Will the Democratic Party split?

Democrats are united in their hatred of the president. But that is where party unity ends.

Buttons showing 2020 Democratic candidates
(Image credit: Getty Images)

With President Trump's approval rating consistently maxing out around 42 percent, it can seem that there is just one way for Republicans to retain control of the White House in 2020: They must thoroughly demonize the Democrats — relentlessly labeling them America-hating, baby-killing, economy-wrecking, Israel-loathing, freedom-shredding socialists. Add six or seven percentage points of Demophobic "swing" voters to Trump's solid base of support and he will prevail, even if a solid majority of Americans consider the president personally loathsome.

But there is another way Trump could win: if the Democratic Party splits. The chance of that happening is probably greater in this election cycle than in any since George McGovern's faction of anti-war progressives seized control of the party in 1972, leaving Cold War liberals out of power for the first time since the Truman administration.

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Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.