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Nickel said it’s been done for a century in the UK. Canada also has a shadow cabinet in place.

"They watch the Cabinet closely, publicly challenging, scrutinizing and offering new ideas," Nickel said in his op-ed. "It’s democracy’s insurance policy. And it strengthens the government, too: There is no room for lazy ideas when rivals stand ready."

Nickel said U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate leader Chuck Schumer could appoint 26 Democratic members of Congress to go "one-on-one" with each member of Trump’s Cabinet.

"It’s really easy," Nickel said. "It’s a communications push. It’s about putting out our positive message to counter what we’re seeing from Trump. And if Trump or his Cabinet secretaries step out of line we’ve got somebody ready to go and answer, and be accountable to the American people on things we care about."

Nickel gave a list of potential picks for a shadow cabinet that could be appointed after Trump takes office in January:

>Senator-elect Adam Schiff, D-Calif. – Shadow Attorney General
>Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash. – Shadow Defense Secretary
>Rep. Suzan Delbene, D-Wash. – Shadow Commerce Secretary
>Rep. Rosa Delauro, D-Conn. – Shadow Health and Human Services Secretary
>Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-Conn. – Education Secretary
>Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, D-N.Y. – Shadow Secretary of State
>Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo. – Shadow Treasury Secretary
>Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill. – Shadow Veterans Affairs Secretary
>Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla. – Shadow Environmental Protection Agency administrator

"This is about putting a point person for advocacy groups, for the public, a lead messenger … we need to organize our opposition," Nickel said. "We can do our own American version of a [shadow cabinet] that will help Democrats do the thing we didn’t do, which is get out our positive message and talk about the things that folks are rightly concerned about."

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Democrats Propose Shadow Cabinet to Protect Democracy