disincentivise work for pay.
We have to stop pretending that liberal extremists don’t exists. It arms conservatives with even more ammo to play on the fears of people resistant to change.
Governments don’t have to devote resources to leveling the playing field. They should, but this isn’t going to be rammed down the throat of Americans.
I have to say most of the comments from my fellow left-liberal Democrats are dispiriting in their anti-Trump mania and for failing to see the forest Douthat has painted for the buffoonery of Trumpism.
Douthat is saying that a smart right-wing politician COULD mobilize an adequate majority that would trash our values and American democracy as we've known it. That is the sad lesson of Trump.
I agree. Trump is the gift that keeps on giving. The remnants of the Republican Party, unable to rid themselves of Trump, will suffer a potential realigning defeat in 2020.
From Lincoln to Trump. Stranger than fiction.
6
“Lucky” says Mr. Douthat. “Lucky” he says because we have seen some “Trumpy things” like “Twitter authoritarianism and white-identity appeals” and “the chaos and lying.”
Oh, let us Americans thank Trump and his Republican supporters for all that “Twitter authotarianism and white-identity appeals” and “the chaos and lying.” We are so pleased by these “Trumpy thing.” We are so blessed. Our Sunday morning and evening prayers have been answered: please bestow on us Americans more “chaos” and more “lying.” Those are the very values we teach our children. Pray too for more “authoritarianism” and “white -identity appeals.” Oh, if only our religious leaders in our churches and synagogues could inspire us to uphold a bit more “chaos” and “lying.”
On the other hand, if “chaos and lying” are not the values we teach our children, then we, perhaps, were not “lucky.” If “chaos and lying” are not blessings we ask for our children, then they too were not blessings, but, instead, blasphemies, curses, and insufferable affronts to the dignity of ourselves and our children. Which values, Mr. Douthat, do you aspire to for yourself and your children?
9
"Both are in denial about something that seems pretty obvious — that a real center-right majority could be built on economic populism and an approach to national identity that rejects both wokeness and white nationalism."
This is essentially what Obama did. Were the Democrats able to build a durable majority on it? After 2008 they have lost 3 out of 4 elections.
Six truths you must ignore to believe "center-right populism" (whatever that is) could take hold in the current political climate: 1.) There is no center right in the GOP so this would have to come from the Democrats or a new 3rd party 2.) Fox News and the right wing propaganda machine portray modest populist proposals like Obamacare as "socialism" and a Threat to Our Way of Life 3.) Koch network & billionaire puppeteers squelch any populist positions in the GOP so they will never gain bipartisan support 4.) There are systemic biases in the Electoral College, the Senate, and the House that keep the most conservative leaders in power 5.) White lower middle class voters ("racist" or not) are desperately fearful of losing their place in society and are especially prone to seeing populist proposals as benefiting the "wrong" Americans.
"Center-right populism" only exists in the fantasies of pundits like Douthat.
34
In the 'counterfactual' Douthat parallel universe where politics is rational, the Fake President would not have had any chance of being elected.
Douthat's imaginary world corresponding to what many pundits once pretended politics was about is precisely counter-factual. Fake even.
1
Trump's goal is to bring Americans together. And being a great devotee of Saul Alinksy, he understands that the way to unite otherwise disparate groups is rally them around a common enemy. As it turns out, the most fitting enemy is himself. So he has undertaken the impossible -- to unite in fervent opposition leftists, centrists, moderates, the urban poor, minorities of every description, intellectuals of every stripe.
Thus , despite a strong economy, Trump is preparing to lead the Republican Party to resounding defeat, based on little more than the fact that nearly 70% of the populace finds him personally loathsome. In case anyone is inclined to forget or forgive, each day he dutifully offers up some new memorable example of despicable behavior.
Some observers believe that following the midterm election he may resign the presidency. His plan is to return to the real estate game that is his first and true love, quoting as he departs the historic words of one of his illustrious predecessors: "Mission accomplished."
2
Re: Indeed there is an odd symbiosis between the liberal analysts who muster 16 regression analyses to prove that Midwesterners who voted twice for the first black president and then voted for Trump were white supremacists all along....
You protest too much. Obama never did win the white vote.
Even after rescuing the country from GOP economic meltdown, saving the auto industry, reducing the deficit, killing Bin Laden and ending the Iraq War.
And Trump didn’t win the popular vote.....
He did gain more white vote by simply appealing directly to racism, and white spite, which McCain and Romney never did.
That is what worked.
8
Mr. Douthat, and all who read, and comment, and opine endlessly about all of this: Do you really believe that we live in a country with a political left wing and right wing? Do you really believe that the ultimate goals of the parties vary in significant ways?
Yes, the Democrats have better manners, for the most part, and the Republican are more craven and obvious. That's about it.
Don't be fooled by this charade. See Bill and Hillary at Trump's wedding to Melania, clapping and playing nice while he was a reality TV guy. Listen to the rhetoric of the press as it ramps up the election like a WWF tournament, just as it did in 2018. Listen to Hillary chat up the Goldman Sachs crowd, an insider's insider if ever there was one, because she knows which side this country's bread is buttered on.
We're on a train on which everyone is debating whether it's better to sit on the left side or the right, and no one wants to admit that we're all going to the same place, guided by the same track, powered by the same engine.
Hey guys, how's the weather over there on the right? Yeah, here too.
3
I find the counterfactuals offered here by Mr. Douthat to be anusing.
Essentially, he's suggesting the following: Imagine a super egotistical, simplistic conman with no qualifications for the job and no considerations beyond his own interests somehow behaved in a rational and presidential manner.
Is there some surprise that Trump has behaved the way he has? If you wish to call that the "luck" of the Democrats, well, okay.
6
1) Mr. Douthat repeats the lie that the Democrats have moved far to the left. Democratic centrists beat Sanders-inspired candidates in most primary races though the media has focused overly much on the few "Democratic socialists" who won. 2) If we're going to discuss the political drift of the parties, let's call out the Republicans for becoming a party aligned with white supremacists and alt-right fanatics. Not every Republican and not everyone who voted for Mr. Trump may be racist, but they are willing to support the GOP despite Trump's and the mini-Trump's racist demagoguery and hate towards immigrants. This has led to a Trump-supporter sending pipe bombs to well-known Democrats and to hate-inspired killings in Pittsburgh, PA and Jeffersontown, KY. Wake up, Ross!
10
Ah, hypothecitals are such fun, Mr Douthat. If Republican strategists hadn't used race-baiting and baldly false attacks against other candidates, Kerry or McCain may have been president. If the Supreme Court had not stopped the recount in 2000 we'd never had had the Iraq war, if Hillary Clinton was named Henry she'd be president today. Everyone can play this game. The point is, your radical party, that still calls itself 'conservative', foisted this man on the country and the world. and you don't get to pick which parts of him you like.
9
I am always fascinated how conservative pundits turn themselves into pretzels trying to normalize this President and any (regardless of political stripe) are in the throws of ''hysteria'' whenever there is even the slightest push back.
The response to that push is almost action per action from what happened 80 years ago, you know where.
It's not the 5000+ (and counting) verifiable lies.
It's not the way that this President has demeaned and demagogue almost every group. (including republicans)
It's not that this administration got help from a foreign power to defraud the American electorate to win an election.
It's not that there is still an investigation (with many indictments and guilty pleas) as to how much this President and family were a part of that conspiracy to defraud.
It's not that once in office, this President and republicans have abused the office in such a way, never seen before.
It is just that republican policies in general are bad.
4
The assertion by Douthat that authoritarianism and this administration is "normal" is a dire warning that we are all living on the precipice. Our democracy is indeed in peril.
11
Douthat is missing the point in thinking that liberals are paranoid. Trump walks like a dictator and talks like a dictator. It is by virtue of decent, honorable people in government (and by virtue of Trump's remarkably short attention span and temperamental laziness) that our government continues to function.
But there are still real-world victims of Trump's rhetoric. Environmental poisoning. White nationalists who murder people. Militia who long for a chance to shoot at a brown person who are currently heading to the border. Children being locked in dog cages, separated from their mothers.
There are people in this country who crave another civil war. They are armed to the teeth and have been coached by the NRA to fear Democratic leadership as oppressive -- they want a chance to use their weapons and will cling to a fearful fantasy in order to do so.
I wouldn't underestimate the fact that the grandchildren of people who spit in the face of Ruby Bridges are willing to fight for a losing dream of a whites-only America. Ross Douthat's lazy attack on "wokeness" ignores the fact that the people who call out systemic white racism aren't the paranoid ones -- not when people are dying from that racism. Not after Pittsburgh and Charlottesville.
People are right to be worried. But those running for office still have to propose policies. The Democratic divide isn't a true divide at all.
10
Funny column. “If Donald Trump has pursued Democratic policies, then he’d be popular today, because Democratic policies are popular.” Uh huh. And the Kochs, Mercers, and Ulines who pay for Republican campaigns would have let their employees — I’m sorry, I mean Represenatives and Senators — vote for those Democratic policies?
9
The fiction continues that somehow double Obama voters turned to Trump.
In Wisconsin for instance, Romney in 2012 (1,407,000) received more votes than Trump (1,405,000) in 2016. Clinton received approximately 250,000 fewer votes than Obama in 2012 - these votes did not go to Trump. Where they went remains an interesting mystery and problem (disinterest, voter suppression and/or led to third parties by Russian bots), The stats show some Obama 2008 voters did shift to the Rs in 2012, but the idea that a subset of Trump voters in 2016 were not fueled by race/nativism/ethnicity because they "voted for Obama" is complete malarkey and the simplemindedness that is usually reserved for Fox and talk radio.
6
I understand the Democrats ended up choosing Health Care, to facilitate a win in the mid terms, as I told you so, Deplorable's. I guess I am possibly behind the curve as they say, but what is it the Democrats are proposing re Health Care? Certainly can't be Bernie Sanders model for single payer . Single payer of course is what everyone would like, however it is un-affordable in a health care for profit system. Expand 'Obama Care ?
@Dan Green: Government doesn't need to profit. That's why every other first world country with publicly funded health care has better outcomes for a fraction of the money per capita.
7
@Dan Green The Republicans are currently trying to undermine the ACA. In particular, they are proposing getting rid of the guideline that you can't charge more to people with pre-existing conditions -- which means that cancer survivors again won't be able to afford care, or get it independently if they lose their job. The Republicans already chipped away at the requirement that everyone purchase health care, which means that keeping the current system affordable will be harder and harder. The official Democratic position is to keep the ACA the way that it was when Obama passed it, while expanding Medicaid coverage to the states that refused to expand it (and who, in turn, have seen more low income people dying.) But honestly, if the Republicans keep chipping away at the ACA, making it more expensive for everyone, the Democrats may eventually decide to double-down on single payer because the Republicans have destroyed a functioning ACA.
5
After 1989 left of center politics and parties became a casualty of the liberal free market consensus. Partly this was a result of no longer having to have the national solidarity to provide for a large defense: individualism became in vogue. More fatefully left wing parties also bought into the consensus. Democrats under Clinton, Labor under Blair, the SPD under Schroeder and French Socialists under Holland.
This was fatal to their long run viability and this was cruelly shown in the 2008 financial and economic debacle. They were unable to defend the interests of their natural constituency while surrendering to the capitalist classes that had brought on the debacle in the first place. No FDR welcoming the hatred of those "malefactors of great wealth" that his cousin had identified earlier in the century.
What we need is a "left of center politics", policy and leader, able to articulate it and the time is ripe for such. Arthur Schlesinger Jnr. before he became the intellectual court jester for JFK talked about the pendulum in American political history. The last swing to the right initiated by Reagan has worked its course and we are in the dawn of a swing to the left.
At least let us hope so.
5
@wjth: The Crash of 2008 was a direct result of Republican politics and it took place almost 8 years into a Republican presidency.
1
Win or lose, shyster Ross believes in a Republican-created universe, where all forces of power and consequences rest fully in their hands for good or bad.
He's wrong! A very, very long list of Democrats--let's begin with 19 black female mayors in Louisiana, including its 3 largest cities (New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport)--quickly disprove his fake premise. His ignorance is willful and deliberate.
He's wrong because progressives who deny corporate contributions--a staple pillar of Republican politics, their policies and governing--are using the party framework to organize and create powerful grassroots movements for healthcare, housing, education, justice and jobs. These leaders are creating an agenda outside of the politics of ugly and shame favored by Republicans. (Have you seen one Republican ad that addressed an issue? In Florida, all the GOP can talk about it seems, is monkey-business and cotton-picking, denying their racism with flimsy excuses which Ross ignores.)
Ross is wrong! He wants to impugn Trump with make-believe powers when Trump feels compelled to pick fights and play victim, while never being able to put his personal interests aside. Trump cannot create a change he himself if incapable of! Trump cannot lead when every position he holds is built on racist blame.
Ross is wrong. The economy is slowing; tariffs have devastated markets (a strong farm industry has been put on welfare with socialist handouts!).
Trump is playing with Nero's fiddle.
27
I think ross has a point. But in reality, New deal style deficit funded infrastructure projects by the govt would fly in the face of Republican Party positions- hysterical fear of govt borrowing and increased taxation, unquestioned faith in the dictates of the free market, etc., so they are never going to happen under trump unless he is forced to by a Democratic Party in control of both houses ( likely?????). But tax cuts benefiting mainly large companies and causing huge deficits going forward are ok since there’s always room to cut spending on entitlements and further brutalizing of poor people can be good politics.
14
@Pano Pliotis: The Trump tax "reform" benefits only the managements of companies who are using the windfall to take themselves private.
1
There is a vast difference between talking about something and actually proposing a plan that is effective and achievable. Other than non-Democrat Sanders proposing extending a Medicare type plan to the population as a whole, all this talking is about as useful as mice talking about putting a bell on the cat's collar.
Health insurance to pay for a bloated cost health care system only means expensive insurance, or big government subsidies to help pay for expensive insurance. We need some long term proposals, such as more medical schools, financial relief for new doctors who go into general practice and basic specialties in areas where needed. We do not need more New York and California plastic surgeons. We need bargaining by Medicare for lower costs of prescription medicines and patented treatments. The proposal to cap USA prices at negotiated prices in other first world nations is a good idea, as the providers cannot claim that the prices are ridiculously low.
So with all this supposed talking about health care, what is there to it other than hot air? Not much.
5
@RM
Good question. But the mice or actually the cows in this system are the people. We buy stuff and work to make money to buy it and the Oligarchs get richer and richer, only thwarted by democracy which allows the cows to vote. Well, that has come to an end, the Oligarchs now have all the power of the government. Marketing trucks (SUV's) instead of cars, for example, makes everything worse, except profits. Regulations to protect consumers is going away as we enter a new Dark Ages with Kings, Dukes, Earls etc, while the "little people" aka cows are kept in the pasture, docile, worrying about migrant invasions, or gays or Muslims. Health Care is just another commodity, that keeps us in the pasture, making profits for oligarchs. I worked as a Physician for 35 years, I am shocked at the profits from low benefit/ high cost treatments, while no new antibiotics are being developed because of low profit margins, for example.
5
Great insight. In ACT II Trump will boldly side with the Democrats on infrastructure and health care while claiming this was his plan all along. In the end Trump will triumph and be re-elected in 2020 while thanking Democrats for all their help. Such is the "art of the deal".
