Operation Red Wave: How liberals can still prevail against Donald Trump — right now

Last update: 2 December 2016 11:33 EDT

Don’t let this scare you

Introduction

Donald J. Trump was elected President of the United States in 2016. In an office charged with the duty of executing all American policy without legislative oversight, Trump will have license to act according to practically any personal wish, even if his actions defy fundamental tenets of common law and decency established in the office up until now. There is no overestimating how far he will go against such norms as he assumes the most powerful office in the world. The man’s foul temperament, baseless conspiracy theories, and antidemocratic sentiments make him utterly unqualified to serve in the office, and very likely a destructive actor against democracy itself.

No relief from such fears is to be found in the acknowledgement that Presidential powers have only expanded since the 9/11 attacks in 2001. The privilege of the president to apply these powers has only grown since. Fifteen years later, the Patriot Act and the AUMF have remained in effect, and they will continue into a Trump administration, unlikely to be modified by any new restriction.

After January 20, 2017, the Executive and Legislative branches will become fully dominated by the Republican Party, one that has embraced an extreme that would have been hardly conceivable as recently as 2012. Today, it is a done deal. While it would only be typical to expect the Trump Administrations and the incumbent Republicans in Congress to work in mutual support, the result when any party finds itself in control of both the executive and legislative branches, this is no ordinary case. Donald Trump is not just any Republican, and “one-party rule,” even if short-lived, could yield strikingly disastrous consequence. If Congress enacts the broadly severe policies he has advocated, such as deportations, abandonment of international treaties, disruptive trade violations, and, in all likelihood, more privileges over a nationalized police force, the result will not be a mere leaning toward hard-line conservatism or another increment of executive power. Instead, our government will begin a march toward authoritarianism. This risk could worsen deeply if Democrats fail to recapture control of Congress in 2018.

Fortunately, we have a way to stop this scenario from happening, or — at the very least — disrupt it critically, without waiting for the next election and another possible loss. It will not involve marches, occupations, boycotts or strikes. In fact, it can happen mostly without leaving our homes. By means of today’s information technology, we can bring about the most epochal change in politics in decades, and with no need of violence or demonstration. It can be done now, and completed in a matter of days.

Let’s join the Republican Party.

Democratic liberals join the Republican party… SAY WHAT?

Please do not cringe. Put aside your reactions and keep reading.

Our present situation is in many ways an outgrowth of the realignment that began in mid-1960s. Before this era, prominent liberal and conservative politicians stood in both parties. When, in 1964, Lyndon Johnson placed the Democratic party in charge of the fight for civil rights and waged a progressive “War on Poverty,” while Barry Goldwater launched a reactionary conservatism in the Republican Party that was based on indifference toward civil rights and repudiation of Johnson’s progressive policies. In these times, Democrats in the South, conservative and unforgiving of growing anti-segregationism in their own party, found reprieve in the Goldwater ideology and moved to the Republican Party. Likewise, liberal Republicans found themselves in a party suddenly galvanized around “trickle-down” economics and blatant militarism, and were eventually squeezed out by the increasingly popular view that moderation and compromise with Democrats should be treated as heresy. Today, the results are clear, and perhaps climactically so in the 2016 election. The desire for power, not the defense of principle, was the way forward. There will be no room for any sensible conservatism in the ide party of Donald Trump.

A mass move of liberals to the Republican party may seem patently useless, given that the right-wing, “Trumpist” Republicans are in power and will likely remain so. At first glance, such a move might seem like a way of obliterating ourselves. Won’t liberals fall squarely under the domination of conservative officials, including Trump? The answer is a resounding NO. In complete contradiction to intuition, the opposite will be true.

The simple fact here is that the Republicans have adopted and exploited an anti-liberal ideology, one that organically engenders a large popular support from those unlikely to question authority, and have amassed great power as a result. One might think that it worked so well that it is hardly challengeable. Take a closer look, though. Republicans have assumed that no liberal would join their party for as long as they held that anti-liberal platform. That is a false assumption, and it is fatal to their strategy.

To see what I mean, consider that the political parties of America are mere groupings of people, but there is no standard or restriction about who can be in what party and what anyone should believe once in it. American democracy permits us to join any party, without loyalty tests, oaths, or adherence to any ideology. A conservative Democrat is still a Democrat, and a liberal Republican is still a Republican — it is just a name. It is understandable to forget this since the polarization in American politics falls so squarely within party boundaries, but this does not have to be so. If a very large number of liberals become Republicans, the Republican party will become liberal, too. It does not matter who is in charge or who is offended. There is nothing any leadership can do to stop that from happening.

In essence, the Republicans have made an ENORMOUS strategic error: they have assumed — in stark contradiction to history — that the present party alignment will hold forever. They have overlooked the fact that this does not need to be so, and that is where we got them. If the Republican Party suddenly becomes flooded with liberal voters, their current platform will collapse immediately.

