EPA says it will eliminate its scientific research arm

For starters, anything.

Like? It's hard to do anything when the executive, legislative, and judicial branches are all controlled by the same party. Until midterms, there's not much that can be done at the federal level. States can oppose some issues, and some States are, but what exactly do you think the opposition can/should be doing that they aren't already?

IMHO, it's already too late for the midterms. In fact, it's probably too late for the 2028 presidential election, too. Democrats need to connect, and that connection isn't from showing up, out of nowhere, three months before an election and taking policy. The connection starts years before the election, by associating oneself to the things the voters also associate with. I think one of the most brilliant things Trump ever did was to get involved with WWE. That started the connection with Rural America. It was long before he ran for president, and it wasn't boring policy talk. It was, "Look at me! I'm your guy! I'm into wrestling, just like you!" Now, this is nothing new - Clinton played the sax on Arsenio Hall. But I think the Democrats are just terrible at it. And here's a great example: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMIuyMQRAq1

I have a solution, talk The Rock into running for the dems. Wrestling and fame taken care of in one fell swoop!

Connecting with people, building a mass movement, organizing institutions that can funnel people and effort into building the world and election results they want. Taking risks by taking a stand on issues and saying those issues are the reason to vote for them (not to avoid having the other side win). Doing local politics to demonstrate competence and show that they care and are building things, then show off those things to the rest of the country and say “look, we can do this everywhere” or at least “look at what we can do on a small scale but our vision is bigger and it’s limited by the fact our vision needs to happen on a national scale and can’t be achieved fully at this small scale”. Lots of things.

They should be putting out model legislation now on a monthly basis. No, none of it can pass, none of it can get to the floor. But they need bills that they can say they will pass if given a majority, and they need to be OK with the Republicans attacking them for the next 15 months. In fact the more time the Republicans spend attacking Democratic legislative proposals, the less time they are spending on selling their own.

The Democrats also need to put out radical proposals, not incrementalist ones or business-as-usualones along with fluffy messages about competency and management skills. The public does not want a party of competent middle managers whose primary skillset is watering down expectations and telling people to be patient while they redecorate. They need to put out policies that are going to make people spit out their coffee.