'Strain credulity': Ex-conservative blasts Dems for suggesting they could work with Trump

Democrats should not even consider treating Donald Trump like a normal president and try working with him on the issues, former conservative turned anti-GOP columnist Jennifer Rubin warned in The Washington Post on Monday — and any efforts to do so are "unwise, premature and embarrassing."

In recent days, particularly following the chaotic near-government shutdown that unfolded last week when tech billionaire Elon Musk blew up bipartisan negotiations in the House, Democrats have found a more oppositional voice. But since the election there has been more talk of trying to find areas of consensus, particularly on Cabinet nominations — which would be a fool's errand, Rubin argued.

"A depressingly high number of elected Democrats are declaring their intent to find 'common ground' with President-elect Donald Trump and his crackpot Cabinet picks," wrote Rubin. "Democrats strain credulity if they imagine they can find common ground with someone who vows, among other mind-boggling schemes, to imprison opponents, deploy the military against immigrants, snatch the power of the purse from Congress and pay for tax cuts for billionaires with cuts to entitlements and other programs that serve ordinary Americans."

The last week should wipe any thought of this out of Democrats' heads, Rubin argued, because Democrats worked as hard as they could for a bipartisan, consensus deal on keeping the government open, and it fell apart at the finish line because Musk gave the GOP marching orders against it. Some observers argue Trump came out the loser of this particular exchange — but if this continues to happen, it will leave Democrats humiliated, she warned.

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Much better, she concluded, for Democrats to get on a war footing right away for the American people, and ensure that Trump's behavior cannot be normalized again.

"There might be times when Trump accidentally stumbles into positions Democrats previously held. After all, even a broken clock is right twice a day. And when Trump by happenstance betrays his base or reverses a ridiculous position, Democrats should know when to say yes," she wrote.

But at the end of the day, Democrats need to understand the stakes: "He barely won, in part because many of his voters thought he would not do the radical things he promised. But Democrats do have a mandate: to stop him when they can. Instead of 'find common ground,' maybe they should strive to 'give no quarter.'"