A handful of smart Democrats are warning their party that it is hurtling down a path of self-destruction.  Now one of the most effective Democrat office-holders of this era is joining a handful of Democrat pundits in warning that the obsessive hatred of Donald Trump by progressive Democrats threatens to not only derail the party's plan to retake the House of Representatives, but damage its longer-term health.

Mark Penn, the pollster who guided Hillary Clinton's first presidential campaign, and his business partner Doug Schoen have read the tea leaves and have been warning Democrats to drop Trump-hatred and the Russiagate fantasy.  But as smart and respected as both men were when they were seen as loyalists, they lacked the standing of office-holders, real wielders of political power.

No such qualms exist when it comes to Willie Brown, who dominated California politics as speaker of the California state Assembly, and then as a second political career became the 41st mayor of San Francisco for eight years.  There is no one in American politics more savvy and ruthless than Brown, a man who never lets ideological illusions get in the way of his Main Chance, which is always about power and money.  He left political office in 2004 and since then has been a weekly columnist for the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle, as well as a political consultant, enjoying wealth, luxury, prominence, and power in the City by the Bay.  "Grudging admiration" is the term I and many other California Republicans use in describing him.

Now, in stark terms, he warns his compatriots to wake up and operate in the real world and realize that "Trump is more popular than Dems want to admit."

He leads with this: "It's time for the Democrats to stop bashing President Trump."

And then he implies something remarkable: that Dems are rooting for Americans to suffer in order to vindicate their hatred for Trump (and he's right).

Like it or not, a significant number of Americans are actually happy these days.  They are making money.  They feel safe, and they agree with with [sic] the president's protectionist trade policies, his call for more American jobs, even his immigration stance.

The jobs growth reports, the North Korea summit and the steady economy are beating out the Stormy Daniels scandal and the Robert Mueller investigation in Middle America, hands down.

So you are not going to win back the House by making it all about him.

Willie understands that rooting against America and the interests of ordinary people inflicts lasting damage.  He is not yet willing to say so explicitly, only imply it.  But it is right there in his expression, "Like it or not..."

We are at a remarkable political moment, as the combination of progressive dominance of academia and media has enabled Trump-hating delusions to be embraced by and maintained by the left-wing base of the party, which seriously wants impeachment.  Billionaire Tom Steyer is funding a $30-million campaign to push impeachment and play the Hitler card against not just Trump, but his supporters. 

I don't see Steyer, a San Francisco resident, heeding the warning of his former mayor.  Nor do I see Maxine Waters taking his wise counsel.  The blue wave and Russiagate fantasies are so comforting to the befuddled and deranged that they cannot let go.

TDS is real, and it can be lethal (politically).