This week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned fellow Democrats that the party “must be unified” to defeat Donald Trump in 2020, while also stating that any of the candidates running to face him “would be a better president.” I agree with the first part of her comment, but I’m reluctant to say “any” of the candidates running to face him “would be a better president.”

There are some strong candidates, yes, but I think there’s a larger issue at stake that Democrats often overlook, and I say this as a Democrat myself. The Social programs need to be a high priority, but the bottom line is jobs for Americans that are good paying, provide benefits and are long lasting. This is where the election is ours to lose.

Everyone wants equality in society and the workplace, everyone wants a fair tax system and everyone wants and needs access to affordable healthcare, but none of that really matters if you don’t have a steady job that you can live off of, provide for your family and realize the American Dream. That’s where Hilary Clinton lost the election when her campaign essentially abandoned blue collar rural Americans. Jobs are not political, jobs are not socially, ethnically or morally split, but rather jobs are universal. Put aside whatever your views are of Trump, that’s why he won and I say this as someone who voted against him and will vote against him again this November.

Going back a few weeks to the Impeachment Hearings and then on to the Trial where there was never going to be any other outcome than that which came. If you listened to the State of the Union Address and somehow filtered out who was giving the speech, you’d almost buy into it if not for the price that came with those claims of accomplishment. A $14 trillion debt, a decimation of our global moral standing, the removal of crucial environmental laws safeguarding clean air, safe drinking water and making global warming an absolute certainty. Except for all those horrific pitfalls, you might say the State of the Union sounded not bad at all.

Will Trump win re-election this November? If Democrats remain divided and take the focus off of jobs, we will very likely have four more years of Trump, and there may be no undoing of the damage done after that.

Jobs, jobs, jobs. Get that done and all the rest of an important agenda will have the support of Americans across party lines.

 

Image Sources

  • Warning to Democrats: Shutterstock