Democrats need to fight Trump, not one another

Have Democrats reached the point where they would rather beat each other’s heads in than defeat Donald Trump? Have they forgotten that the opposition’s first task is to build a broad coalition for change?

Yes, the media love conflict, and the current fights among Democrats — in the House of Representatives and on the presidential campaign trail — are irresistible for us journalists. And so many of Trump’s outrages are treated not as the moral disgraces they are but as campaign strategy.

But the Democrats’ primary mission right now is precisely to force attention to what those wielding authority — meaning, especially, Trump, but also his enablers in the Republican-led Senate — are doing to our country.

Whatever their disagreements, Democrats are united on many things, starting with seeing the shameful treatment of children in detention facilities as a violation of all that our country says it believes in, and how Trump’s environmental policies are a daily scandal, given the mounting evidence for the damage climate change is doing. I could offer a much longer list, but you get the point.

Perhaps a vile Trump tweet on Sunday will remind Democrats why they should be battling him, not each other. Without naming them, he attacked four first-term Democratic congresswomen — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib — for standing up against his cruel border policies. Trump told the four progressives they should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” It was despicable.

The four have been quarreling with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but she quickly rose to their defense, assailing Trump’s “xenophobic comments” and declaring that his signature slogan about American greatness “has always been about making America white again.”

Here’s hoping Trump’s malice encourages Democrats to face up to the stakes of the fight they’re in.

Now I’ll grant that being in the opposition is not easy. It’s necessary for Democrats running for president to challenge each other over the best way forward in view of the genuine policy and philosophical differences among them. Because the Republican Party has moved so far to the right, Democrats are now home to everyone from former Republican moderates to democratic socialists. So, yes, there’s a lot to argue about.

But here are two modest proposals. First, Democratic presidential candidates should join in an informal union and agree to stop answering “raise your hands” questions in debates. Inevitably, they are forced later to say that this or that issue is complicated, but the more they explain themselves, the more slippery they look.

Second, Democratic primary voters should add a new criterion to their list of must-haves: Who among these candidates is best suited to create the diverse alliance that must come together to beat Trump? This is not an argument for picking the most “moderate” candidate. The nominee will certainly need middle-ofthe-roaders who recognize what a disaster Trump’s presidency is. But she or he must also mobilize younger progressives, because the party needs raw political talent.

It will be unforgivable if the opponents of a dangerous and immoral regime indulge themselves with inward-looking feuds when history’s demands upon them could not be clearer.