If This is the Beginning of the End for Trump, It Must Be the End of the Beginning for the Rebirth of the Democratic Party
Multiple people have already posited that recent developments are the beginning of the end of Donald Trump’s presidency. For the good of the country, I hope they are correct. But for the Resistance, Indivisible, and everyone else who has gotten more involved since the election, it ultimately should not matter.
Because the end goal has never been Trump himself. Trump is nothing but the Republican id brought to life. He is the logical terminus of a cultural alliance that began in 1968 and began to peak in 1994. If we are satisfied with running him out of office, then we have gained little and learned nothing. If we are satisfied with running him out of office and then taking back Congress in 2018, then we have gained some but learned nothing. And if we are satisfied with regaining total “control” over Washington in 2020, then we have gained much but learned nothing.
This country is a sea of red and it goes far beyond Washington DC. And it’s not because of gerrymandering or urban clustering or inefficient vote distribution, though all of those things matter. It’s because for far too long we’ve been content. We’ve been content to let someone else do the work of citizenship. We’ve been content to mostly ignore local and state races. We’ve been content to write-off large tracts of the country as unwinnable. We’ve looked for saviors and been disappointed when they haven’t single-handedly brought the change we’ve been looking for. And most damming of all, some have been to content to vote only in Presidential years, or not at all.
Because there are more of us than of them. Take a look at the next few charts:
Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan’s America is outnumbered and dying. Barack Obama’s America is growing. But the Nixon-Reagan America votes. They vote when someone asks them to, whether it’s for a local race, a state race, or the Presidency. And, even when there are no obstacles, far too much of Obama’s America does not. Don’t tell me that it’s too hard for a white millennial to vote.
So there are more of us than of them. But it hasn’t mattered. Because it only matters who votes. If you do not vote you do not have a voice. And if you do not have a voice you will be ignored. That’s the reality. Marches, speeches, town halls, all wonderful and necessary. Without the vote to back it up, it’s all so much noise.
Because we were content after 2008. And the Republicans, who know full well that they are outnumbered, have systematically made it harder for us to vote. They’ve systematically made it harder to have our vote count as much as theirs. So the work now is much, much harder. But it is possible. There are more of us than of them. And some of us are dedicated to using every avenue available to re-level the playing field; whether by fighting gerrymandering or by getting people the ID they need to vote or by distributing people power away from safe districts and into competitive ones.
But we cannot be content that these organizations will turn the tide. We cannot be content to run Trump out of office. We cannot be content to retake Congress. We cannot be content to retake the Presidency. There is an ocean of red out there that needs to become blue. We must regain control of the governorships and state legislatures we have lost in the last seven years. But we cannot be content with just restoration. We must fight in places we haven’t won. We’ll lose in these places most of the time, but not all of the time.
But we cannot be content with the sea of red turning into a sea of blue. Because that’s how we ended up here in the first place. And we if maintain that sea of blue over several election cycles, we cannot be content.
If we use that sea of blue to make enormous strides on income inequality, health care, the environment, immigration, education, higher education, criminal justice reform, voting rights, civil rights, rebuilding our infrastructure, reshaping the judiciary, and all of the goals of the Progressive movement. Then? We cannot be content.
If all of this losing forces the Republican party back into the mainstream of American society (remember that Richard Nixon gave us the EPA) and we are no longer concerned that Republican control means an attempt to return to the 1920s? We cannot be content. Citizenship is a lifetime appointment.
That does not mean that every Democrat needs to quit their jobs and join a Progressive cause or run for office. It does not mean that every Democrat needs to volunteer most of their free time to the cause. It does not mean that every Democrat needs to volunteer for a campaign. But the bare minimum for everyone one of us is to vote every time we are asked. Vote for Mickey Mouse if you hate your choices, although please stop and consider the consequences. But vote. Vote. Vote. Vote. Vote.
And those Democrats who can join a Progressive cause or run for office must do that even if the country is a sea of blue. Those who can volunteer must even if every one of your representatives is a Democrat, from the Presidency on down.
Because if this moment becomes about Trump and not about us, then we have lost. If Trump’s end, whether soon or in 2020 or in 2024 becomes our end, then it will be a Pyrrhic victory.
This is not to say that if we stay hungry, if we are never satisfied, that we will not lose. We’ll lose, and we’ll lose all over the place. Particularly if the Republican party moves back into the mainstream. But we’ll lose to adults. We’ll lose to people who had to win over some of us, because there are more of us than of them. We cannot throw up our hands and walk away when this happens.
This is not to say that if we stay hungry, if we are never satisfied, that we won’t still be forced into incremental legislative steps. As we saw in 2008, even with a filibuster-proof vote in the Senate, our country is designed to resist large scale change. We cannot throw up our hands and walk away when this happens.
It will be extremely tempting to think the work is done, that it’s “over” when Trump leaves office, whenever and however that happens. But it will not be over. It will be even more tempting to think it’s “over” when we retake Congress, whenever that happens. But it will not be over. It will be overwhelmingly tempting to think it’s “over” when we retake control of Washington. But it will not be over. It will be hard to argue the work isn’t “over” when the sea of red turns blue. But if we want to keep it blue, it will not be over.
The truth is that it’s never going to be over. That’s the bad news. The good news is that this is a relay race. We’re allowed to pass the baton and even allowed to pass off and then come back in later. The only thing everyone absolutely has to do all the time is vote.
If we take this approach, if we avoid becoming content, then Trump’s downfall can be the end of the beginning of a rebirth of American Democracy. If not, if right now is also the beginning of the end of the #resistance? We’ll be doomed to repeat the mistakes of 2009–2016.
