There is an opening for 2020 Democrats. Donald Trump is not a panacea, especially not for conservatives. To his credit, he’s exposed massive, structural problems that have been exacerbated for generations by careerist politicians.

Yet his actions, while a step in the right direction, haven’t done much yet for the average Joe. And the free market ideologues and corporate shills in the GOP either stand in his way or won’t help.

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But for the 2020 Democrats to take advantage of this they need to set aside their take-no-prisoners extremism and address real people where they actually live.

Here are 6 steps the Democrats must take to defeat Trump – but won’t:

1. Acknowledge Trump is sometimes right – on China, immigration, something.

This simple act of humility by a Democrat would go a long way toward reassuring the American public that the entire party hasn’t lost its collective mind and can therefore be trusted.

The truth is, Trump is hardly an extremist.

In fact, he’s probably the most liberal Republican to ever sit in the White House – one reason I didn’t vote for him.

And on a host of issues, not least immigration, Trump is saying and doing what virtually all Democrats did and said just five or ten years ago.

What’s changed is that national Democrats have become hostages of the lunatic Antifa wing of their party.

If a few of the 2020 candidates could muster the guts to defy the crazies, they would get a serious look by average people.

That’s one reason why virtually everyone I know is going ga-ga over Tulsi Gabbard – because she sounds actually sane.

2. Apologize to the Deplorables. Half the country voted for Donald Trump. Yet, to hear the Democratic candidates talk, only racists, homophobes and Nazis did.

According to far left Democrats like Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and most of the media, Democratic candidates should throw milkshakes at Trump voters, not ask them for their votes.

Yet to win, the Democrats have to knock this insanity off.

According to polling done by Rasmussen Reports, some 36 percent of black Americans support Donald Trump.

A NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll taken in January 2019 found an astonishing 50 percent of self-identified Hispanic voters say they approve of the job Donald Trump is doing as president.

The candidates therefore have to admit that some members of their party have been less than respectful of ordinary Americans who don’t work at Google.

Talk climate change up if you must, but not at the expense of working families who can’t afford a Prius much less $35,000 in new solar panels.

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, one of the few of candidates who sounds even remotely sane, has done this. To win, they all have to.

3. Admit ObamaCare made things worse. The Democrats have a winning hand with health care. The entire system is corrupt – and health insurance CEOs are collecting $20 million annual bonuses while ordinary working families can’t pay their deductibles and premiums.

Yet to have any credibility at all, the candidates should admit that ObamaCare actually made a bad situation worse.

Far from “standing up to the insurance companies,” as Bernie Sanders urges, the Democrats actually cut a devil’s bargain with them.

“You go along with ObamaCare,” the Democrats said, “and we’ll force the country to buy your overpriced products and then let you raise prices as much as you want.”

4. Lose the righteousness. No one likes being hectored to by a self-righteous scold. And that is what smug progressive ideologues like Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris can sound like. Or the obnoxious virtue-signaling of Corey Booker or Bill de Blasio that appeals only to the perpetually aggrieved.

If the Democrats want to win, they have to be likeable. This is something both Obama and Bill Clinton understood.

With few exceptions, most of the current crop of candidates don’t. They better learn fast.

5. Moderate on abortion. This is heresy for Democrats and why they absolutely must take this step.

On abortion and other sensitive moral issues, most of the candidates sound like strident fanatics, not thoughtful people.

They are so terrified of deviating one inch from the Planned Parenthood/NARAL script that they sound inhuman.

If they want to win, the candidates should stand up to the abortion lobby and concede that, yes, late-term abortions bother a lot of people.

Acting like abortion is a great gift to celebrate rather than a tragedy only alienates two thirds of the country.

Joe Biden shot himself in the foot by flip-flopping (again) on the Hyde Amendment. He now looks even weaker than he did before.

6. Downplay climate change (for now). To win, Democrats have to prove they are reasonable, not fanatics.

And the truth is, climate change is not a pressing issue with most Americans who actually have a job and work for a living.

Sure, I have solar panels on my house and want an electric car. But I don’t want the U.S. economy shut down with crazy “cap and trade” schemes that have not worked anywhere they’ve been tried (check out the carbon credit market if you want to know what the world really thinks of this idea).

Talk climate change up if you must, but not at the expense of working families who can’t afford a Prius much less $35,000 in new solar panels.

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If a candidate did all these 6 steps, he or she would have a realistic shot at taking down The Donald.

But for the Democrats, being righteous is always more important than actually winning.

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