Democrats just can’t quit Donald Trump

For the first time in a long time, Democrats have a presidential nominee in Kamala Harris they are excited about. But they can’t quit Donald Trump. The party’s muscle memory and strategic imperative for bashing him are too strong.

And so, in the opening days of the Democratic National Convention here, this celebration of Harris has turned into a bludgeoning of the former president.

“Until we defeat Trumpism there’s nothing else that really, really matters,” Rep. Ro Khanna of California told reporters after a delegate breakfast on Tuesday. “And if we don’t defeat Trumpism, we’re going to be in a world of hurt, because there could be years of Republicans in charge.”

Over two days in Chicago, Democrats have laced into Trump repeatedly, criticizing everything from his character to his legal problems to his policy proposals, including his management of the Covid pandemic. Former President Barack Obama even joked about Trump’s “weird obsession with crowd sizes.”