Sen. Chris Coons said something in a Fox News appearance that caught the attention of William Saletan of Slate. Saletan tweeted:
Sen. Coons (D) says he’ll appeal to his close relationships with Republicans: “I’m going to be working this weekend, this week, to reach across the aisle and see if I can’t persuade some friends …to respect the precedent they set in 2016 and to let the voters decide.”
Adam Jentleson of Democracy Forward, and a former chief aide to Harry Reid, responded (emphasis mine):
This is useful insofar as it will prove the uselessness of these relationships in the face of the larger forces of polarization and negative partisanship. It’s fine to try it, but when it fails, it becomes Democrats’ responsibility to recognize the failure and act accordingly.
He followed that up with (emphasis again mine):
It’s always useful to build relationships across the aisle. But in the year 2020, it is unforgivably naive to expect those relationships to overcome the structural forces shaping our politics. And it’s an abdication of governing to not have a plan for when the relationships fail.
This is useful insofar as it will prove the uselessness of these relationships in the face of the larger forces of polarization and negative partisanship. It’s fine to try it, but when it fails, it becomes Democrats’ responsibility to recognize the failure and act accordingly. https://t.co/g5HYrnTWaR
— Adam Jentleson (@AJentleson) September 20, 2020