Nolan Finley

The Detroit News

Chuck Schumer could not find a thing to feel good about in President Donald Trump’s address to Congress last week.

Spending billions on infrastructure projects to put American construction workers, many of them union Democrats, to work rebuilding the nation’s roads, bridges and water lines? Nope.

Paid family leave for new parents? Nope. Expanded child credits? Nope. Fixing Obamacare while keeping the promise of universal coverage? Nope.

The whole speech, the Senate minority leader says, was “detached from reality.”

Here’s what Schumer’s reality looks like: Donald Trump will get no victories if he can stop it, even when it means a victory for the American people. Or delivers on a Democratic priority.

Schumer and his partisan posse are positioning Democrats as the party of never. The resistance movement they’re leading expands tenfold the early commitment by Republicans to block President Barack Obama’s agenda.

The Democratic governing strategy is to discredit Trump and his administration at every turn. As justification they cite the various reasons — the popular vote, Russian meddling, his tweets — they consider him an illegitimate president.

In doing so, they have the strong backing of the Democratic base.

A late February poll from the Pew Research Center found 72 percent of Democratic voters are concerned that Democratic leaders in Congress will not do enough to oppose Trump. Only 20 percent worry the opposition to the new president will go too far.

Hard-left activists are warning Democratic officeholders they will face primary opposition if they cooperate with the president. Sounds like a tea party brewing.

Meanwhile, there are urgent challenges the nation must face. Another four years of policymaking paralysis on top of the dozen or more already on the books will not meet them.

When partisans dig in and reject any suggestion of compromise because they lost an election to a man they detest, it is the American quality of life they’re playing games with.

The average household income is roughly $73,000. The average family health insurance policy costs about a quarter of that at $18,000 a year. There’s no chance of saving for retirement or college tuition when that much of a family’s resources goes to health care.

Democrats broke the health insurance market with the Affordable Care Act. And now they’re rallying their supporters to shout down a fix. But Obamacare is collapsing, and if something isn’t done, it won’t just be those with subsidized polices who will be without insurance; it will be everyone.

What’s very much at stake here is the deliberative government the Founders designed. Trump and the Republican congressional majority are not likely to allow the Democratic resistance movement to stop them from doing what voters elected them to do.

If Democrats won’t engage, the risk is the GOP-controlled Senate will invoke the Harry Reid rule and get rid of the 60-vote requirement not just for appointments, but also for legislation.

That would be a loss for the country. But Democrats are too obsessed with destroying Trump to care about the collateral damage.

Reach Editorial Page Editor Nolan Finley at nfinley@detroitnews.com @nfinleydn