Make 2020 a referendum on Trump's crimes and corruption. The point is, he's breaking laws. American voters smell the foul stench. They know that if an average citizen had done any one of a dozen things that Trump has done, they’d be in jail.

Jesse Ferguson | Opinion contributor

This year is the 30th anniversary of NBC's “Law & Order,” which brought the “dun, dun” noise to life as the soundtrack of justice for millions of people.

In 2020, images and phrases associated with police procedures are no longer limited to television dramas; they’re associated with the real live president of the United States. Too often, though, this is not the way progressives talk about him.

Donald Trump got caught red handed. He used taxpayer-funded military aid to bribe a foreign government to help his reelection; it’s an open-and-shut case. Naturally, Trump’s Republican political allies are very upset that he got caught. Like a Scooby-Doo villain, they think he would have gotten away with it if not for that meddlesome whistleblower.

But the American people have watched a lot of “Law & Order,” and they understand what really happened here. They need only look at the latest round of smoking-gun emails, which confirms Trump’s role in the plot.

Most Americans get the picture

The coalition of progressive pollsters at Navigator Research found that by 22 percentage points (57 to 35%), more Americans say Trump has committed a crime as president — and the margin is an overwhelming 30 points for independents (55 to 25%). Both numbers are higher than support for impeachment itself.

Don’t trust progressive pollsters? The latest Fox News poll found that by 15 percentage points, more Americans say Trump has abused his power than not (53 to 38%), and that by 8 percentage points, more say he has committed bribery (45 to 37%).

Notwithstanding their view on whether Trump should be impeached, people know that what he did was wrong. The latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that three-quarters of Americans say Trump has done something wrong. Regardless of their views on impeachment or removal, people see the air of corruption and criminality around him.

What a change. From the late 1960s through the 2016 election, Republicans seemingly had a monopoly on the law-and-order narrative. For all the years I’ve worked in politics, Republicans have been the party with strength on the rule of law, a fundamental moral value at the core of their brand. Under Trump, they’ve traded that strength away.

In the same Navigator Research poll, more people say Trump thinks he’s above the law than not — a difference of 24 points (62 to 38%). Americans now trust Democrats in Congress more than President Trump on “the rule of law” by a margin of 12 points (46 to 34%). In 2016, Trump promised to be the law-and-order president, but people now see a president who believes he’s above the law.

Once is enough: Don't let 2020 become 2016. Beat Donald Trump.

Beltway pundits and prognosticators, myself included, have been obsessed with the political fallout from impeachment. Will it fuel Trump or foment opposition? Will it strengthen the Democrats' House majority or backfire against them? But the American people aren’t voting on impeachment. By the time the election rolls around, it will be in the rearview mirror.

After all, the 1974 elections weren’t a referendum on President Richard Nixon’s impeachment. They were a referendum on his crime: Watergate. Likewise, what the people may vote on in 2020 is criminality and the rule of law. And if that happens, Trump is in trouble.

Make 2020 about Trump's crimes

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To make this argument, we have to meet voters where they are in this debate. Bottom line: If you’re using language that never could have made it into an episode of “Law & Order,” you’re doing it wrong. You’re not using language that furthers our case or reaches people in this moment.

Democrats have to focus our argument on the repeated corrupt and criminal activities that Trump and his allies have been caught engaging in. The point isn’t that he’s violating norms; it’s that he’s violating laws. Don’t just lament the way that Trump ignores the separation of powers by not having witnesses testify. Make it clear that he’s gagging witnesses and refusing to answer questions himself.

If you defend the legal process instead of making the point that he attacks and belittles the very law enforcement officials who caught him, you’re leaving voters behind. If you find yourself explaining the lack of prosecution after the Mueller report, hush money and Individual 1 by citing the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel guidance rather than explaining that Trump essentially has immunity, you’re falling into his trap.

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People may not track every nuance of this debate, but they smell the foul stench. They know that if an average American citizen had done any one of a dozen things that Trump has done, they’d be in jail.

The president shouldn’t be above the law.

This is why this scandal is so deeply damaging to President Trump. Long after the debate around impeachment is over, the lasting stink will still surround him. A majority of the country believes he’s a criminal. People no longer hear the soundtrack from “The Apprentice” when they see him; they hear that “dun, dun” from a new series — “Law & Order: DJT”

Jesse Ferguson, a national Democratic strategist, was deputy national press secretary for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Independent Expenditure Program and communications director of the DCCC. Follow him on Twitter: @JesseFFerguson