SO MUCH LOSING, THEY’RE GONNA GET TIRED OF LOSING: WaPo: Can Democrats get used to all the losing that lies ahead?
President Trump has promised so much winning that people will get tired of it.
But for Democrats, the question is whether they can stomach the amount of losing they’re in store for.
Despite the party base digging in for fights on Cabinet nominations and Neil Gorsuch’s Supreme Court confirmation, they’ve come up empty. And it’s looking more and more like the fight just may not be in Senate Democrats — or at least, not to the extent the base is looking for. . . .
Democrats have a weak hand in Washington — even weaker than the one Republicans had when they were in the minority and after Democrats partly dismantled the filibuster in 2013. And as I’ve written, an unprecedented Supreme Court filibuster against a clearly qualified and likable nominee would just give Republicans a good excuse to do away with the rest of the filibuster. This would only further weaken Democrats’ ability to stop Trump, stripping them of their last real lever of power.
And even worse for Democrats is that the path back to congressional majorities isn’t apparent, no matter what they do today. Despite Trump’s historically bad image for a new president, the 2018 electoral map is a daunting one for Democrats, with very few good opportunities to win the three Senate seats they need and plenty of tough seats to defend. The GOP also retains its big advantage on the House map, which would require a huge Democratic wave to sweep Republicans out of power.
It’s so daunting that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the much-heralded political mind behind Democrats’ successful campaign to win the House majority a decade ago, says the idea of retaking majorities in 2018 is pie in the sky.
“It took us a long time to get this low; it ain’t gonna happen in 2018,” Emanuel said Monday at Stanford University. “Take a chill pill, man. You’ve got to be in this for the long haul.”
Well, I can’t tell you how many “permanent majorities” I’ve seen crumble in my lifetime. But yeah, the Dems are in a bad position. They shouldn’t get too crazy, and the GOP shouldn’t get too cocky. Because things always turn around eventually.