"Democrats are terrified of the second Trump term, polls suggest. YouGov finds that 62% of them expect "there will be a total economic collapse" and 61% think "the U.S. will no longer be a democracy" in the next 10 years. That's up from 21% and 26%, respectively, in October.
But not everyone on the left is feeling so dire. Some of us are optimistic about some of Mr. Trump's personnel picks and policy priorities. "On foreign affairs, Trump's known aversion to war is good," Simon Jenkins wrote for the Guardian Nov. 8. "He craves to talk, as he showed in his abortive 2018 summit with North Korea." Matthew Duss echoed the point in the Nation: "Trump claims to want to end wars. Let's be prepared to do what we can to see that he does. . . . The Iranian government has indicated an openness to talking with the U.S. We should hope Trump reciprocates, rather than squandering such an opportunity early in his administration, as Biden did."
Gerry Condon of LA Progressive offered one cheer for Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic representative who is Mr. Trump's nominee for director of national intelligence, and observed: "The one thing the U.S. peace movement may welcome from the incoming Trump administration -- negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine -- is under furious attack, not only by the New York Times but by much of the political establishment. Does this mean that the peace movement, along with the majority of the American people, are now 'Russian assets?'"
On domestic policy, some progressives like another former Democrat, Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. They appreciate his environmental crusades against polluters like Monsanto and DuPont and his work on alleged Republican vote-suppression shenanigans. They see a once-in-a-lifetime chance to take on the food industry and save countless lives. "For his HHS bid, Kennedy's 'Make America Healthy Again' campaign aims to 'end the chronic disease epidemic,'" Brandon Novick of the Center for Economic and Policy Research wrote in a Newsweek piece titled "The Progressive Case for RFK Jr." Mr. Kennedy has promised to ban the use of food stamps to purchase soda and processed foods.
Even some Democratic lawmakers have noticed that Mr. Trump leans left on some issues. Politico says they are looking to employ a sort of political jiu-jitsu: "Progressive Democrats wrestling with how to navigate a second Donald Trump presidency are settling on a new approach: Take his populist, working-class proposals at his word -- or at least pretend to. If he succeeds, they can take some credit for bringing him to the table. If he doesn't, they can bash him for it." Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have praised Mr. Trump's call to cap credit-card interest.
A dramatic political realignment of the two major parties on foreign and economic policy has Republicans leading the charge on a variety of issue stances that Sanders-style progressives and labor unions continue to support even as corporatist Democratic voters abandon them. These include Mr. Trump's skepticism of free trade and open borders -- which may help account for the 10% of Democratic voters who told Monmouth University pollsters last month that they're optimistic about a second Trump term.
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Mr. Rall is a political cartoonist, columnist and author, most recently, of "The Stringer."" [1]
1. Optimism About Trump on the Left. Rall, Ted. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 02 Jan 2025: A15
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