With a fellow showman about to enter the White House, Franken is grappling with one of the biggest challenges of his political career: does he use the megaphone afforded by his own showbiz past to fight for progressive values in Trump’s Washington? At risk in that scenario is the Democratic senator’s ability under total Republican rule at the federal level to effectively represent Minnesota, a state Trump came close to winning. “I will take it one day at a time, believe it or not,” Franken said in an interview.