5
Not a snowball’s chance in....! And since I live in close proximity I would be very happy to buy you a drink, if you are correct!
1
Art of the Deal....written by Tony Schwartz, not Donald Trump.
To side with the Democrats on health care means..... *Medicare for All* single payer.
To finance this means tax hikes on the rich.
The GOP will impeach him themselves before they permit that.
Lol. Nice try.
In 2016, the Democrats earned more votes for president than the Republicans, but the Republican candidate became president.
The Democrats earned more votes for the Senate than the Republicans, but the Republicans control the Senate.
The Democrats earned more votes for the House than the Republicans, but the Republicans control the House.
The Democrats nominated an eminently qualified judge with unblemished reputation for the Supreme Court, but that nominee was not even considered for the position. Instead, a Republican nominee took this non-partisian position by making a hyper-partisan appeal to ignore credible evidence against him.
A liberal peacefully protesting in Charlotte was killed when a conservative rammed her with his vehicle. The President refused to condemn his action. But when liberals use their rights of free speech and free assembly, guaranteed by the Constitution, the President condemns them as a "mob".
Mr. Douthat considers all of this to be good luck.
130
Trump's base would have felt betrayed if he had turned into Jeb! His drama is the sign to them that he is doing something. In terms of doing something, we have the tax cut and deregulation, neither of which is that effective as political theater.
If he had gone populist he would have displeased the puppet masters of his party and would have been seen as competing with Democrats to buy the votes of the takers. This would also have displeased his base, for whom government except the military and punitive criminal justice is a bad thing.
The Democratic hysteria does not sell except to the Democratic base, while talk of health care does. Republicans have been disenfranchising people on spurious grounds, using dog whistles to get support from racists, and pretending to worry about deficits while making huge ones, so they are pretty much immune to talk about the rule of law or fairness in elections or any of the other high minded topics Democrats love. The ones with principles are not disturbed enough by these behaviors to split the party unity; they like to see these processes as outside the essence of their party (which in fact is wishful thinking and dishonest).
4
Douthat misperceives what's going on. Rank and file Democrats are disgusted and furious with Trump, but they and their candidates are strategically trying to stay on point. The polls show that few people who weren't already appalled by Trump in November 2016 have seen the light since. So there is no point cataloging again and again Trump's debasement of our democracy; it's better electoral strategy to woo the pocketbook voters. What Douthat sees as rank and file calm is actually a remarkable display of mass discipline and determination.
25
Your second point scares me. Trump might not have taken full advantage of economic populism, but he's opened the door to demagogic politics. I'm afraid that the next president will take advantage of our economic anxieties.
3
Reminds me of a column seen in the Cleveland Plain Dealer about a month ago: "Maybe Harding Wasn't So Bad After All" Thank you Tom Suddes.
5
"Major terrorist attacks" Very cute term, Ross. Are there any terrorist attacks that are minor?
17
@sapere aude
Good point, I would 11 killed in Pittsburgh would qualify as "major".
@sapere aude apparently those carried out by white people since the Right always defaults to talking about mental illness and complaining about politicization whenever one happens.
They have to be carried out by Islamists to be major.
But healthcare is boring. When I stand in line at the checkout, I want to read how Ted Cruz' father murdered JFK. And if Trump decided to do something good and ethical, after the intial shock, that would be boring too. Lying sets you free.
9
Who could be responsible for this economy, the stock market, the employment, all these wins.
Let’s see.
Choose one.
A—Obama who signed this into law:
The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010
Or,
B—Trump who said:
This is the wettest hurricane from the stand point of...(insert 25 seconds as he searches for the right word)...water.
Make no mistake, Trump is not right in the head. And even worse, no one cares. Not the Republicans, not his third wife, not a single child from his three marriages (as of now).
107
"The same environment that’s making liberals feel desperate is, for Democrats, one of the more fortunate of possible worlds."
Here's the problem, Ross. Trump lies. Trump lies as necessarily as he breathes. Trump lies when he doesn't need to...just for fun, because he can.
And Trump wants to cause chaos. Trump loves chaos because it hides his ineptitude at normal life. So when things are going well, Trump isn't happy. Trump wants to interject chaos to bring everyone's attention back to...himself. Trump is a narcist.
Yes, if Trump was more clever, he could consolidate power. But then again, if Trump was more intelligent, maybe he wouldn't need to create chaos to hide his inadequacies, and would actually act to help the country and not just himself.
But Trump is what he is, and republicans are all propping him up rather than fencing him in.
If you are tired of Trump's tantrums and republican complicity, if you have a conscience and are reality based, you need to go to the polls on November 6th and...
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
83
Hi, I have seen Silvio Berlusconi's era in Italy 20 years ago. Silvio and Donald understood how politicians were not "clever" to understand the situation and changed the rules of the game.
We have to understand the mechanism and not only pu the blame on them. We, as electors, changed so much and in a certian way we are looking at these politicians. Why is the question.
4
Ross D.:
The Nazi era allusions are clumsy and unhelpful. [And hint: It's not a "normal time".]
And all the hypotheticals of "if Trump this" and "if Trump that" are absurd. Trump has no self-control, and just lurches and barges from one transaction or rally, to the next.
37
In the first year of Trumpism, I told myself he would act as a catalyst for change. Now, well into the second year, I realize Trump is worse than I imagined. Much worse. I wasn't really entertained by your tale of the Three Possible Trumps. There was always going to be one. Even if the Democrats have amazing victories, it will take decades to undo the damage he and his new party of Trumpist Nationalists has done.
60
The Pittsburgh shootings are also a political gift to Democrats. That does not make them worth it or remove the horror. Why then should outright attacks on democratic norms and respect for basic human dignity by Trump seem as trivial as Ross seems to indicate? I think it is cheap to dismiss these concerns by calling them "hysterical."
35
Joshua you said this very well well.
I think of the conservative columnists at the Times, to the extent that it matters at all, Ross is the most cut off emotionally and the most tangled up in his head. Though for me to even write this so early in the morning probably means I am equally tangled up. Maybe not equally. But way too much.
1
You are forgetting that he had to demonize the media and legal institutions, because of the massive illegalities waiting to be uncovered, not only in his campaign but in his business dealings as well. Do you think he has demonized and obstructed the investigation for no reason?
17
Yes, Democrats are talking about real issues (jobs, deficit, and healthcare) while Republicans are talking about immigration and fear of caravans of 5,000 about 1,000 miles from our border, when we have 7,000,000 job openings.
This is cover for an otherwise thoroughly mediocre to awful policy record under Trump on these three main readings:
1. Job creation in Obama's last 21 months was faster than Trump's first 21 months, 213,000 per month vs. 193,000. The total jobs score for those intervals is 4.48 million jobs created by Obama vs. 4.05 million under Trump. Imagine if he'd just run that infrastructure bill, instead of cutting taxes for the rich, as the former has much more economic bang for the buck. He might be at par with Obama.
2. The 2018 budget deficit was up 60% vs. what CBO forecast it would be when Trump was inaugurated. Ditto the 10-year debt addition forecast, which is up about 45%. This is due to Trump's tax cuts and spending. This is budgetary incompetence.
3. Trump has been an utter disaster for healthcare via his ACA sabotage. About 1 million have lost their health insurance, the first time it increased since 2010. CBO forecasts that by 2026, about 35 million will be without insurance, vs. 28 million on the Obama baseline, a 25% turn for the worse.
If that isn't enough to send Trump and Republicans into the wilderness for a long, long time, I don't know what is.
39
Mr. Douthat, nobody over here is cheering, even if they're doing their best to be optimistic and forward-thinking. Our national politics are debased, our policies nonsensical, our nation perhaps hopelessly divided. It's going to take years if not decades to repair the damage, both to our body politic and our standing in the world-- if it can be repaired at all.
We on the left did not need a favorable political season this badly.
26
Could the president display a political-savvy learning curve and follow Mr. Douthat’s advice? (one and the same thing, naturally! wink) Scary prospect—he could really trash our constitutional republic, not least by demonstrating that a plurality of voters could not care less about a constitutional republic.
2
It would be more worthwhile to focus not on what Trump should have done but on what he will do, especially if he loses bigly on Tuesday.
He would be humiliated. What if he decides to start a war with Iran just to change the subject?
Republicans have to stop dwelling on what Trump should have done and start worrying about what he might actually do.
15
@Mary Scott
Actually, he is perfectly capable of enhancing the war he's started right here at home. "Second amendment solutions" and we see the modus operandi in Georgia and Kansas and North Dakota in its purest form. Pack local authorities and courts with people willing to deny the vote to "those people" on any pretext, and jail, kill, and deport 'em at speed.
Then there's this, from a Newsweek article
***Donald Trump May Call 2018 Election 'Illegitimate' Should Democrats Take Control of Congress, Carl Bernstein Says***
"I talked to people...in touch with the White House on Friday who believe that if the congressional midterms are very close and the Democrats were to win by five or seven seats, that Trump was already talking about how to throw legal challenges into the courts, sow confusion, declare a victory, actually, and say that the election's been illegitimate," Bernstein told host Brian Stelter. "That is really under discussion in the White House."
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-2018-election-illegitimate-democrats-take-control-congress-carl-1181683
11
The argument here is that if Trump were a completely different person from the person that he actually is, things would be much worse for the Democrats. But if this were the case, he wouldn't have won in 2016. Without his appeal to white supremacists, he would have lost a few thousand votes in each of those precious rust belt states that just barely swung in his favor. The Democrats would likely have won a couple of extra senate seats as well. So we'd have a Democratic white house, a Democratic senate and a Democratic supreme court majority that would last for a generation or more. On the other hand, what if upon moving into the White House, Trump had suddenly revealed himself to be a completely different person than he portrays himself to be? What if he had he tossed aside the philosophy of White Supremacy that was the central focus of his campaign and his primary selling point? What if instead, he had focused on the minor, noncommittal and contradictory side-note appeals that he peppered some of his speeches with when the audience was just right? In other words, what if his agenda really was economic populism, policies that benefit the working class, cheaper health insurance and drug prices, and trade deals that actually benefit the American People? In this twilight zone alternative reality, Republicans would be in a lot more trouble. They'd be playing the Democrats' game and losing, instead of strategically changing the subject and grabbing headlines at every opportunity.
11
@Randy Thompson
Voters are fed up with both parties.
Trump was elected, only after voters rejected all the donor-preferred candidates. It wasn't so much that voters loved Trump: It was more that they hated all the other choices.
In the Republican primary, JEB Bush was favored by donors, as well as the mainstream press. But Republican voters rejected JEB. Then the press and donors pushed for Rubio. Rejected. It wasn't even close.
Unlike the small percentage of mainstream partisans and wedge issue voters - on both right and left - swing voters are looking for *change*.
Trump is *not* a Republican. Yes, he has a core base of support with anti-immigrant zealots, and he will of course get all the votes of anti-abortion single issue voters, as well as pro gun voters, and those who are anti-tax. Anti-tax includes the wealthy, and also workers in once blue swing states, where they cannot afford any more taxes, as real wages aren't sufficient.
The majority of citizens see the economic truth - which is that their parents had better economic opportunity than they do, and that economic security for ordinary workers is still on a long term downward slide, from it's peak in the 1950's through 1970's. They rightfully blame establishment pols.
I knew Trump would win POTUS, as soon as he declared. The fact that it was even close, was due to his being even more incompetent and extreme than expected. Extremism was a detriment. He won because Hillary was so hated in key states.
Voters are fed up with both parties.
Trump was elected, only after voters rejected all the donor-preferred candidates. Not that voters loved Trump: That they hated all the other choices.
In the Republican primary, JEB Bush was favored by donors, as well as the mainstream press. But Republican voters rejected JEB. Then the press and donors pushed for Rubio. Rejected. It wasn't even close.
Unlike the small percentage of mainstream partisans and wedge issue voters - on both right and left - swing voters are looking for *change*.
Trump is *not* a Republican. Yes, he has a core base of support with anti-immigrant zealots, and he will of course get all the votes of anti-abortion single issue voters, as well as pro gun voters, and those who are anti-tax. Anti-tax includes the wealthy, and also workers in once blue swing states, where they cannot afford any more taxes, as real wages aren't sufficient.
The majority of citizens see the economic truth - which is that their parents had better economic opportunity than they do, and that economic security for ordinary workers is still on a long term downward slide, from it's peak in the 1950's through 1970's. They rightfully blame establishment pols.
I knew Trump would win POTUS, as soon as he declared. The fact that it was even close, was due to his being even more incompetent and extreme than expected. He won because Hillary was so hated in key states, and because R's and D's have no credibility on economic populism.
Fake news, Ross Douthat, more Catholic than the Pope, fake news
It is not hysteria to point out the multiple crimes against humanity Trump promotes, his preference for repressive dictators, his disdain for the constitution, his lies, his bullying, his promotion of toxic solutions for short-term profit.
Come back in 20 years and tell me climate change is not if anything worse than scientists predicted.
Genesis has a lot to answer for: things are a mite different and stewardship is better than dominion. Women are not chattels, and humans are not property just because they're convenient, your slaves.
Working together to solve problems is not socialism.
Surely you can at least recognize the attacks on the press and the promotion of violence.
21
@Susan Anderson, I don't think God was commanding human or male domination in Genesis. The male had already blamed his female mate for sinning and she had blamed the serpent. The real sin was that, the lack of love and willingness to fork over others onto the celestial griddle, so to speak. (And we've been forking each other over ever since.). God was merely stating the fact of this "every man, woman, or serpent" sinfulness--not endorsing it, much less commanding it. I see the meaning of the Gospel as the call to refuse to dominate, and to love instead. I think Jesus would say so, anyway. I think he did, actually.
4
@jb Thanks, jb, you put it well ...
4
Douthat argues that Democrats should be happy with how awful Trump has been, because it has "kept them in the game", and appears to minimize the real damage Trump has done and the real peril to democracy he represents. One gets the very clear impression that Douthat is actually happy as a clam with Trump and sees no real danger.
Trump poses very real dangers, on several different fronts, and I for one would like the hear the conservative Douthat acknowledge that reality. Failing that, it is very hard to take his statements as more than glib debating points.
32
Best piece you’ve written.
3
If only a center-right majority could be constructed somewhere in-between the progressives and the white nationalists, eh?
Imagine a future where racism is safely swept under the carpet and white supremacy manifests itself only covertly. A future where racial issues neither improve or get worse. Where minorities still face discrimination but white people don't have to hear them gripe about it.
15
@Anthony Flack
What you call progressives are in the majority center-right to most centers in other Western societies.
1
Imagine Trump as intelligent, genuinely intelligent, and empathetic, as opposed to the stone cold heartless narcissist and sociopath he is.
In his nearly two years as our President, he has done absolutely nothing, zero, zilch, that has directly, and intentionally, benefited the poor and the middle-class in any significant way, and, as is now common knowledge, his intent, to date, and future plan, is to insure that the wealthiest Americans and corporate America continue to economically flourish while everyone else is further economically deprived.
What a miserable creature he is; no other way to describe him.
I can't help but feel we ended up with this bum as our President because we deserve it; look at us; collectively (way too many of us) we seem to be hellbent on proving to a thoroughly disgusted world that we have become a mean wicked nation, full of white supremacists, hating and murdering minorities and non-christians, at will.
And the cabal running our government ensures that the weaponry to carry on with the wholesale mayhem and murder we routinely engage in, is readily available.
