We spend a lot of time focused on how President Donald Trump has reshaped the Republican Party, but we often gloss over how much his ascent to political power has reconfigured the Democratic Party as well. Democratic voters now expect their party to fight with the same zero-sum mentality exhibited by Trump and the GOP.
Compromise and comity are out; win-at-all-costs is in.
But that mindset risks blinding Democrats from seeing the real lessons from the 2024 and 2025 elections: The voters they need most to win back power — independents, soft Republicans and those largely disengaged with politics at all — want to see their elected officials fight for them, not just for their base.
In Congress, there was a time when Democrats were wary of using the threat of a government shutdown as political leverage. Democrats prided themselves as being the party of robust and effective government; to shutter it to make a political point would not only undermine their values but would cut off services to people who counted on government the most.
Nevada Democratic
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