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In my humble opinion, the big problem with the Democrats is that they are desperately trying to hold onto their donors and prevent negative campaigns by people already diametrically opposed to them, not hold onto their base which they are quickly losing. Lets name some popular Liberal policies, shall we?

Lets have universal healthcare! Wait, no, we cant do that, the insurance and medical corporations that fund us would object.

Lets have some common sense gun control that doesn't ban guns! No, wait, cant do that, we would be crucified by the gun lobby.

How about we abolish or minimize tuition fees! No, wait, cant do that either.

Lets decriminalize drug addiction! No, wait private prisons.

Raise taxes on the rich and large corporations? No, they would cut donations.

Maybe regulate environmental laws? No, wait, cant do that.

De-militarize the police? Nope.

End rampant misspending by the Military Industrial Complex? Hahaha, nope.

End Guantanamo Bay? Tried and failed.

Regulate private schools? Nope.

How about we adopt a more effective school system that isnt based entirely on tests? Nope.

Campaign finance reform? Suuuuuper nope.

So what can they do? Alas, at the end of the day....almost nothing.

Well, if this election has proved anything, it's that winning the popular vote doesn't count for shit. The democrats need to retake the Midwest if they have any hope of an electoral victory, and a coastal establishment politician isn't going to do that. They need another Bill Clinton. Not necessarily in his exact politics and definitely not his personality, but his broad appeal to American voters. Trump has been in a spat with his congressional colleagues since he took office, and eight months in he has yet to be removed. He needs an actual, concrete scandal that his supporters would actually pause for something like that to happen. CNN anchors calling the Russia angle a "nothing burger" have all but killed that line. The controversy would have to be something entirely new that the media hasn't been blasting him about since the election, otherwise his supporters will just assume it's another nothing burger.

I didn't say the popular vote wins elections, I was just saying that for all of Hillary Clinton's unique flaws, her campaign was hardly the disaster some people make it out to be...at the end of the day, she barely lost, and had the result been slightly different in a few states she probably would have won. We could go on in detail about what she and her campaign did wrong, and we have in other topics, but I don't think she'll be a serious contender in 2020 even if she did want to run again, so it's not relevant here.

What Democrats need to do is to come together on an economic platform that appeals to the average person, and then they need to proudly stand by it and explain how it's going to help actual people, and be able to counter criticisms such as the cost of doing it and stuff. I don't think the actual policy is important in terms of winning the election, though of course there are policies I'd personally prefer, I think the important thing is that they stand for something.

As for Trump, he's had the support of at least 70% of Republicans for the last 8 months, but now even support in his own base seems to be eroding. Whatever controversies and spats he gets into, they don't matter so long as Republicans stand by him...it's when they stop doing so that he's in political trouble. And he doesn't necessarily have to be removed, he could be pressured to resign instead...many people think at some point he will get fed up and resign as it is.

From what I've seen of Trump's personality, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy that would quietly step down from his position.

Gun control

outta this house with thee, yankee