I have never been a fan of open borders, and don’t think that most Democrats are in favor of open borders. But the platform of the Democratic Socialists of America does contain a provision advocating for open borders, as well as the abolition of ICE, a provision as problematic as its stance on Israel and the Palestinians (or should I say on Zionism?). The counter, of course, is to say that all DSA members do not support all DSA positions, and that is true, but nevertheless, I think it is dangerous to join and publicly support an organization when you agree with some of their platform positions, but strongly disagree with others.

This is one reason that newly elected Congressman Brad Lander left the organization somewhat more than two years ago, and that newly elected Senator Abdul El-Sayed has never been a member. I talked about the DSA platform in my August 21, 2026 post; you may want to reread it. I am not going to repeat today what I said in detail then.

I also never understood the Biden administration position on immigration and border security and said, long before the 2024 presidential election, that the border situation was going to bring Donald Trump back into the presidency. And it did.

How the Democratic Congress will handle immigration reform at a time when the Trump administration, through Stephen Miller, is clamping down on immigration even harder, is only one question that will face the new Congress, with strong Democratic majorities facing a belligerent Trump administration. As he says, he will have his veto pen out and ready to block any measures the Democrats pass. And, of course, he will try to do as much as he can by Executive Order, by ignoring legislation passed by Congress, and by ignoring judicial decisions he does not like. So the question is whether the Democrats will be simply emulating Don Quixote, tilting at windmills, only to be thrown to the ground. It is a real possibility.

I suggest another possible path. Perhaps the Democrats should not expect too much out of direct legislation before the 2028 presidential elections, and perhaps the sole purpose of the incoming Congress (other than, of course, blunting some of the more outrageous acts proposed or taken by Trump) should be to prepare for 2028.

This assumes that Trump can do nothing to increase his popularity over the next two years, and that the Republican party is too trumpified to be able to create a meaningful image outside of him. Assuming this, there should be no question but that the House of Representatives in 2028 will be Democratic; the 2026 election resulted in at least 80 more Democrats than Republicans. As to the Senate, the Democratic majority in 2027 will either be 56-44 (if Peltola wins in Alaska) or 55-45. This is a strong majority, but clearly not enough to break filibusters; you need a 60-40 majority, meaning that the Democrats will have to flip 4 or 5 more seats in 2028.

Here are the Republican seats that will be in play in 2028: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Wisconsin. I would suggest that Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, and Wisconsin are the six states most likely to turn blue in 2028. But even this will not be easy.

I read that there were 13,000,000 more Democratic than Republican votes in the House of Representative races in 2026. We all know how well organized the Democrats were in all 50 states. If they can concentrate over the next two years in flipping four or five Senate seats, and wind up in January 2029 with a president, a majority of House seats, and a 60-40 split in the Senate, they can really do something to turn around four years of Trump destruction.

Yes, that means a lot of oversight and investigative work starting in January, but this work should not be scattershot, it should not create rivalries between Congressional committees, it should be well directed at tangible results, and not wind up with a bunch of impeachments which will be easy to obtain in the House and by and large impossible to complete in the Senate. That is back to windmill tilting.

It should also be passing in the House popular legislation, even if it goes down to defeat in the Senate, when the defeat can then be blamed on Republican intransigence. And if Trump vetoes what the Senate is able to approve, so be it. More fodder for 2028.

It should be avoiding very controversial matters over the next two years, like increasing the number of Supreme Court justices, to name one, or even trying to overturn the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

And there should be continual organizing in all 50 states, with most attention being paid to those states which have a Republican Senate seat that could be flipped.

Of course, the Democrats are not always good at doing what they should be doing. And they are caught between a moderate bloc and a progressive bloc, vying now for control of the position of Senate Majority Leader. One would hope, however this turns out, that the party will rally behind whoever is selected, working for the greater goal of victory in 2028.

I expect that the next two years are going to be pretty awful, with the President growing more and more irrational and defensive. Trump has already destroyed much of the underpinnings of American society, world order, the Republican Party, and even the aesthetics of Washington DC. This will be his legacy. And, if the Democrats play their cards right, it will be difficult for the remnants of the GOP to rebuild itself in short order.

But that is a big “if”, of course, and the world can be a tricky place.

One more point: The first Artis80 blog post appeared on November 15, 2022. This post completes four years of daily posts. Whew……but we continue.