The recent Saudi Arabia debacle, the murdering and dismembering of Mr. Kashoggi, ordered by the Saudi Crown Prince, Mr. Bone Saw, which Trump and his minions are trying to cover up, and the now nearly complete absence of coverage in the mainstream media, is further proving to a demoralized world, that America and Americans can no longer be trusted or depended on.
Exceptional no more.
36
So Trump might be doing a good job if it wasn’t for......Trump? Don’t forget the racism, sexism and xenophobia that has put soldiers on the southern border for no reason and has emboldened racists to attack innocent people. Educated progressives have plenty to fear. Don’t forget, conservative economic policies only help the one percent.
21
So it’s all luck. Thanks for letting us know.
13
We shall see, Ross.
It is your Party who is sniping and suppressing votes wherever possible. And re-districting, and playing patty-cakes with Russia to foul one election; why not this one?
Dem's getting lucky? Don't count your chicks before they hatch. And here we are; leader of the Free World, with elections that United Nations observers should be watching.
All Republican stuff, Ross. We are all unlucky to have Republicans. For about the last 30 years.
39
That "could be worse" for Democrats - because of your counterfactuals, Mr D, or other factors or a combination of both - doesn't mean the liberals are wrong in their degree of concern about possible terror, as symbolized - to use your own example - by an American Reichstag fire, particularly in view of the killing of the Squirrel Hill Eleven.
Nor does it say anything about Democratic politicians' focusing on healthcare in their races or about the likelihood of that focus' resulting in winning/losing.
Neither does "could be worse" mean things are not quite problematic and, arguably, more problematic than in any midterm election since WWII.
5
Douthat loves his false equivalence, as if the left wing of the democratic party is as crazy as the right wing of the republican party. Not even close--the republican takeover by the far right is what has made them unpopular, and Trump is simply playing to their instincts. Will the public reject the party that's "crazy" for advocating single-payer healthcare? I suspect they will find them more reasonable than the party that gave them huge tax cuts for the rich. Unfortunately for republicans the rightist cycle has likely run its course, discredited by its own most fervent crazies. THAT is the source of democratic optimism!
7
@roger
Just like the Soviets, the Republicans will do anything to stay in power. They care not a dime for what the plurality in our country actually wants. Not a dime.
4
There are relatively few swing votes. The winner in most US elections is the one who can get the base out. Can Democrats get the minorities and young adults who voted for Obama and stayed home for Hillary, to come to the polls on Tuesday? Can Trump get the people who came out to vote for him in 2016 to come out again in 2018?
Some of the hypotheticals in this column make me wish I’d taken up yoga a long time ago. For instance: “a real center-right majority could be built on economic populism...”
Where has that ever happened?
What is the center-right part? Cultural conservatism tailored to Mr. Douhat’s taste? Keep waiting, Ross. That horse isn’t coming back to the barn.
If it means patriotism without tribal totems and fictive speech, whither the G.O.P.?
5
Ross my man with the Donald appointing far right jurist in being the last arbiters of the law is more of a rallying point for the left than the middle of the road game you thought would've been a beneficial tool he'd apply to politics. Marco Rubio in using an athletic metaphor played the role of the athlete who comes into the game when his team is losing or winning by a wide margin and the starters are now deserving a rest. Bottom line Rubio's fake power play got some attention but basically it was ineffectual as it was intended to be.
Me. Douthat wonders why Trump has not become a conventional establishment politician or a real populist and instead became a fear-mongering racist flame thrower. Surprise: this is who Trump always was. Expecting anything else was (and remains) a fool’s errand.
23
I have to agree with Ross, if the democrats weren't blessed with such a narcissistic president with a good dose of idiocy thrown in, the Republicans could have easily and smartly marched into a much more popular position. Let us count our blessings!
7
This essay is nonsense. In the real world there are people like my wife, myself and the woman who knocked on out door today and asked us to vote. She carried a door knob pamphlet with our name, our place to vote and the Democratic candidates.
This is the most organized that the party has been here on the taiga since the last Obama campaign and where the twitter pundits have no meaning.
Douthat again ignores two very critical parts of this election cycle, women and the young for they have no meaning in the world that he inhabits.
They are appropriately disgusted, enraged and motivated to throw down an amoral misogynist and racist President and his callow enablers in Douthat's party.
I cannot predict the results of next Tuesday but what I am certain of that the fire thatTrump has ignited will burnn through 2020.
27
Trump the Russian appeaser will be the catalyst for Civil War 2011. And he will get a cut of it.
2
It is ironic if not tragic that someone of Mr. Douthat's intellectual caliber is so reflexively prone to use phrases such as "liberal," "conservative," "left" etc., that have long since been twisted, dumbed-down, stretched beyond viable meaning, and massively over-used. This is the low-brow lingo of Fox News commentators...at the lower quality end.
But what really shows how bad the day of this commentator must have been are the two ludicrous counter-factuals proffered in support of the interesting though doubtful notion that it is Trump, not the Democrats, who has/have been blowing opportunities more egregiously since the 2016 election:
What if Trump had behaved like a honest, professional adult?
What if Trump had shown some real political talent?
In other words, what if Trump were someone very different than Trump?
Well, that last formulation might lead to a column on 'what if there had been no Trump?' In that counterfactual, we would be left with all the bottled-up anger at and frustration with the political establishment which Trump (and Sanders) benefited from, which (absent a Trump to exploit it), could have led in any number of different directions.
This column, however, shows no such reflective potential. It poses the doubtful question "what if the village idiot were not an idiot" and completely ducks the vastly more salient question of how the village idiot became mayor.
30
Is Ross Douthat a climate change denier? Is he aware of the recent UN report on what the world is facing in 10 years? And the oceans report which might accelerate that time frame? Alarm is justified. As for hysteria, Trump is the example in chief of that.
28
Mr. Douthat,
You are not paid to write fiction, as I understand it and the picture you presented of Trump is a wholly cut from cloth, because Donald Trump isn't capable of sustaining all these wonderful things for even 2 minutes out of 24 hours. Besides which, the person that you imagine him capable of being would not have won the election.
Now here is your major problem, even assuming this column to be a work of utter fiction, swiss cheese for the totally insipid, the only ones capable of buying into your imagined world of nonsense, the Republican Party, version 2016-2018 would not have allowed any of those things to happen. A tax cut actually aimed at working and middle classes? Not on The Koch Brother's lives and don't forget they financed huge chunks of all this. An actual attack on big Pharma's greed? Not possible with the amounts of money they contribute up and down the line, and in the interest of fairness, Dems are only minusculey less beholden to them. It would take a super powered microscope to chart the differences between the parties on this one.
Also don't forget all the gifts to Religious Conservatives including two Supreme Court nominees who because of total partisanship should have been disqualified. Take a look at how far right Gorsuch and Kavanaugh are as compared to Merick Garland, and if you can't see the difference you are further into a drug laced world than I thought.
One word for this column: Delusional!!!!
32
So little Catholic toddlers in cages in empty Walmarts like dogs in a pound while their mothers cry out to Mary and Jesus don't keep the notable Catholic Douthat from seeing Trump as the hero who would be just great if only he stayed on the right campaign script. Your little brothers and sisters in Christ should matter just a tiny bit to you, Ross. Those hurt now and who will be hurt in future by the brutal fellow and party you serve should matter. You cannot serve God and Mammon. And even Mammon would be a step up from what you serve now.
33
@jb
Well said, jb. There is nothing as hypocritical as a person supporting Republican policies, never mind trump, who claims to be a religious adherent.
I believe a Richard Spencer to be less of a hypocrite than Douthat.
2
Having voted today in Midterm Elections and scanned the usual daily assortment of anti-Trump articles in NYT, I wish the political logorrheic diatribes receded into oblivion. Instead, there could be more page space devoted to the articles and comments on thebmore calming subjects of, e.g., Gastronomy (or Food Section) and Man's Fashion.
The second counter factual is all of trump’s campaign promises. “Promises made, promises kept!” is the phrase I think you’re looking for.
Ross, I think that you put your finger on something that many of us recognize when you highlight "the populism that [Trump] promised in 2016." That globalization has had legitimate downsides, and the political class legitimate failures, is something that I think almost everyone would agree with.
Where you posit that Trump could have "actually followed through" on this, however, to myself and others it was obvious that this was never going to happen. However much Steve Bannon may like to think that Trumpism "is about the little guy versus the elites," as he said at a debate on Friday in Toronto, to us it was clear that a money-worshipping vulgarian was not going to lead this.
We thus come to the question: even if Hillary treated Bernie unfairly during the nomination process, and even if she made a serious error in not nominating him as VP, which I would certainly concede, why do people believe that their interests would have been less represented by her than by Trump? Where does the hatred come from, the bile, the chants of "lock her up"? This embrace of baseness and complete lack of decency is where I lose the thread.
15
The problem here is the failure to recognize that without the fear-mongering, racism, xenophobia and bully act, Trump loses his base. Trump Republicans want their meat raw and bloody and Trump knows it. He's incapable of articulating a rational platform and even if someone gave him one he couldn't stay on task long enough to implement it. Donald Trump has one big talent, and thus far it's been enough: He's a first-class demagogue.
He has sense enough to keep one-percent happy with tax cuts and licenses to steal; that's the extent of his policy.
15
"One of the interesting features of this election cycle has been the gulf, often vast, between the hysteria of liberals who write about politics for a living and the relative calm of Democrats who practice it."
Well that includes most of the center-left who write op-eds in NYT Opinion.
Part of the problem is that voters, or most voters, do not vote based on a logical analysis of issues. Most voters are not ideologues, attached to some political theory. The majority, usually silent, the swing-vote, vote based on their gut and on how it is churning at a particular moment.
The idea for pundit and politician is to catch that moment. Hysteria has more long-lasting effects. Good for the pundit. Not every candidate can pull off hysteria though. Mr. Trump is an exception. If done poorly, it makes a candidate look weak , so the candidates have sometimes no recourse but to return to boring issues.
To what extent do the pundits of the written word influence how one votes? I would gather very little. TV? Perhaps more.
In a few days it will be clear what strategy works better, at least for the moment.
3
Douthat attempts to portray liberals (and by implication leftists like myself) as alarmist. But when the President condones racism, sexism, hatred, and violence, and government agencies are obliged to obey his diktat on everything from family separations at the border to anti-science, then alarm and resistance not obedience and normalization are the order of the day.
19
Today you have made me laugh and I needed it! Thanks,
4
"the Senate and the Supreme Court illegitimate,"
The Supreme Court is, in fact, illegitimate.
The Senate is what it is.
9
Russ doesn’t equate shootings on US soil as terrorism.
9
@Herman Torres
Not when the victims aren’t People Like Him.
2
Mr. Douthat’s article is distasteful in the extreme. Mr. Trump is disliked by many different people; this is not simply a difference between so-called Liberals and Republicans. Trump has offended people of every political persuasion, but mostly our citizens who think clearly about the position we find ourselves in.
In the end, Mr. Trump could not be any different than he is, and he might become a lot worse: not just a cheap, amoral grifter but a far more powerful threat to our democracy.
23
To the great disappointment of the columnist, Democratic candidates did not rise to the bait and incessantly make the election focus about Trump’s amoral character and total unfitness for office. Let the Democratic pundits, writers, supporters,etc. emote and carry that water. So far that highly focused and disciplined strategy of the candidates has been working very well indeed and resulting in a huge national early voting turnout. Although Douthat will never admit it, “luck” has absolutely nothing to do with this intentional roadmap to probable victory for Democratics, but entirely the opposite. “Unlucky” for Republicans, with the Narcissist-in-Chief in control there was no way that the midterms would not be, for their demoralized and frustrated side, anything other than a plebiscite all about him, not the humming economy, in all of his angry, vindictive, cruel, unempathetic, and authoritarian glory. MAGA.
7
Douthat pushed this repellent "Luck of the Democrats" premise last week. Only a day after the massacre in Pittsburgh Douthat again joined Frank Bruni in their series: "The Conversation." The subject was supposed to be: "Trump Can’t Unite Us. Can Anyone? After far-right terrorist attacks, the president sticks to what he does best: polarize."
Douthat used it to state: "Trump has some modicum of self-control, but it’s mostly linked to self-interest. If you want him to abjure a polarizing response to tragedy, you need to show that it’s a bad political strategy...I think politically the horror in Pittsburgh and the mail bombs are a gift to Democrats." Why? "They highlighted" a specific way "that Trump is ill-suited to his office."
For Douthat, who pretends to understand the Bible's teachings, bombs being sent to Trump's opponents and Jews being massacred in a synagogue were not inherently evil or even inherently bad, they were to be seen primarily as a "gift" to Democrats. Further an appropriate response was to show Trump, who has "self-control," that his hate is a "bad strategy."
Not surprisingly, Frank Bruni responded: "I find it hard to see any gifts anywhere right now. The fact of Trump’s presidency, the way he conducts it and the screaming all around it...is bigger than him and will survive him....(there's) a quickly vanishing sense of common ground and purpose in America. Hate is filling that void."
Douthat's retort said it all: "Yes, but it’s the nature of politics."
13
@Robert B, and that's the nature of Douthat.
3
“there is an odd symbiosis between the liberal analysts who muster 16 regression analyses to prove that Midwesterners who voted twice for the first black president and then voted for Trump were white supremacists all along”
I hate to say it, but Douthat has shown one of the most troubling aspects of today’s conservative thinkers, simply ignoring inconvenient facts. I believe he also describes himself as a “climate change agnostic.”
Many people on the left would very much like to believe that Trump’s appeal was driven by “economic anxiety” because addressing these types of problems is right in the Democrats’ strike zone. The fact is that over and over, study after study reveals that racial resentment was by far the strongest motivator. It is bizarre to read that Obama/Trump voters are in fact MORE racist than average, but reality is sometimes bizarre. I’m glad I belong to the party of facts, uncomfortable though sometimes they are.
10
@Mercury S
You make an excellent point. The economic anxiety theory has been thoroughly debunked by analysts who have crunched the voting data over the past 18 months. Conservative intellectuals like Douthat and Stephens are unwilling to accept evidence that the conservative movement they champion is not inspired by their clever libertarian arguments but by more elemental fears and resentments. Douthat and Stephens are far behind former conservatives like Jennifer Rubin and Max Boot in confronting that unpleasant truth.
1
This might be the funniest article Ross has ever written. "Imagine if Trump were a good president! Then liberals wouldn't be in a lather because they'd have nothing to fear!" Did you fly in from London just to make that deduction, Mr. Holmes?
On a more serious note, basically all of the theoretical (or 'counterfactual') good governing this dream!Trump would be pushing through basically just makes him a Democrat. Clinton-era, sure, but that's better than any Republican in existence.
9
I still can't figure out the game or the purpose of the NYT's trio of never-Trump Republicans, Douthat, Brooks, and Stephens. Along with others like William Kristol, they are all men without a country. That is, they no longer have any political base and no candidates in either party appear to support their views. They have been completely disowned and disregarded by their own party and as a result have been forced to make a living writing for liberal publications.
Since no one in the Trump-controlled GOP will listen to them anymore, their only remaining audience is Democrats. All they have left for themselves now is the senseless and paradoxical task of scolding their liberal audience for being liberals. What a strange career situation to be in.