Why would it work? One word: Congress

If you cannot yet see how this idea could succeed, I offer this one simple consideration: the Republican majority in Congress. Votes belong to a party, not to a political philosophy. Widespread gerrymandering of Congressional districts throughout the nation largely favors Republicans, not Democrats, and the districting has largely concentrated Democrats into fewer districts than Republicans, where Republicans usually have only a narrow lead. If even the comparatively small number of Democrats in these districts were to suddenly move to the Republican party, a serious challenge to the incumbent representative can be mounted from within that representative’s party. The next election would have only one of three outcomes, and any of them would be better than what could be expected today:

• A primary challenge is mounted by a new liberal Republican, who easily gets on the ballot after petitioning. If that liberal Republican secures the nomination, a Democratic or Republican victory will result in a liberal going to Congress.
• The same primary challenge fails and the incumbent conservative Republican runs in the general election. However, the Republican had to meet the challenge and spend money to fend off the liberal challenger, since that person will be going after the same nominating votes, much earlier in the game than would have naturally happened from a Democratic opponent. If the incumbent is enough weakened by this, the Democrat, again with support from liberal Republicans, will go to Congress.
• The Republicans nominate the incumbent conservative, who goes onto a general election win. However, the Republican party in that person’s home district now has liberals. How well would the anti-liberal stance play in the next term, knowing that the next challenge will likely be worse?

Think of how liberating this scenario is alone. We do not have to challenge gerrymandering in courts or kill ourselves getting Republicans out of state legislatures. In fact, no extraordinary effort will be needed. By merely changing our party registration, the gerrymandering will become an advantage to liberals practically overnight, and what was the right-wing’s greatest weapon against us liberals will suddenly become our own weapon against them, and realize their worst living nightmare.

How does this stop Trump?

There is no doubt that Trump would stay in office and remain a Republican, and so would Congress as it is now. However, the game will have utterly changed, and Trump can only lose. A Republican Party saturated with liberal voters would directly threaten the incumbency of Republican legislators, both at the state and national levels, since the conservative platform may not hold Republican votes, without which they are sunk. Donald Trump will suddenly not have such a strong army of allies anymore, and locally elected officials, as well as Congress, will have new reason to fear for their careers. Trump will face question now from the only party on which he used to assume support. There will be no support at all from what remains of the Democratic party.

There is an even more tangible result: Donald Trump will be furiously blamed for destroying the Republican party. If 80% or more of the country’s Democrats suddenly join the Republican Party, Trump and his fellow Republicans will immediately see it for what it is — that we have effectively destroyed the Republican Party as they intended it to be, and the structure of their districts, elections, and local regulations will mean there is nothing they can do to change it. There can be no more domination from the likes of a Mike Pence or a Mitch McConnell or a Ted Cruz. All that creative gerrymandering they did becomes their own poison pill. Will they blame themselves, and humbly withdraw gently into the dark night of defeat? NO WAY. Trump would be seen as the cause of this disruption, and every Republican in the country would be furious with him. What chance would his legislation and policies have then? This whole thing would have cost the Republican all their current success, if not their jobs, only because millions of Democrats willingly threw off their own labels in favor of the greater good of keeping their country united and our democracy safe.

But what about our beloved Democratic Party?

Yes, there will still be a Democratic Party. Its elected officials will stay. There is no doubt we will offend the most powerful and loyal Democrats — many of them will be ones we support, and would reelect in the general elections. Again, we have not gone against our values. We are still liberals, and the Democratic party has no more right to assume their dominance of liberal politics as their rivals should with conservatism. The Democratic Party did not save us from Trump, or from the gerrymandering in Congressional districts. The failure is not with liberal causes. It is with the Democratic party and its own strategic errors. In the end, these tried and true Democratic leaders can reform the Democratic Party so that elections are won again. Otherwise, they themselves can join the Republican Party with us — even as they serve in their current offices.

The “Party of Lincoln“ is a true and worthy cause

Much consternation would arise from this move, and the accusation of hypocrisy would be prevalent. However, this is not correct. The “Party of Lincoln” — as well as the party of Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Lowell Weicker, and Nelson Rockefeller — has been perennially influenced by liberal values. It is only in recent years that it has become inextricably linked to conservatism. Why does it have to stay that way? There will be a new pride on an ideologically fair and resourceful Republican Party, and we would be part of this.

A liberal by any other name is — well, electable

Here, the “what’s-in-a-name” paradox works in our favor. If we walked into a Rust Belt state like Michigan or Wisconsin, Trump voters would smile when we told them we were Republicans and that — like them — we favor keeping government out of private lives, believe in the Second Amendment, support fiscal conservatism, favor improvements to the military, and believe in the tenets of faith and family values. Yet, we would have more. To their benefit, we will also support issues that the Republican party hasn’t acknowledged, such as the need for affordable health care, regulated education costs, and practical control over the environment. They will listen as we march under the Republican flag, even though nothing really has changed in the policies we promote.

Summary

Of course, things can change again — and if this becomes a bad idea, then we can just jump onto our registration websites and change our affiliation again. But right now, a seismic shift that endangers the incumbency of the Republican Party seems a fitting response to the crisis of a Donald Trump presidency. We will have effectively taken back control by forcing the Republican Party into a space that no longer welcomes a President Trump, and American liberalism will have a new life — in the hands of a two-party system that represents us, one way or the other.