Time for a Time Out
For the past year or so, there has been a chorus of liberal voices offering ways that we can reach out to Republicans and pull them to our side. Much of the time, this outreach has taken the form of guidelines to help liberals channel their frustration so they are less likely to ruin Thanksgiving and other holidays by yelling “Cryptofascist!” or “Nazi!” at their relatives, presumably while hurling cranberry sauce and egg nog across the table.
The Educate-a-MAGA movement got a little more serious in 2020, when getting people to embrace reality had a real impact at the voting booth. There were a few tactics for accomplishing this task. Economic populism — my personal favorite — offered a simple premise: if we can show working-class Republicans that they are better served by a Democratic agenda, then we can convince them to stop giving their love and votes to a Republican party that schemes to undermine them at every turn. Science was another winner: if we can show Republican voters that the Trump Administration has consistently refused to face reality, then perhaps they might be willing to cast a vote to save their lives. And then, of course, there was shame: seriously, who wants Mr. “Grab ’em by the pussy” representing us on the international stage?
Good news: the outreach worked. Donald Trump was defeated by over 5 million votes, a resounding loss for an incumbent. Yet, even in victory, liberals — myself included — still seem to be fretting over the people who voted for Trump. We’re wondering how to reach out to them — how to convince them that they need a strong social safety net, that the Presidency is a job for a professional, that women deserves the same rights as men, and that Blacks, Latinos, Muslims and LGBTQ people are more or less the same as them.
But we’re not going to reach them. Despite our best efforts, there are millions of voters out there who are willing to believe anything that Trump says and to grasp at any straw to keep Trump in power — and their own sense of righteousness intact. No matter how impassioned our pleas, how outstanding our data, how logical our approach, they aren’t going to budge.
Simply put, the time for words has ended. It’s time for a time out.
We need to let the Trumpists catch their breaths, lick their wounds, and let go of their dreams of a President-for-life who will eternally own the libs.
In the meantime, Democrats can start focusing their attention on doing something meaningful and productive. First, we need to recognize that we won. We have a mandate from the public. We don’t need to apologize for it, explain it, or justify it. The voters did that two weeks ago, and any further discussion is a waste of time.
The second thing Democrats need to do is govern. Start planning how to get a COVID vaccine to the public. Reach out to our allies and start rebuilding those relationships to make America more secure. Require that all US military contractors pay their people at least $15 per hour. Take on drug prices and student loan debt. Start laying the groundwork for meaningful climate mitigation efforts. Elizabeth Warren’s list is a good place to start — and we don’t need a Democrat Senate to enact her suggestions. Most of them could be advanced through executive orders.
We’re not going to convince the do-or-die Trumpers with words. But what we can do is lower prescription drug prices, get COVID under control, raise the minimum wage for millions of Americans, and start making visible moves toward a Green New Deal. If we do those four things, life will get better for the average American — including most of the 73 million Americans who cast their vote for Trump. And maybe, in four years, when the Democratic candidate asks them “Is your life better than it was in 2020?,” they’ll remember the quarantine, the phone call to the Ukraine, the cages and street battles and terrible tweets.
And then, maybe, they’ll find it in themselves to quietly answer “yes.”
