Oh wow! They sound cute! You’ll have to send me a pic when they’re done. I’m happy to write about them as well if you want me too.

Ok, though not sure that’s what Cohen meant. I think he made a distinction between establishment “left” parties, which are now too often neo-liberal, and left activists, who are those you seem to be referring to and who generally don’t have that much influence on the establishment parties.

I think we probably talking at cross-purposes here Ken. I’m talking about the same people that Nick Cohen rails against having too much influence. Though to take your point, the right part of the Dems has too much influence too in the hierarchy – like Pelosi etc.

I’m sorry Heather, but your last line is rather bizarre. The US is the perfect example of what Nick Cohen meant when he said the choice in too many countries now was between a neo-liberal right-wing party and a nationalist right-wing party, with no social democrat choice as there traditionally has been. The left (let along the far left) don’t have *enough* influence on the Dems, let alone having anything near the massive influence the far right have on the Reps!

I don’t really disagree with anything you say j.a.m., except I don’t think Pence would be better than Trump, and I think the GOP party-line on Obama (which is a lot of what you say, but not all) is a bit unfair. It’s true the Dems are substantially weaker since 2008, but I’m not sure how much can be blamed on Obama. Some is the Dems fault, but some is also because of the obstructionism of the Republican House and Senate.

Worryingly, I think that at the moment Pence is looking like succeeding Trump. However, he sucks up to Trump really badly and if Trump stuffs up big time, Pence could be damaged in the crossfire. However, he hasn’t been damaged so far because, as you say, Trump’s political instincts are so good. He gets away with stuff no-one else would, and it’s a disgrace.

It’s true that there are a lot of plausible candidates coming through the Republican party and not so much through the Dems. It’s what I’ve said several times – the Dems would have been far better off with Hillary as pres in 2008, and for Obama to come through now. The Dems haven’t done a good job of succession planning, and the far left have too much influence (just like the far right have too much influence in the GOP).

(1) Democrats’ pathetic loyalty to Obama remains unreciprocated; he leaves their party substantially weaker than he found it. He is too self-absorbed to care about bolstering the institution, and too ideological and incompetent to broaden its appeal.

(2) Trump will be the 45th president. And nobody likes sore losers.

(3) Pence is odds-on favorite to be the 46th president, and a dozen or more other plausible Republican nominees are on deck. The Democrats have nobody on the horizon.

(4) For all his real and imagined foibles, for the time being at least Trump continues to demonstrate uncanny political instincts, not least the ability to co-opt his intramural critics while simultaneously absorbing their counsel. Almost every decision to date has served to further consolidate his position. Meanwhile the Democrats respond with bumper stickers. Sad!