Special Op-Ed: Let’s Try Something Different in How We Deal With Trump

By Tom Suozzi

Mr. Suozzi, a Democrat, represents New York’s Third Congressional District. He is a former Nassau County executive and mayor of Glen Cove on Long Island.

President-elect Donald Trump and the Republicans have managed to sell themselves as the party of change. It worked: They will soon control the presidency, Congress and, in essence, the Supreme Court.

But to change and fix America requires both parties to work together. As a Democratic member of Congress, I know my party will be tempted to hold fast against Mr. Trump at every turn: uniting against his bills, blocking his nominees and grinding the machinery of the House and the Senate to a halt.

That would be a mistake. Only by working together to find compromise on parts of Mr. Trump’s agenda can we make progress for Americans who are clearly demanding change in the economy, immigration, crime and other top issues.

I’m no dupe: Some of Mr. Trump’s actions offer little reassurance that he is ready to embrace the bipartisanship and compromise essential to a functioning democracy. His radical cabinet picks, such as the Project 2025 contributor Russell Vought and Matt Gaetz (now withdrawn); his last-minute demands on last month’s government funding bill; and the recent demonstrations of hubris, such as Republicans bringing Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to Capitol Hill and refusing to include Democrats in the meetings, offer no reason for optimism about compromise. But if Mr. Trump wants to have a more effective presidency than he had in his first term, he needs to embrace his inner dealmaker and negotiate with the other party that holds just shy of half of the seats on Capitol Hill and key governorships around the country. And if he does that work, Democrats should meet him halfway rather than be the Party of No.

I know many voters reject my party’s significant leftward shift. So do I. But as a common-sense Democrat who won in a district that Mr. Trump also won, I am certain our closely divided electorate would rather have bipartisan solutions than political gridlock. After Mr. Trump almost caused a federal shutdown with the funding bill antics, the government was able to stay open only through Democrats joining with some Republicans to pass compromise legislation. Americans shouldn’t have to hold their breath to see if we’ll do the right thing together.

The election was a mandate. But it wasn’t for one-party rule — Mr. Trump won with less than 50 percent of the popular vote, and Republicans have thin majorities in the House and the Senate. But as I see it, the results of the 2024 campaign were a mandate for border security, immigration reform, low inflation, economic stability and common ground on culture-war fights. That’s good for America. So let’s make that our shared agenda in 2025. There are a majority of votes for all of it.

And let’s try something different when it comes to the president-elect.

Since the day Mr. Trump announced his candidacy at the tower bearing his name almost 10 years ago, many politicians, pundits, activists and members of the news media have detailed every one of his failings and missteps. Every word he’s ever spoken has been criticized. Yet he just won again. People are exhausted by the endless finger-pointing, nit-picking and daily battling for political advantage. They want leaders to work together to get things done.

Some members of my party and left-leaning advocacy groups are now branding themselves as the leaders of a national “resistance” movement, reflexively opposing ideas from the incoming administration. That’s a bad idea.

Resistance has a role. During the prior Trump presidency, I resisted his efforts to undo the Affordable Care Act and to deport the Dreamers. And we can and should continue to resist Mr. Trump’s efforts to retaliate against his perceived political enemies by weaponizing the Justice Department, his pledge to gut policies that combat climate change and protect our environment, and his threat to bring the United States back to an isolationist view of the world. To lead effectively, we must find common ground, build consensus and offer solutions. Democrats must resist when necessary, but our general outlook must be to go beyond resistance and articulate a vision that inspires.

For instance, while it is essential to secure the border and deport criminals, we must also reform the broken asylum system and modernize legal immigration to provide pathways to legalization for Dreamers, Temporary Protected Status recipients and farmworkers. Immigration must be governed by the rule of law while protecting immigrant families from fear and ensuring our economy is kept stable while treating human beings like human beings.

Under President Biden, Democrats refocused national policy on rebuilding the middle class by creating solid job opportunities with the Infrastructure Law and promoting manufacturing under the CHIPs Act. Unfortunately, we failed to communicate the effort effectively. While Mr. Biden was often quoted saying, “It’s time to grow the economy from the bottom up and the middle out,” no one really understood that he was talking about creating more solidly middle-class jobs and putting forth a real policy to do just that.

Republicans claim they are for working families, but it is Democrats who support an increase in the minimum wage, adoption of the union-friendly PRO Act and a robust enhancement of the child tax credit. Voters need to hear that.

Democrats cannot abandon our zeal to combat climate change. At the same time, let’s balance our commitment to environmental protection with pragmatic measures that safeguard affordable utility bills and manageable costs at the pump. Let’s move beyond the relentless attacks on widely held religious values while ensuring that the rights, safety and dignity of all are upheld. And Democrats should be supportive of efforts to make government more efficient and effective, but we must fiercely defend and advocate the strengthening of Social Security, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act.

Both parties should seek new ideas and leaders to demonstrate a willingness to break away from the restrictive orthodox ideologies of some of the more extreme members of the Democrats’ Progressive Caucus and the Republicans’ Freedom Caucus, who limit our ability to seek common ground and get things done.

This time in history is both a warning and an opportunity. My New Year’s resolution is to rise above partisanship and bickering, reject extremism and embrace common sense, and keep building relationships with Republicans and Democrats to get things done. I’ll work with anyone who wants to solve problems and make things better for people, but I’ll never abandon my values. If Republicans and Democrats choose the path of division and overreach, they will deepen the partisan divides that have already weakened our democracy. But if they embrace bipartisanship and cooperation, 2025 can be a better year for all Americans. We have to remember that the ultimate goal of government should be serving the American people, not our respective parties.