I seem to find myself in the minority in today's national Democratic Party.
I disagree with the tendency of most Democrats (including political candidates for Congress and those in the news media) to constantly bash Donald Trump over his obnoxious personality and his divisive comments.
As very-conservative "Morning Joe" Scarborough has said on his MSNBC show, when Democrats talk negatively about Trump it just makes his supporters angrier and more protective of him, while corroborating their paranoid belief that the Democrats and the liberal part of the media are out to get Trump.
Rather, as Joe suggests, Democrats need to focus on communicating their humanistic, caring, and compassionate values to the American people and on telling the people how the federal government can be a positive force for a lot of good in our society and that it can make life better for all Americans.
They don't seem to realize that research has consistently shown for the past forty years that most Americans agree with them that we need to protect the safety-net programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, College Student Loans, and Unemployment Insurance Benefits.
These are winning issues and popular programs that we should constantly be talking about, not trashing Trump.
Stewart B. Epstein is a retired college professor of Sociology and Social Work. He taught at West Virginia University and Slippery Rock University.
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