More: The most recent entry in the "good advice for Democrats" canon comes from occasional TNR contributor and Bulwark writer Jonathan V. Last, who wrote, "The job of the Democratic party comes in two parts. First: Do not help Republicans. Not in any way. Second: Make Donald Trump own every bad outcome that happens, anywhere in the world." True enough. The only problem here is the lack of an organized Democratic Party to actually serve as an aggressive opposition party. We could use one of those!

Nevertheless, there is a lesson here for liberals that we should perhaps heed while Democrats in Washington debate how supine they want to get for the incoming administration. During Trump's first term, much of the mainstream left organized itself around the idea that "this was not normal" and that surely our over-regarded system of norms would save us from Trump. And so deep investments were made in various quick fixes"an impeachment effort and the Mueller investigation chief among them"that seemed to offer the hope of prematurely canceling the Trump presidency, without much regard for how difficult it is to actually oust a president (or for the decades of evidence suggesting that our justice system routinely fails to hold the rich and powerful to account, more broadly).

A second Trump era offers the opportunity for a change of course"a second reckoning of sorts. I think that Last is on to something when he suggests that Trump's opposition should force him to "own every bad outcome that happens, anywhere in the world." I'd actually take this a step further. Rather than exert so much energy trying to thrust Trump out of the presidency, liberals would be well served to spend their time thrusting the presidency upon Donald Trump. Instead of searching for illusory quick fixes for the existence of the Trump administration, start demanding the Trump administration fix everything quickly.