Can a re-animated New Deal see off Trump Republicanism?

Abstract:Because of the structure of the US constitution, the Democrats find it very difficult to assemble an electoral coalition capable of reliably delivering united government with working majorities in both chambers of Congress and a president of the same party. In the 2020 elections, Biden's electoral college victory was secured by 44,000 votes, distributed in three states. Republicans currently hold 59 state chambers to the Democrats' 39, and they will use the next two years to further gerrymander boundaries and suppress votes. Democrats need to emulate Trump's ability to mobilise the base to retain their fragile hold, but inner party differences may make this difficult. The Republicans are ruthless in using their advantages at state level, while at federal level their strategy since the Reagan presidency has been to shrink government. Trump took Reagan's Republican strategy - small government, populism and mobilising conservatives - to a logical conclusion by seeking to wreck government as a deliberate strategy and mobilising right-wing extremists to support his rule. Repairing Americans' faith in government is a long-term task. However, Biden's continuing allegiance to the ideas of the New Deal, and the recognition the party must now give to its grassroots activists, particularly in black communities, may help to energise and hold the Democrat coalition together.