1. Some may not want to hear this, but to save democracy, the post-Trump era must be helmed by someone who can ease the division of our electorate. We can’t continue this way and expect our institutions to survive, let alone enjoy any lasting progress.
2. This trend started before DT - he leveraged it. Voters used to reward bipartisanship - working across the aisle. Then Newt Gingrich came along, quickly followed by the Tea Party. At peak dysfunction and polarization, we must think carefully about where we go from here. 
3. Divisions can and have been exploited to give rise to Trump, to weaken our institutions and to suppress voter participation. Divisiveness on the left in 2016 has cost our party. Nefarious actors know exactly how to capitalize on our vulnerabilities.
4. If you can’t keep the party together, how will you keep the country together? Consensus building and compromise are key to a functioning democracy. If you have disdain for that work, how will you restore democracy? Who has been a successful legislator?
5. As an activist, one might scorn compromise, but activism isn’t the same as politics or leadership. Activism informs politics. An activist can become a political leader, but they must recognize their role has changed.
6. Policy ideas mean little without a workable path to change. A path that brings along the electorate and can be passed through proper channels. Change by Executive Order risks becoming a casualty of the court or boomerang politics - a constant of grievance politics.
7. Sustainable, progressive policy depends on democracy working, building the bench down-ballot, having input on court appointments. But, in the face of untenable division, our democracy is failing. No one will be able to “unite” the country, but we must work to close the gap.
