美国国家公共电台 NPR A Year Later, The Shock Of Trump's Win Hasn't Totally Worn Off In Either Party

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

One year ago today, Hillary Clinton conceded the presidential election to Donald Trump 1.

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HILLARY CLINTON: This is not the outcome we wanted or we worked so hard for. And I'm sorry that we did not win this election for the values we share and the vision we hold for our country.

MARTIN: The outcome shocked Democrats 2. Ever since, the party has been trying to pick up the pieces. And we've been looking at how Trump's election has reshaped politics over the last year. NPR's Scott Detrow is here to talk about the Democrats. Hi, Scott.

SCOTT DETROW, BYLINE 3: Good morning.

MARTIN: So it seemed like for much of this past year, Democrats have been stuck - mentally stuck in 2016, specifically the 2016 primary, right?

DETROW: That's right. And it all came back to the surface last week with that news that the DNC had that financial agreement in place with the Clinton campaign before the primary. These wounds are really deep and they just won't seem to heal. Just listen to how Nina Turner talks about them. Turner is the head of Bernie Sanders' political organization, Our Revolution.

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NINA TURNER: I do believe that the Democratic Party is going to have to have a reconciliation 4, you know, truth and reconciliation like they did, you know, in South Africa after apartheid - truth and reconciliation. And, Scott, they have not been willing to do that.

MARTIN: Wow - apartheid. It's that bad?

DETROW: I mean, it says it right there. If you're comparing the situation to that, that's striking in terms of how deep the anger is for portions of the Democratic Party.

MARTIN: So the party's been trying to heal the divide. In the meantime, they still have to reach out to voters, right? How has that effort been going?

DETROW: Well, I think on that front, Democrats feel like things have been going very well. There has been this rehashing but also a lot of organizing and political engagement. So I spent some time in Pennsylvania talking to Democrats. We're going to spend a few minutes with the people I met there. I went there because for all of the explanations for Trump's win - and we've heard so many of them this week - he's president for one main reason - he flipped 5 Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

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UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting) Hillary. Hillary. Hillary. Hillary.

DETROW: On the eve of the election, Hillary Clinton rallied in front of 33,000 people in Philadelphia. The next day, Democrats woke up all over Pennsylvania confident that the state would go blue like it had in every election since 1992.

CHRISSY HOULAHAN: I put on a pantsuit. And my daughter put on white clothes to represent the Suffragettes.

DETROW: Chrissy Houlahan lives in suburban 6 Philadelphia. She and her daughter couldn't wait to elect the first woman president.

HOULAHAN: We sat down to enjoy the election results together with my husband with balloons at the ready and champagne 7. And the night, as we know, kind of went sideways, at least for me.

DETROW: For many Democrats, things stayed sideways for months. They viewed the incoming Trump administration with fear and dread 8. January 20 came. And then January 21st, the Women's March in Washington and so many other cities. Houlahan helped organize a bus ride down I-95.

HOULAHAN: And in that journey down with 53 women and two men, had the opportunity to learn from each of them that we all had different reasons to be standing 9 there and marching. And all of them were issues that really mattered to all of us. And it occurred to me that I had the background and the experience.

DETROW: The background and the experience to run for Congress. In fact, Houlahan is one of the Democrats' best prospects 10 in Pennsylvania, where several Republicans are either retiring or viewed as vulnerable. She's an Air Force veteran and a longtime business executive. And she's one of the Democrats running in a district that went for Clinton but also voted Republican for Congress. For Houlahan, there's one big problem with that district. She says it's shaped like a dragon.

HOULAHAN: And that dragon basically has a bunch of bites in it. And anywhere that you see a bite taken out of the back or the stomach of the dragon, I would argue that those are where Democrats are.

DETROW: And the Democrats only have one real fix for this problem - winning these types of districts in spite of their shapes so they can draw the boundaries next time. That's what Jamie Perrapato is trying to do in the Philadelphia suburb.

JAMIE PERRAPATO: So, you know, I'm a good Italian girl. I never show up unannounced, and I don't show up without food.

DETROW: Perrapato helped found a group called Turn PA Blue. It's a bunch of volunteers who are trying to shift resources from some of those Democratic legislative 11 districts and into the neighboring Republican seats.

PERRAPATO: You know, I'm 46 years old. I have not met this many new people since I was like a freshman 12 in college. And they are amazing. They are incredible.

DETROW: Perrapato has helped organize canvassing 13 drives, educational seminars and candidates forums 14. Like many Democrats in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, she's responded to last year's loss with newfound political engagement. That energy that began around the Women's March has continued. But the fact is the party is still out of power at all levels of government.

BRENDAN BOYLE: We are, numerically speaking, at our lowest point either in 90 years or ever as a party since being founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

DETROW: Brendan Boyle is a Philadelphia congressman 15. He says the solution is getting out of the cities and suburbs, showing up to try and win back rural voters.

BOYLE: In my view, it is completely insufficient 16 to do what some Democratic strategists want us to do and just focus on getting 90 percent of the vote in a very small area and then ignoring the rest of the population.

DETROW: But while showing up may be half the battle, the second half - figuring out what to talk about - is pretty important too. Like many other Democrats in Congress, Boyle thinks the party needs to focus on the economy.

PERRAPATO: I have a tablecloth 17 now, not to brag 18 about my fanciness but I bought a tablecloth.

DETROW: Democrats still haven't figured out just how to focus their message. But there are plenty of people like Jamie Perrapato who will just keep organizing event after event over the next year. A lot of the big-picture trends look like they could be pointing in the party's favor, things like Trump's low approval ratings. But the fact is, after what happened last year, many Democrats just don't trust themselves to be confident.

PERRAPATO: I'm wondering who we're talking to. Are we talking to each other, or who is listening?

MARTIN: OK. We are back in the studio with NPR's Scott Detrow. Scott, that was so interesting hearing people reflect on the past year and how it's mobilized them. I mean, clearly, some people are mobilized. They're animated 19 by this political moment. And the Democrats are getting some momentum 20. There was pretty significant election wins this week for the party in Virginia and elsewhere. What does that mean for the party moving forward?

DETROW: I mean, first of all, it was just a big confidence boost. Democrats are so disoriented right now that just winning elections went a long way. You heard Democrats talk about showing up there. They did that in Virginia, competing in state - House of Delegate races all over the state. And they made big gains. Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, who you'll remember was the losing vice 21 presidential candidate a year ago, identified what he thinks those candidates did right.

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TIM KAINE: You know, jobs, education, health care for all. Just keep it simple. You know, focus on these bread-and-butter issues that people care about so much.

DETROW: And Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey made the argument that focusing on the economy could keep Democrats away from all that infighting because, by and large, they agree on economic issues.

MARTIN: NPR's Scott Detrow. Thanks so much, Scott.

DETROW: Thank you.

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