Some of us may have decided that the rejection of Hillary Clinton, one of the best-qualified presidential nominees in history, meant that this country would never elect a woman — or at least not any time soon. Some of us may have concluded that the ascension of a narcissistic, race-baiting, immigrant-blaming, know-nothing, affair-having, TV huckster and faux-billionaire Republican to the highest office in the land revealed an electorate that had rumbled so far off course that those who wanted to oust Trump would consider only a safe, centrist, white, male Democrat to replace him.

Some of us may have succumbed to despair after Donald Trump was elected president.


That is: The Democratic nominee must be utterly, unassailably vanilla lest the orange one enact the ultimate disaster — reelection — a prospect that terrifies many into near catatonia, including me.

But not Senator Elizabeth Warren: “I am not afraid, and for Democrats to win, you can’t be afraid either,” she has taken to saying lately. But she has been running in that fearless way all along. She was advised that her moment had passed, that the obstacles, especially her ill-advised claim to Native American ancestry, for which she has now apologized, would be insurmountable.

Wrong. She has pursued very much her own kind of campaign: relentlessly focused, a slow burn. She set down stakes in states way beyond the few with unearned influence because they pick first. She leaned into her Harvard law professor wonkiness with relentless policy proposals that set the agenda for the race, even as she played up her folksy, Okie roots and the family struggles that make her more relatable to some voters. Everything about her run has been steady and measured, except her actual running: Because how better to quiet worries that you might be too old at 70 to be president than by trotting in parades, bounding onto stages, sprinting for a train?


It’s working. We’ve seen Warren rising steadily in the polls nationally, and in some crucial states. She even tops former vice president Joe Biden — the safe, centrist, white, male Democrat in question — in a couple of the most recent surveys. Her rise coincides with some Biden fizzle, including underwhelming debate performances in which he gave some meandering, perplexing, tone-deaf answers. Whoever goes up against Trump will have to be sharper than Biden has been so far — especially since the bar for the incumbent is so low that Trump will clear it as long as he doesn’t drool on stage (or possibly even if he does).

And all of that was true before this week’s seismic events. Now we’re entering Crazy Town — or Crazy-er Town. And the electability calculations for a president facing possible impeachment are looking mighty different.

A transcript released Wednesday made official what Trump had already admitted to: The president of the United States asked the leader of a foreign country to “do us a favor,” and work with the Justice Department to investigate Biden, Trump’s likely 2020 opponent, and Biden’s son Hunter for alleged corruption.

The offense, the betrayal of his office here, is blindingly clear.

Trump is responding the way he always does when his corruption is exposed: Admitting to what should be a disqualifying offense and saying “So what,” then, “No, you are!”


Trump corrupt? Biden is the corrupt one, the president and his sizeable cult following protest. Trump’s MO is to splash his own muck over his enemies, hoping it will stick.

And, as we’ve seen time and again, it does: In 2016, his machine spread false claims about Clinton’s health, and her purported role in giving US uranium rights to Russia in exchange for donations to her foundation. Those lies were amplified by the party, social media, and his lackeys at Fox News, and believed by enough voters to help put Trump over the top.

Those voters — way beyond the reach of fact-checkers — will believe whatever Trump says about Biden, true or not. Or they’ll be less enthusiastic about voting at all. That’s not Biden’s fault in the least, but it has become his liability.

It is deeply unjust, and a measure of just how diseased our politics have become. But now, believing Biden can beat Trump requires just as much optimism — more, in fact — as believing Warren can.

Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham can be reached at yvonne.abraham@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @GlobeAbraham.