In a rational universe, they would instead be writing for conservative publications warning their fellow conservatives of the dangers of Trumpism. While I appreciate being exposed to different views, having these people write for the NYT makes about as much sense as having Paul Krugman host Fox & Friends.
19
@John M
Bravo, on the mark. The contortions these guys go through to find some last use for their "thoughtful" conservatism would be better spent calling a pig a pig.
11
Yes, what could have been. Except that it couldn't, since conservative politicians cannot be true populists, at least not in America. They may sometimes talk a good game, but they exist solely to preserve and grow the wealth of their donors. All else is smoke and mirrors.
6
Crazy wild-eyed thought... Democrats win the House and Senate and pass a massive infrastructure bill - the biggest, most beautiful bill the nation has ever seen - and Trump signs it, thus beginning his leftward shift. Remember, all he wants is attention and to be popular. He’ll do anything to be relevant and center of attention.
5
My favorite part of this article is the imagine how Trump could have taken the Democrats out by the knees if he would have just done a-z. First, you have to imagine that Trump had an actual plan and an actual team put together to make a-z happen. Second, you have to imagine that Trump could take in and process advice and information from many varied sources. Third, you have to imagine that Trump would accept criticism and alter his behavior and agenda.
That sounds like a waste of imagination. This country and planet do not have the time to dally around raising up a president who has no intention of growing into the job. I choose to work towards the removal of him and his enablers. I will imagine what it will take to clear away the detritus Trump and friends leave in their wake. I will imagine what it will take to build the coalitions necessary to take on the most imminent threat to our collective prosperity, a habitable planet.
Imagine all you want but it won't bring back whatever nostalgic memories you have of the Republican party. Most of them are all in. They have become Trumps.
7
If the only differences were policy differences, I could probably stomach Trump. I'd be hard pressed, but that's the way the system works and I know that.
But the point Ross misses, in my estimation, is this is not about policy. Trump has no policy positions.
This is about hate, authoritarianism, lying, raw power and white nationalism in a country built on immigration.
This is about abandoning our allies, embracing our enemies and returning to bigotry not seen since before World War II, our last go round with America First.
This is not about pre-existing conditions and who is telling the truth about that.
This is about a bleak economic future for billions of people, a renewed nuclear arms race and a time when the rule of law is replaced by sheer politics.
Ross seems almost flippant about it, calling his fellow columnists truculent and churlish.
Let's hope it doesn't end with them telling him "I told you so."
9
I totally agree with the column. I have been thinking recently that Trump is winning despite himself again and again, because he has two or three big things right:levels of illegal immigration is unsustainable and our laws need to change to ensure we can manage our borders; political correctness is making it difficult to discuss issues that are important, and focus against globalization. All these could have been prosecuted in a lot more efficient manner rather than in the crude way Trump goes about doing things, but for which he would be enjoying a high approval rating, and leading republicans to a resounding victory in both houses. But that is the shortcoming of the man, it cannot be helped. However, he has paved the way for the next republican presidential candidate to do exactly that - will republicans will be able to find such a person? Ideally, Trump choses not to run in 2020 (because of Mueller investigation or maybe health reasons) in which case it will be possible to get such a candidate.
1
From Trump and the GOP's perspective losing the House is irrelevant and a minor road bump. They are still going to flatten liberalism. The midterms will not slow that down because the Republicans are going to win the Senate. Control the Senate and you control the most important lever of power: the judiciary. The shift to the right will continue. Republicans are playing the long game. Trump will be gone soon. They will still be here. The GOP can wait him out & achieve all of their objectives. They have their eyes on a much bigger prize. Their goal is to nominate 3-4 very conservative Supreme Court justices. Trump has gotten two SCOTUS appointments, he may get more. He’s moved much faster on lower-court appointments than Obama did. The legal arm of the conservative movement is probably the best organized, most far-reaching & far-seeing sector of the Right. They truly are in it — and have been in it — for the long term goals. Control the Supreme Court, stack the judiciary, and you can stop the progressive movement, no matter how popular it is, no matter how much legislative power it has. Nothing will get in the way of that goal.
4
Bill Brown
"government of right-wing radicals, by right-wing radicals, for right-wing radicals"
I'm sure Abe Lincoln would be thrilled.
7
@Socrates Controlling the judiciary is the only game in town. It allows you to dictate the agenda whether you are in or out of power. To their credit all Republicans are on the same page with this strategy. Dems...if they were able to think long term...would do the exact same thing as Repubs. But the the constant conflict between the moderates and the progressives within the party makes this impossible. The biggest question implied (but not answered) by many NYT columns is can moderates & progressives co-exist in the same party? Given what has happened in the past 8 years:Absolutely not. Democrats are trying run local campaigns on a national platform that working class swing voters despise. It's time we face a fundamental truth. The voters we need to win back the Presidency,Congress, The Supreme Court,the majority of governorships & state legislatures, these voters have different values. There’s no way to bridge the gap. To them, Progressive means trigger warnings, vile college protests & obnoxious academics who posture as their will on earth. They hate these people to their very core. Why shouldn't they?The far left has been mocking these people for decades. You are bad for eating factory-farmed meat, owning a rifle, & driving an SUV. You are bad for speaking the language of micro-aggressions, patriarchy & cultural appropriation. We have to part company with the far left fanatics. We need to make it clear they don't represent the Democratic Party. Otherwise all is lost.
3
@Bill Brown
Re: "We have to part company with the far left fanatics."
Agree strongly with this, in terms of social issues.
While I am not against immigration or trade, I do believe that both parties have been co-opted by big business and banking, to do immigration in a way designed to lower wages and keep unemployment high. H1b's have been used to fire existing US workers, and replace them with lower cost H1b's - which is not the stated purpose. That stated purpose being to bring in skilled workers we can't otherwise get. Worse, those H1b's have rules and restrictions, designed to keep the wages of those imported workers low for *years*.
The vocal campaign by Democrats in favor of immigration, and gun control, will indeed motivate people to vote.
But they motivate opponents more than supporters;
From NYT's Thomas Edsall:
"..among those who say immigration is their top issue, opponents outnumber supporters by nearly two to one. In this respect, immigration is similar to gun control — both mobilize opponents more than supporters."
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/02/16/opinion/the-democrats-immigration-problem.html
Democrats have become the 2nd party of Wall Street.
GOP governor Scott Walker (of once blue Wisconsin) now wins big on low taxes, as low paid workers can't afford any more. If Dems can't come out with a big, credible plan to raise wages, run credible candidates, repudiate donors, and shut up on wedge issues, they will never climb out of this hole.
1
'One of the interesting features of this election cycle has been the gulf, often vast, between the hysteria of liberals who write about politics for a living and the relative calm of Democrats who practice it.'
Oh my, those 'hysterical Democrats' who write for a living, any personal axes to grind there, Ross? And I'm wondering if you've had the stomach to watch even a single minute of the unhinged and quite mad Alex Jones, clearly someone a candidate for a nearby psychiatric facility.
And then Fox favorites like Sean Hannity who unfailingly tells it like it isn't.
With Trump's mad rush around the country for his midterm rallies, all at taxpayer expense, attempting to influence even more of the very easily influenced, he sits at the top of the dung hill that Republicans have piled up for many years, their Savior, the sexual assaulter and deeply racist 'president', as now affirmed by his once attorney Michael Cohen. Trump is not content to lay waste to the accomplishments and alliances not only of President Obama but even of some former Republican presidents.
He dreams of empire, but it's more like Boardwalk Empire, where the heavy is supposed to come out on top no matter what he has to do to get there, but the only thing Trump has really accomplished is to become the Republican party's head dung.
3
If Trump had followed through on populist reforms? That presupposes he was at some point concerned about formulating policies that would benefit someone other than himself, and capable of promoting their implementation.
15
If, as Ross Douthat postulates, Donald Trump actually worked and studied in order to govern for the benefit of the common good; if, instead of denigrating every possible human classification that isn't white and mostly male, he sought to include all people within the scope of the benefits that democracy is designed to appeal to; if he condemned racism and white nationalism instead of seeming to tolerate it; and yes, if he built bridges instead of threatening to build walls. filled potholes instead of deploying the Army, at extraordinary costs, to the borders as a show of strength against the poor, the children, and the vulnerable, then Trump would lose the very base that now forms the core population of the Republican Party and random error that made him President would have no chance of repeating itself.
No one wants to disabuse Ross Douthat of his dreams, but the idea that Donald Trump even has the core ability, let alone the desire, to govern as a rational leader of a democracy is just that, a dream. It would have been a more useful exercise had Douthat hypothecized a way to rid Trump of his narcissicism as a means of making him a more useful, kinder man and President.
Having said all that, though, it is upllifing to see Democrats run local campaigns that show that they at least understand how government be useful and helpful.
7
Mr. Douthat makes excellent points. Given the strength of the current economy, the fact that the Republic Party's primary spokesperson is not touting "Happy Days Are Here Again" instead of "lock her/him up" is both mind-boggling and disturbing. What is mind-boggling is that the good news might be the best means for Congressional Republicans to reach voters who are turned off by the culture war that has become that party's theme and tagline this election.
What is disturbing is that the broader Republican leadership seems so obsequious under the new order, that it can neither recognize nor assume any meaningful messaging outside of the President's vituperation. While a healthy economy is irrefutably the foundation of socio-political stability, it is not the only indicator of a healthy democracy. The failure to embrace a surging economy as basic common good upon which to campaign in lieu of divide-and-conquor politics will make post-election governing across other challenges needlessly difficult irrespective of which party ascends after Tuesday.
Does this improbable momentum in negative identity politics reflect a more fundamental break in faith among American voters in taking real comfort in momentary economic gains given the catastrophic plummet in 2008? If that is the case, and if another similar recession occurs under this President, then we may be facing a much bigger challenge to the nation's political stability if the current campaign is any indication.
2
Mr. Douthat, have you ever considered that perhaps the Dems are getting it right? That your defense of the current GOP no longer holds water? Join us and help hold the center. Our country needs thoughtful, engaged, informed and compassionate conservatives and liberals alike to debate policy. Let’s get back to that world. It’s what used to make us great.
11
Sorry Ross, but no terrorist attacks? What about Pittsburgh and all the other shootings by domestic terrorists? Call them what they are TERROR ATTACKS. Just because they were not perpetrates by brown skinned people does not mean they are not.
287
I always read Mr. Douthat with the satisfaction that over the long run the “way left” always becomes the center. For a simple reason. Liberals are right.
71
Re Trump: if my mother had wheels she would be a car.
Trump is what he is. Counterfactuals are just hot air.
44
What a terribly reasoned article.
The thing that stuck out for me wasn’t the theme; it was the assertion that “midwesterners who twice voted in the first black President then voted in Trump.”
Uh, no. Sure, there were states that switched. I can assure you, though, that no one who voted for Obama voted for Trump. What happened was that Clinton didn’t mobilize nearly as many voters as Obama did, not that people who voted for Obama suddenly discovered their love for a candidate who claimed all Mexicans were rapists.
Seriously, I thought Douthat was more honest with himself than that.
18
@Gus
Uh, yes. I have neighbors that voted for Obama twice and then voted for Trump.
They were very disappointed in Obama's first term and held their nose while voting for him the second time. They demanded change and never gave a thought to voting for Hillary Clinton.
2
@Gus
I can assure you, that there are indeed people who voted for Obama, and then voted for Trump.
Democrats were the party of FDR, and Truman, and Kennedy, and LBJ. The party of honesty, and workers rights. FDR famously "welcomed the hatred" of banking interests and the wealthy.
Having known about derivatives since before 2000, and the role they played in funding the housing bubble, I saw the banking crisis coming from miles away.
I voted for Obama in 2008 primary, as being more economic populist than Hillary, and again in the general - relieved at the prospect of bringing the corrupt banks back under the rule of law. I was furious to find out the fix was in, and that Citigroup had selected Obama's cabinet before he was even elected. Big stimulus? Off the table, as millions of workers lost *everything*. My father always told me Democrats were as bad as Republicans, but I never believed it until then.
Reluctantly, in 2016, I voted for Obama again.
But I am *done* supporting banker funded Democrats.
Our nation will not survive, if donors continue to have veto power over the candidates for both parties. Slowly growing corruption, is the path we are on. Just because Trump is corrupt, is no reason to accept corrupt Democrats. Obama has cemented the norm that we cannot attempt legislation opposed by *any* donor - and indeed must cede control to lobbyists. It is critical that we elect candidates who will challenge that norm - particularly on economic issues.
3
True but pointless. Trump was lucky that Obama left a strong economy. Obama was lucky that the crash happened when Bush was still president. We are all lucky that Trump is so self-centered and clumsy, and not able to completely take over the country.
40
@Rick Let’s also remember that that Trump does not know the details of the policies he ran on and never cared about them. His only purpose in talking about them was to pretend he cared about regular folks. If he really did, he should have had a brains trust on health care reform to produce the “beautiful” new system. Never happened.
24
Got a campaign flyer from a Senate candidate in my state.
Took me 3 minutes, squinting, to find out the party affiliation.
There is was, the most narrow, skinny, small, font. In the margins of the page.
Republican.
Wonder why they made it so hard to find?
66
Yes, let's imagine that Trump is Jeb Bush and Hilary won the electoral college.
7
There's also the third counterfactual, that he could go full-throat Bernie, and get the corrupt corporate money out of politics. After that he could ram through the Progressive agenda that favors People.
He'd keep his Trumpster base cheering while getting all the Progressives and all the young people. With the future behind him he could settle in as President for Life.
Everyday he could do good things, rather than bad things. He'd be idolized throughout the land and beyond. And everyone would live happily ever after.
16
My question is simple. What would be happening now if Trump had simply spoken the truth for the last 21 months instead of spewing out nearly 4000 lies? He even lied when he said he always tries to tell the truth!
What does it say about our country when nearly 40 percent of Americans don't mind being lied to...constantly?
41
@Tom Q. According to WaPo’s tally, our president has made 6420 false or misleading claims though October 30—a whopping 1104 last month alone (not including however many he added on the 31st). And 40 percent of Americans are not only good with that, a big chunk of them—if my relatives are any measure—see it as a badge of his authenticity. “He tells it like it is.”
Douthat, when you explode the deficit for billionaires that are already holding on to money, the economy stirs, and interest rates go up. Uber Amazon WalMart Lyft, and all the 'contract hires', I recall Amazon hiring 250k workers-- for a three week Christmas rush. If workers are precarious, unlike union Douthat, and they have no savings, and terrible healthcare, they will be subject to the Low- I mean Baron Trump- I mean Donald Trump, all hail the Donald. The 3500 day expansion started on an Apprentice rerun, from a man who illegally reported to the IRS to the tune of millions. We have had no 911 's since e911-- or before 9/11/01. We are in terror of baby strollers, while Republicans are gearing up for the next tax cut, and the 'entitlement' cut. The last cut saved the Koch bros 1.2 billion a year forever-- is that not entitlement?
10
You could say the same thing about Republicans under Obama. He could have hammered Republicans over 9-11, WMD, Iraq, Katrina and the financial meltdown. He could have campaigned during the midterms. But he always played nice, hoping Republicans would come to their senses and negotiate. They didn't, blocked nearly everything he tried to do and gained strength every election. They looked strong. He looked weak and voters penalized the Dems. Now we have Trump.
Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. What's worse is how Dems put up with this insanity.
