To beat Trump, the Democratic Party’s tent has ballooned into an absolute circus. For the sake of preventing him from returning to the White House, we’ve somehow ended up with the Cheneys supporting the same presidential candidate as AOC and Bernie Sanders. There has consistently been some broadening of the Democratic Party base in response to Trump — Never Trump Republicans started popping up as soon as he descended that golden escalator — but things have undoubtedly gone to a new extreme this cycle.

This is what authoritarianism does: political actors in favor of democracy rally together in temporary alliances. But while this has been a marriage of convenience for the Left, it has been a marriage of necessity for the Never-Trump Right. Trump’s outside-in takeover of the Republican Party has left moderate Republicans — and I’m aware of how crazy calling Darth Cheney  “Moderate” sounds — politically homeless, with the Democratic Party and nominees as the only viable path to opposing the authoritarian impulses that have cannibalized the GOP. 

This uneasy truce has been easy to maintain during the campaign, but the election will hopefully be over any day now. In three months, we will have a new president and the ringleaders of the Democratic circus will have to decide what to do with the Never-Trump Republicans who have formed a key part of the opposition to both the Trump administration and his 2024 campaign. 

There is no reality where this is an easy choice for the leaders of the anti-Trump Republican movement either. In the Dem’s dream scenario where Harris wins, their party is still in shambles. The Trump apparatus is politically parasitic and its host organism, the GOP, has already been sapped of nearly all vitality. There’s no guarantee that a Trump defeat will be the detox the Republican party needs: the MAGA leech might just be handed down and continue draining its life blood. 

The Democratic Party’s posture will be critical to the decision these former Republicans make. The party can choose to moderate and make space in the tent for the Liz Cheneys and Adam Kinzengers of the world, or it can push them out forcibly. So what should it do?

It depends…

What to do in the Doomsday Scenario

If, on Jan. 20, Donald Trump is sworn in as president, the Democratic Party tent should remain inflated. We will need all hands on deck, including our new temporary allies. While we may disagree on policy, what will matter for the next four years is resistance. 

Make no mistake: For a second Trump administration, the Democratic party’s chief job will be shoring up our institutions, fighting against executive overreach and trying to check the President’s most authoritarian impulses. A lone and defeated Democratic Party versus a reloaded Trump admin is not a favorable matchup.

This is work that our Republicans in exile have shown themselves more than willing to engage in. Many have been defeated in primaries, lost connections and essentially uprooted their political careers to beat Trump at the ballot box, and I have faith that this conviction will last beyond a Trump victory if need be.

Plus, they provide a critical resource that any good “resistance” movement needs: enthusiasm. For us on the left, we have spent the past eight years viewing Trump as a near-existential threat to American democracy. But let’s face it, we don’t have nearly the same energy as in 2016. We are desensitized. 

New converts to the Trump resistance bring that energy, and it will be needed if we are to get through another four years of Trump. But remember, this is only the case if Trump wins.

What to do in the Dem’s Dream Scenario 

If Kamala Harris is elected president on Jan. 20, the party should swiftly jettison the anti-Trump Republicans from the coalition for their good and ours.

We must be clear with our coalition partners, this was always a short term thing, and we were never gonna change for them. The idea of the Democratic party moderating on policy to accommodate former Bush staffers is objectively laughable. With an election victory, the best thing Democrats can do to prepare to win in 2028 is to govern. Passing popular, progressive legislation must be the focus, not finding space for the Liz Cheneys. 

A forceful rejection of moderation would also force the hand of the anti-Trump Republicans. A Democratic party that is clearly hostile to governing with them inside the room will be the tough love they need to take back their party — which is better for everyone. Even in the event of a Harris landslide, the GOP isn’t going to sink into oblivion. If someone’s got to captain that ship, I’d rather it be someone who won’t attempt to overthrow American democracy. Plus the Never-Trump Republicans would benefit from controlling a major party for obvious reasons.

This would also allow the Democrats to develop a solid party identity for the future and give young conservatives a proper political home. I know plenty of people my age who will vote for Harris this year but who differ from me so drastically that it may be best for both of our political developments if we didn’t have to share a party. Don’t get me wrong they are cool and all, but I’d rather not have to caucus with someone who yearns to be a Bush Republican.

Either way, the results of this year’s election will cause a reevaluation of who we are in political agreement with and why. Politics indeed makes for some strange bedfellows, but whether it’s now or, God forbid, after the end of the second Trump term, someone has to get up and go home at some point. 

MILES KIRKPATRICK is a sophomore in Saybrook College majoring in the Humanities. His column, “Looking Across the Aisle”, runs biweekly and discusses right-wing politics and spaces at Yale and nationwide. He can be reached at miles.kirkpatrick@yale.edu.