Obstructionist in chief?
Obstructionist-in-chief? Juli Hansen / Shutterstock.com

Democratic leadership is proceeding with caution, which makes all the sense in the world. In 2018 the party will have to defend 25 seats in the senate, and the Republican majority will likely create workarounds to any obstructionist actions.

Though the political cautioneering seems smart for now, it's also dispiriting, and it seems completely disconnected to last night's protests.

Wednesday evening, Bernie Sanders released a statement on Trump that seems consistent with this #NotAllTrumpSupporters rhetoric:

"Donald Trump tapped into the anger of a declining middle class that is sick and tired of establishment economics, establishment politics and the establishment media. People are tired of working longer hours for lower wages, of seeing decent paying jobs go to China and other low-wage countries, of billionaires not paying any federal income taxes and of not being able to afford a college education for their kids - all while the very rich become much richer.

To the degree that Mr. Trump is serious about pursuing policies that improve the lives of working families in this country, I and other progressives are prepared to work with him. To the degree that he pursues racist, sexist, xenophobic and anti-environment policies, we will vigorously oppose him."

I appreciate the gesture of meeting "the declining middle class" where it is, as it were, and Sanders's strong stance in that second paragraph is encouraging considering presumptive minority leader Chuck Schumer's weak tea non-statement on the issue of working Trump:

"Senate Democrats will spend the coming days and weeks reflecting on these results, hearing from the American people, and charting a path forward to achieve our shared goals and to defend our values."

But the distance between Sanders's first paragraph and his second paragraph is hard to walk.

The angry people who are tired of working so much for no money and who are tired of not being able to afford college tuition for their kids—that is, poor people—voted for Hillary Clinton. People ARE tired of billionaires not paying any federal income taxes, but clearly not the middle class who voted for Trump, a guy who may not have paid any federal income tax in 18 years. And the "decent paying jobs go to China" are never coming back and it's probably good that they aren't.

Trump did tap into the anger of a declining middle class, but he did so by denigrating women, stirring up xenophobic fears, and empowering racists and anti-semites—not by appealing to the economic concerns. Income inequality, racism, sexism, xenophobia, and anti-environmental policies are not "parallel issues," they're intersecting issues, and that fact needs to be acknowledged and addressed accordingly if Bernie and other progressives are serious about vigorously opposing Trump.

This sort of language, which Bernie tweeted out earlier this morning, is more like it:


At the national level, though, launching any kind of credible Democratic opposition is looking extremely difficult. There are a few very small hopes, though. Internecine conflicts among Republicans might slow their roll. Democrats can work to turn out the vote in the upcoming Senate races in West Virginia, North Dakota, Missouri, Indiana, and Montana—all states that broke hard for Trump. Bernie's so-called revolution could help in that regard.