(CNN) Entering 2017, and the dawn of the Trump era, the prevailing hit on suddenly powerless Democrats was that they had no message and, worse, no ideas. When it came to political combat, the party had been schooled by the President-elect, who understood that millions of Americans were hungry for some sort of populist revival.

Parts of this analysis pop up in the ongoing and often tedious debate over whether Sen. Bernie Sanders, handily defeated by Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries, would have been better positioned to beat Trump in the general election. One of the better arguments in Sanders' favor -- though no sure shot -- contends that voters who wanted to cast a ballot for a populist candidate in 2016 would have broken, if just barely, for the progressive brand if given the choice that November.

The score-settling Twitter skirmishes that litigate these points, every hour of every day, might be tiresome, but the underlying questions -- and answers -- are still relevant. What's become increasingly clear over the past year is that the Democratic Party of 2018 has broken cleanly in Sanders' direction. What that means for Sanders' aspirations is unclear. Pundits often err in conflating the message with the messenger, the politician with his politics. That Sanders' ideas are taking hold assures him, personally, of very little.

Still, it hardly requires a Capitol Hill press badge, or regular contact with party poobahs, to see where Democrats are headed -- and how they are setting up to govern if they can regain control of Congress and the White House.

In less than a year, beginning around when Republican efforts to tear down Obamacare and scale back Medicaid were ramping up, members of the Senate Democratic caucus have crafted no fewer than five pieces of legislation that would expand Medicare to cover more -- or all -- Americans. A new bill this week from New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker would create a pilot program for a federal jobs guarantee. Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley, Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand are all cosponsors. Sanders' more comprehensive version is on the way. Gillibrand also introduced legislation this week that would require the US post office to offer bank services, effectively creating a public option for personal banking. The list goes on.

Read More