Election Day and the Battle to Come

Supporters of the Democratic Party at a campaign rally in Detroit on October 24.Yomiuri Shimbun via AP A version of the below article first appeared in David Corn’s newsletter, Our Land. The newsletter comes out twice a week (most of the time) and provides behind-the-scenes stories and articles about politics, media, and culture. Subscribing costs just $5 a month—but you can sign up for a free 30-day trial. “Nauseously optimistic.” That’s how one Democrat described her mood to me two days before Election Day. That seems to capture the general sentiment of progressives and Dems. All indicators—poll numbers, early voting figures, and the like—were generally pointing in the same direction, suggesting a Democratic win in the House and the distinct possibility of a similar triumph in the Senate. But in the final days of the campaign, media outfits conducting surveys took the unusual step of pointing out that while they endeavor to calculate the right sampling for their polls—obviously, a fundamental step for accuracy—there was a chance they could be off the mark. So as I write this, hope accompanied by heartburn seems the appropriate stance for Democrats. (See the Haley Stevens soap opera in Michigan.) But if the D’s do prevail in one or both houses of Congress, it will be important for them to keep in mind—once the celebration concludes—that victory is not the end of the battle, but merely the beginning of the next one. Whatever the outcome of these midterm elections, Trump’s assault on America will not cease. A success on either side will be a signal that President Donald Trump’s push to impose a corrupt, kleptocratic, authoritarian regime on the United States is being thwarted by the American public. Like the recent elections in Serbia and Hungary, this would show that democratic backsliding can be slowed and perhaps reversed. It would remind us that Trump’s politics of fear, bigotry, hatred, deceit, cruelty, division, warmongering, and demagoguery is not always a winning strategy. That Trumpism is not inevitable. Reality—the brutality of his mass deportation crusade, the economic hardships caused by his erratic tariffs and plutocratic policies, and the dumb war in Iran and high gas prices—gets a vote. Yet, whatever the outcome of these midterm elections, Trump’s assault on America will not cease. Assuming the Democrats gain control of at least the House, they will have to wage and prepare the American public for the subsequent political war, which will be unlike any seen since the days of Abraham Lincoln. Trump is not going to fade quietly into lame-duckness. As far as he’s concerned, this will still be his show, and his agenda of autocracy, corruption, and brutality will remain. Democrats might be able to pass legislation in the House, but doing so in the Senate, even if they win a majority, will be tough. (Remember the filibuster.) And Trump retains veto power. Democratic efforts to constrain Trump through the appropriations process will be challenged or ignored by the White House. (SCOTUS, get ready.) Through this chaos, the Democrats will need a story—an overarching narrative that provides compelling context for what will likely be a never-ending stream of conflicts with Trump. It’s unlikely the D’s will be able to immediately address (or improve) the basic components of the affordability crisis: higher prices and the costs of education, healthcare, and housing. But they will need to convince voters they are trying. And if they’re in charge of either half of the legislative branch, they will be able to launch investigations of the Trump administration and its cronies. Trump and his lieutenants will, no doubt, decline to cooperate and perhaps defy congressional subpoenas. Is Trump’s Justice Department going to prosecute Trump officials for contempt of Congress? Is Trump not going to pardon—perhaps preemptively—officials and associates investigated or hauled in by congressional committees? A string of constitutional crises could ensue if Trump refuses to accept or bend to congressional actions and prerogatives. Through this chaos, the Democrats will need a story—an overarching narrative that provides compelling context for what will likely be a never-ending stream of conflicts with Trump. This is precisely what they failed to do at the start of Trump’s second stint as president. Longtime readers of this newsletter might recall that during those days, I frequently chastised Democrats for not clearly informing the public that Trump was mounting a war to destroy government in order to pave the way for a corrupt and authoritarian regime, in which he could rule as a tyrant and grab billions of dollars for himself and his chums. The Democrats did complain about Trump’s individual assaults on the US Agency for International Development, the civil service, the public health system, environmental and financial safeguards, and so on. But as Trump presented such steps as part of his grand effort to scale back and remake government so a “golden age” would flourish, the Democrats repeatedly missed the chance to tell the citizenry that Trump, Elon Musk, the DOGE dudes, and their minions were on a mission to weaken the government to clear the path for their own plundering and pillaging. It was pure class warfare. The revenge of the oligarchs. Yet the Democrats—who admittedly lacked a bully pulpit like the one Trump bellowed from—did not convey this. They fielded no counternarrative to Trump’s bogus tale and false promises of prosperity. These midterms offer the nation a chance for a course correction. To stop digging. This time around, they will need to focus on one of the most essential elements of politics: storytelling. Trump will be shouting that he’s under attack by the nefarious Deep State, the evil media, and trans-loving communists who want to destroy America. The Democrats will have to offer a counterplotline that keeps voters engaged and goes beyond hailing their policies as the best remedies for what ails the economy. I’m sure I and others will have more to say about this, should the Democrats be so fortunate as to clash with Trump from a position of power. But in a fight over narrative control, it’s never too early to start. The Trump era has been an exhausting stretch for much of America. It has threatened values and principles that have long guided, even if imperfectly, the nation. We’ve learned that democracy cannot be taken for granted—that our republic is far more vulnerable to lies, tribalism, deception, authoritarianism, and grift than many, including the cynics among us, once believed. And much of the damage cannot be undone. We’re losing a generation of young scientists who’ve immigrated to other nations after Trump’s attack on university-based scientific research. Our Foreign Service and international aid system have been decimated and will not be quickly rebuilt—ditto for our public health system. Attempts to address climate change have been subverted, with valuable time going to waste. Families have been torn apart, with law-abiding residents detained, deported, and forced into hiding. Still, these midterms offer the nation a chance for a course correction. To stop digging. Whatever the results, this election will not be a reversal in itself. It will determine if one is possible. It can provide the opportunity for de-Trumpification before more is lost. The voters will tell us today whether that’s what they’re looking for. Then the fight for America will continue and become even more intense.