This was posted on RCP with the title: Why Democrats Are in Trouble If Warren Wins the Nomination


Is Elizabeth Warren an Ideologue?
Tuesday’s debate points to trouble for Democrats if she wins the nomination.
By William Saletan
Oct 16, 20197:38 PM
https://web.archive.org/web/20191017012550/http://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/10/elizabeth-warren-ideologue-health-care-antitrust.html

But there’s a big risk for Democrats in nominating Warren: that beneath her talents, she has the soul of an ideologue. If that’s how she conducts herself in the general election—or if Republicans can effectively paint her that way—it substantially increases the danger that President Donald Trump will be reelected. And if Warren were to beat Trump, this disposition would make her a counterproductive president, more likely to revive the Republican Party than to enact significant legislation.

Polls suggest that if Warren becomes the nominee, her crusade for a government monopoly on health insurance will be a significant liability. But her hard line on health care is just one part of a sweeping, invasive agenda that could alarm many voters. “On the first day, I will … repeal the filibuster,” she told the debate audience. “I know what we can do by executive authority, and I will use it.” Warren demanded that every major American company allot 40 percent of its board seats to directors chosen by employees. She also defended her pledge to dismantle several corporations. “We need to enforce our antitrust laws, break up these giant companies that are dominating big tech, big pharma, big oil,” she said. “All of them.”

This scorched-earth campaign might help Warren get the nomination. But it might burn her, by provoking other Democrats to form an opposition bloc in the center of the party.

The greater danger to Warren, as a candidate and potentially as the nominee, is that her positions on these issues will contribute to a portrait of her as a zealot.