Over the last few weeks, as it's become increasingly clear that Bernie Sanders will not become the Democratic nominee for president this summer, progressives and social democrats (among which your correspondent is included) have split among those willing to settle for the centrist Hillary Clinton, and those who (at least for now) proclaim that they cannot or simply will not support her in the general election this fall against Donald Trump. This has, predictably, led to much more internal consternation on the Democratic side than most would have expected a year ago, when Secretary Clinton's nomination seemed both inevitable and broadly supported both by her party and by those who, while nominally unaffiliated, tend to vote Democratic.
For those unaffiliated progressives who have chosen to settle (or, "fall in line," if you will), the intransigence of the "Never Hillary" types has been maddening. Perhaps one reason for that is embedded in the argument, often heard from those unable or unwilling to make a "lesser of two evils" compromise, that Trump will be so disastrous as president that the entire edifice will crumble, causing a political realignment at the national level that will lead to an environment more friendly to progressive policies.
It's hard to imagine this likely. Given Mr Trump's history (and self-styled reputation) as a huckster and horse-trader, the notion of a President Trump as equally antagonistic to Congressional Republicans as he would likely be to Congressional Democrats is preposterous. If, as is likely, Republicans retain control of both the House and the Senate, Mr Trump will almost certainly engage in a series of his farcical "deals" with House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The end result of this would likely be that he governs as a mostly bog-standard Republican, with all that would mean for already marginalized groups.
If this sits well with disillusioned progressives and frustrated social democrats, then they should surely vote for Mr Trump, or at least sit this one out, especially if they are fortunate enough to have little to lose under a Trump regime. They must remember, however, that doing the former (and perhaps even the latter) would make them ill suited to progressivism and social democracy indeed.
