Breaking: The Democratic Party is different now than it was in 1995

Donald Trump’s emergence in American politics reinforces two lessons that everyone who pays even the slightest bit of attention should have learned a long time ago. First, that partisanship evolves over time as politicians seek out new constituencies. Second, that top-down attempts to get voters in line are not likely to work. …

Both of these points may seem self-obvious, but they conflict with another deep-seated tendency in politics: superstition. Campaigns happen only every few years, so politicians and consultants tend to rely on what has worked in the past to guide their strategy. That means that they’re often slow to see how change is happening within their constituencies or their parties.

Which brings us to Mark Penn. CONT.

Philip Bump, Washington Post