With stakes like those, one would have hoped that the Democratic side would come together to take on the task of defeating Donald Trump and the GOP. This was a crucial moment -- a teachable moment -- as the Republican world was compelled to deal with the reality of Trump's victory. It was a chance to impact how the Republicans -- office holders and voters -- would make that transition.
Had both Democratic candidates, from their prominent platform, spoken to the nation as Elizabeth Warren has been doing -- highlighting what makes Trump unfit to lead this nation -- the Republicans would have been reminded of why almost two-thirds of them once regarded Trump unfavorably.
Instead, distracted by a needless intra-party fight, our side stayed out of the vital remaining battle, and squandered an opportunity to weaken our opponents.
Of course, the Republicans -- with their toe-the-line ethic -- are good at unity. And of course, they would prefer not to have to face the implications of nominating a boorish proto-fascist demagogue. Much more comfortable for them to pretend he's just a normal presidential nominee, and to pretend that coming into line behind him is just the normal practice of Republican Party unity.
And the GOP did have the good fortune to resolve its nomination fight in time to avoid a potentially catastrophic war over the nomination at the convention. Nonetheless, the Trump nomination continued to threaten to fracture the Republican Party.
It was a great opportunity for the Democrats. A party that knows how and when to fight would have seized that moment to proclaim the ugly threat to America of a Trump presidency and to tell what it says about today's Republican Party that it would cough up such a man to be its standard bearer.
For both GOP office-holders and rank-and-file voters, that would have made it harder to move from Stop-Trump to Yes-Trump.
The failure of the Democrats to raise a unified voice with the right message eased the way for the GOP to come together behind its previously unthinkable candidate. Having failed to help widen the rift in the GOP and make them weaker, the Democrats will now have to face a more cohesive and therefore stronger opponent.
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