Democratic U.S. Senators, here led by Sen. Cory Booker, protest 2016 Republican healthcare bill.
According to recent news reports, the Democratic Party has agreed upon a theme for the 2018 midterm elections: the corruption of Donald Trump‘s administration. The Democrats reportedly will call this election theme, and their own proposals, “A Better Deal for our Democracy.” This builds on the Democrats’ announced theme from last year, “A Better Deal.” Both slogans hark back to Democratic proposals from decades past, including the “New Deal” and the “Fair Deal,” as well as recall Trump’s best-selling book, “The Art of the Deal.”
More specifically, the Democrats plan to focus on Trump administration ethics scandals, including Donald Trump’s financial dealings, lavish spending by officials such as Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, and more. In response, the Democrats plan to offer proposals such as a requirement that presidential candidates release their tax returns, and tighter lobbying rules. Passage of such proposals would likely require, at minimum, that the Democrats take back the U.S. Congress, and even then, Trump or another Republican president could veto any Democratic legislation. Ultimately, therefore, Democrats will need to win back the White House in 2020 as well, if they want to lessen corruption in Washington. Until then, however, Democrats have an issue on which to hammer Trump and the Republicans.
Nevertheless, the Democrats’ focus on Trump administration/Republican corruption in the upcoming elections is a potential mixed bag. On the one hand, of course the Democrats must call out what may be the most corrupt administration in U.S. history, led by the Trump Crime Family which seeks to turn the White House into an ATM, even putting our democracy up for sale. At the same time, however, it’s crucial for the Democrats to present a forceful, concise, stand-alone presentation of what they are for, without a knee-jerk comparison to Trump and the Republicans. Democrats should take their platform, which contains many good things, and boil it down to some gut-check items that clearly show what the Democratic Party stands for.
Photo by kelly bell photography, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/B6riuR
