The Democratic journey to the populist left

Bernie Sanders is back in the saddle. Had Jon Ossoff, a centrist Democrat, won the special congressional election in Georgia on Tuesday, the party’s Clintonite wing would have been the real victor. Mr Ossoff promised to “make Trump furious”. Instead he made him happy. The Democrats keep chalking up moral victories against Donald Trump. But they have yet to achieve a single win. What might have been dismissed as the result of a one-off election will tilt the battle for control of a confused — and leaderless — party. Its biggest blow, of course, was Hillary Clinton’s defeat last November. Her backers poured money into the Georgia race, which was the most expensive in US history. But money is no substitute for passion. A win for Mr Ossoff would have signalled that the pragmatic, Emmanuel Macron, wing of the party could deliver results. It would also have emboldened Republicans to detach from Mr Trump. It may even have killed off his healthcare reform, which now looks likelier to pass into

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