washingtonpost.com Opinion | What you do and don’t do when one party loses its mind and the other might, too
By Jennifer Rubin
We have gone from a robust two-party democracy to one in which the Republican Party has lost moral legitimacy, intellectual honesty and fidelity to the Constitution, while the Democratic Party flirts with socialism, tribalism and isolationism. What is someone on the center-right or center-left, or just a plain old centrist, to do?................
...................You support the many fine state attorneys general and third-party groups litigating against Trump on the emoluments clause, the Muslim travel ban, the phony emergency declaration, First Amendment violations and more. You call out Republican voter suppression techniques and bogus claims of massive voter fraud, all designed to perpetuate power for a declining segment of the electorate.
You size up the Democratic Party, knowing in all likelihood that the race will come down to a choice between its nominee and Trump. You recognize the role of moderate Democratic voices who are able to win primaries and flip seats. You call out extremism and foolishness exhibited by the party’s far-left fringe, whose ideas are unworkable and scary — and whose favorite candidate, if nominated, would very likely enable Trump’s reelection. You encourage Democrats to adopt sound national security ideas, and you warn against protectionism and other populist inanities. You criticize their flirtation with tribalism and those who condone bad behavior in their own camp. By encouraging more centrist voices and calling out the same maladies that afflicted Republicans, you can help encourage Democratic primary voters to choose wisely and, whenever possible, encourage center-left/center-right alliances on everything from support for human rights to defense of the rule of law....
...No one should be under the illusion that the Trumpian fever will break on its own. It is only by cultivating democratic (small "d") antibodies that there is the opportunity for the recovery of functional, pluralistic democracy. Considering Trump’s extraordinarily high disapproval numbers, the string of administration defeats in court, the 2018 midterm results, the plethora of investigations into Trump (for which there is majority support) and the upsurge in participatory democracy, it’s hard to argue that the Trump opposition is “failing.” In fact, over the past couple of years, there has been a whole lot of winning. |
