If the Democrats get their campaign against Donald Trump wrong, they will never be forgiven. If they get it right, it will become a template for progressives everywhere. Here are some lessons they can learn, including from Trump’s own 2016 campaign:
• Speak for the essential worker. In 2016, Trump presented himself as protector of the white factory worker, and Hillary Clinton as the embodiment of the academic, political and financial elites. But the pandemic has created a new working-class hero.
The underpaid essential worker — such as a nurse, cashier or garbage collector — is the perfect figurehead for the progressive agenda of better healthcare, public services and pay. Let Trump embody the rapacious elite this time.