Un-Trumping America summary

It’s kind of like the Republicans and the Democrats are playing different games. For Democrats, the author suggests, political power is something to be used to make the country better. But for Republicans, the aim is power itself. It’s as simple as that.

The key message here is: Democrats are more principled than Republicans, which means they’re also less ruthless.

It’s tempting to think of the “Democratic Party” as a single entity, with a central office that issues out orders for everyone to follow. But it’s not like that at all.

The Democratic National Committee is really just an umbrella organization for the state-level parties and elected officials. There are countless other Democratic organizations: campaign committees for the Senate, the House, governors, and so on; there are labor unions; think tanks; grassroots organizations; super PACs… the list goes on.

Dan Pfeiffer has met a lot of politicians over the years, but even he was blown away when he met Stacey Abrams. The Democratic candidate for Georgia governor in 2018, she is an incredibly charismatic civil rights activist, former business owner, and occasional romance novelist. An ideal candidate.

So why did she lose the election? Well, it didn’t help that her opponent, Brian Kemp, was Georgia’s Secretary of State, in charge of state elections. And he, as it happened, had recently removed tens of thousands of names from the voter rolls – mostly African Americans. That made it harder for them to vote – which gave the Republicans a big advantage.

The 2012 presidential campaign was an unusual one. Barack Obama became the first incumbent in recent history to spend less on campaigning than his opponent. The reason? A 2010 Supreme Court decision, Citizens United, took the cap off campaign contributions. Republicans could then fully leverage their much wealthier supporter base.

It’s another example of how the Republicans have an unfair advantage. Democrats shouldn’t be shy about eliminating that advantage once they’re back in power.

Of everything that Trump has done during his time in the Oval Office, the thing that may well prove hardest to undo is his success in getting two Supreme Court nominees, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, onto the bench.

The effects of that will be felt for decades. The age difference between Kavanaugh and the eldest justice, the liberal Ruth Bader Ginsberg, is 32 years. And appointments to the Supreme Court last for life.

It’s not quite true to say that the US political system can’t cope with a corrupt president like Trump. In fact, that’s exactly what impeachment is for. What the system really can’t cope with is a whole party that’s corrupt enough to leave someone like Trump in office.

Nevertheless, the last few years have made it painfully clear that the power of the presidential office is too great. So when the Democrats regain control, they need to do something about it.

Sure, Donald Trump is an authoritarian, says Pfeiffer. But he’s also… well, not that good at his job. His inclinations may be dictatorial, but he’s easily distracted and unaware of how things actually work.

Here’s a scary thought. Imagine a president as authoritarian as Trump… who knows how to get things done.