There is too much anger and animosity in politics these days. Everyone acknowledges this, and then everyone blames the opposition for causing it. This empty righteousness further exasperates the problem, resulting in an ongoing cycle that leads us around and around, a Mobius strip of posturing and one-sided commentating that goes nowhere.
Hopefully someone will break this cycle so that we can come together as a unified country and start solving some of our outstanding problems with a combination of fairmindedness and common sense. This business of demonizing those who may have a different idea or approach has to stop if we are to regain our focus and direction. Someone has to successfully appeal to the opposition in order to establish a consensus so that decisions can be reached that will be supported by more than a bare majority.
President Trump was going to bring the country together like no other, but his approach has only further alienated those who disagree with him. It is doubtful that his approach will change, so we can look forward to an additional four years of anger, animosity and distrust dividing our country if and probably when he is re-elected in 2020. This means that we will have wasted the last 30 years or so in this partisan tit-for-tat governance while China has emerged as the world’s dominant power, extending its single-minded influence globally.
We have as opposition to President Trump a slate of Democratic candidates that pander to their base just as much as President Trump panders to his. From a senior statesman who seems to have too many senior moments, to candidates that propose expensive programs that cannot be paid for, to candidates who spend all their time and energy disparaging President Trump instead of offering an alternative direction, to candidates that show promise but have insufficient experience – when they are taken together as a group one must conclude that the future for reasoned, fact-based governance is bleak.
It is inevitable and unavoidable that someone will become the Democratic nominee. If this person is to successfully beat President Trump, they must be reasonable in their vision, presidential in their behaviour, and inclusive of all Americans, even the so-called Trump deplorables.
The Democratic nominee must acknowledge and appreciate that people who voted for President Trump had valid reasons for doing so. Trump supporters cannot be categorized as being ignorant of facts, fearful of immigrants, under the spell of a cult-like leader, or any of the other insulting things that have been said about them. Their voices and opinions need to be heard and understood just as much as anyone else’s. Their support is even more important for the success of a Democratic president than is the support of the Democratic base.
A moderate, inclusive approach has the potential to appeal to a majority of Democrats, a majority of Independents, and a significant number of Republicans as well.
Making sure that Trump supporters are acknowledged in the Democratic debates as well as on the Democratic campaign trail would go a long way to beginning to heal the divisions in our nation, and could prove to be the deciding factor in a successful challenge to the re-election of President Trump.