The optics for the left and the democrats for the last 3 months and ending with last nights classless behavior, have been unhinged. They can not persuade the middle or independents not to mention the more conservative old time dems of their own party with their views or riots. They have told the Americans they are only the party of non-white, super socialist, globalist and love terrorist. Good luck with that. They are quickly becoming a fringe party at this rate. I for one am thankful they have not figured this out.
On a serious note, I think you and others are correct to point this out.
Where as once the Democrats were clever to cobble together a political coalition of disparate groups via identity politics, I believe they had to do this for political survival as their anti-American (socialist) message simply was not resonating with the electorate outside of the hardcore left. Thus they had to wrap together the fringe groups along with minorities to stave off electoral defeat.
Bill Clinton started this and pretty well mastered it. Al Gore came within an eyelash of beating Bush, as did Kerry to a lessor extent.
No matter how many may deny it, Obama had a built in structural advantage because of his race along with the benefit of two very weak Republican opponents.
Now, however, Democrats have become completely wrapped around the axle of identity politics and have become the Party of the freaks, Marxists, and social outcasts. The more they try to fight Trump the more they publicly identify themselves as nothing more than these societal malcontents bound together with their Marxist brethren.
I believe that indeed the Democrats will continue to decline in power and prestige. The tide is already turning and will turn more and faster as society as a whole begins to publicly transition to open support for Conservative ideas (Republicans). In this, Hollywood, the media, and academia really are on the trailing edge of this transformation.
They didn't understand the Tea Party. They didn't understand the votes for changing Congressional leadership, in part because it was clouded by Obama. But they clearly did not understand or recognize the great simmering angst of the public even as demonstrated by huge "wrong track" numbers. They just dismissed all this up to a few angry white males. So misunderstood and wrong were they that they didn't see Trump for what he represented and they consistently kept denying he had any chance whatsoever.
So the cultural elites are really on the trailing edge of what I think will become a permanent political realignment that I believe we are currently witnessing.
So, I think your comments are essentially correct in identification.