Rep. John Lewis "I do not consider the president-elect to be legitimate"

[The_Doctor]

Trump is many things (an idiot, a moron, and grossly incompetent) and probably will be forced to resign or lose the 2020 elections. Or simply not run again.

But he is the legitimate President of the United States. Really wish the Left would stop this "delegitimization" campaign. How well did it work out against W? All it did for W's voters was to make them think they were fighting the Left, not sustaining a President who most people agreed wasn't that great in hindsight. (Not that I agree; I liked W.)

Lewis should focus on positing Trump as a terrible President, not questioning the legitimacy of the victory. The victory was clear and Trump played by the rules and won.

[The_Doctor]

Although it had many bumps, it eventually worked pretty well for Republicans to do it to Obama...

Let's recap how well it's worked out against Obama.

1.) The GOP leadership ended up being couped from the Tea Party and forced to submit to the most extreme parts of the GOP base who are pretty wild with rage. Trump stormed in, seized control of a very unwilling party, and then ...
2.) They couldn't win the popular vote.
3.) The mob that was galvanized by the 100% nonstop attacks on Obama have tasted victory. They will not believe in compromise which will ...

4.) Lead to some massive clusterbullpuckey.
a.) Corollary to this. Given their massive demonization of Obama, the GOP have alienated at least 48% of the country who liked Obama and voted for Clinton. Including some of the fastest growing demographics in the country. So, they have very little margin for error.

Do you really think this is an optimal outcome for the Democrats to emulate?

Oh yes - it didn't work out against Bush, because crucially, the Democrats became intellectually lazy and relied on anti-Bush sentiment to get to the White House. "Hope and change" was the motto of 2008, and it is clear now that the Democrats were unwilling to put in the hard work of convincing everyone in 2008 to have a reason to continue voting Democratic in 2010. This is one of the downsides of demonizing your opposition. You don't have to do any work to continue winning votes. Until it's too late.  

The GOP is about to learn that lesson.

Repeating this cycle doesn't help the Democrats. Stopping the demonization and starting the battle of winning voter loyalty is how you put away the GOP for a generation. There's an entire swath of Obama-Trump voters that can be won back - and can stick with a populist Democratic Party. You want to replicate a vibrant and huge Democratic majority? Give the electorate a reason. The GOP sure as heck doesn't have the capability to win 55% of the country on a consistent basis, not with their base, but the Democrats do.

The Democrats should recognize Trump as a legitimate President and go to war with his policies. "We respect the President, but this is why his policies are going to screw you, your family, your loved ones, and your communities and this is why our solution will actually help you."

[The_Doctor]

Trump's victory honestly is - as horrible as it sounds to say this - is a glorious godsend to the Democrats. The timing, the man, and the coalition is great for the Democrats.

Here's how.

Trump is taking over at the peak of the economic cycle. That means with 5% unemployment, rising wage growth, and no economic recession since 2009, what's that mean? It means that there is no crisis to manipulate, no economic "come back" story to stage for the GOP. And it also means there will be a recession at some point during Trump/Pence's term.

So, the GOP gets saddled with the economy at the very moment it's at the climax. It means it's downhill from now. Remember, the last successful GOP presidency took power at the moment the economy was in the doldrums (Morning in America)?  In 1992, Clinton took power JUST as the economy was taking off but unemployment was still at 7.2% when Bush Senior left office. Clinton's timing was amazing as the 1989-1990 recession was right before he took power. W took office again with very low unemployment and we all know how that turned out. 

Second, Trump himself is working with a very limited older white working class coalition. He lost minorities by huge margins and given his promises to his base, will be unable to bring Latinos to the 40s, and raise his AA appeal significantly. Of course, he could still, but given the intensity and the polarization of the GOP base and the country, it's very unlikely. And of course, he lost large swaths of younger white voters.

There are a number of economic and budget crises facing the GOP now (not least unwinding ObamaCare) that the GOP must slog through and lose serious political capital on.

Imagine if Hillary had won. She would be facing a GOP House, an economic recession between now and 2020, and historically low approval ratings. Instead, that's all now on Trump.

So, why demonize Trump? It's much smarter to construct an alternative to the Trump GOP and win for good the loyalty of a swath of voters who can put you in power and allow you to enact your agenda.