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Im not sure where I fit in.

Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) is a stalwart of the Democratic Party from what used to be the blue state of Michigan. And unlike anyone else in her party, Dingell saw President Trump coming. She warned, pleaded and cajoled to no avail. Now, she feels like a stranger in her own party.

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The Democratic Partys in disarray, Dingell told me in the latest episode of Cape Up. I dont know where I belong. Ive said that. I sometimes feel like I have no home even in the Democratic Caucus here. She went on to say, We need to put ourselves in other peoples shoes and understand where their fear is coming from. Dingell also added this: We took people for granted. We, for a long time, thought we had that worker, men and women, that union worker. Weve lost them because we stopped talking to them.

[I said Clinton was in trouble with the voters I represent. Democrats didnt listen.]

Dingell said her Dearborn, Mich., constituents dont think we [Democrats] understand them. In the battle between automakers and environmentalists, Dingell is particularly clear-eyed. Id really love to bring permanent peace between California and Michigan, she said, noting that what her car constituents want is certainty. If everybody agrees as they did on the fuel economy standards, then the companies have what they need, which is economic and political certainty.

That part of the conversation on intraparty squabbling, which began with Dingell saying, Weve got to stop demonizing each other, was an echo of what she said at the start of the interview. Coming the day after House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) and three others were shot on a Virginia baseball field by an angry, left-wing, anti-Trump partisan, Dingells message had added resonance. Weve got to figure out a way to tone down the rhetoric, that we have to stop this demonization of each other, she said. We have to find a way to respect each other, to listen to each other.

[Picture a ripe, red tomato and how this is the key to citizen engagement.]

Listen to the podcast to hear Dingell talk more about the degradation of national political discourse, how she is battling believers of fake news and how the members of the large Muslim American community in her district are feeling.

Theyre very afraid, she said. Theyre afraid that something, somebody could physically attack them.

Cape Up is Jonathans weekly podcast talking to key figures behind the news and our culture. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts.

Link:
One Democrat knew Trump would win. Now she struggles to find a place in her own party. - Washington Post (blog)