Earlier this week, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer struck a deal with his Republican counterpart, Mitch McConnell, to confirm 15 judicial nominees to the federal bench, mostly by unanimous consent. Today, a poll conducted by The Washington Post and ABC News found that fully 60 percent of respondents disapprove of Donald Trump, the man who is responsible for those nominations, and that nearly half the country—not just Democrats but all Americans!—believe Congress should begin the process of impeaching him right now. As they so often do, when gifted the perfect set of conditions in which to put up a fight, Democrats politely negotiated the terms of their preemptive surrender.

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Schumer and company justify this decision on several related grounds: that vulnerable red-state senators need time on the campaign trail and away from Washington, and that this crop of nominees is not a particularly objectionable one, and that Democrats should keep their powder dry for Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearings that begin next week. In the scheme of things, they argue, this isn't a matter over which to ruffle any feathers.

These sentiments sound reasonable. They are also delusional. First, this perspective downplays the impact of handing lifetime appointments to another gaggle of Federalist Society–vetted lawyers, all of whom are no doubt very aware of the president's solemn commitment to finding judges who will help to overturn Roe, among many other legally indefensible and morally reprehensible things. The conservative movement's greatest weapon is its realization that, as a political tool, control of the judiciary is as important as control of the White House and Congress. (Actually, since judges get to keep their jobs even if the people who picked them lose theirs, it might be even more important.) Too many Democrats are still out here treating it as a nonpartisan arbiter of justice, ignoring the fact that arbitrators are under no obligation to comport themselves with some antiquated notion of how Democrats think they should behave.

This year's Senate electoral map is a grim one, and I understand Schumer's desire to allow his vulnerable colleagues time to make their pitches to voters. But as a procedural matter, taking a stand here—even a symbolic one—wouldn't be hard, if Democrats were so inclined. Their decision not to do so is dangerous, because it takes for granted the support and enthusiasm of their base.

These are not things that Democrats can afford to lose: If they want to take the House and win the Senate and wrest a few governorships away from the Rick Scotts and Scott Walkers of the world, they'll need volunteers to show up, and donors to donate, and voters to turn out on Election Day. Why should anyone do any of those things for a party that cedes substantive issues for a few extra town halls? Why should progressive Mainers and Alaskans call Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski and urge them to vote no on Kavanaugh when they can't even count on Democrats to hold the line? When a politician doesn't do the basic things voters ask them to do, what is the point of putting them in office in the first place?

Conventional wisdom says that Democratic hopefuls should avoid making down-ballot races "all about Trump," because constituents want to hear about local issues, and making a positive case for one's own candidacy is seen as more appealing than litigating the tenure of the president who lives and works in faraway Washington. Trump's historic unpopularity, however—as well as his status as an unindicted co-conspirator in literal federal crimes—is a giant, flashing siren about the political environment that Schumer, at his own peril, is choosing to ignore.

Here is a good rule of thumb in politics: In those rare instances when most of the country is unsatisfied with the president, and more people want him impeached than those who do not want him impeached, it's probably safe for his opponents to assume that they have a bit more political capital than they thought! If Democrats keep saving it at this rate, before they know it, there'll be no battles left for them to fight.