Davis argues we’re on the verge of a political realignment where Democrats and alienated Trump voters can find common ground.
“Let me be hopeful here,” he said. “The hopefulness here comes out of some difficult times that we’re experiencing.”
“Politics is cyclical,” he said. “We’ve hit the bottom of the curve of polarization—demonizing political differences. Our present president does that, but so do Democrats. There’s fault on both sides.”
“There is a point when things get so bad—but there’s a cycle. And right now, I think we’ve hit that point.”
“You make the distinction between the voter and the man whose actions I strongly disagree with, and you find common ground,” he said. “It’s possible to strongly disagree with Mr. Trump—which I do, especially his character and his conduct—but to find Trump voters and respect the reasons why they chose Mr. Trump when they used to choose Democrats.”
“Iran is one recent issue. There’s also common ground on balancing budgets and not using credit cards—which is what we do when we deficit spend. And then after we’re done, who pays the receipt? Our children and our grandchildren. What’s liberal about that? That’s immoral.”
“Common ground is the key theme of my book—and learning how to disagree agreeably,” he said. “The man I worked for, President Bill Clinton, sat down with Newt Gingrich—not exactly his favorite friend—and worked out a compromise where both sides saw common ground on the need to balance a budget out of a $300 billion deficit.”
“When Marjorie Taylor Greene and other hardcore MAGA Republicans begin to say, ‘Wait a minute, this has gone too far, we have common ground with some Democrats.’ I’d like to take advantage of that,” he said. “Maybe my book will help.”
“Rather than using the word ‘you’ when you speak to a Trump voter, I’m telling my fellow Democrats: start with the word ‘I.’ ‘What do you think?’ ‘Even though you voted for Trump—tell me what we might agree on.’ It’s amazing how many times I’ve tried that, where it looks like the cycle has gotten so bad—as you’ve described—that there’s a bounce-back potential here.”