28
Re: "the liberal analysts who muster 16 regression analyses to prove that Midwesterners who voted twice for the first black president and then voted for Trump were white supremacists all along."
So descriptive of article, after article, after article - for the past year, in every liberal paper. Talk about living in a bubble... Anyone who dissents, gets quickly called terrible names here - creating a reality divorced from life in the red and purple states.
Re: "...a real center-right majority could be built on economic populism and an approach to national identity that rejects both wokeness and white nationalism."
This.
Uniting, not dividing.
Whichever party which would reject their corporate donors, reject divisive rhetoric on wedge issues, and take up the mantle of true economic populism (by policies to raise the bargaining power of workers, and thus increase economic security - as both Trump and Bernie promised to do), could indeed become a solid majority party, unite the nation - and in the process, be in a position to get their way on those same divisive wedge issues. But both parties are so beholden to donors, they can't even *pretend* to want to do this, for fear of angering those donors. Trump wasn't afraid, and rode those economic promises to victory. Republicans have reaped the resulting legislative victories on wedge issues. Too bad, Third Way Democrats.
Re: "..a conservative-populist realignment."
We'll see. Donors for both parties wouldn't like it!
2
There is no center right party, especially not the republican party. Ross's fantasy that Trump could have led the republican party to the center is crazy. Paul Ryan caved into Mark Meadows and his caucus to eliminate pre-existing condition protections instead of making deal with the democrats. And Trump had a celebration in the Rose garden when the bill passed.
15
Have you wondered all political adds say what the other will not do and dont state what they themselves will do . but on the under side are like the pink floyd song goes us and them I think we know how the system is . Its playing both sides against one and another and its just us. Who are us we must question. Foreign intervention from hundreds of years. Or Americans fighting. Or Just every one on a medication that has no clue. It all has a bottom line if you think. We are United States we all believe in some thing thats right . and we all have a opinion some times we win and dont but united in the word states means we are of all.
I have a question: what does being "woke" actually mean?
Seriously, can someone explain?
Because just because I'm not a conservative doesn't give someone the right to associate me with some extremism (if that's what it is), that I don't even know anything about.
Sorry to plead ignorance, but a little help? Please?
5
Ignorance is no excuse for (fill in the blank).
@Herman Torres
Excuse for WHAT?
I'm asking a serious question. And I'm asking for an actual answer, not whatever this is.
@Bryan, "Woke is a political term of African American origin that refers to a perceived awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice.[1] It is derived from the African American Vernacular English expression "stay woke", whose grammatical aspect refers to a continuing awareness of these issues."
From Wikipedia. You might consider googling terms rather than asking commenters who are rather few in number, for definitions like this. It's easier and faster, too. There is also more on "woke" online.
1
This is the most superficially effective paragraph of all the political commentary I've read recently:
"Imagine that instead of just containing himself and behaving like a generic Republican, Trump had actually followed through on the populism that he promised in 2016, dragging his party toward the economic center and ditching the G.O.P.’s most unpopular ideas. Imagine that he followed through on Steve Bannon’s boasts about a big infrastructure bill instead of trying for Obamacare repeal; imagine that he listened to Marco Rubio and his daughter and tilted his tax cut more toward middle-class families; imagine that he spent more time bullying Silicon Valley into inshoring factory jobs than whining about Fake News; imagine that he made lower Medicare drug prices a signature issue rather than a last-minute pre-election gambit."
However, this "imagination" is in a vacuum, the vacuum created by who Trump really is--someone who lied about really wanting to do all these things, someone who really doesn't care what happens to this nation unless it inflates his ego. Democrats' "luck" is that Trump really is the Trump he proved himself to be in every pronouncement prior to becoming president.
6
I don't buy that the Democrats know the "secret of the election cycle." Nor do I think it has anything to with "luck." Ross is right on the money when he speaks of Trump's flawed, unstable, and unethical character. No complaints there from me. But I believe the Democrats who are running are just being Democrats, following their Party's basic tenets. There is that and the fact that from the governors' races to the House's and Senate's, our candidates know their states' and their constituents' needs. If we are - God willing - able to win the House, we are going to find the new majority made up of not only left-leaning liberals but also moderates and even conservative Democrats. And I believe that is good for checks and balances within one's common ideology.
But going back to luck or a newly unsealed secret, I would wager instead it is more about the many, many disheartened and fearful voters. Trump and his Congress have done nothing, absolutely nothing to help the everyday American. It has been one scare tactic after another, hyperbole, lies, injustice, and spins. Yes, we are adding jobs, but we have been since 2009/10 when President Obama pulled us out of the Great Recession. This election boils down to what Democrats have done for us in the past, and will continue to do, and how hopefully enough people are finally awakening to that fact.
7
Have you wondered why the past two presidents came about both sides felt not represented and with both a unity happened both sides are still seeing. A no middle class that we dreamed of due to the money going over seas for cheep labor and no new horozion for college grads both past presidents clam we are a slave to the money of the world now.
1
Sorry are we still pretending the Republican party and it's supporters stand for anything but Fear & HATE?
42
@K....don't forget GREED
8
Why is it that Douthat and other conservative NYT columnists continue to believe that concern about the possibility of a major political party colluding with a foreign power in order to swing a presidential election is “hysteria”? Why is concern about global climate change and the fact that our government is led by a man who considers this phenomenon a hoax “getting in a lather”? Why is concern for the fact (and it IS a fact) that the president of the United States is a racist and a xenophobe who coddles white supremacists considered “chicken little” behavior? Why is outrage at Trump’s continual abuse of his office for financial gain judged as being “over the top”? Want to know what hysteria is? Watch Fox News’ coverage of The Caravan. Want to know what “getting in a lather” is? Watch one of Trump’s rallies. Want to know what chicken little behavior is? Listen to any Republican talking about immigration.
134
@The Dude
This is terrific. Thanks for your voice.
5
Imagining that Trump would avoid tweeting, insulting people, and acting cruelly or weirdly is no different than imagining if you were a bird. Contrary to those who thought that the Presidency would normalize him, Trump is the same disgusting, narcissistic person that he was before he was elected. This isn't luck - this is predictable. If Democrats don't go too far to the left they should be able to oust this disturbed clown from the White House in 2020.
18
@Jay Orchard -- If they don't go far enough to the left, Trump will win again. He wins the right.
6
Yes Ross! The bottom line is... If Trump shut up & turned on a bit of charm he could be wildly popular...Liberals could relax and roll with the booming economy...
But it’s not Trump’s nature...to be normal...
2
Douthat, your two counterfactuals would have helped Trump in the short term, but would have hurt the GOP in the long term. GOP donors would say, "See ya!" Who do you think keeps the modern-day GOP afloat sans Trump? It's the conservative billionaires with the deep pockets.
9
Mr. Douthat, you nailed it. I wake up every day feeling lucky. My president hates me. He leads by encouraging others to hate me.
Job growth in the past 21 months is not substantially lower than it was in President Obama's final 21 months in office. Thankfully the economy remains strong because we lack the financial resources to fight another recession because unusually, our deficit is GROWING despite the strong economy.
Despite concerted efforts to destroy the ACA, health insurance coverage rates have not fallen substantively since Trump took office. Luckily, voters seem very motivated to vote despite the openness with which Republicans suppress voter access.
And luck of all luck, Democratic candidates seem to be getting their messages across despite the constant onslaught of lies, hate and distraction being sold by Trump, supported by the Republican leadership, and told and retold by the dutiful media.
Lucky indeed. Onward and upward.
14
Democrats are talking about healthcare: that's a no-brainer, given that 75% of voters want protection for pre-existing conditions. But isn't race baiting, and manufactured immigrant paranoia, and pitching phony last minute tax cuts for the middle class a more compelling message?
The Republicans - at all levels (local, state, and federal) - have solved the pre-existing condition problem. They just contact a millionaire donor and then run TV ads where they "say" that they support protection for pre-existing conditions. (Even though they're spearheading lawsuits in their own states to challenge that provision in settled law - Obamacare.) Just lie! It's a proven Republican strategy that works like a charm.
A lie works good in the short run - in theory. And in actual practice, it seems to work pretty good for Trump and his buddies in the medium to long-term. Like in the midterm elections.
What does that say about America?
17
The truth of the matter is that the "base" isn't really pulling "the left" anywhere it hasn't already been.
But then no one who opposes Trump is thinking about that anyway. All they are thinking about is *stopping Trump*. One goal like that can relieve a lot of the pressure of "pulling"--if there actually is as much as Ross believes.
But then that doesn't ruin his hypothetical scenario--Trump does that all by himself. The idea that he'd restrain himself on Twitter is well, WAY OUT THERE. Not a chance.
But even if he were somehow persuaded to do so, you still would have the problems of taking away health care from millions, the Merrick Garland/Neil Gorsuch debacle, and the impact of Kavanaugh's confirmation on a lot of the country. Its pretty likely that all these would've been problems even if a Republican who wasn't named Trump had been elected in 2016.
7
Hardly fortunate for the democrats who were killed because of his rhetoric.
24
Four red states in this election—Idaho, Nebraska, Utah and Montana—are likely to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, which will leave only 15 states that haven’t; Maine is set to approve universal home health care; and Arizona and Missouri will most likely increase their minimum wage. When it comes to health care and economic policies affecting their daily lives, conservatives are just as willing as liberals to favor big-government solutions. Democrats figured that out this time around and that’s why they’re poised to retake the House.
14
I stopped reading this article after your first paragraph. Liberals writing about the atrocities being committed by the current president and administration are not “hysterical”. We are enraged and shocked. That is not the same as “hysterical”, which is the dismissive word so often stamped on women who stand up for themselves.
Also, the calm Democrats you refer to are, for the most part, equally enraged.
It’s time for change. #VoteBlue
265
@Andrea
Funny. I stopped reading after the title and came down here to see what folks were saying! He needs to fill space.
25
@Andrea: You didn't miss much, it was the same old tired whining of a bitter GOP supporter who refuses to see the light.
9
It was never Trump's intention to be a leader. He only wanted more money. That is not dissimilar from all republicans. You are deluded if you think any of them thought their job was to work for the people. It all about the money. Flatten the liberals? Such hogwash, they don't want that, they want money. To do things for the American people is not in their own self interest.
The best friend of the democrats is the GOP because they will always be so inept at governance that people are forced to vote against them. And let us not pretend that the DFL are liberals. They most certainly are not. They are the fakers who pretend to be liberals but still protect the wealthy every time they gain power. Real liberals have no voice in America. You see, the best friend of the GOP is the DFL. Do you see where the people are? In between to manipulative and lying sets of minions to the wealthy and corporations.
So stop pretending the GOP or the DFL will ever do anything meaningful for the people. Flatten liberalism, what a ridiculous statement of absurdity.
2
The Luck of the Democrats?????
Mr Douthat, sir, do you at last have no shame? I know that you have to uphold the Republican fantasy, but really...
Democrats have won 6 of the last 7 elections 1992, 1996, 2000, 2008, 2012, 2016 only losing the popular vote in 2004 when John Kerry got "swift boated."
Yet through a combination of stupid luck and political subterfuge Republicans have occupied the White House for 3 of those terms instead of 1 and have appointed 5 of the 9 Supreme Court members (counting Thomas appointed by Bush the first).
I guess we cannot call what the Republicans have accomplished "luck" when you have the conservative Supreme Court stop a recount in 2000, the slander of a war hero in 2004 (John Kerry) the theft of a Supreme Court seat in 2015 and Russian and FBI help in 2016 (an election that Trump still lost).
Talk about luck! The economy that Trump was lucky enough to inherit and wants to take credit for is the Obama economy. Or do we want to let an old white man once again take credit for something accomplished by a minority?
478
@David
They is more to life than presidential elections.
Democrats have lost 2/3'of all elections for decades, because instead of standing up and fighting for their values and principles, they sacrifice them to a party that refuses to compromise on anything.
Hiding in the center is a strategy for constant defeat. Democrats have been helping Republicans get more extreme.
In a two pay system the parties are supposed to oppose each other.
If half of the crew of a ship lands far right, the ship will list. If the other half moves to the the right, the ship will .
By moving to the right Democrats have thrown our entire political system out of balance, creating chaos and making Trump possible.
The right believes in hate, greed, and violence. They support while supremacist terrorists!
The left believes in love for mankind, generosity toward our neighbors, and peace.
No one is perfect, but you have lean to one to one side.
1
If my grandma had wheels she'd be a bus.
11
Trump ran as a populist, and was lying through his teeth the entire time he was running.
All these things you're touting that he should have done, a big infrastructure bill instead of Obamacare repeal, a tax cut aimed at middle-class families, lower Medicare drug prices, cheaper and better healthcare, fixing the gun problem?
These are all progressive/liberal ideas, Mr. Douthat.
That's why Trump was never going to do any of it and why Republicans initially were afraid of Trump and worried that he would actually implement some of the things he promised the voters in 2016.
But, the minute he won and walked into a standing ovation of the 1% at the 21 Club in Manhattan and laughingly promised those 1%ers, don't worry, I'm going to lower your taxes, I knew he would steal as much as he could from the 99% as fast as he could:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2194581/donald-trump-leaves-cheering-diners-gobsmacked-after-waltzing-into-swanky-new-york-steakhouse-for-dinner/
He hasn't disappointed me.
Vote for true progressives on November 6th and get rid of these corrupt, noxious Republicans.
40
Douthat's counterfactual is very creative. There's only one problem, namely, it's not the most likely counterfactual. The most likely counterfactual is that Hillary might have been elected president--if only the electoral college were not rigged to favor rural states.
27
Glad to know that Ross Douthat has come around to Trump. That he now views Trump as a normal everyday Republican. One that Mr Douthat should support like Ted Cruz does.
Now the fact that Democrats care about anti-semitism, children still separated at the border, trans people not being allowed any gender but the one Trump desires. Of course, we should all follow Ross and give up on #metoo because it is too hard on men. We should even follow Pence and not have lunch alone with women “co-workers”.
We shouldn’t worry about Russians hacking this election, and we shouldn’t care if the Saudis kill a journalist. Cause Journalists are the enemy of the people. I think Ross should decide which journalist is locked up first since America is now great again!
It is surely a modest proposal that suits Mr Douthat.
I doubt that many of the democrats he has chosen to speak for would agree with him.
14
"[Democrats] were obviously unlucky in their disastrous 2016 defeat."
Um, no. Russia interfered in our election, and handed the presidency to Trump.
There's a big difference between luck and illegitimacy.
28
@Paul-A
I don’t deny the Russian interference in 2016, but it was not they who subverted our election, but the Electoral College. Unless there are amendments made to this system, we can no longer call ourselves a democracy.
Citizens United is the icing on the cake.
1
One of the fallacies of counterfactuals stems from the tendency of people who concoct them to assume that history would change if one group of participants in a set of events changed their behavior. Thus, the Battle of Gettysburg would have turned out differently if Lee had followed a better strategy.
In real life, however, a change in the actions of one group often triggers new behavior on the part of their adversaries. Had Trump changed his character and acted more reasonably, it seems naive to suppose the Democrats would not have responded with a change in their own strategy. We cannot know whether their adjustment would have worked better than their current tactics. This reality makes Douthat's speculations of dubious value.
