Simultaneously, Trump has begun to hold rallies in battleground states across the country, dipping into media markets where he can fire up his base, such as Panama City, Florida, and battleground markets, such as Green Bay, Wisconsin. Many of these visits lead to localized polling bumps that last for weeks.

Look no further than the Trump campaign’s press secretary’s Twitter feed to watch daily footage of the campaign reconnecting with supporters and asking them to engage its networks. Trump’s campaign manager is raising general-election funds and appearing before influential audiences.

Meanwhile, neither the Democratic National Committee nor any of the major Democratic super PACs are live with any notable broadcast or digital-advertising budget in battleground states targeted toward general-election swing voters. The 23 Democratic presidential campaigns are naturally focused on proximate targets, such as winning early states and meeting the DNC’s fundraising thresholds. As a partner at Bully Pulpit Interactive, a communications and digital-marketing agency that has in the past served as an advertiser for Democratic presidential campaigns and super PACs, I follow this world closely. I’ve seen a number of campaigns begin to spend on digital advertising, but their ads are not focused on messages that will erode support for Trump. That’s not the role they are expected to play at this stage.

Democrats face the urgent necessity of countering the Trump campaign in the battleground states. The leading Democratic presidential candidates have raised less this year than they did in 2007. (In the first quarter, Senator Bernie Sanders topped out at $18.2 million, followed by Senator Kamala Harris at $12 million. In the first quarter of 2007, Hillary Clinton raised $26.1 million, and Barack Obama raised $25.7 million.) Democratic donors may be sitting on the sidelines because the field is wide and they are undecided. But if so, that also represents an opportunity. They could fund an effort that turns to the general election today even if they haven’t picked their primary horse.

There is no dearth of advertising material to air. The Chinese are importing soybeans from Russia and Brazil instead of Iowa and Ohio. Trump is steadily unwinding protections for LGBTQ Americans. Taxes have gone up on some voters who pay state income taxes after Republicans repealed the state and local tax exemption. And Democrats are again fighting to protect health-care benefits. The content writes itself.

What worries me is that I’ve implemented many aspects of the strategy that the Trump campaign has been executing. The groundwork for President Obama’s 2012 victory against Mitt Romney was laid in 2011. In November of that year, The New York Times Magazine ran a cover story called “Is Obama Toast?” declaring that Obama had a 17 percent chance of winning reelection based on the economic indicators that had been historically predictive of whether the president wins reelection.