How is America going to respond to Donald Trump? Cronyism is on the ascent. Our president-elect is packing his Cabinet with billionaires who bring complicated history and conflicts of interest to the relationships they are expected to monitor and negotiate and have been openly dismissive of the departments they will be expected to lead. The Democratic Party is in disarray. The worst fears of liberals and progressives seem to be coming to fruition. How are they going to regroup and respond?
So far, they appear to be choosing the worst possible response. Continuing to pursue Hillary Clinton’s failed campaign strategy they persist in challenging Trump’s “fitness to serve” and pledge to undermine his efforts on all fronts; essentially duplicating the GOP’s anti-Obama strategy of obstructionism. Obstructionism led the GOP back to power; Why shouldn’t Democrats pursue a similar strategy?
{mosads}Because it didn’t really work for the GOP. Republicans are in nearly as much disarray as the Democrats. More importantly, it isn’t working for America. The tribal politics of obstruction and conflict are eroding the structure of civil and productive society. A functioning Democracy requires respect and cooperation among its citizens.
An electoral majority of Americans has chosen Donald Trump in the hope that he can be an agent of change. It’s hard to generalize as to the precise elements of his campaign they found most compelling because his policy proposals and promised effects were frequently contradictory. For some it may actually have been his xenophobic and protectionist rhetoric. But for most it was more probably his ephemeral promise to “Make America Great Again” and devote all his energy to restoring the American Dream of upward mobility for the middle class. Much of America feels ignored and betrayed by our political class. The disdain toward The Donald exhibited by that class became Trump’s strongest recommendation.
A plurality of voters sought to reject Trump, fearing his policies, intentions, personality and competence. They may have been right to do so. Time will tell. But Trump has earned his opportunity to lead, and liberals would be wise not to make our situation worse by following the example of the GOP during Obama’s terms. When the GOP sought to undermine the legitimacy of Obama’s presidency their actions were despicable and dangerous. When liberals seek to undermine the pending Trump presidency their actions are no less despicable and dangerous
Liberals and progressives need to stop telling themselves the election was stolen and recognize that it was lost. The recent hysteria over Russia’s role in Hillary Clinton’s downfall is a hyped distraction from the reality of the election results. When Democrats insist that the electorate was duped by Russian meddling, media malpractice, Comey’s pronouncements or Trump’s lies they are displaying their disdain for the electorate’s judgement and reinforcing the antipathy between the parties.
The frenzied hand-wringing and claims of Russian interference in America’s election are grotesquely overblown. The U.S. has a long history of overtly and covertly taking sides in the domestic affairs of foreign powers. Do we believe that America does not spy on its neighbors; allies and opponents alike? Have we forgotten the recent wiretaps on Brazil’s President Rousseff and German Chancellor Merkel? Do we believe that when American politicians and talking-heads target foreign leaders with either support or condemnation we aren’t attempting to influence their people and their elections?
It is important to recognize what Russia did not do. They did not send arms to American dissidents. They did not interfere with the compilation of the vote count. They did not engage in a disinformation campaign disseminating lies about Hillary Clinton. Trump’s baffling denials notwithstanding, Russian operatives almost certainly did feed data extracted from the DNC and HRC’s campaign staff to Wikileaks. But to the best of our knowledge none of the leaked documents were fabricated or false. And who among the public do we sincerely believe didn’t understand the intent of those leaks was to affect the election? The public made its judgement about the accuracy, intent and significance of those disclosures and then went to the polls and awarded Trump a chance to lead the country forward.
America will respond to Trump’s presidency based upon his performance. Immediately following the election President Obama struck exactly the right chord. We should all be rooting for Trump’s success, not plotting his downfall. If Trump pursues policies that exacerbate income and wealth inequality (as currently appears probable) his supporters will rapidly abandon him in droves. If he succeeds in lifting the stagnant incomes of the middle and lower classes by stimulating economic growth while protecting the social safety net upon which many Americans rely, we will all have cause to rally behind him and praise his name.
In these contentious times, it is perhaps too much to ask Democrats to help guide Trump toward success. But that is precisely the role our representative democracy requires our leaders to undertake. They certainly should not be openly undermining the legitimacy of our elections or the office of the Presidency.
If they wish to regain relevance and heal the wounds imposed upon our Democracy, instead of reinforcing our fractured political divisions, democrats and progressives need to be evaluating the failure of leadership that led Trump to power. Democrats need to acknowledge that middle America was not wrong; they have been ignored and neglected.
Based upon his Cabinet appointments and policy proposals it is highly likely that Trump will fail to deliver on his promise to restore the American Dream. But instead of plotting and cheering for that failure, assuming the pendulum will simply swing back their way, wouldn’t it be smarter for the Democratic Party to reevaluate its leadership and policies, so the public has a more palatable alternative to support? For that matter, wouldn’t it be smarter for the Republican party to do the same? At the far extremes of our political spectrum Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders’ most animated supporters were motivated by the same belief and concern: our system is rigged against the middle class.
The party which puts forward a credible platform of proposals aimed at eliminating cronyism will find themselves riding a populist wave that crosses existing party lines and builds a dominating popular and electoral majority of support. Donald Trump and the Republicans have a chance to do it this term. If they fail, next up will be the Democrats. Do either of them have a chance of success? Not if Washington persists with its current obstructionist mode of government.
Douglas Hopkins is the founder and President of Kestrel Consulting LLC, a crisis management and turnaround consulting firm. He is co-author of Crafting Solutions for Troubled Businesses and author of A Citizen’s 2% Solution: How to Repeal Investment Income Taxes, Avoid a Value-Added Tax, and Still Balance the Budget.
The views expressed by authors are their own and not the views of The Hill.