Many of my fellow travelers on the left have watched in horror-tinged disbelief as our old adversaries have morphed from a political party into a cult. I use that word advisedly. It would have been unthinkable even a decade ago to imagine that a losing candidate would ask his followers to gather in Washington and would then urge them to march on the Capitol and fight like hell.
But before we get too self-righteous, let me pose a question: What if Donald Trump had run as a Democrat in 2016?
He had no strong political leanings. He was pro-choice. In fact, President Bill Clinton appointed Trump’s pro-choice sister to the U.S. Court of Appeals. Bill and Hillary were guests at Trump’s third wedding. Speaking of third weddings, Trump’s tabloid lifestyle would seem a bit bawdy for old-school Republicans. Before Trump’s ascendency, Mitt Romney had been the party’s standard-bearer. And before him, war-hero John McCain. And before him, born-again George W. Bush. What’s more, Trump proudly referred to himself as the “King of Debt.” That is not a moniker that would normally play well in Republican primaries.
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So it is easy to imagine Trump weighing his options and deciding his best path to the White House would be through the Democratic Party.
He would have had to beat Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton for the nomination. They would not have known what hit them. Ted Cruz and John Kasich, who was so inconsequential he didn’t even rate a nickname, were the last men standing in 2016, but my guess is the establishment favorite, Jeb Bush, would have carried the day in a Trumpless party.
So take your pick — Inconsequential John, Lying Ted or Low-Energy Jeb. Trump would have crushed any of them.
But wait, you say. The Dems are the liberal party, pro-civil rights, the majority party for all minorities. A big part of Trump’s appeal is to white men. In Trumplandia, there has to be an Other.
Not to worry. The Dems could have given up the Latinos. With Jeb Bush heading the ticket, the Latino vote would have gone Republican, anyway. A candidate who speaks fluent Spanish and a First Lady from south of the border? No matter who the Dems put up, there would have been a realignment.
So the Democratic Trump could have carried on about the “murderers and rapists” coming in from Mexico. He could have suggested that Latinos go back to “the crime-infested countries” from which they came — even if they came from here.
Besides, racism is in the Democratic Party’s DNA. George Wallace was a Democrat. So was Georgia Gov. Lester Maddox, who came to prominence when he refused to serve Black customers in his Atlanta restaurant and handed out axe handles — Maddox drumsticks — to be used against any would-be Black customers. He was lieutenant governor when Jimmy Carter was governor. We had a big tent in those days.
St. Louis was no different. When I moved here in 1980, there were two parties — the Black Democrats and the white Democrats. They divided the spoils unevenly. The Blacks got the License Collector’s office. The whites got everything else.
Would a Democratic Trump have made the same powerful connection with working-class whites as did the Republican Trump? Absolutely. He is a force of nature and his appeal has to do with his ability to stoke white grievances, of which there are plenty. And when I say force of nature, I mean strongman. They always appear in times of turmoil and fear.
Trumpism is not about what we call issues. I’ve watched — on television — a couple of his rallies and abortion was rarely mentioned. People who tell you that they don’t like Trump, but they support him because of his judicial selections are like guys who used to say they bought Playboy for the stories. Maybe some guys did, but not many of us.
So imagine a political world in which working-class whites came back to the Democratic Party in 2016. Happy days are here again! Imagine Trump’s long coattails carrying Democrats to victory all over the great state of Missouri. Democrats holding statewide office. Democratic majorities in the Legislature. Democratic county officials. A pipeline of future leaders.
What if you had to be a Democrat to win in outstate Missouri?
That is what a Democratic Trump could have meant.
So if this Democratic Trump then went off the rails, actively sought to undermine faith in our electoral system and became the first president ever to reject a peaceful transfer of power, would Democratic leaders have turned their backs on the party’s beloved leader?
I am not talking about former officeholders who can afford to stand on principle. I don’t mean to denigrate the courage of the oldsters, but they have nothing to lose.
I am talking about people in the game, people who glance behind them and see a mob of True Believers. Who would stand up to this mob when it is easier — and politically safer — to raise your fist in solidarity?
Bad example. I would never defend Sen. Josh Hawley. He has been a phony since he ran for attorney general on the premise that most people who seek the office intend to use it as a political step ladder, but as a Constitutional scholar, he wanted only to serve as Attorney General. He won the election and immediately began his campaign for Senate.
I am talking instead about honorable and decent people. Ann Wagner and Eric Schmitt, for instance. Wagner was a church lady who liked guns. She liked them a little too much for my taste, but she seemed a nice person. Schmitt was a conservative state legislator from a wealthy suburb who was willing to work with Democrats from the city. He was also the go-to guy for parents of special-needs children. Compassion and common sense.
Now, when he isn’t suing China or opposing the effort to protect gay and transgender people from discrimination, he is suing school districts as he fights the good fight on behalf of the coronavirus. For reasons I don’t pretend to understand, that is a popular fight in MAGA world.
Wagner’s transformation has been just as striking. She has been one of Trump’s most faithful followers. She has excused the worst of his excesses. She dutifully joined his efforts to undermine public faith in the electoral system. She even stood up for fellow Trumpista Marjorie Taylor Greene, who got into trouble for having suggested that a Jewish-funded space laser had caused California wildfires. (The Rothschilds were behind it for final coal reasons, Greene said.) Wagner suffered a brief relapse into normalcy when she voted to certify the election results, but then quickly regained her bearings. No to impeachment. No to any investigation into the riots of Jan. 6. No to a moment of silence to honor the police officers who fought the mob.
But you know something? Wagner and Schmitt are in the mainstream of their party when they debase themselves at the MAGA altar.
I do not believe the Democrats would have behaved any better. When the mob is at your back, you are either leading them or being chased. You choose.
Courage is valued only because it’s rare.
Liz Cheney and Mike Pence do not represent us as a species. Wagner and Schmitt do.
We will never know which Democrats would have chosen the high road if the political situation were reversed, but we can be sure the road would not have been crowded.