This thread is intended to discuss concrete actions this country must do to undo the damage committed by Trump and more broadly MAGA policies in general. Democrats are giddy in the moment for having just won a big victory. However, moving forward they will need a plan for how best to systematically address the harms which have already been inflicted. Some of these harms may take an entire generation or more to entirely heal. But let’s discuss concrete ways in which we can move forward as productively as possible.
I’ll begin with a question: the Dems just took control of the House and Senate, but what power does that give them to reverse the trade war initiated by Trump and his tariffs? What mechanisms exist to overturn and undo the hurts we’ve inflicted on some of our closest historic allies?
Senate is 54 possibly up to 56 when all is done. Still not veto proof.
Will a few Republicans join in on deTrumpification? Will “bipartisan” be considered so toxic by many Ds that reaching across will be verboten - better to live with the veto?
Trump still has a veto and the Supreme Court is still what it is. The Democrats have much work to do, but their ability to effect change is still limited despite success in the midterms.
With regard to tariffs, the Courts will likely find some of these illegal. Michigan and northern states (among others) have been genuinely harmed by disrupting supply chains and elevated prices, particularly for aluminum and potash and home construction prices rising by 15% due to inflation and tariffs. Do the Democrats really want to reverse tariffs? It is the wise move, but there is protectionism in both parties.
Trump may be more reasonable, but also is looking to scapegoat and is unlikely to greatly change his foreign policy. Restoring sensible campaign funding, balancing the budget through reducing tax cuts, and fighting corruption are not likely Trumpian priorities. Treating other countries like adults? It will still take a decade and many dollars and sensible decisions to undo the damage to American soft power.
The Dems need to differentiate between positive and negative (or deliberately cruel) effects of immigration and enforcement, restore science and research and universities to its previously storied positions, needs to re-establish the foreign aid that monitored disease and democracy but also greatly assisted American intelligence at piddling cost, needs to support democracy over demagogues, needs to foster AI while providing real monitoring and preventing harms. It’s a very tall order, and probably too tall to do all of that at this time.
More likely, Trump blames others, shuffles his cabinet, blames foreigners (but not Putin), fights anticorruption measures. People voted against Trump rather than because the Dems are a model government.. But they attracted many very good candidates; I would like them to coalesce around sensible mainstream policies and a charismatic leader who can win, rather than focusing too much on more divisive identity politics.
At the state level the Democrats should work to improve election integrity in every way possible, including addressing the more egregious examples of gerrymandering and implementing policies to facilitate voting.
Congress should also take back all the things it ceded to Trump during the GOP reign, including budget and tariff oversight as well as its role in the War Powers Resolution. Merely demonstrating more control and stability in economic and military matters will calm the markets down.
A full-on sudden reversal is not recommended, but even reducing the chaos as much as possible will improve matters greatly.
The biggest thing Democrats can do to reverse the damage is all about PR image: project an image of seriousness. Even if they don’t have the presidency, this would go a long ways towards repairing America’s image, and almost everything. The image of “the adults are back and the pouting toddler is increasingly powerless” would change everyone’s mood. As the saying goes, at a certain point, perception becomes reality.
Centrist Democrats announced on Wednesday that they will have at least 14 new members of the moderate Blue Dog Caucus next year, more than doubling the size of the caucus from its current 10 members, with more uncalled races still trending in their favor. The increased numbers will give them more force to counter democratic socialists and progressives who want to influence the agenda next year.
What is even the tone going to be moving forward? Who will be in driving seat and can they come to a consensus on anything?
I would start with identifying the damages and then ranking them in terms of severity and unacceptability. After doing that then they could be addressed. Regarding tarriffs, while they are severe, I can’t really rank them too high on the unacceptable scale. For me, I would rank the following two items as extremely unacceptable. First, the grift and personal enrichment of the entire Trump family (and others). Second, the actions of ICE over the last two years. I have ideas on how to deal with both, but for now the goal should be in evaluating the extent of the damage, and then making a case to the public before taking specific corrective action. It will be decried by some as a witch hunt, but it should be a transparent one.
I don’t think that’s happening until Trump himself is gone. As long as he’s President, America cannot be trusted. And as long as there exists the possibility of someone like him being president, America cannot be trusted.
The NYT is not the most unbiased source on this sort of topic, to be fair. Wait and see what the Senate and House leadership end up being, is my advice.
”As of Wednesday, the Democrats had flipped seven seats in the Senate – Texas, Ohio, North Carolina, Iowa, Maine, South Carolina and Kansas – and were on track to take House districts away from Republicans in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Kentucky, Iowa, Missouri, Colorado, Texas and Wisconsin.”
This is shocking, better than the Dems could have hoped. Hopefully not a wasted opportunity.
