Why Democrats Should Work With Trump

By WILL MARSHALL,

President Trump has discovered that trying to work with Republicans, like trying to work on health care policy, is complicated. So with all his big campaign pledges in limbo following last week’s Obamacare fiasco, he reportedly is contemplating overtures to a party that actually wants to govern: the Democrats.

This new tack comes, mind you, after Mr. Trump blamed Democrats for refusing to help him and House Speaker Paul Ryan eviscerate Obamacare. With zero support from Democrats, the pair had no margin for error as Republicans started to defect and were forced to pull their bill.

Perhaps it’s beginning to dawn on the president that today’s Republican Party is designed for maximal obstruction and minimal constructive policy making. The rigidly doctrinaire Freedom Caucus essentially has veto power over White House initiatives, while moderates will jump ship if Mr. Trump concedes too much to right-wing purists.

What’s more, Republicans are all over the map on the next big items on Mr. Trump’s agenda — tax reform and infrastructure. So even though Republicans control Congress and the White House, Washington’s new political math suggests that Mr. Trump may have no choice but to reach out to Democrats.

If he could peel off several dozen moderate Democrats in the House and a handful in the Senate, he could neutralize the far right’s naysaying and give moderate Republicans a chance to vote for measures with broad, bipartisan support.

If Mr. Trump does turn to Democrats, how should they respond?

“Hell, no” will most likely be the first response. Under pressure from their base, congressional leaders are dug in for years of unremitting resistance. They’ve even issued orders to Democrats on tax-writing committees not to produce a reform blueprint of their own, lest they be tempted to talk turkey with the White House.

All this is understandable, given the ugly and dishonest campaign Mr. Trump waged and what most Democrats still regard as his obvious unfitness for the office he now holds. Yet hold it he does — and if he’s willing to make real concessions to their party’s core values and priorities, pragmatic Democrats should hear him out.

Unlike depriving millions of Americans of health insurance, revamping America’s outdated tax code and modernizing our run-down infrastructure are progressive causes Democrats should be for. And unlike Republicans, whose ideological rigidity and strident partisanship often border on nihilism, Democrats still hew to the quaint notion that the people elected them to solve problems, not prevent them from being solved.

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