This will not be an “ordinary” election.
Trump has tapped into a fear and an anger that shattered the Republican Establishment. That he is a dishonest channel for that fear and anger is irrelevant: he is successfully channeling it. He's now the populist Republican nominee. And he threatens to win.
Trump support is built on emotion. Not policy. Not positions. Not his honesty, which he sorely lacks. Some fearful, angry whites are projecting on Trump their expectations. Others see in him the outsider challenging the oligarchs, even as he himself is an oligarch.
And the whole faith in Trump is built on Clinton anger generated and fuelled by the Great Right Wing Wind Machine.
Those are the givens.
This election will be won or lost based on emotional appeal.
So how do Democrats win the emotional appeal?
By laying at Republican feet responsibility for gridlock, economic inequality, and governmental failure.
Hillary Clinton need not just win. She must win big, bringing the Senate with her, and even the House. The way to achieve that win is to point out over and over and over the ways Republicans in Congress have undermined progressive initiatives, have opposed Obama at every turn, and threaten civil democracy.
Bernie Sanders had a sense of that. I hope Hillary Clinton picks up on it. It won't be enough to say what she plans or wants to do. She must bring home how badly Republicans have behaved, how damaging they have been. As Truman campaigned against Congress, Clinton should also. It's more than Trump. People have poor jobs? Hold the Republican feet to the fire about it. Voting restrictions? Republicans have passed them, and gerrymandered districts. They have promoted economic inequality through a top-friendly tax system. Even Benghazi—hold Congress responsible for cutting moneys to defend our consulates.
Argue Obama could have done so much more but for the obstructionist Republican Congress.
Argue that Republicans have undermined progress and then point out how. Point. Out. How. Opposing CPFB, bank regulation, expanding Social Security, making the Affordable Care Act fairer, undermining the credit of the nation with shutdowns. There's more of course. But that's the direction for winning this election.