Albert R. Hunt, Columnist

Democrats Need a Message, Not a Program

Political-party comebacks start with making a connection with voters. They're not about bold new agendas.

August 20, 2017 at 2:00 PM UTC

Albert R. Hunt is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He was the executive editor of Bloomberg News, before which he was a reporter, bureau chief and executive Washington editor at the Wall Street Journal.

They've got to do better than this.
Photographer: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

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Democrats are in terrible shape. Republicans control all three branches of government in Washington, 34 of 50 governorships, and 68 of the 99 state legislatures.

As they plot a comeback, Democrats have one obvious asset: the reckless presidency of Donald Trump. That's not enough to close such a huge gap. And the battles that have started to rage inside the party over policies to promote and strategies to pursue are mostly missing the point.