The first rule of politics, one would think, must be: Do not turn your opponents more set against you; do not make them your diabolical opposite, your nemesis.
Democrats are doing that with Donald Trump: making him their enemy. Making him more extreme.
They would have found him at least somewhat pliable, I bet, had they not roundly condemned him as Hitler — before and especially after his election. Trump was, after all, a Democrat himself until a few years ago.
I do not think I have ever witnessed such massive stupidity … at least since the united government under Bush pushed massive spending.
But let me take a step back from my utter incredulity: It is not as if Democrats had not made similar miscalculations before, in dropping their anti-war activism, anathematizing the Tea Party, idolizing Obama and granting him one Get Out of Jail FREE card after another.
Indeed, the style obsession that became paramount under Obama — “isn’t he just the coolest, the dreamiest?” — is part of the reason for the current over-reaction against Trump. Superficiality, bewitched passion, trumps . . . reason.
Democratic partisans as well as leftists at large are now forcing Trump’s hand, mobbing him to move further away from their side. And if he succeeds, they could lose big.
Astounding, the stupidity of it. But it cannot be just their superficiality, their tribal othering, their commitment to symbolic action and the rhetoric of intention over follow-through.
Perhaps, thinking themselves outsiders, their “rules for radicals” approach did not prepare them for what the reality of their position was: defense of their status as insiders. They needed a more Machiavellian text.
Sorry, post-Alinskians! Now, the only true radicals left are the La Boéttiens!
twv
Wirkman Comment 
Our major political tribes have a propensity to demonize opponents in any case, but in this case the left believed, with some justification, that they stood to gain tremendously by the election of another Democratic President. They would capture a majority of the Supreme Court, bringing an effective end to First and Second Amendment protections for their opponents, and to any limits of the economic authority of the state. The Presidency had grown still greater power itself to write law; and they would have a veto over any legislation from, well, the legislature, should there continue to be Republican majorities of its chambers.
In that context, if we exclude moral considerations and close our eyes to things such as the problem of economic calculation, it made some sense for the left to go, if not “all in”, still so far “in” that pulling back would be practically impossible. They whipped each other into believing that Trump would necessarily be someone with whom they could find no common ground; they told the world that he could produce nothing but evil.
The gamble didn’t pay off, but the reasonableness of gambles is determined by information ex ante, not ex post.
But, now, what are they going to do? Tell the world that they were jus’ foolin’? Tell each other that “No, of course we didn’t really believe all that, though still wouldn’t it have been just wonderful to have had Hillary or Bernie as President?” If they could bring themselves to do these things, what credibility would they have in future contests?
So … they’re in a death pit now. Escape seems unlikely unless the Republicans or Trump inadvertently provide it to them.