The Democratic Party could use a makeover. Donald Trump’s victory in November showed that the party can no longer rely on bashing him to win elections. The Republican president is trusted more than Democrats, whose approval rating is the lowest it’s been in 35 years. Democrats are searching for a positive vision to inspire voters, and leading the pack, at least among party elites, is the brand of “abundance”. Popularised in a recent book by journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, abundance types advocate for overhauling a decades-old liberalism of bureaucratic red tape with one that builds clean energy, infrastructure and, above all, affordable housing. Even Zohran Mamdani, the socialist Democratic nominee for New York City mayor who wants to freeze rents, has given the abundance wing of the Democratic Party a few nods. But the high-powered Maryland suburbs outside Washington suggest the politics of abundance can be treacherous.