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Sure, the “No Kings” marches drew millions rightly protesting Donald Trump’s assaults on our democratic institutions. But Democrats must dig deeper and ask how Trump could actually win another term after trying to overturn the 2020 election results with a violent attack on the Capitol. It wasn’t as though most Americans adored him. Gallup’s approval rating for Trump on election eve was a sad 46%.

Trump carried the 2024 vote by playing the Democrats on three issues that aggravate even moderate Americans. They are open borders, the demonization of law enforcement and racial, ethnic and other preferences embodied in the DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) movement being adopted by companies, schools and government agencies.

Trump weaponized the most inflammatory statements coming from the fringe left. With the midterms on the horizon, he’s doing it again with bait meant to provoke Democrats into taking radical positions.

It helped them little that in 2024, Joe Biden had, in fact, secured the border. But he waited until the end of his term after tolerating caravans of migrants surging into the U.S. The U.S.-Mexico border had just seen a record million migrant encounters in one year. The hesitancy left the strong impression that Biden acted only under political pressure.

On immigration, Trump seems intent on antagonizing Democrats with military-style spectacles of migrants being roughed up, including many who are fully documented. Gone was the sensible plan to deport those convicted of crimes and deal with otherwise law-abiding workers lacking papers in a more humane manner.

And so what did Democrats do? They voted to withhold funding for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency until certain reforms were made. ICE enforces immigration law inside the U.S. Denying it the money to operate sounds a lot like “defunding the police,” a slogan that cost Democrats seats in Congress and perhaps the presidency.

While Republicans are in power, the desired changes won’t be made. But as long as Democrats cater to their radicals, they won’t win enough races to take that power away. Meanwhile, Trump has shrewdly downshifted on the ICE excesses in the cities, letting them face from the news.

As for racial and ethnic preferences, Trump has crusaded against DEI. White males especially resent them, not without reason, and many others consider DEI incompatible with a merit-based democracy.

Biden went overboard on making race a basis for hires. His low point was announcing early on that his next Supreme Court nominee would be a black woman. When the time came, he named Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Thing is, Jackson was a superbly qualified candidate — magna cum laude from Harvard, clerkships for two federal judges and one supreme court justice, service on both a trial court and appellate court, plus experience in private practice. By announcing that his choice had to be a black woman, Biden excluded whites, Latinos, Asians and all men from a candidate pool in which Brown could well have prevailed on her own merits.

Trump goads the left’s identity-mongers to double-down on racial arguments — and entertained the racist right — by demonizing individual blacks, notably individual black women.

Social media flame throwers will push Democrats to take positions hostile to moderate voters. Remember, partisans, their reward is getting attention. Your reward should be winning elections.

To recap: Trump would not have won in 2024 had Democrats not helped him. He exploited their refusal to secure the border earlier, fixation on identity (above all, that inexplicable obsession on transgender issues) and hostility toward law enforcement. That put Trump over the top despite a close popular vote and weak Democratic opponent.

Democrats, Trump knows your vulnerabilities. He’s already exploiting them to survive the midterms, which, without, he’s basically toast.

— Froma Harrop covers the waterfront of politics, economics and culture with an unconventional approach.