Could there be a more poignant figure in American public life than the tough-talking Democratic politician? There are plenty of them these days. You might have heard one on a podcast, dropping an F-bomb with a Pentagon planner’s care, or seen one on a cable television show railing about Donald Trump while trying to sound a bit like him—cocksure, blunt, “authentic”. These Democrats, particularly the ones angling to run for president, know that their party’s donors and other activists want a fighter. Their problem, having lost control of every branch of government, and having achieved a collective approval rating lower than Mr Trump’s, is that they can’t seem to get themselves into a fight they can actually win.