Nearly two years ago, Chuck Schumer stood at the podium of the National Press Club and delivered a prescient speech. Speaking in the wake of the Democrats’ midterm election drubbing, Schumer warned of an impending political crisis that would introduce a new level of acrimony into the body politic if “middle-class decline” continued apace.

The solution was simple. “We must convince Americans that government can be on their side and is not just a tool of special interests,” he argued. Democrats would have to make it clear “that we will make government the people’s champion, not captive to the powerful.” Paraphrasing Bill Clinton, he urged the party to “prove that the era of big corporate influence over government is over.”

Two years later, as Donald Trump prepares to enter the Oval Office, the new Senate minority leader is well-positioned to take the Democrats in a more populist direction.