17
Is it good luck that we have a vulgar bigoted narcissist for a President? Is it good luck that his position makes him the nation's role model and the face of our country to the world? Is it good luck that the Republicans in Congress who know very well that he is not qualified for office, have decided to keep their head down and pretend that everything is normal? Is it good luck that Republican pundits like Douthat have refused to pull the plug and speak the ugly truth?
49
@W.A. Spitzer
Right after the election, there were a couple of columns in which Douthat seriously proposed that Ivanka Trump would make a great first woman president. Anyone that addled wouldn't recognize the ugly truth if it slapped him in the face. He's just another goofy conservative pundit. The only thing a little unusual about this column is that he's not exactly blaming Democrats for everything. That reminds me...has David Brooks written a column lately? He usually blames Democrats for everything within a paragraph or two.
5
Interesting take. Hard to imagine Trump being different from Trump, though.
3
Ross obviously believes in the luck he writes about. And why shouldn't he? Two R presidential appointments have been made in the space of less than two decades. The EC was designed for the lucky, because it certainly wasn't designed for the ideal of true democracy.
But there's nothing like good paradox and irony, and Ross unwittingly supplies mounds of it here, as usual. Ross utilizes "luck" to pretend that Flunkey "could have"....and that he ever had any intention of facilitating investment in anything but his own pockets and those of his ilk. While Ross jumps on the R bandwagon of pretending the Ds are clueless at the moment, his hypothetical is inextricably woven into both the sheer luck, and bungling incompetence of the Minority "President." You know---the one he claims could flatten liberal endeavor, like Eisenhower did when the U.S. highway infrastructure was built. Right. Too bad the only reason Flunkey exists is Americans are asleep at the wheel....again. Now, if you're Flunkey, THAT'S LUCKY!!
But Ross floats hypotheticals in the space of a swinging pendulum, and he knows it. Were luck to exist, it would be subject to the same axiom of impermanence that everything is subject to. And where that's concerned, let's hope the MAJORITY of us are as lucky as Ross believes.
5
Admirably well thought sir.
1
Douthat still bleating on about the Democrats being "way way to the left of the public" on "cultural" issues, ie, gay marriage and race. News flash, Ross: you are "way way to the right" on social issues. You are still dreaming of land with good highways and gay men and women living as second class citizens. Your words are soft, but your social views are anything but.
91
@Ken Converts to any authoritarian religion are always in the forefront of its crusade to subdue the rest of us.
3
There is no political "Middle Ground" any longer. it's come to right vs. wrong, and Republicans are quite literally in the "Red". Trump's followers will follow him right off a cliff, while they rest of us see reality as it is. Get out and vote, your life quite literally depends on it.
10
@Jack
I'm not sure if it's a matter of right vs. wrong as much as it is those who live in a fact based world vs those who for whatever reason do not.
6
The Democrats (and his sycophants in the GOP) give Trump cover and legitimacy. Look, he can’t be bad! People who wear suits and go to church like him!
Ross always manages to whitewash the Trump Crime Syndicate with empty criticisms of Democrats. The problem is that Democrats haven’t stooped to playing Trump’s game. They can’t because then the moral minority could preach again about “values”.
4
Ah, yes: Obama-to-Trump voters ... Did you ever read Montaigne's "On the inconstancy of our actions"?
"Those who strive to account for a man's deeds are never more bewildered than when they try to knit them into one whole and to show them under one light, since they commonly contradict each other in so odd a fashion that it seems impossible that they should all come out of the same shop. ... Vacillation seems to be the most common and blatant defect of our nature.
"We are like that creature which takes on the color of wherever you put it. What we decided just now we will change soon; and soon afterwards we come back to where we were: it is all motion and inconstancy. ... The changes and contradictions seen in us are so flexible that some have imagined that we have two souls, others two angels who bear us company and trouble us each in his own way, one turning us towards good, the other towards evil, since such sudden changes cannot be accommodated to one single entity."
Republican voters aren't an evil, xenophobic hive mind. But there's something very troubling going on with the base. And there's a reason why the nastiest things Trump says are also the loudest-applauded. Whatever this madness's origins, the people who are infected with it are told they're the sane ones and that it's everyone else who is mad. They neither see nor hear anything else at all.
The economy is doing good, as it was at the end of 2016. This madness's principal propellant lies elsewhere.
6
I actually agree with some of what you wrote today, Ross. How did THAT happen?
However, you have to chalk your overall narrative up to wishful thinking and pure fantasy. If 45 were to do what you said, he would never have been elected and helped begin the potential ending of our democracy.
He would have sounded more like your usual Republican who uses dog whistles to whisper their racism as opposed to shouting his white nationalism from sea to shining sea.
I also don't think we are a center-right country. We are more center-left. Look at the broad range of policies that the majority of the country supports: Social Security, Medicare, the ACA, higher taxes on the wealthy and lower taxes on the middle class -- the GOP can't honestly run on their support of these, so they create imaginary villains, like the thousands of rabid and diseased Middle Eastern Hondurans inching their way to the border with their grandparents and barefoot children, waiting to attack our country of 320 million people with the most powerful military on the planet.
And people willingly believe them. No, Ross. We are center-left and becoming more so every day as the truth of your party becomes more and more clear.
Vote Tuesday! It matters.
18
Ross, why the heck do you not think Trump and the Republicans have not made the economy the only issue on campaign trail?
The record suggests that at the bitter end, the signature tax cut is put only a few dollars in working and middle class wallet. The salve to deflect their attention from this point is racial animus and xenophobia to create a climate of fear. Quite simple. The cherry topper is the Republican claims that they are the ones to protect those with pre-existing conditions. Quite brilliant, actually, if you can get away with it.
7
Anybody who thinks Trump is going to be or do anything different than he is right now is sorely mistaken. All he cares about is 'winning' and if he has to salt the earth to do it, he will. If he has to throw his best friends, his kids, his wife under the bus, he will.
In Trump's mind there is a lifeboat for one and even if Ivanka tried to climb in he'd stomp on her fingers.
What we will see if he 'wins' on Tuesday is an unleashing of hatred and power and revenge and lies that will make what's come before just a nuisance. We will see the end of our democracy. Overwrought you say? I say no. He will be the end of us.
12
"[A]ll the Trumpy things that keep the commentariat in a lather and liberals in despair — the Twitter authoritarianism and white-identity appeals, the chaos and lying and Hannity-and-friends paranoid style — have also kept the Democrats completely in the game." Well-said and undeniable. This is the disappointing feature of the man in the White House. He seems as ever not to be able to discipline himself. As you have rightly described, the middle course has been lost. It really is like taking a back road off the highway and hoping for the best. We shall see: we'll either get there or drive off the cliff.
1
If the Democrats take back the house I will agree with Douthat. If they don't, then I will go back to being hysterical, waiting for the Reichstag fire, and the end of democracy. In the mean time my controlled hysteria and fear seem very reasonable.
14
I think it is wrong-headed to imagine (as Ross often does) that the only thing alarming about Trump is his twitter feed. And that if only Trump would put down his ((non-secured) iPhone, everything would be....so normal.
Ross is ignoring the ten thousand troops heading south to greet a ragtag group of refugees. An, oh, that 'weird behavior' around tin-horn dictators that Trump does--it's called 'fawning.'
Add the obsequious and embarrassing genuflection of the entire republican Congress and you are starting to get a better flavor of why Trump is despised by a majority of the country.
Nice try Ross. Making this administration comport with anyone's idea of a normal presidency will take more than a five-hundred word column.
It will take an election.
9
Ross, Ross, Ross. David Frum is no longer a member of the Conservative Movement but he has hardly become a liberal. Somehow he can see what you, blinded I suspect largely by your fervent opposition to abortion, can't: the real, actual threat to democracy posed by Trump.
Give him time to appoint enough judges, purge the executive branch, find would-be loyalists to promote in the top ranks of the military and such and we will be living under an authoritarian government. Yes, there might be opportunities to topple such a government but now we're talking about a very messy process which could spawn a lot of violence.
6
I couldn't stop laughing over this line sentence.
"Indeed there is an odd symbiosis between the liberal analysts who muster 16 regression analyses to prove that Midwesterners who voted twice for the first black president and then voted for Trump were white supremacists all along, and Trump’s own instinctive return to race-baiting in the final weeks of this campaign."
Truth.
3
@somsai-I thought so too somsai. The Democratic Party’s fixation on race has led them to conclude some very abstract conclusions. As someone who agrees with many progressive policies, I wish the DNC would step away from the errant Social Justice folks that has pigeon holed the party in a position many don’t want to vote for. The undercurrents of this ideology in Democrat is their biggest (and most misguided) weakness when facing Trump.
1
The reason "left-wing" Twitter hates trump is not because he's a republican or because their deranged, as even sober conservatives like to pretend. It's because he's a tyrant, a baby, a boor, and dangerously narcissistic, not to mention completely un-interested in governing or even "leading". The person YOU describe not only could never be Trump, but couldn't be a post-Reagan republican. Instead of sneering at democrats, left OR center-left, take a good look at what the GOP truly stands for now. Before there was Trump there was Cheney, and there has seemingly always been an Orrin or a Strom or a Newt; the sensible ideas you seem to think a kinder gentler Donald could have implemented are simply unthinkable for the modern GOP; that's why we have Democrats.
12
To sum up:
Imagine if Trump was Teddy Roosevelt?
OK, sure:
Ted Cruz would have won the nomination.
Liberals are worried about democracy because about 40% of Americans seem to love those "Trumpy things" -- open racism and xenophobia, attacks on democratic institutions, appeals to violence, compulsive lying ... all very "Trumpy" and very popular with Republicans.
Perhaps more Conservatives pundits would be in despair too if they spent less time dreaming up counterfactuals and faced the reality of what Trump's support means for our democracy in a post Trump world.
15
@LT
And perhaps more Conservative pundits, politicians evangelicals will be in despair when they realize how disingenuous and hypocritical their support of Trump was when they look in the rearview mirror. Not just the damage to democracy, but to our standing in the world as a country, the damage to the environment, and to human rights. When oh when will Ross and his ilk, who have painted and perceived themselves as honest and moral party of religion and Jesus start acting that way?
5
@Snow Wahine
When ??? I’ll go out on a limb here, and say NEVER. Seriously.
4
"......in most respects liberalism and the Democratic Party have been very lucky since (the 2016 election)". Mr. Douthat. surely you jest, or we live in separate countries. The Supreme Court and much of the lower courts are now controlled by conservative Justices and judges respectively. This could end progressive social ideals held dear above all else by liberals in the years to come. Liberals are not as much about power as conservatives are, except to further socially progressive values. I believe as President Roosevelt so eloquently stated: "We must scrupulously guard the civil rights and civil liberties of all citizens, whatever their background. We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization". Trump has attacked all, with the consent of the Republicans in Congress, and with applause from the Republican base. So, no I am not feeling so fortunate.
You stated in this column there had been no" terrorist attacks" during Trump's tenure in office. What do you call the attacks at Parkland High School? The slaughter at the Jewish synagogue in Pittsburg? The pipe bomb mailings? I certainly call them what they are: terrorist attacks.
The bottom line is, it doesn't matter the Trump and the Republicans have no moral compass. Their base is secure. The liberals will be fortunate to take back the House, but it will still leave them with little power. You arrogantly imagined that you were being generous to them.
11
@Diana
You make some good points with which I agree. Still, please explain Senator Bernie Sanders whipping up rage against Republicans, resulting in the shooting of Congressmen on the baseball field. And Democrats failing to condemn Antifa's violence, please explain why Democrats are blameless.
1
Stew. When you ask people to explain things, you should have true things in mind. Not false accusations. Nobody has time for that.
3
@Stew R
Bernie Sanders did not and does not encourage violence in his speeches. Donald Trump does encourage violence and applauds it. Democrats do not encourage violence in their rallies. Donald Trump encourages racism, misogyny, xenophobia and white nationalism, and gives license for others to vent their prejudices. Just as I did not condone the actions of the Weather Underground, neither do I condone the actions of Antifa.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with his peaceful protests in the face of unbelievable brutality was an example for all to follow. Those who were involved in those protests demonstrated real courage and conviction of principles, and it won hearts and minds.
1
You're assuming, Douthat, that Trump had some kind of untapped egalitarian respect for the working man & woman of this nation. All evidence from his past reveal this to be untrue. Why would occupying the oval office lead toward anything other than raw greed & narcissism on his part after a lifetime of demonstrated proclivity. Trump is in orbit. There will be no change.
7
The big problem with this editorial is that in order to create these counter-factuals, one must make many more assumptions beyond just those regarding Trump’s behavior as president. Assuming the Republican party as a whole could be dragged to economic populism is an enormous leap. Also, you can’t have Steve Bannon without white nationalism, and I really don’t think you can have Donald Trump without white nationalism either, or at least intense race-baiting and xenophobia-mongering. He wouldn’t have been the Republican nominee otherwise, because he never would have been taken seriously by anyone. That’s why anyone took him seriously in the first place.
There is some political good fortune in your opposing party electing one of the worst human beings on the planet as their leader, of course. But disregarding Donald Trump, there was never going to be a Republican nominee for president who could be an economic populist and a moderate on social issues. Not in today’s GOP.
6
Ah, Ross, you are so far to the right that you think the center is liberal. Well, in contrast, you are correct. Everything and everyone is liberal compared to today's arch-reactionary right wing, which isn't a "wing" at all. It is the entire party.
The Progressives are as radical as FDR or Jesus. Both of those guys were for taking care of the less well-off and put off by the very well-off.
No one has mentioned socializing industry. No one has tried to claw back our collectively owned natural resources. No one has suggested anything of the sort, so don't get your knickers in a twist over the progressives. They are just middle of the road Democrats. If you ever manage to heave your torso back up on the level side of the road after following the GOP into the abyss, you might see that.
16
As usual, Douthat twists his argument in order to lecture Democrats about how we're supposed to feel.
Using the exact same facts/examples, Douthat could have written this column to dusciss how "unlucky" the Republicans are that they've sold their soul to Trump. (Or, more accurately, how "wrong" they are.)
In fact, making that argument would go a lot further towards cooling the divisive rhetoric that's destroying our country, and demonstrate that our country has the capability to start to heal the partisanship and hatred that's destroying us.
As a Liberal AMERICAN (emphasis on the latter), I would have loved for Trump to push a big infrastructure bill. I would have loved it if his tax bill helped the middle class. I would have loved it if he lowered Medicare drug prices. I don't care about whether good policies come from the Right or the Left; I care about the well-being of all of us in our country.
Instead, Rightists like Douthat and McConnell DON'T care that Pres Obama had good ideas; they wanted him to fail, so that they could claim to "win" over him. So they obstructed his policies even if they knew they were good (and even when they were based on Republican models, e.g. Obamacare).
The Rightwing Cabal put partisanship above the good of the country. That's how and why we ended up with Trump.
No, Mr. Douthat, he's not a "gift" to the Left; he's an albatross around the Right's neck. Wear him proudly!
51
I’m surprised that the Dems haven’t been quoting Lloyd Benson in his response to Dan Quayle’s boasts about the economy: If you let me write $200 billion of hot checks every year I could give you an illusion of prosperity too.” Although now add a zero.
9
So liberals are supposed to feel lucky because Trump has successfully pursued an agenda that includes a tax cut that fuels the runaway distribution of wealth upwards, away from the middle class while ballooning the federal deficit, promising more pain for working people in the future?