I happen to agree with Velocity that projecting an image of seriousness is going to be real important if there’s to be any hope of restoring public faith in many of our institutions. On the other hand, you’re absolutely correct that so long Trump sits in the White House the Executive will continue to have the capacity to make us look untrustworthy as an international partner. There are severe limits on being able to stop Trump from being Trump on that score. However, Democrats can certainly begin the long work of restoring seriousness and adult responsibility when it comes to addressing domestic concerns. There are going to be a ton of investigations begun in fairly short order. How those are conducted can have a big impact on public perceptions.
Our reputation is ruined and will be for decades. The world is tired of watching how bipolar the US is and how comfortable we are with incompetent fascism.
Not to shit on the parade but the dems will win big in 2028 too. But the GOP will win in 2030 and 2032. I feel at root the issue is economics. In 2024 latinos and young people went big for the GOP due to economic concerns. In 2026 those groups shifted back to the dems because trump and the GOP failed to deliver on economic agendas. That is a big part of why Trump won in 2024 and teh dems won so big in 2026.
But if dems don’t do anything meaningful to help people economically, we are just going to go back and forth every 2-4 years like we do now.
As for repairing the damage, I would assume passing budget reconciliation bills tied to reversing trumps bad decisions (expanding medicaid for example). But we won’t get honest investigations until Trump is dead and even then those may come from foreign intel agencies, not democrats in politics.
I think Trump will eventually be the winner of these midterms. For the next two years anything the Democrats try to do, if indeed their change their tune and try to do anything, will be vetoed. They can’t even remove the POTUS without a handful more senators. Democrats will spend the next two years demonstrating how unimaginative and ineffectual they are. If anyone is going to start reversing the damage, it ain’t gonna start before 2028. Not even then if congress doesn’t start impeaching the more incompetent and crooked SCOTUS members. Not to threadshit, but things really do need to get a lot worse before they will start to get better. That there were so many Republican/MAGA victories last night says as much.
The Dems need to find another Obama and unite around a moderate centrist (but business friendly) platform most Americans agree with. Both of these things are hard.
More interesting, if this changes the complete control Trump has had over his party.
Excerpt: The Democratic Party, famously a “big tent,” saw two seemingly contradictory things happen Tuesday. First, some safe blue seats became more progressive. Second — and more interestingly — almost every toss-up victory was won by a centrist Democrat. That delivered the margin of the majority, handing soon-to-be speaker Hakeem Jeffries a caucus with real room to advance practical policies and lift the Democratic brand out of its deep slump.
What bias do you think they are injecting into that report? There is a bigger “blue dog caucus” and there is talk about being a counterweight to the, to be reasonably expected, desire of the progressive wing to flex its muscle and drive their agenda. Nothing very controversial in that statement. How is that going to play out? What is your best guess?
Yes. And?
Either some GOP Senators look beyond MAGA and join in getting past the veto or not.
If they do then some small progress can be made but given the damage done in two years the economy is still not great.
If they don’t then definitely things are still some flavor of shit and the Democratic side can point to the packages of solutions that have been blocked and a ready to fly through given a Democratic president who will sign them and lead.
Fuck that noise. This is a shellacking of historic proportions that has weakened Trump enormously. He just became the lamest of lame ducks.
While I agree that the Democrats are not going to be able to do a whole lot to repair all the damage in the next two years, and I am sure they will make mistakes between now and 2028, there’s no way Trump comes back from this as an “eventual” winner. Trumpism is weak and bleeding. The GOP will start to turn away from him to prevent this kind of drubbing from happening again. His power was fear. For GOP members, the fear in particular was that Trump would turn against you and get someone to primary you. How did his hand-picked candidates do last night again?
FWIW I see early ‘27 as an opportunity for AOC to prove her chops whatever run she decides to make. She is going to be looked to for leadership on the progressive side and for her ability to thread the needle between the harder elements of the progressive side and those who are attracted to her recent efforts to build bridges and consensus with the center left and even Blue Dogs. How she steps up to that role will inform how she is viewed moving forward in the coming cycle, especially if she decides on the presidential run option.
It may not really begin until he’s out. He can keep writing executive orders, and he can veto. By doing so, of course, he could really hurt the GOP’s chances in '28 but, with his ego and vindictive nature, he may not care.
This astounding midterm is both a rousing success and a problem for Democrats. Voters will want positive changes and retribution. Every bill will have to overcome internal battles and get find some solution that will overcome a Trump veto. Republicans will oppose, propagandize, and lie about every action, every word, every mistake the Democrats make. A recession or worse, the bursting of the AI bubble, is extremely likely. A desperate, cornered Trump will lash out, maybe even invoke the Insurrection Act or declare national emergencies and martial law.
Do the happy dance today. Every day until January 20, 2029 is going to be fraught for the future of the party and the country. Both are better now than they were on Monday; just remember that all that means is that we’re at the bottom of the abyss finally looking at a road up. Not only will the gloomy predictions of today come true but far worse catastrophes will as well. Place your highest hopes for two steps forward and only one step back.