And we might keep in mind that we do. Trump is a wrecking ball, but he came in with record low approval, after losing the popular vote by millions even in an election with low turnout. Polls didn’t expect his win, and I think there is good argument that this is because it really was against the odds, made possible only by many factors all happening to go his way.
That doesn’t mean we don’t need to work at those. Very much the opposite – a leader like him is too damaging to leave to a saving throw, and many of them were things we need to work at anyway, like voter suppression or neglect of rust belt communities. There are all sorts of things the Democratic party should have been doing long ago.
But let’s not assume that all progressivism has been failing and we need to become just like him, to adopt all his manners and tactics and start fighting on his choice of field, because he’s what all success and popularity with real Americans looks like in this era. He’s not.
