We are going to be governed by the absolute worst people for the next four years. We know that, because (waves arms around). The question Democratic strategists have to wrestle with is how best to fight it.
Betty Cracker wonders why the public seems so tolerant of rampant corruption. The answer to me is that the typical low-info voter thinks all government is corrupt. In the broad sense that money in politics is corrupting, there's a point there. The murder of campaign finance laws by the Supreme Court was really, really bad. Trump's egregious pay-for-play will be unprecedented since at least Warren Harding's administration, and Harding himself did not direct the corruption. The easy, dumb cynicism of "their all corrupt" lumps in the fact that Democratic politicians speak before donors with Trump auctioning off government jobs.
There's some question about which fights Democrats should engage with. There's one camp arguing that you show a willingness to work with Republicans now, so that when they do terrible things later, you can tut-tut and reluctantly conclude that Republicans have - gasp - lied about wanting to help the working class. I think in normal times, that makes sense, as an antidote to the GOP's new populist rhetoric. However, you literally ran on "Trump is a threat to American democracy" because Trump is a threat to American democracy. How does one "work in a bipartisan fashion" with Trump? I get that Democrats have to compete in swing and GOP-tilting electorates, but that's a hard circle to square.
Meanwhile, the relative gumption of Justin Trudeau and Claudia Sheinbaum shows two different ways of dealing with Trump. Trudeau has taken the approach of flattering and cajoling Trump's infamously fragile ego as a means to ameliorating his worst vengeance. This is a process that Josh Marshall called becoming a "dignity wraith" whereby you offer up your manhood in the hopes of placating Trump and his eviscerates you anyway. Ask Lindsey Graham. Meanwhile, Sheinbaum has said, "Fuck this guy" and Trump has ignored her, while belittling Trudeau.
I do think one idea that I and others have had is that we need a few billionaires and a million small donors to create a legal defense fund to help ease the cost burden of those whom Trump is going to sic Kash Patel on.
The strategies that worked from 2017-2019 are unlikely to be equal to this moment, yet that seems to be the position of many DC Democrats. Baffling.
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