Now that Donald Trump will be our next president and Republicans control both the Senate and House, Democrats must be asking themselves what the future holds for their party. After rousing from their after-election-night stupor of disbelief, a decided minority of that party hold to the illusion they might be saved by a recount while others were already looking ahead to 2020.
The Real Goal of a Recount
Now that Hillary Clinton had a change of heart since belatedly conceding the election the day after Trump’s resounding win, the mainstream media has bought into the narrative that Jill Stein from the Green Party and Clinton from the Democratic Party are on a righteous mission. They are seeking recounts in three states to “preserve the integrity of the vote”.
Stein has been able to raise millions of dollars from the rank and file for what many of them probably believe is a legitimate shot at undoing the election results. Such could not be farther from the truth.
To force a recount in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania and have the results in time for the meeting of electors on December 19th is next to impossible. Should the Electoral College meet without those three states represented, Trump would probably get ten less votes needed for a majority.
Democrats are well aware that the best possible outcome of such an event is that the decision would go to a vote of the US Senate and House, both controlled by Republicans. The result of such a thing should be obvious. It is more likely that the immediate goal is to delegitimize Trump’s presidency when the mainstream media could not.
A Party on Life Support
R. Scott Pastrick, the former treasurer of the Democratic National Committee and now president and CEO of Prime Policy Group, Washington D.C. has been warning his party for a while that it has forgotten its base. He basically sees his party being kept on life support by Barack Obama. While Obama’s personal approval numbers are the highest they’ve been during his second term, those numbers have not translated into any real gains for the party. In fact, the opposite may be true.
President Obama could not get the Senate to vote on his appointee for an open Supreme Court seat and Trump will certainly make that one of his first orders of business come January. Though some in that party believed they might regain the Senate and make inroads in the House, that did not happen. On the state level, Republicans control 34 governorships, the most in close to 100 years, and control 35 state legislatures.
Bernie Sanders electrified his base and progressives believe he or Elizabeth Warren would have fared much better than Clinton. But Sanders would be 79 and Warren 71 come the next election and neither of them has won anywhere except in the bluest of blue states.
The Future of Democrats
A post mortem commenced on November 9th as to where that party goes from here. Since Bill Clinton left office, Democrats have lost 15 governorships and more than 900 state legislators to the Republican Party. Rather than shoring up things for the Democrats, Hillary Clinton all but ignored what had long been a sure bet for a Democratic Candidate in the Rust Belt.
Even Vice President Biden recognized that his party had “stopped talking to white working-class voters” and started acting like a bunch of “limousine liberals” who offer solutions without taking the time to listen and learn about the problems.
An Object Lesson
Republicans would be wise to take note of how Democrats regrouped after Ronald Reagan’s eight years in the White House under the leadership of DNC Chairman Ron Brown. He led that party to reunite under Bill Clinton, a rural-state governor with a center-left message.
Coming up with the right answers will demand an inward look by the Democrats. Republicans should be prepared for both their initial response of seeking to delegitimize President Trump and whatever Democrats do in the future.
In many ways, the future of the Democratic Party depends on Republicans over the course of the next two years. If Trump follows through with even a fraction of his campaign promises – like he already has in saving 1000 American jobs with Carrier – and Republican leaders stand with him, the near future of the opposition does not look good at all.
~American Liberty Report