Liberals should feel blessed that he has trashed environmental laws, treaties and controls which threatens our way of life if not the very life of our species?
Blessed that he's inflamed racial hatred and violence in this country to the point where he suggests religious gatherings should include armed guards?
That he's elevated the abuse of women as an acceptable component in the resumes of his appointees?
That he is gutting our already obscenely expensive and non-comprehensive health care?
Getting back to where we were during the Obama administration may be possible, but it is terribly cynical to suggest this is some kind of game without danger involving huge risks.
No one should be feeling lucky about Trump's incompetence- I'll run with the pundits, we should be terrified.
25
Yes, if Trump was a different person and governed as a Democrat things would be different. Trump is a Republican, though, and while he espouses typical Republican goals - taking away people’s health insurance, giving tax breaks to the wealthiest, stoking fears of a group of poor people walking through Central America to encourage his voters, etc - he’s also a megalomaniac of the highest order. Still, I wouldn’t say Democrats are lucky that we’re where we are as a country right now.
It’s great that the country is doing well financially these days (a testament to the strength of the Obama recovery, just to own the conservatives!), and that the world appears generally stable. Now is the time to rebuild and shore up, infrastructure and relationships, and to work to help everyone achieve security and stability. That’s not what Trump is doing. As anyone who knew anything about Trump could have told you, he is simply looting the Nation the same way he looted his casinos in the past. When the bill comes due, Trump will be back in his gilded tower enjoying round-the-clock secret service protection. As happened after the first Bush recession and the second Bush recession, the Democrats will have be the ones to make hard choices and govern responsibly. The Republicans will be hollow men and women, but you can be sure they won’t be quiet. That doesn’t imply Democrat luck, just hard work and commitment to the country over the party.
5
With all due respect to Mr. Douthat, as I can only imagine what it must be like to always assume the worst of those whom I deem to be my political opponents, I don't think "luck," or being "fortunate," have anything to do with the facts of the political climate at the moment.
I also understand what it must be like to only have ever known the dogma of one's religion, and how that would inevitably shape all views regarding social policy. Nevertheless, it is 'bad faith' itself which has gotten us here.
Imagine a scenario where the government did their jobs. Amazing, right?
6
Yes, a highly intelligent and articulate version of Trump would knock the Democrats out completely.
So why hasn't it happened?
Before Trump came along, both parties pretty much took the same line. It was capitalist globalist policy-wonkism, presented on PowerPoint slides. The differences were small - should we spend 15.3% of the budget on the military, or should it be 14.6%? Every analyst and pundit worked under the same stultifying assumptions.
The voters resented the whole project. Nobody wants to be a statistic on a government chart. When Trump came along and said let's forget about the highly-educated top 10% with their charts and graphs, let's just make the country great again, he got a response.
But implementing fundamental change is never easy. It would take years to come up with a refined version of Trump's policies, keeping the best of the old ideas and getting rid of the dogma.
Whichever party gets there first will win. The door is open to both the Dems and the GOP, but neither group seems eager to enter it. It's hard to give up what you've believed for 20 or 30 years, particularly if your whole career was based on it.
5
Imagine, imagine, imagine. I can't, but I agree if Trump was't Trump, things would probably be very different. Honestly Ross, go back and try again.
57
Trump is hyping up a false crisis to instill fear to incline Republicans and like minded non-Republicans to vote on Tuesday. He plays to the unexamined beliefs popular amongst this base of citizens. They have heard and shared a litany of baseless and imagined narratives that explain what concerns them of things which have and are affecting their lives and which they only imagine might. That’s why they are undeterred by his constant misrepresentations of reality, it actually conforms with the blarney which they have absorbed and share with each other.
Cracking the truth barrier which social psychology of misled big groups create is daunting. They will not believe the evidence that their experience provides which contradicts. They deny the accuracy of the evidence or fight narratives to explain it away. Just providing them with the truth will not change their minds. It has taken very big and stunning events to shake people enough to reconsider what they believe. Hoover had to try market based economic policies through 1930-1932 for FDR to be able to use the government to address the Great Depression. It took the surprise attack of Japan to motivate the country to go to war and to emerge as the most powerful country in history, able to change international relations into the least violent and most productive of reducing human misery in 2000 years. Restoring our country as a free one instead of the oligarchy which Trump’s supporters think that they want is a greater challenge.
2
Politics is an endless cycle of a nation balancing itself. If you are unhappy with the results, wait a few years and your party will either be in control or have achieved gridlock. Trump will be gone soon and the world of politics will have all new villains. That’s the cycle of American political life.
And for my Democratic friends out there who keep complaining about a minority government, Democrats are a minority as well. It doesn’t matter which party is in charge. Since over 40% of America is made up of independents, such as myself, we are always under minority rule.
2
@John
Not true. While there may be more independents, elections often give away how gerrymandering, electoral college, et al tip the scales. We've had three elections where the popular winner did not become the president. Many state elections reflect an imbalance where votes for democrats exceed that of votes for republicans, yet the state still ends up with more republican representation. Plus we have the imbalance of low population states having more representation in the Senate than high population states.
We all lose because if you can win elections without wining most of the votes, you no longer have to compromise on anything. And it's when conservatives and liberals compromise that the best solutions that work for the most people are made.
7
The problem for Republicans is that their ideology can't address the big problems we face. Individual responsibility may resonate, but, if people can't or won't fix what's wrong with their lives, what can we do about the impact their decisions have on the public good?
Similarly with letting the market make our decisions rather than trusting the ability of the government to plan for policies that ameliorate suffering. The market may be efficient, but people suffer, some are totally destroyed. If politicians insist on letting the market run rampant, there will be winners and losers.
We are seeing that technology and market forces result in rising inequality. How will Republicans address that? Their ideology calls for a kind of tough "love" that punishes people for making "bad" decisions. I don't think it's so much love as it is cruel illusion.
We are at a point where we can make decisions that will allow us to create a society that helps people solve their problems. The alternative is increasing the gap between the rich and the poor. For many people that won't be pretty.
7
We mustn’t forget that “keeping Democrats in the game” is an important PART of Trump’s purpose.
When you’ve won in the way Ross’s counterfactuals dream, by making the left UTTERLY inconsequential … then you’ve WON. It gets awfully boring to channel Britain’s queen, and merely do that funny wrist-turn-wave from balconies for YEARS. Trump needs constant ferment so that he can continue perpetually to confront serious adversaries and be seen to be perpetually WINNING.
Then, if Trump had truly conquered liberalism, conservatives might get awfully uppity. I still believe, once he’s re-elected in 2020 and no longer needs to curry favor with a déplorable base that craves NOTHING his background over a long life suggests that he actually believes, that all those efforts to drag America back to the center could actually occur. But that’s hard to do if conservatives who really BELIEVE that the U.S. military should start dressing in gray … are SO dominating as to make ideological counterpoints irrelevant.
Ross believes that Democrats are lucky because Trump’s behavior keeps them relevant. Frankly, I believe that both they AND Republicans are being played by a fool on the hill, seeing the sun going ‘round, keeping his own counsel and weaving his own plots that have little to do with them. That’s “luck”?
That’s successful manipulation.
7
@Richard Luettgen
?????
1500 or so characters in search a real author. The current one seems to have convoluted his writing into a parody of himself.
16
@Richard Luettgen
Right. Now we can expect the presidential pivot in January 2021 according to the Oracle of New Jersey.
In the mean time, Democrats are part of Trump's "purpose"? Sounds like looking at evolution in the rear view mirror and saying everything is exactly as it should have been. No false moves, no disasters, no unintended consequences.
My house burned down, but it was rebuilt. What a great fire. Manipulation is the new truth. Who knew?
Vote Democratic November 6, 2018 & November 3, 2020.
9
@mancuroc: Indeed, the fog is particularly thick today. The line about the “military . . . dressing in gray” is one of many head-scratchers.
But what comes through is the assertion that a truly effective, more centrist Trump is just around the corner. Just wait. He just needs to win in 2020. Then he’ll start acting like a president.
As if Donald Trump cares about crafting bipartisan legislation. As if he cares about moving the country forward in a way that unites us.
The barely coherent lunatic at the rallies, basking in the glow of rapturous applause—that’s the real Donald Trump. The only way he goes away is if we fire him.
8
Yes, if Donald Trump governed more like a Democrat things would be different. He’s a Republican, though, and on top of the typical Republican goals - taking away health insurance, giving tax cuts to the wealthiest, not enforcing regulations that protect Americans, etc - he’s also a megalomaniac of the highest order.
137
@M
He's more megalomaniac than partisan. If it benefitted him to be more of a Democrat, that's what he'd do. He's not a Republican - his ideas are not coherent or aligned with the fundamentals of that party (not that many calling themselves Republicans are either).
13
Barbara, that IS the Republican Party now. Those wishing for a return to sane conservative principles will need another party; the Democratic Party has room for them. True, like the rest of us here, and in the real America, they won't always get their way. But at least they won't have to march in lockstep with workers of atrocities.
7
This is very illuminating in that it locates the source of the otherwise incomprehensible claims I read about how the Democrats are in danger of blowing the midterms through their radical agenda, a variant on the old "democrats in disarray" chestnut. It confirms what I have long suspected--that pundits making that argument have been led into the woods by the tweeting of digital birds rather than taking the effort to find out what actual candidates are talking about to actual constituents. Kudos to Douthat for making that clear.
5
@diggory venn
Re: "An impossible electoral map for the senate"?
Well, the constitution is what it is, so any party that wishes to control the senate, must deal with that reality.
There are stands on issues that are broadly popular in nearly all states.
I am talking about populist economic issues, such as pro SS, pro higher minimum wage, pro balanced trade, against putting US workers in direct competition with workers in other nations making a tiny fraction of the US living wage - these are winning issues, even in most red states.
Wisconsin was once a blue state, now red. How did that happen? One worker's wages can no longer support a family, and it is tough with two breadwinners. In such an environment, Wisconsin Republican governor Scott Walker stands a good chance of re-election, because cash-strapped workers are terrified of losing their home, food, or health care due to taxes they can no longer afford.
Wisconsin was a *blue* state. Figure out how to win it again.
Living wages underpinned the entire broadly shared growth in prosperity in the US, post WWII, and was due entirely to policies of FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, LBJ, and Nixon - all Keynesians, and all supporting a high demand economy, where workers held strong bargaining power.
FDR famously said he would try whatever needed to fix the economy.
Hillary said it was unrealistic to raise wages. How inspiring.
Oh, and immigration and guns are losing issues for Democrats in swing states.
2
The question for me, a lifelong progressive Democrat, is: Has "The Luck of the Democrats" run out. In my view we've had one-man rule, by Donald Trump, with a complacent and even "willing accomplices" in a Republican-controlled Congress. The usual midterm balancing hopefully will occur in the House. But, the real battle is for control of the Senate where Republicans hold a bare 51-49 majority. Unfortunately for Democrats, the electoral map is distinctly perilous with five Democratic senators struggling for re-election in deep red Trump states of Florida (Bill Nelson), Indiana (Joe Donnelly), Missouri (Claire McCaskill), North Dakota (Heidi Heitkamp), and West Virginia (Joe Manchin). It's likely that one or two of them will be defeated. The good news for Democrats is that they are very competitive in three Republican states--Arizona where Krysten Sinema has a good chance to defeat Martha McSally and take Jeff Flake's seat; Nevada where Jacky Rosen also could defeat Dean Heller, and perhaps even in Texas where Beto O'Rourke has been closing the gap on Ted Cruz. To prevent this Trump has been working to instill massive fear along the border of an "invasion" and thus turn out his base to hold the Senate in those three states. It will take more than"luck," but a massive voter turnout for Democrats to capture the Senate. If the Senate stays in Republican hands, Trump will quickly end the Special Counsel investigation and the Democrats will be out of luck.
7
@Paul Wortman
If Trump ends the investigation after midterms the sealed final report will be submitted to Congress the same day, with any pertinent indictments for federal or state prosecution. It is pretty obvious Mueller has been ready for that. Anything unfinished will be taken over by the House committees.
Trump campaigns as a populist but he govern’s as a plutocrat and everyone can see it. There is no secret agenda. Trump misrepresents the truth whenever it suits the narrative that he is relating. His base famously asserts that while they don’t believe what he says they believe what he means to convey.
Almost all of his supporters need Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, pensions, unemployment insurance, insurance that will pay for their health care so that they are not made penniless, public education for themselves and their families, and other benefits which common efforts enable them to enjoy comfortable lives. Yet they support policies and politicians who would eliminate all of these things. They do so because they think that all are being exploited by others who have no rights to them and are making them pay too much for them and preventing them from doing things that they cannot afford.
That is the core of Trump’s support. Fear of the others who are keeping them down. Many identify the others as liberals, or as minorities who are being given unfair advantages, or as foreigners who are horning in where they don’t belong. In any case, the others dominate the government. Using any means possible to achieve public offices and majorities in legislators is the means of resistance. If that does not work, the alternative may be worse.
Our democracy requires mutual trust and that should be the focus of our combined efforts.
10
Ross, you're missing the obvious point. There is no support among the Republicans oligarchs, the guys who control the money that runs the GOP, for the kind of agenda that you support.
They only want low taxes, no regulation, and the right to despoil the earth as they see fit, for as long as they see fit; they don't even like or respect religious conservatives, but merely pay lip service to them, occasionally throwing them a bone, in order to keep them voting against their economic interests.
Trump ran on an economic platform for which there was no support among the moneyed interests that control the GOP; and his appeals to white nationalism are really nothing more than a radical extension of the old southern strategy.
The Democrats were always going to be back in the game because the GOP can no longer govern. Like Trump, they destroy everything they touch.
As a Bush 43 administration official chided Ron Susskind roughly 15 years ago:
"People like you are still living in what we call the reality-based community. You believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality. That's not the way the world really works anymore. We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality."
Except when they can't.
Voodoo economics does not work; climate change is real; and Republicans oligarchs, many of whom were born into money, believe that if you don't have money, you don't deserve healthcare that covers preexisting conditions.
191
Plus trump wants to be a billionaire oligarch himself so why on earth should he govern from the center.
25
Maybe you're overthinking all of this, Mr. Douthat. There's another way to look at all of it. Equal means equal. And that means everyone.
20
Any president, who is willing to govern from the middle is bound to be successful. The most successful presidency in terms of peace and prosperity in the past three decades has been that of Bill Clinton, who governed from slightly left-of-center. So yes, if Trump had tried to govern from slightly right-of-center, he might have had success with a wider appeal.
If the Democrats take back the House, they may force Trump to move towards the center like Republicans did to Clinton after they took back the House in 1994. But alas, Trump is no Clinton, so compromising for the greater good is not something we can expect of him. Even if the Democrats get lucky in the midterm elections, as long as Trump is president, the country will not reap benefits with a wider appeal.
14
I don't disagree with the main thrust of your working theory.
However, to "flatten" liberalism, or at least to temporarily "defang" it, he would have had to at least done one significant, concrete thing to exhibit fidelity and some good faith to his more moderate campaign promises (like an honest to goodness infrastructure plan).
Anybody who understood Trump then knew it would never come close to happening, and as you point out it hasn't.
Trump cannot help himself, he's always going to be Trump, and that means looking at life as a zero sum game. He's never going to do something because it's "the right" thing to do, he's only going to do it if it benefits him.
