We progressives need a dose of political realism in a bad way. We are not going to get the electoral college to vote for Hillary Clinton. It won’t happen. Give it up. Focusing on that means not focusing on what must happen right now to resist the incoming Trump administration as vigorously and as strategically as possible. Attempts to make it happen also will alienate people whose votes we will need in 2018, 2020, and beyond.
We are not going to change the electoral college system before 2020. That may be something that could gain traction when we are the party in power, but it is a dead end right now. It requires a constitutional amendment, and I can guarantee that is not happening anytime soon. Too much focus on that would mean taking our eyes off of what can be accomplished to block Trump’s agenda. The focus must be on organizing, creating strategic obstruction, illuminating the corruption and incompetence of the Trump Administration, and providing a positive, pragmatic, and just vision for all Americans. This will help us block the worst of Trump’s agenda in the next couple of years, make gains in the mid-term elections, and defeat Trump and/or Pence in 2020. .
We must show that we have a better way forward than the way back that Trump is taking us. We must relentlessly pressure Democratic politicians to stand strong against Trump’s plans to deport millions of people, register and ban Muslims, contribute to climate chaos, decimate the Voting Rights Act, and strip away regulations and thus endanger civil rights, our safety, economic prosperity for all, and environmental justice. If Democrats do not stand together to resist Trump, they will need to be primaried. A lack of political realism is part of what got us to this point, and if we don’t embrace it strategically and use it to further our values, we may see Trump in office for 8 years, and neither people nor the planet can afford that. We have work to do. Focus.
One World House - Mark Davies 