Tonight could make or break the election for the Democrats. After a doom-and-gloom couple of days, they should bear that in mind

'They don't talk about policy anymore. It's just Donald Trump — bad. That's their whole, whole strategy,' Peter Navarro, chief White House trade adviser, told reporters today. And he's got a point

Actress and activist Tracee Ellis Ross speaks in front of photo of Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee former Vice President Joe Biden and Presumptive Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention (DNCC via Getty Images)

Joe Biden will, after decades of trying, accept the Democratic Party’s nomination for president on Thursday night. But, because the party has blown many a big lead, Wednesday is the biggest night of their virtual convention.

The party has laid it on rather thick over the first two nights in primetime.

There has been the inevitable case-making from Democratic honchos and heavyweights like former presidents (Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton), a former secretary of state (John Kerry), congressional voices (Chuck Schumer with Nancy Pelosi to come Wednesday night), Democratic voters and even former Republican officials disgusted by the president’s antics.

But there also has been so much doom and gloom that if one stuffed it into large envelopes and boxes, it would be impossible to fit it all inside a small fleet of the United States Postal Service big rig trucks that Trump seems to want off the road pronto.

We have heard about numerous “loved ones” described as “dying alone in unsafe nursing homes.”

“Our nurses are overwhelmed and unprotected, and our essential workers are treated as dispensable. We live in the richest country in history and yet we do not guarantee this most basic human right,” ALS victim Ady Barkam told the country on night two of the four-night event. “Everyone living in America should get the healthcare they need regardless of their employment status or ability to pay.”

In a line that could have been ripped from a Trump speech about Democrats, Barkam accused the president of “trying to take away millions of people’s health insurance.” He called a second Trump term an “existential threat.”

The Democrats have fed us dark video packages that over-amplify many of the legitimate problems the country faces, chased with syrupy warnings about democracy’s impending death and musical numbers more befitting a memorial service than a political convention intended to gin up votes. This has been some dark programming, folks.

Former President Clinton described the Oval Office as a “storm center” with Trump as its occupant because “there’s only chaos,” adding: “At a time like this, the Oval Office should be a command center.”

“Now you have to decide whether to renew his contract or hire someone else. If you want a president who defines the job as spending hours a day watching TV and zapping people on social media, he’s your man,” Clinton said. “Denying, distracting, and demeaning works great if you’re trying to entertain and inflame. But in a real crisis, it collapses like a house of cards.”

Former First Lady Michelle Obama received fawning coverage on some cable news networks for her admittedly powerful remarks on Monday night. But her renewal of her 2016 advice for folks to “go high” when Trump goes “low” seemed contradictory to both her own tongue-lashing for him and the repeated descriptions by her fellow Democrats during that and the next night of the president as a clear and present danger.

Democrats are dancing around what could – and should – be their core message: We think Donald Trump is unfit for office, and Joe Biden is a return to normalcy, with the equally level-headed Kamala Harris ready in the bullpen to either take over or give the 2024 Republican nominee a down-to-the-wire finish.

Instead, we have been treated to two nights of programming that The Donald must be somewhat envious of. The “American carnage” president could have given us — and might next week — just this kind of description of America as a hellscape on a (foreign-made) bullet train to internal strife and global irrelevance.

Then there have been the eyebrow-spraining reminders of the soon-to-be-nominee’s 77 years on this planet, making him the oldest general election candidate in US history and the would-be oldest president ever sworn into office.

“When I ran for president in 1976, Joe Biden was my first and most effective supporter in the Senate. For decades, he has been my loyal and dedicated friend,” former President Carter gleefully told voters on Tuesday night.

There is little hiding from Biden’s age. But to repeatedly remind voters of it as Trump barnstorms battleground states with makeshift airport tarmac rallies contending Biden has lost more than a few mental steps boggles the mind.

“They don't talk about policy anymore. It's just Donald Trump — bad. That's their whole, whole strategy,” Peter Navarro, chief White House trade adviser, told reporters on Wednesday afternoon.

He’s got a point.

But Democrats, having torn down voters for two nights, have a chance to use the virtual convention’s final four hours showcasing Biden’s vision and providing some uplifting and forward-looking ideas.

Sure, for many Americans, the Biden-Harris combination is a bridge away from the Trump chaos. The polls, so far, show that. But expect the race to tighten unless the former VP and Democrats use Wednesday night to pivot towards a brighter message.

Once again, Democrats would be wise to listen to perhaps their best strategic thinker and operator: Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She will tell voters this on Wednesday night: “We come together again, not to decry the darkness, but to light a way forward for our country.”

Can Democrats avoid losing to a former reality television host twice in four years? Wednesday night will go a long way to answering that question.