America has only one realistic agenda for progress. The only question is who, if anyone, will pass it.

The problems ahead of us and the way to fix them is crystal clear. The only question left is 1) will we do it? and if so 2) who will do it?

Donald Trump appears to be making the same mistake Arnold Schwarzenegger made in his first years as governor of California: ruling like a Republican. His cabinet nominees scream “right.” Maybe his nominees are a head check to the right, something for that side, and he’ll actually pursue some Bernie Sanders type proposals in terms of legislation. We’ll see. Seems like he is not getting ready to win re-election in a landslide in four years by cutting the legs out from the Democrats on the left.

The reason moving right is a mistake is that Republican rhetoric doesn’t lead to actual improvement in people’s lives, at least in today’s America. It’s not really true that if you “run the government like a business” things would work better. It’s not true that business is drowning in red tape and just need to be liberated and all of a sudden great well paying jobs will suddenly appear. And Trump’s innovations — like no more trade deals — aren’t really going to make any difference either.

He is making a mistake but he has four years to realize and change directions. He can always flip the script and push medicare for all, a higher minimum wage, free college, peace dividend and good jobs through infrastructure development.

Trump’s lucky that the Democrats are screwing up more than him. Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer: rich, pro-banker, fakes from San Francisco and New York City. That’ll bring back voters in the Midwest.

And if they haven’t alienated the Midwest enough, maybe screaming about how unfair the election was and fighting the electoral college might do the trick to really pound it home to people in rural Pennsylvania and urban Ohio that they don’t mean shit (“fly over” country) to the Democrats.

Remember how as soon as the election was over Hillary flew back to Flint Michigan to fight for clean water? No? Oh yeah, she was moaning about Russia and fake news and feeling sorry for her rich, New York self.

So Trump has it easy.

The only agenda that will get the disenfranchised to turn out and vote, get loyal ranks behind you, is the Bernie Sanders agenda. But Bernie doesn’t have to be the one to get it passed. If Bernie did get through his agenda, he’d use the electoral leverage to do something about climate change and work on racism or something good. Trump, if he were to wise up and steal from Bernie’s playbook, would use the popularity to get his son-in-law elected president after him, or some such horror.

The prize is just sitting there to be collected by someone. It’s not nature or global economic laws or technology or something that makes midwestern cities decline. Toronto is not declining. It’s not cold weather. Helsinki is doing just fine. Finland has tech businesses. Canada signs trade deals. The problem here is neglect by the government, as the people in charge care more about war in the Middle East than a high speed rail link between Chicago and Detroit and an industrial research center tied to a local university in Cleveland, or whatever you need to do to stop this “rust belt” shit.

I have family in Germany. No one worries about how to pay for college. When they get sick, they go to the doctor. If they have to travel from Berlin to Hamburg for business, the train is quick, comfortable and reasonably priced. The parks are beautiful. Some of my friends and family are wealthy and some are sort of poorish. They all live in well designed cities or towns/rural areas and don’t worry about basic life issues.

The reason America has terrible poverty, whole regions in economic decline for decades, massive inequality, and bad infrastructure is that our government sucks. If someone, a party or faction or individual, beats back the corrupt, useless elites like Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan and actually fixes shit, that person will dominate electoral politics.

Libertarianism and small government rhetoric is not entirely false. You can have unions connected to political parties such that workers with jobs become a special interest and impose work rules that prevent investment and prevent younger workers from getting jobs in the future. That is happening in places like France. There could be a need for a Margaret Thatcher in some places and times.

America doesn’t need anymore free-marketeers using small government rhetoric to create more inequality. We need to take the government back from the bankers who have looted the nation like parasites.

Trump could do it. Looks like he might be too stupid to realize what a good position he is in. When it comes to putting together an agenda to create a more humane society, the Democrats seem completely hopeless. The Democratic elite is the most clueless bunch of morons in history.

Democrats yell, “Russia.” Democrats make speeches with a lot of statistics about people getting help from the government (“our Good Schools program helped 10 million children to pass reading tests” or whatever). Democrats insult voters. Democrats try to bully and shame voters. Democrats prop up monsters on the other side to scare voters. Democratic elites get rich. What Democrats don’t do is give the people what they need to live better lives.

Stop Trump? You can’t if the alternative is Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Cory Booker (the only black guy they have left in their lily white leadership), Joe Biden, or any other tired establishment banker.

Democrats should have already changed. They didn’t. Their time is running out. Trump is screwing up, but he’s got plenty of time for a comeback. The only agenda is Bernie’s agenda. If it doesn’t pass, we degenerate. If Trump passes it, he wins. If Bernie, or one of his followers, passes it, we become a good country.

It’s that clear.

Only blue dog Democrats care about fake news, what the CIA makes up about Russia and the electoral college. The rest of us are tired of this crappy government.

We don’t have to have a rust belt.

We can go to the doctor when we’re sick without worrying about money.

We should be paid a decent wage for our labor.

The more education we can get, the better for us all.

Redistribute the wealth.

Nature ain’t nuttin’ to fuck with. Invading Iraq, murdering Qaddafi, and getting involved in Syria were all extremely stupid things to do. But I don’t need a wise elder from the standing rock Sioux nation to tell me that walking up to mother nature and sticking your finger in her eye is not likely to end well.

If the Democrats plan on being a majority party by being pro-diversity and a coalition of minorities and liberals lead by rich White people from bubbles like San Francisco and Chappaqua New York who want nothing to do with and hate working black (and white) people (get those sweaty people away from me!) like Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton, they might, just might, have trouble winning elections based on getting out the vote in Toledo, St. Louis and Milwaulkee. Just a guess. I mean, these guys are smarter than me, right? I mean Obamacare: who couldn’t love paying $800 a month to get a $2400 annual deductible?

But what do I know? I must be sexist or Russian or … fake! What is it this week they are spouting to keep the focus off their own incompetence?

Democrats done lost they mind.