For any task requiring political prudence, skill, finesse, vision, consistency, or perseverance, Trump is fantastically unfit. He wins certain small battles with ease, but has no capacity for generalship. In consequence, two years in power have yielded a right-wing coalition that’s still in total disarray. Agenda-wise the GOP is feckless and drifting, having addressed almost none of the real problems that plague our nation. Two years ago the signs all indicated that the country was frustrated with partisan bickering and eager for a new, transformative agenda. It’s still waiting.

The Democrats have an amazing opportunity here, if they could just pull themselves together and take advantage. Transformative agendas can affect the nation for a long time, as we saw with Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, and the three-legged stool of Reaganite conservatism. As the party out of power in this profoundly feel-bad era, the left is ideally poised to seize forward momentum. Why squander that by throwing yourself into a demoralizing grudge match with the likes of Trump?