And if he can rake somebody over the coals in the process, well, that's all the better and actually preferable.
During the campaign, the thought occurred to me that if he had the audacity to poach Bernie Sanders minimum wage idea (not even @ 15, but lets say 13.50 or 14), he could have locked up the election with just that one promise.
Of course, it would have been a lie, he never would have done it, but the point is that kind of thing is just not in him.
And there's nothing "lucky" about being a Democrat with Trump as president.
23
@JayK
"And there's nothing "lucky" about being a Democrat with Trump as president."
Nor anything lucky for a Republican. As a matter of fact, one must pity the Republican who, by choice, is morally implicated in Trump's evil.
1
@JayK
Absolutely! Trump’s populism is as fake as it gets. Designed to deceit and to peel off Sanders voters from Clinton.
To consider that as a realistic possibility is pretty much silly. Nothing for Democrats to worry about.
1
The errors of not pressing for infrastructure spending, tax cuts focused upon the middle class, and encouraging industry to make capital decisions that serve the national interest are all center left and right issues, and not what would bring Trump’s base to vote. They are contrary to what Trump’s plutocratically inclined advisors and backers would support. His Republican base supporters are right wing populists who lack a majority that can make government into their means to impose their will upon everybody else so they’ll wait for infrastructure provided by private enterprise (and spend the next decades complaining that it serves only those who can pay generously out of their pockets), they’ll wait for the capital owners to give them jobs (and wonder why they never save a dime), and they’ll pay for the commons by themselves (wondering why they pay to for all the government services received by those with more disposable income than themselves). Playing to that audience, Trump has to generate fear and rage towards anyone not outraged that 3500 people escaping misery want to come to the U.S. to fond something to get them to the polls on Tuesday.
11
Let's consider the economy first. At this point in time, the stock market is up about 32% in two years, or annualized to about 10-11% per year. BIG DEAL! It is especially unimpressive when you realize that the tax cuts are responsible for close to half the gains in company earnings - WHICH INDEED INFLUENCE STOCK PRICES. So with all that megilla, all that great news about the stock market, realize that the tax cuts created phony returns in the market.
By the way, this is the first year-over-year worker wage gains of about 3%, which if calculated as a raise above inflation is less than a 1% pay raise for average Americans. PEANUTS! Obama had a couple 4% GDP growth quarters, and let's see if Trump beats that in his term. The average monthly job gains are no higher in this administration, either.
Besides, the cut in regulations hurts both worker and environmental protections, and we have ballooned the deficit under Trump. So before you grant him the Nobel in Economics, consider the situation more carefully.
66
Trump cannot help being Trump, and that is what got him elected through (what it seemed like then) improbable odds. In all honesty, who can ever help being what they are. Also, I haven't really seen the end of anything in my life. Change, yes, to a degree, bu. Liberalism will never end.
1
What you are seeing is the influence of money in politics. The Republican congress has been completely captured by the wealthy donors. It would have been good sensible politics to include some middle class tax cuts into the tax bill. Donor greed was the reason it never happened.
It isn't just the Republicans that are deeply influenced by donor money. How many Democrats are promising a straight repeal of the Trump tax bill?
15
@Schrodinger
Oh, I firmly believe repealing that tax bill is the first thing they'll do when they are back in power. Day One.
Why would they talk about that now? It serves no purpose for them--the twenty-two dollars the sorry middle class is getting as a result of that tax cut has not made them happy. The last thing Democrats should do is tell them they're taking back the twenty-two dollars. All that's going to do is rile up the billionaires to spend more money to defeat Democrats. I can just hear them screaming about what a heinous act it would be to take back that twenty-two dollars.
Democrats are less bought and paid for than Republicans.
3
That Democrats are fighting for guaranteed comprehensive healthcare for all; a fair tax code; responsible leadership; protecting our one planet; civil rights; gun control; and more crucial issues, is not a matter of luck. That is the essence of what our party stands for.
603
@NM
You might want to tell Chuck Schumer. He thinks his job is to Fast-Track Trump judicial nominees.
Where's Chuck?
1
Essentially, this is like imagining who and where Trump could be if only he weren't himself. What kind of premise is that?
661
@NM - and if only his intention were pure. While they were on the racism, sexism, and the striping civil and human rights from all who are “other” agenda, he never intended to carry out any of the populist agenda. That’s why he told his rich friends at “21”, days after the election, that they’d be getting a big tax cut. This was always about lining his own pockets and those of his friend. Kleptocracy is what he always had in mind. And eradicating all those “others”.
13
@NM Yes, if Trump had only channeled his inner Bernie Sanders once he was elected, we would have had a wonderful "Nixon goes to China" moment! The repub leaders and financiers would have had to choke down their bile as Trump devised legislation with the Dems that half the repubs would have had to vote for in a populist orgy not seen since FDR was a traitor to his class.
C'mon, Ross, get real! Remember Trump University? Was that just "bad luck for the little guy" or the real Donald all along?
14
This is a hypothetical musing in which Mr. Douthat claims that Democrats are essentially lucky that Trump is who he is and that the Republicans have largely followed in locked goose step.
To invert this thought process, are the Republicans lucky that the Democrats allowed themselves to get into this position in the first place? That gerrymandering and voter suppression was not paid much attention until more recently? That they did not push back on Russia's interference enough because of a possible perception that they are interfering with the election? That there was not a public outcry generated and political war declared when McConnell refused to consider Merrick Garland's nomination?
Both sides have their issues and the resulting burdens to bear. This isn't about luck. It's about what goes around, comes around.
49
@David: Let's not forget McConnell's assertion to Obama that if the Russian intrusion into our 2016 election was revealed, he would cry "dirty politics" and he also refused to endorse a bipartisan statement condemning the Russian intrusion..
2
So, Ross are you finally giving Democrats some credit for being disciplined about the midterms by focusing on their agenda and not running against Trump (per se)?
Other pundits of your persuasion, namely Bret Stephens, are more pessimistic, saying that anyone could be successful against Trump given his antics these past 2 years, and that the fact Democrats are still not sure of gaining a house majority, speaks to their overall weaknesses.
Frankly, I think the way these midterms are being over-hyped contributes to the madness surrounding "who is right?"
Nobody knows how it's going to play out, only what we've seen to date. And it remains to be seen whether Trump's gamble--focus on hate and division and fear---will fail or conquer in the end.
Which is why anyone who thinks this election is in the bag--high early voting or not--should make sure that he or she doesn't sit back and stay home.
Hopefully the memory of 2016 will put a stop to that.
153
If America's Great White Dope conducted himself as Mr. Douthat suggests and also spent less time scaring his base with horror stories about Muslims, Latinos and Immigrants and more time working on behalf of their economic interests (as opposed to those of the affluent elite) he'd still have sent two right-wing justices to the Supreme Court to threaten women's reproductive rights as well as the rights of gays, transgendered individuals, unionized workers and those who'd like to see humans treated at least as well as their guns. Still, even as a proud progressive, I'll be happy with any partial victory over America's answer to Putin, Erdogan, Duterte, Li'l Kim and MBS that Democrats, compassionate Independents and sane Republicans are willing to offer.
271
@stu freeman
Love the “Great white dope” . If trump acted like Ross imagines he never would of been elected. His naked appeal to the lowest common denominator was always the path republicans have been on since Reagan.
41
Brother Douthat whistles past the American graveyard of democracy as the curse of right-wing tyranny marches forward.
The real question is whether the luck of the Republican Reverse Robin Hood Robber Baron vote riggers and their bamboozled white supremacist masses will run out on Tuesday as civilized, conscientious, and formerly clueless Americans finally wake up and realize that stolen Presidential elections, stolen Houses of Representatives, and red state, rural, religious Senators hijacking the Supreme Court to enshrine 0.1% speech, corporate supremacy, voter suppression and Christian Shariah Law may not actually constitute a representative American government.
Nobody's lucky when a country's right-wing completely shuns the democratic process and abandons the Constitution as occurred when the GOP suspended Supreme Court nominations in 2016 until it could properly rig the Presidency in its favor via racist, unAmerican voter suppression laws, Kremlin campaign assistance and an FBI mutiny.
Nobody's lucky when a country's governing party's major accomplishments include painting the toenails of the rich a finer shade of gold on a middle-class credit card, nearly eradicating healthcare coverage for 15 million citizens, making white supremacy great again and creating a state-run-corporate Fake News channel to feed the bamboozeled masses their Recommended Daily Allowance of White Spite while their country crumbles around them from unregulated greed and fomented racism.
VOTE
730
@Socrates
"painting the toenails of the rich a finer shade of gold on a middle-class credit card"
This has to be one of the finest phrases I have read in a long time.
80
@Socrates, where can I locate the "words guaranteed to make even left leaning people say 'lighten up, Francis'" generator? (i.e., for all but a vanishingly small slice of this country, your style and content is just overhyped noise.)
2
@- K count me as a part of the vanishingly small slice. Thanks for this one Socrates.
32
What I am looking for from Mrs. Pelosi after Tuesday is a pledge to make Trump’s remaining days in office as miserable for him as he has made this country in the past two years.
This will obviously be an enormous task, but I am confident that she will prove equal to the challenge.
256
@A. Stanton Ah, Nancy Pelosi. She's so good at doing her job that the GOP is terrified of her. Hope she says nothing but just does it.
41
@A. Stanton-Yes, my great fear is that if the Dems take the House, they will decide to work in a "bi-partisan manner" or "not create divisiveness," or decide to "shun negativity" or "move forward, not backward." Or they will focus most or all of their energies on 2020.
I want them to do everything they can to hold Trump and his lackeys accountable for the destruction they've done to our country. I want people to go to jail. Oh, and I want to see Trumps tax returns.
41
I’d rather see a Democratic congress begin investigating Devin Nunes and Trey Gowdy.
We already know who Trump is. When don’t know what those two charlatans are really up to.
9
Ah. so comforting, Mr Douthat.
See? There is nothing to worry about, Trump is digging a hole that all of his GOP hangers-on will fall into and continue to dig themselves in deeper trying to climb out.
A younger version of myself would have been comforted by this but I have learned a couple of things along the way.
Voters are fully capable of voting against their own interests, repeatedly, as long as they are enmeshed in some kind of "values" war. Then rational policy, like taxation and health care insurance no longer matters. And the present wins out over the future with some voters, as if we were driving fast in a car with all of the windows painted out, with no idea where we are going or what is in our way, as in climate change.
Elections in the United States, for House, Senate and White House has been rigged to favor a minority over the majority. The Electoral College has awarded the Presidency twice to the minority twice since 2000. The Senate gives the same representation to tiny Wyoming and huge California. And US House Districts have been gerrymandered by state redistricting to award large majorities of seats based on a minority of votes.
And of course, the Roberts Court has become so rigidly partisan that the cases can practically be decided without being heard.
There is a great deal to be concerned about and no certainty that it will all work out, as most empires in history have shown.
519
@Look Ahead
"as if we were driving fast in a car with all of the windows painted out, with no idea where we are going or what is in our way, as in climate change"
Nice metaphor. Demise of AM radio with its hourly albeit shallow news in favour of music earbuds means masses of people live in a state of bottomless ignorance.
I also fault inept reporters. Every night you can see and hear people swear "he's doing a great job". But rare to see reporters ask "... can you give me an example or two..." and insist the respondent produce more than just generalities.
I would like to see data on trends in the state of political knowledge.
17
@Look Ahead
Just a thought regarding the SC and future decisions. I wonder if there is any gambling book regarding their decisions or is it impossible to do so as "the Fix" is in.
@Ben
I wholeheartedly agree, Ben. All too often I see reporters give politicians a pass as they evade and outright lie in response to critical questions. These are complex issues requiring thoughtful inquiry. Apparently no one has time for truth seeking anymore. The media seem overwhelmed by the sheer volume of craven dishonesty.
4
The Republican congress has never wanted to fix anything, and have demonstrated that they don't want to govern. So, skip the counterfactuals.
Health care is the biggest issue in the 2018 midterms. Republican big donors were virulently against national health care, even though it helped the average person. Most people want to be covered and see that other countries have done it.
203
What load of codswallop. trump just reflects what the Republican Party's core always wanted.
At long last, the Democrats are beginning to make their own luck, in the form of proclaiming their values in local races, in red areas as well as blue. Not that the media pay attention; they just focus on all campaign themes as long as they include the word "trump".
The Republicans, who regularly get outvoted for president and congress but somehow "win" anyway have made their own luck for years, loading the dice in their favor by gerrymandering and/or voter suppression, and by cheating when it comes to supreme court nominations. One of these days they won't be so lucky and the voters will elect Democrats on their merits.
Oh, and keep telling yourself that the party’s base is pulling liberalism way left of the middle on issues of race and culture and identity. Actually, no. That's the mainstream speaking, so liberalism actually represents the solid center, and the farthest-right 25% or so of the population is doing its darnedest to resist. It's not just liberals who defend American cultural values in the face of attacks like those in Pittsburgh or Parkland. Even the gun culture at its worst only commands a minority of NRA members, let alone of the people as a whole, but it has enough money behind it to buy the politicians.
336
The reason this ignorant, race-baiting, crotch-groping, fraud-perpetrating liar won the presidency is because he appealed to a large percentage of the population who thought he was just what this country needed.
Sure, he was a narcissistic, foul-mouthed fake-news-spreading celebrity-TV doofus, but that’s what the people wanted. And oh yes, Hillary and uh, e-mails and uh, something…. The choice was clear.
The economy was on the way up when he took over, Mr. Obama having pulled it back from the brink over which the previous Republican president had sent it plummeting. The people in the solidly red heartland were soothed to hear that their 19th century coal-mining jobs would be given priority over solar and wind, the climate be damned. He'll wall us in and restore white privilege to boot. So he won.
The running of the country is now playing out like a Three Stooges short, minus two stooges.
In recent memory we’ve never had a certified idiot as a candidate for president, and apparently the people were hungry for that kind of leadership. Who knew?
So yes, his appeal to the heartland has caused panic in the brainland. But the candidates can’t harp on the obvious rampaging wild elephant in the room, because lots of people voted for him. They’ve got to act as though America is normal, and accentuate the positive even though our collective I.Q. is negative.
Pundits, on the other hand, don’t have to pussy-foot around a loony populace, and are free to panic.
814
@gemli Yes, it is all the fault of the voters for not understanding how intelligent and compassionate and woke the Democrats are. How could they pass up the chance to stomp on the patriarchy by putting a woman in the White House? How could they pass up the chance to advance the values taught in elite universities?
24
Yes, but of course, Schrodinger !
I'm certain the 'new and improved' Trump University -- winner of the 2016 Consumer Fraud Award, the Snake Oil Award and Fake Diploma Mill Award -- is exactly what America needs to make it great again.
"In politics, stupidity is not a handicap."
-- Napoleon Bonaparte
"Take two tax cuts and call me from the morgue !"
The 2018 GOP Doctor is in.
VOTE
296
Socrates is on a roll.
116
Interesting thought experiment with some merit. But the actual reality is that the Republican base loves Trump‘s politics. That’s why his numbers have crept back up. That’s why party leaders acquiesce every time. The party has lost its middle. Now we have to see if the Democrats can capture it.
60
@Timohuatl
Democrats are already in the middle. Just see the platform of Democrats in purple states.
Unfortunately, other than some democrats, there nothing else in this much hyped “middle”.