A Project 2028 For the Dems

What on earth will my party do when we don’t have Donald Trump to kick around any more?

Every day it looks like the Democrats will do better in November. It had already been a given that the Blues would take back the House, including Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District, and the Wisconsin State Senate. But as Trump digs ever deeper holes for his party in Iran, with prices (especially gas) and by taking on senseless and childish fights with the Pope, among others, it now seems like the U.S. Senate and the State Assembly might also be in play. A Democrat should also hold onto the Wisconsin governor’s office.

But what makes this so bizarre is that the Democratic Party is more unpopular than it has ever been. A recent Marquette poll found that Democrats had a negative 23 net approval rating while the MAGA movement was at -18 and Republicans were at only -10.

So, how is it that a party this unpopular is poised to the run the table six months from now? Four things. First, liberals will walk over hot coals to vote in November as a way of screaming against all things Trump in abstentia. In fact, I know liberals who are asking that extra coals be laid on and that the fire be allowed to stoke up so that the sacred experience of sticking it to Trump will be all the sweeter. It will hurst so good. Second, traditional Republicans are despondent. Yeah, maybe they’ll vote. Maybe not. Maybe they’ll just stay home under a nice warm blanket with a hot cup of tea and read “The Wealth of Nations.” Third, independents will vote against anyone in power. And finally, true MAGA voters won’t know there’s an election on.

It’s hard to imagine that dynamic changing much between now and then. Trump is constitutionally incapable of not saying and doing really dumb things from an electoral perspective — or from any other perspective, for that matter.

So, while I don’t want to jinx it and while I know my party can screw up any election, it’s not too early to start thinking of how we might actually, you know, govern during the two years when we might have some degree of power.

First, for the love of God, let’s not be ourselves. Let’s not go back to virtually open borders, paying off everybody’s college loan, allowing ourselves to get caught up in fights about who can play on girls’ sports teams or spending money like there’s no tomorrow.

Next, let’s go easy on investigations of Trump, his cabinet members, associates or family members. I know. I know. I know. They are oozing with corruption. They have violated any number of laws. In a strict legal sense, they all but demand to be investigated. But this isn’t about being right; it’s about not losing in 2028. The voters that we’re trying to keep with us two years hence don’t care much about any of that. Don’t forget that Trump went through two impeachment proceedings and still won a second term.

So, we should take a page from Peter Magyar who defeated the anti-liberal authoritarian Viktor Orban. Magyar is as culturally conservative as Orban, but he went after him on corruption. So, tightly focused investigations into easily understood (these things can quickly become mind-numbing in their complexity) incidents of profiteering off their public offices — and crucially, in ways that hurt average Americans — is what Democrats need to stick to. But going after Trump on his attacks on democratic normalcy will get us nowhere. Take careful note of all the signs and chants from a No Kings rally — and don’t do any of those things.

Just spending the energy to have the discipline to stay away from all of my party’s internal destructive tendencies might not leave us with much bandwidth to actually do anything positive. That might be okay. Conventional wisdom is that the Democrats can’t get away with simply being the Not Trump Party. Actually, I think to get us through the 2028 elections maybe we can get away with that.

Because my party, checked by the hard-left, is probably incapable of a positive agenda that would actually be popular with swing voters, doing nothing might be our best options. Nonetheless, here are some suggestions about what a rational, practical center-left party might propose:

Immigration reform. Polls show that voters want both tough border enforcement and sensible treatment of hard-working, tax-paying immigrants who are here illegally. And in 2024 there actually was bipartisan legislation that might have passed Congress had candidate Trump not killed it because he wanted to keep the issue alive. Immigration is one of the issues that drives hard-right nationalist populism everywhere. So, let’s deal with it head on.

Energy. “Drill, baby, drill” actually isn’t all that popular beyond MAGA world. So, do what we can — or at least propose it and let Trump stand in the way — to return to the sensible path of moving toward clean energy. But be careful about that. Stick to the argument that Trump’s policies are driving up costs. Don’t harp on climate change. And be selective about the polices we want to restart. For example, the Biden electric car incentives ended up, just like paying off college debt, benefiting the affluent, urban and college educated. In the big picture, we should be able to come up with an energy policy that reduces costs while also moving steadily away from fossil fuels.

Health care. Democrats were right to fight for the continuation of increased subsidies for Obamacare. Republicans didn’t pay any obvious political price for being on the wrong side of that issue, but it’s still good public policy and, at the very least, it won’t cost Democrats any votes.

Kids and families. Democrats were also right to try to retain the increased and refundable (meaning it could be an actual cash payment for low-income families) child tax credit that the Republicans let lapse. Here again, to the Democrats’ dismay, the GOP paid no political price for killing a popular program. Nonetheless, there’s no downside for putting it back on the agenda.

Social Security. As a matter of good public policy, Democrats should lay off of calls to soak the rich. The top one percent already pays 40% of the federal income tax. They’re plenty soaked. But if you really want to get your resentment on in a way that also makes some sense, we could solve Social Security’s impending insolvency by simply eliminating the income cap on the FICA tax. Currently, income above $184,500 is not subject to the 6.2% tax. We could push off the fund’s insolvency problems at least until after 2050 and perhaps as long as 2080 by doing this.

I’m sure you could come up with more ideas along these lines, but these lines are about stuff that is practical, popular and substantive. It stays away — way far away — from social issues on which hard-left positions are deeply unpopular. And, in any event, social change rarely starts with government anyway.

It also avoids the very serious issue of Trump’s attacks on liberal democracy that are certainly not frivolous, but still come off for many average Americans as esoteric. If we simply win in 2026 and win again in 2028, that’s the best way to restore these norms.