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That is, Trumps core base of support those people who he says would stick by him even if he shot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue are people who have heard and appreciated all his nativist dog whistles: from his slur that Barack Obama was not born in America to his focus on voter suppression to his restricting transgender people in the military to his reversing affirmative action and imposing immigration restrictions. That white nationalist constituency is beyond the reach for good reason of any Democratic candidate.

But Trump did not win, and could not win again, with that group alone. His genius was expanding beyond that nativist core with just enough votes in the right places to get him over the top by pushing other buttons. These were things that many conservative and centrist voters believe in their guts, even if they dont articulate them.

Trump connects with these gut issues and takes them in a destructive direction. Its vital for Democrats to connect with them and take them in a constructive direction.

What issues? Heres my list:

We cant take in every immigrant who wants to come here; we need, metaphorically speaking, a high wall that assures Americans we can control our border with a big gate that lets as many people in legally as we can effectively absorb as citizens.

The Muslim world does have a problem with pluralism gender pluralism, religious pluralism and intellectual pluralism and suggesting that terrorism has nothing to do with that fact is nave; countering violent extremism means constructively engaging with Muslim leaders on this issue.

Americans want a president focused on growing the economic pie, not just redistributing it. We do have a trade problem with China, which has reformed and closed instead of reformed and opened. We have an even bigger problem with automation wiping out middle-skilled work and we need to generate more blue-collar jobs to anchor communities.

Political correctness on college campuses has run ridiculously riot. Americans want leaders to be comfortable expressing patriotism and love of country when globalization is erasing national identities. America is not perfect, but it is, more often than not, a force for good in the world.

Voters dont listen through their ears. They listen through their stomachs. And when you connect with voters in their guts, they feel respected, and when they feel respected, they will listen to anything including big issues that are true even if Democrats believe them. Such as the fact that a majority of Americans like Obamacare and want to see it built to last, and a majority of Americans do not like the way Trump is despoiling the environment and bringing back coal.

Indeed, the biggest wind power states in America Texas, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota, Oklahoma and North Dakota are all red states. The Democrats literally have the wind at their backs on health care and clean energy.

But to be heard, they need candidates who can pass a gut check with the more moderate Trump/G.O.P. voters. Just 10 percent of Trump voters would suffice. Trumps core base is solid, but hes clearly losing the soft support around his core. Democrats can grow into the soft support as long as theyre smart and Trump continues to just swell.

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A version of this op-ed appears in print on August 9, 2017, on Page A19 of the New York edition with the headline: Democrats, Start Aiming For the Gut.

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Democrats, Start Aiming for the Gut - New York Times