Although edged out of power, the Democrats are not powerless. Here are five realistic options, each with its own risks and benefits. First, accept the status quo. While being gracious in defeat does not necessarily equate with (and should not necessarily be equated with) doing nothing at all, coming to terms with the second Trump administration does require a certain amount of magnanimity. This means most importantly the Democrats ought to be loyal to the Constitution, the ideals and principles on which America was founded, especially self-rule, more than being the opposition for the sake of opposition. It is no fun being out of power, even temporarily, but if the past is a prologue to the future, then in less than two years when the American voters head to the midterm elections, the Democrats are historically favored to return to power.
The second, and closely related to the first, is to go along with the Republicans to get along. If you can’t beat them, join them – as the old saying goes. Perhaps, this option might strike some as selling out. Crossing the aisle was once a tried-and-true customary practice that Democrats and Republicans engaged in without any complex or ulterior motive. Joining forces with the party in power to get things done and pass laws that promote the interests of the broad middle class has over the past decades morphed into something akin to collaboration with the enemy, which is so unfortunate. Bearing such ill will toward the party opposite should have no place in the longest continuing democracy in the world – nor should it find safe harbor in any functioning democracy.
Third, in contrast to the previous two variants of what might be characterized as the modest approach – most assuredly and most anxiously – is the radical approach. This option would pro-tanto bring about a revolutionary 180-degree turn from the status quo. Exercising this option would be tantamount to promoting an agenda so untried and untested that it would have on its list of items such things as soaking the rich, taxing the billionaires and redistributing their wealth to the poor, raising the federal minimum wage to $25 per hour, providing free and universal education from kindergarten to community college, amending the Constitution of the U.S. to enshrine the Equal Rights Amendment, and so on. To all but the most uncritical of the uncritical, especially those who are unemployed and unemployable living on their own trust fund or rent from property, this option has to be a pipe dream rather than a realistic option in the U.S. and the rest of the world.
Fourth, the most obvious option, and probably the hardest one, is to choose one’s battles wisely, regroup and rally behind a unified front with a leader capable of speaking for the entire party – and by extension, the opposition. In a way, the Democrats are slowly moving toward this goal. But this will take sacrifice, compromise and most importantly patience among members of the party opposite, namely, among themselves. Egos have to be checked at the door before any serious compromise could be forged. Sacrifice is the most difficult thing when so many seem to favor instant gratification over the long game. This means patience for one and all. If patience is a virtue, then it is time for the Democrats to be virtuous.
The most counterintuitive option is to let Trump be Trump and exercise what might be called the “all bark, no bite” option that seems to be unfolding before our eyes. If the first Trump administration is any guide, then all of the hyperboles, immodest promises and rhetorical flourishes came to naught. In a manner of speaking, it turned out to be all bark, no bite. Recall the promise to build a “big, fat, beautiful wall” along the southern border and Mexico would pay for it. To this day, no wall has been completed, and neither has the government of Mexico paid for it. Recall the pledge to give the American people better and cheaper health care coverage with more options and flexibility to replace Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act). To this day, the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land, no Trump replacement. Recall the boast of Trump bringing back American manufacturing. Yet, on his watch, there was neither an infrastructure bill nor a passed CHIP bill. Both bills were, however, passed on Biden’s watch. Recall Trump alone would achieve denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
But to this very day, nuclear weapons are very much a component (and the core component) of North Korea’s arsenal of weapons. There is no Nobel prize for Trump, South Korea's Moon Jae-in or North Korea's Kim Jong Un. Recall, with much fanfare, Trump and then-Speaker of the House Paul D. Ryan announced to the world that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) would build a fab in Wisconsin and bring thousands of jobs. So far, no fab has been built. Recall, in spite of China’s Xi Jinping promising Trump that China would buy more products, especially corn and soybeans, from U.S. farmers, nothing happened. Xi did not follow through with his pledge.
All of these promises, which have thus far been left unfulfilled, happened during the first Trump administration. So, what about the second Trump administration now? Thus far, the president has frozen and then unfrozen congressional-approved spending. He has threatened tariffs against Canada and Mexico, only to have these paused. And according to experts who have looked at Trump’s agreements to pause these import taxes, Trump did not get “all that much” out of his deals. Take out the drama and symbolic wins, what Trump has accomplished through his threats amounts to telling Canada and Mexico to take measures that they had already agreed to take in the first place, or very likely could have taken without all the threats and self-imposed deadlines. All the showdowns are in effect all shows after the world has seen what came down of Trump’s threats.
