This past mid term it became very clear that Team Blue won. This was a huge win for our nation, but many of our victories are on shaky ground. Most Dems won by thin margins, and only because voters were so angry at Trump they were willing to give us a shot. It’s that last part that is subject to change, which is why I wrote this essay. Our wins could very easily become our losses in 2028. What we have is a gift, given to us by a grifter, but it’s a gift that can be taken from us if we are not careful. Ask Joe Biden if you don’t believe me. Ten of the last eleven elections resulted in changes in power in Washington. We’re stuck in a vicious back and forth cycle, and the only way out of it is to take a serious look at the dynamics. Why does this keep happening? 

There is a large part of America that bought into the notion that politicians are corrupt, and everything in Washington is tainted. They are not involved in politics like the base is. They vote based upon whims, not strategy. It’s easy to assume they are Trump supporters because Trump was able to get them to come out in droves, but in truth they are actually independent. They don’t have any party affiliation. Something like 70% of first time Trump voters in 2024 voted blue this election. That is a massive shift, and team blue benefitted from it, but you need to understand they are ours. They do not see themselves as team blue. They are independents, and will remain that way unless we can convince them otherwise. 

How do we do that? We expand upon the narrow wedge we already have. They have decided to lend their power to us, but they can and will take it back just as easily as they did for Trump. We don’t own their votes. It’s a rental. To keep their faith in us, we need to follow through on our promises. Not all of them, but enough to show we mean business. If we want them to vote for us again, we need to earn their trust. 

Besides, an election plan that is based upon having someone divisive like Trump lead the opposition will only work a little bit longer. We need to plan for future elections, one that we can all live with.

Even worse, we don’t really have a future. There is much that we agree upon, and much that we can do, but the Dems really do not have a plan as such, except to not be like Trump. That isn’t a plan, that’s a gift, and we need to treat it as such. Trump will one day be gone. We need to be ready for it when it happens. 

The good news is we have a lot of good ideas and a lot of great women and men to take them to the top. But those ideas have not been tested yet. They exist in small bubbles all over the US. They have not been introduced on a national stage where we can discuss them and rip them apart like civilized adults. It’s going to take us time to figure out what we want for our future. Because the Democratic party is so diverse, this means this process will take LOTS of time. Months, if not years. Even worse, all of this needs to take place in broad daylight where our opposition can see, and voice their own opinions. That is to say there will be consequences for these ideas, consequences that can make or break many candidates. Shit is gonna get real, and we need to prepare for that.

All of that means we need a governing strategy for Congress designed to give us time to coalesce and have our shit together for 2028 and beyond.

The way I see it, the Democratic Party should have two main goals:

1) Dilute Trump’s power base, and

2) Buy more time for us.

This is why I think we should NOT impeach the President. Congress can either spend its time fighting him, looking like bullies, or it can neuter him, and look like responsible adults. We don’t have to get in the dirt with him. We can govern better. Among other things, this will show other Americans (former Trump Supporters) that the Democratic party is worthy of their trust even with Trump out of the picture. This is called coalition building, and it was FDRs secret weapon. At one point the man had insane margins in the Senate, well over the 60 you need to end a filibuster. We can get there too if we follow FDR’s example.

For starters, Trump is now a lame duck President. Let’s use that to our advantage. He is losing power, and influence as we speak. He is also losing money, which is even better. Everything he does from now on, will only make him look weaker and more desperate. More importantly, his actions will divide the Republican party. The more corrupt and out of control he is, the more it will push other Republicans away from him. We want that. Let him take apart the machine he built. And like this past midterm, we can reap the benefits.

Secondly, the man is a walking talking recruitment poster for the Democratic party. Let’s keep him there. The more he grabs the spotlight and talks about his ballroom, or his arch, the more he makes our side look reasonable. So let’s take advantage of that. He already gave us one election with a massive sweep of power. Let’s do that again. Let him be crazy, while we reap the benefit. Treat him like that crazy uncle you see at Thanksgiving every once in a while. Everyone in the family can humor him, because they know he’s just a lunatic spouting nonsense, and without any real power. 

Thirdly, Trump does not share. Not just with Dems, he doesn’t share with his own people. While he is in office he will not let anyone else wield power except himself. As long as he is in office no one else will be responsible for his screw ups but him. Sure, he won’t be responsible either, he never has, but everyone by now sees through his schtick. As long as he remains in power, it means that the Democratic presidential candidates for 2028 can say or do almost anything, without consequence. Once Trump is out of power, then they will start to be blamed for the things Congress does or does not do. This is hugely important. Let Trump play the lightning rod, while we collectively work out what future we want to take. It’s going to take us a while, this will buy us time.

Fourthly, as Russia and China have shown, the man can be played, so let’s play him. You want an arch? Okay, so what are you going to give us in exchange? We can negotiate with Trump because it makes us look reasonable, and because we know for certain he will fuck everything up. He always does. Chaos is his brand, so negotiate knowing it is coming. When Plan A fails, have a plan B in place ready to go, so when he does screw things up we can smoothly step forward. Most importantly, Plan B should always make things worse for him (and better for our side). Plan C, should be even more so. Make his poor negotiating skills play to our advantage. We’ll hold the purse strings, so let’s use them. 

If we do decide to impeach him, assuming we have the votes in the Senate, then it means anyone who replaces him (like JD Vance) will receive the gift of one or two years of on the job training as they practice looking presidential. And without the lightning rod Trump around, then any mistake that JD makes he can more easily pin on Congress. This would give the Republicans a distinct advantage over us. Let’s not give them this gift.

And let’s not forget, impeaching Trump will give him the fight he wants. He loves to play the victim, the persecuted minority. The man loves a fight, so let’s not give him one. Instead, let’s impeach his cronies. We can hold everyone around him accountable, while leaving him alone. Even better, all of his new picks for office will have to be approved by our Senate, which means we can ignore the more radical of his picks, forcing him to choose moderates. We can investigate the fuck out of his every action, bit also leave him in place with the certain knowledge that once his term is up, we’ll have a jail cell waiting for him. That is the perfect ending, and one well deserved.

The single most important thing that Congress should do moving forward is to avoid Trumpian hubris. They need to govern with humility and restraint. Americans like it best when their government is calm and even handed. Working like this will earn the trust of all those independents. Who knows, it might even convert them into something more durable. 

I’ll end with one last point. The new Congress should avoid at all costs any kind of purity tests. The Democratic coalition is massive and diverse. This is our strength, but also our weakness. The Republicans did a purity test in the 90s with their idiotic no taxes pledge, and it poisoned Congress for years. We should learn from their mistakes.

Sure, there are some Dems who strongly support Israel, while there are other Dems who just as strongly wish to cut our military support to them. Obviously this is going to make for the occasional uncomfortable ride in the congressional elevator, but this is something we can live with. As long as there isn’t an official pro or anti Israel stance by the party, then we can afford to have a few people on our side who are stupid about Gaza. The same goes for other culture war topics like the gender wars, or any other issue that threatens to pull the party apart. We do not have to all be lockstep to govern smoothly. We have enough members that some of our team can be a little freaky. The larger a coalition we build, the less power these individuals will have, and the more we can ignore them.

If we are smart, and play the long game, we can reverse decades of crap, while growing a larger and well maintained party. Rather than fight our way to power, we can lead others to our goals, and actually accomplish all the things we so desperately need to do. But none of that is going to happen if we don’t earn their trust. The 2024 election was disastrous for our country. 2028 could be even worse if we are not careful.