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Democrats have a path forward. It starts with listening | Anderson

For the past week, I’ve been very patient, I think, and very empathetic with my Democratic friends. 
I’m sad, too – I am now looking down the barrel of four long years of a clown act that (falsely, for reasons explained below) thinks it has a mandate. That, for me, means four years of explanation as to why not all of it is a clown act, and that good policy can erupt at any moment, as Donald Trump’s China policy, his “warp drive” initiative and a dozen other things proved beyond doubt when he last held office.  
I’ve little time for degrading and vilifying an administration which has yet to actually do anything.
Besides, there are lots and lots of good reasons for Democrats to be pretty perky, even if the White House and Congressional majorities are lost.
First, Mr. Trump had an estimated popular vote margin of 55.6%; in anyone’s book, that’s still a competitive election: unlike FDR, Reagan, LBJ or Nixon, this was not a “landslide.” The margin of victory in the battleground states was slim, but complete – he won handily, but not overwhelmingly.
Second, Trump’s “coattails” were extremely limited. Seven seats in the Senate were naturals, preordained, really, for a GOP grab. No one thinking reasonably would have predicted a Democratic win in the Senate this year because of the election map itself, even with a Harris win. Even so, the Democrats held onto several seats they were very much expected to lose: in Michigan, Arizona, Nevada and Wisconsin: all states won by Trump, usually with comfortable margins.
The House margin is likely to be very, very thin – and given that the administration looks to raid the tiny majority they do have for shills and hacks in the new executive, there’s the very real threat of a majority that isn’t one – they’ll have to get total unity on every vote, and worry about any GOP member catching a cold. 
In addition, this raises the leverage of all GOP members: Anything a GOP House member wants is likely to have to be considered pretty carefully. If you don’t fund Rep. Elmo Baggins in his pet bridge project, he may come down with a sniffle and fail to show up to vote for the tariff on South Korean auto batteries. A plague of this could bring matters rather quickly to a halt.
Third, as a result of the above, it’s far too soon to throw out the Democratic agenda, though adding a genuine empathy for folks who are struggling might not go astray?
“It’s the economy, stupid,” as James Carville used to repeat, ad nauseum. And it was. Folks do not look to have voted for the Trump itinerary (whatever that may be) so much as rejecting the Biden “same old same old” economic plan. 
When confronted with things central to right wing dogma – banning abortion rights, freedom to carry guns anywhere and for any reason, etc. etc. etc., the voters rejected it firmly and definitively, and in places hardly friendly to the Biden/Harris mess. Montana, Arizona and even deep red Missouri passed initiatives protecting women’s reproductive rights by good margins.  All while electing Donald Trump. 
Some general notion of the association of baby/bathwater extremism come to mind when listening to the Democratic “brain trust,” who have offered up seriously silly nonsense ranging from the need for more dollars to the need for more memes.
They had plenty. As well as plenty of old white men past their political prime. What they did not have was ears to hear the folks who were hurting. The vast majority of the folks who voted for Trump were not racists or homophobes – they were anxious people in serious economic trouble who were simply not heard by the Biden/Harris/DNC axis.
Whatever the Democrats do, it’s likely to spawn change. As the GOP looks to a non-Trump future, that will also generate change. All in all, change is good. Happy post-election.
R. Bruce Anderson is the Dr. Sarah D. and L. Kirk McKay, Jr. Endowed Chair in American History, Government, and Civics and Miller Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Florida Southern College. He is also a columnist for The Ledger and political consultant and on-air commentator for WLKF Radio in Lakeland.

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