So, I watched the inauguration.

The sky did not fall, as balefully predicted by some, nor did the heavens open with a voice proclaiming “This is my beloved Trump, in whom I am well pleased,” as prayerfully hoped for by others.

As for the inauguration speech itself, it seemed largely a rehash of prior Trump stump speeches, especially the “Darth Vader” diatribe at the Republican Convention. When the most memorable phrase in the latest iteration is “American carnage,” and an apologist is reduced to explaining why describing it as “bleak” is more positive than describing it as “dark,” it is pretty obvious that it was, indeed, a dark view of the state of the nation, albeit a view possibly shared by many of those in attendance.

Then came Saturday. Massive rallies across the nation and around the world – even Antarctica – sent an unmistakable message that there is a difference of opinion among Americans as to what is desirable in order to make America great, or allow it to continue being so.

How, or if, the new president received the message is largely unknown, although future tweets will probably clarify the matter. What is known is that, in the face of unprecedented numbers in the streets, in front of a memorial to Americans who died in the service of their country, a president fixated on numbers ignored them in order to carp about a media conspiracy to underestimate the number of folks attending his inauguration the day before.

All in all, it was enough to send disheartened Democrats to bed, once again dreaming of sugar plum fairies and a Trump defeat down the road.

Not so fast.

To begin with, Donald Trump is not the greatest danger to those things progressives hold dear.

Without a compliant Congress, what a president can do on their own is largely circumscribed by the Constitution, unless that honored document is ignored as well. Not only is the new Congress compliant, it is more ideologically driven, and more radical, than the president himself.

In the House of Representatives, a Republican majority sits entrenched within gerrymandered districts, buoyed by unlimited campaign funds sufficient to fend off all but the strongest of challengers. In the Senate, 23 Democrats, and two independents who caucus with the Democrats, will be defending their seats in 2018. Only eight Republican senators are at risk. In both chambers, a Democratic breakthrough in the mid-term elections is unlikely.

Which brings up the second fly in the ointment. To have more than a snowball’s chance of beating the odds in 2018, the Democratic Party needs to become relevant to a majority of our citizens.

It cannot do so by maintaining the existing status quo. Sorry, Nancy. Pay attention, Chuck.

Democrats need to come to grips with the fact that Donald Trump is president not because Barack Obama was not on the ticket, or Hillary’s campaign sometimes made a dead flounder appear more electrifying by comparison. Trump is president because enough of the people (who voted) rejected the Democrat message to swing the Electoral College in his favor – or just didn’t hear a coherent message from the Dems beyond being critical of Donald Trump’s temperament and qualifications to be president. It’s not enough to be against. You must clearly offer something to be for.

Venture out from the great cities. Leave the interstate, and take the two-lane. Spend some time in the small towns rather than just passing through on the way to somewhere else. Listen to the folks whose skills are becoming increasingly superfluous in a rapidly changing economy. And yes, count the shuttered factories, both large and small, that once supported a middle class.

Listen to the voters who, collectively, cleaned your clock – not by much, but by more than enough.

From that conversation, speak to their needs and aspirations. If the party that once prided itself in representing ordinary Americans, male and female, cannot come up with better responses to the challenges we face than a platoon of plutocrats holed up in Washington, D.C., or wintering at some exclusive resort, well, frankly, Democrats don’t deserve to make a comeback.

Nor will they.