With support for Donald Trump at a historic low for a newly-elected President of the United States, Democrats had hoped to turn those numbers into political momentum in a series of congressional district votes, most notable in the Atlanta suburb of Georgia. While Democrats had pinned their hope on Jon Ossoff, voters in Georgia’s sixth congressional district sent Republican Karen Handel to Capitol Hill, instead. It’s a result that has left Trump beaming, offering him a rare political win in what has been a difficult and tumultuous first five months in the White House.
Democrat strategists are reviewing their campaign and are now admitting that Ossoff came across as a Republican-lite — largely indistinguishable from Handel in policy terms. It’s a lesson they should take to heart, particularly after the valiant campaign waged by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. Throughout, he proposed policies that were socially progressive — distinct and popular — against the more-of-the-same centrist agenda offered by Clinton. Trump’s no-nonsense populist message made sense to most ordinary voters, he wasn’t part of the Washington elite and was willing to shake things up.
So after last Tuesday’s result, what of that Washington elite? The political classes are consumed by the unfolding details of the investigation underway into Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election campaign, and how Trump benefitted from direct or indirect contacts with Moscow. It is also engrossed in every thumb-typed tweet by Trump, and how the White House functions or falls at any given hour.
But there is another reality, one that ordinary Americans live and breathe every day. They are worried about the economy, their tax bills, crime, health care and their jobs. For them, the shenanigans in Washington seem far removed.
