When This Blows Over

Trump’s cunning and energy, and his unique appeal to
the disaffected white working class, did not destroy the
Republican down ballot, but more likely saved it.
Senators and Representatives followed in Trump’s wake,
as did state legislatures and executive officers. Any
Republican senatorial candidate who voted for him won
election; any who did not, lost. Trump got a greater
percentage of Latinos, blacks, and non-minority women
than did Romney, and proved to be medicine rather than
poison for Republican candidates. With hindsight, it is
hard to fathom how any other Republican candidate might
have defeated Clinton Inc.—or how, again with hindsight,
the Party could be in a stronger, more unified position.
In contrast, the Democratic Party is torn and rent. Barack
Obama entered office in 2009 with both houses of
Congress, two likely Supreme Court picks, and the good
will of the nation. By 2010 he had lost the House; by
2012, the Senate. And by 2016, Obama had ensured that
his would-be successor could not win by running on his
platform.
A failed health care law, non-existent economic growth,
serial zero interest rates, near record labor nonparticipation
rates, $20 trillion in national debt, a Middle
East in ruins, failed reset and redlines, and the Iran deal
were albatrosses around the Democratic Party’s neck.