The Trump Republicans, who are increasingly viewed by voters as the party of the rich, ended 2017 by losing landslide elections in November and suffering a debacle of a defeat in the Alabama Senate race in December.

As 2018 begins, Democrats are poised to win back control of the House and possibly regain control of the Senate.

On fundamental issues that motivate voters, the Trump Republicans include the entire upper strata of Republican leadership in the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives. There is barely a dime’s worth of difference between the policies of President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE, Vice President Mike Pence Michael (Mike) Richard PencePence vows for law and order everywhere Trump met with chants of protest as he pays respects to Ruth Bader Ginsburg The Hill's 12:30 Report: Ginsburg lies in repose MORE, Roy Moore Roy Stewart MooreRoy Moore sues Alabama over COVID-19 restrictions Vulnerable Senate Democrat urges unity: 'Not about what side of the aisle we're on' Sessions hits back at Trump days ahead of Alabama Senate runoff MORE of Alabama, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellTrump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance On The Money: Anxious Democrats push for vote on COVID-19 aid | Pelosi, Mnuchin ready to restart talks | Weekly jobless claims increase | Senate treads close to shutdown deadline The Hill's Campaign Report: Trump faces backlash after not committing to peaceful transition of power MORE (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Paul Ryan Paul Davis RyanKenosha will be a good bellwether in 2020 At indoor rally, Pence says election runs through Wisconsin Juan Williams: Breaking down the debates MORE (R-Wis.).

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The great political consequence of 2017 is that the top Republican leaders in America have all become Trump Republicans.

They all support policies that are radically class-biased in favor of the rich, from tax cuts that favor the most wealthy individuals and most profitable corporations to ill-fated and incompetent attempts to repeal ObamaCare that will reduce the number of insured Americans by many millions of people and raise insurance premiums for even more Americans who will vote in 2018 and 2020.

The Trump Republican healthcare proposals and the Trump Republican tax bill were hugely unpopular with the American people, yet they were supported by all Republican leaders and most Republican members of the House and Senate who will be viewed by voters in 2018 and 2020 elections as Trump Republicans.

Remember when candidate Trump castigated Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonFox News poll: Biden ahead of Trump in Nevada, Pennsylvania and Ohio Trump, Biden court Black business owners in final election sprint The power of incumbency: How Trump is using the Oval Office to win reelection MORE for being in the pocket of Goldman Sachs, and mocked Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersThe Hill's Campaign Report: Trump faces backlash after not committing to peaceful transition of power Bernie Sanders: 'This is an election between Donald Trump and democracy' The Hill's 12:30 Report: Trump stokes fears over November election outcome MORE (I-Vt.) for being “crazy”?

It turns out that Trump is the champion of the special interests of big banks and the wealthiest Americans, making Clinton look like a populist and making Sanders look like Franklin Roosevelt by comparison.

On the subject of being crazy, it turns out that Sanders was the voice of reason, vision and common sense on economics, while the GOP chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Bob Corker Robert (Bob) Phillips CorkerHas Congress captured Russia policy? Tennessee primary battle turns nasty for Republicans Cheney clashes with Trump MORE (R-Tenn.), worries that it is Trump who could trigger World War III.

To demonstrate how far the Trump Republicans have gone to become the party of the rich and how easy it will be for Democrats to run against them in 2018 and 2020, consider two simple proposals that Democrats could promote with strong support from a significant majority of voters.

First, Democrats could call for repealing the Trump Republican tax cuts that benefited the most wealthy individuals, repealing all tax increases that Trump Republicans would impose on any middle-class citizen and repealing unjust tax loopholes that benefit our largest corporations that are continued by Trump Republicans.

Democrats could propose using the revenue achieved by repealing these large, unjust tax cuts for wealthy Americans who do not need them to finance huge tax cuts for every middle-class voter, and they could expand aid to lift the lives of the poor.

Second, Democrats could propose creating a public option for health care that would guarantee every American the choice of high-quality insurance at much lower premiums than the Trump Republicans are ensuring with their disastrous policies.

The proposals offered by Clinton during the 2016 campaign look positively populist, on these and other issues, compared to what the Trump Republicans are doing to America during their one-party rule in the presidency and Congress.

The proposals offered by Sanders during the 2016 campaign are positively revolutionary, in the sense that Thomas Jefferson was revolutionary in 1776, compared to the Gilded-Age policies from Trump Republicans in the White House and Congress that lift the lives of the few at the top and offer little good and much harm to the rest of the nation.

2016 was a battle between Sanders and Trump over who was the true populist fighting for working men and women and the poor. The visionary progressivism offered by Sanders in 2016 is reminiscent of the great programs that led FDR to landslide victories and is destined to someday become the law of the land.

2017 was the year Trump’s populism was proven to be phony and the Sanders vision was proven more true, more right, more honest and far more popular with voters.

2018 is shaping up as the year that Sanders believers, Clinton supporters and all Democrats are poised to win a wave election and end the one-party Republican rule in Washington.

2020 could well be the year that brings the next great Democratic president who, alongside a Democratic House and Senate, will show the world again why America is a great nation — which will be more true than ever in the post-Trump years.

Brent Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and former Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), who was chief deputy majority whip of the U.S. House of Representatives. He holds an LLM in international financial law from the London School of Economics.