So, how to get past the demonization to actually have a conversation with everyone who needs to have the conversation?
If Trump can get elected, anybody can. And those same voters who believed in Trump won't be doing so hot in another 4-8 years. Should my current beliefs hold true, there is simply nothing "trickle down" can achieve for those voters. Picture the Republican resurgence as one last gasp before the plunge. Democrats simply have not presented as a big enough change from the status quo. The campaign will be tough, but it must be fought. I have every confidence that the voters who gave Obama and Trump their edge will yield us their support if we simply show them a path forward to help them.
Obama may have been new but he certainly wasn't radical, unless by radical you mean...
Young, charismatic, energetic. Obama rode a wave of backlash against Bush and Iraq. Against Republicans. Riding the wave of backlash against economic turmoil. Promising hope and change with an address at his nomination that reached people's hearts. It was a change in policy from the 90s, from the Republicans, and it was delivered on an emotional level. They denied Clinton in 2008 because voters wanted something fresh. They believed America had turned a page.
That plea for change has not gone away. Sanders and Trump captured that energy in 2016. You need to capture it again and run with it.
Obama skipped past racial tension. Trump skipped past moral tension. We can skip past Republican dogma and help our people.
We just need a campaign that is honestly telling it, showing the problem we all know is there, and delivering a big solution.
We win the conversation by holding a conservation. And not holding back. By dumping the status quo and moving forward.