Doug Jones will be sworn in as Alabama’s newest U.S. senator Wednesday, and it comes at the beginning of a pivotal year in American politics. Jones, a Democrat who ran an uplifting and smart campaign against one of the most flawed Republican candidates in memory, has a chance to become a positive force in Washington.
No one should expect Jones to single-handily move the Senate from the far right direction it seems to have taken, to the political center, where it used to be when senators cared more for their constituents than they did for lobbyists and rich donors.
After all, Republicans still have a single-vote majority in the Senate. Jones promised during his campaign that he would compromise with Republicans when he believed it served the best interests of Alabamians. So Democrats, especially, should be patient with him, and keep in mind that he has to run for re-election in 2020.
Nevertheless, Jones’ election is significant, and underscores that as we enter 2018 winning seats and taking back Congress is the only certain way Democrats can fight the most unfit and calamitous president in modern history.
It seems clear that no amount of public outrage is going to stop Donald Trump. If anything, the more shocking his tweets and statements become, the more his base loves him and the more he plays to them. They either don’t care or choose to ignore his mountain of lies, his crude behavior, his ignorance of basic policies, his excessive golf outings at taxpayer expense, his greed, and his insecure need to brag about himself several times a day.
His base fully buys into the nonsense that it is the national media, and not Trump, that has a problem. You may recall that during the 2016 campaign, Trump infamously boasted: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”
For once, he might have been telling the truth. Except, of course, he was referring to Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, where New Yorkers -- who know him best -- wouldn’t vote for him as dog catcher, much less let him get away with murder.
Nationally, Trump is more unpopular as president than any of his predecessors at this point in their terms. While he continues to boast about how wildly successful he considers his first year in office, the reality is that most of the American people have seen enough of this sideshow.
I suspect that Doug Jones’ election was just the beginning. It won’t be easy, but I believe we’re likely to see a windfall of Democrats winning in congressional midterm elections this fall, possibly taking back control of one or both houses of Congress. Trump’s disturbing rhetoric and his absolute refusal to rise above pettiness and attempt to serve as president of all Americans is the gift that keeps on giving for Democrats. No serious Democratic leader wants Trump to stop tweeting. Far from it: His tweets are a godsend for Democrats heading into the midterms.
While nothing will change the minds of Trump’s core supporters, his behavior most certainly will have an impact. It already has, in terms of turning out Democratic and independent voters. Don’t forget that here in Alabama, where Trump won by 28 percentage points in 2016, he was a two-time loser this year, first endorsing Luther Strange and then Roy Moore.
Heading into the midterms, Trump will continue to brag about the economy as proof of his success. The truth is that he inherited a strong economy that was completely rebuilt during President Obama’s eight years in office. Obama inherited one of the worst financial collapses in U.S. history, and despite Republican obstruction, turned things around. He left the nation in far better shape than he found it. The same will not be true of Donald Trump, and the sooner Democrats retake Congress and stop him, the better off America will be.
Tuscaloosa resident Mark Mayfield is a former editor-in-chief of House Beautiful and Traditional Home magazines, and was a reporter for USA Today for 10 years. Readers can email him at markmayfield2017@gmail.com.