I had a very difficult time taking Trump seriously as a Presidential candidate, when he announced he was running in 2016. GOP politics were so predictable, and the heir apparent to their throne at that time was Jeb Bush. It's an anomaly of Republican politics that two members of the Bush family, George H. W. and George W., managed to get elected, the latter to two terms, in spite of bringing a level of mediocrity and incompetence to the Presidency that we hadn't seen there since Herbert Hoover. I fully expected them to go with the name, nominate Jeb, and take a beating at the hands of Hillary Clinton.
I really wasn't expecting another Republican to get past the Bush name, in spite of the fact that it represented nothing of substance. But Trump did get past, and then, instead of seeing his support evaporate, which was typical, he managed to hold on. I'm not convinced that there wasn't cheating on every level every time Trump ran, the whining he did about "rigged elections" was a very loud clue that he and his sycophants were doing it on mutiple levels.
Then we had four years of what can only be honestly characterized as the single most incompetent Presidency in American history. Trump did not know the law, and felt like he was personally not bound by it. He made all of the mistakes that he did which caused the failure of multiple business ventures of his own. The country was saved from more damage than he potentially could have done by Democrats winning the mid-term elections in 2018 and putting a stop to his Presidency.
For months, there were those in the media who speculated that if he lost the election in 2020, he would not leave the White House peacefully. And that's exactly what happened. He was restrained by a few people still in his administration determined to keep out the worst abuses. But he instigated the insurrection that attacked the capitol and tried to prevent Congress from certifying electoral votes that added up to victory for Joe Biden.
So how is it that he could get away with doing all of that, and not be held accountable for it? That's where part of my frustration lies as a democrat.
We entered 2021 with a majority in both Houses of Congress, not a super majority, but one that had the potential to take a few risks to get things done. And there were some things that were discussed. It would not have been easy, but risks never are, and there is always the question about how the other side would take advantage of it when they get back in power. But the gravity of the situation needs to be considered, and that means taking the risk, and then doing some smart thinking while we still have a majority in both houses to make things a little more difficult.
I've been convinced, by several experts in the field, including a few who comment on television, that the filibuster should have been done away with, for the purpose of packing that damn Supreme Court and getting three things accomplished. One, keeping the court from the ridiculously unconstitutional ruling they issued on Presidential immunity, which we did see coming when the appellate court pointed out why it was unconstitutional in succinct, clear terms. Two, preventing Roe from being overturned. And three, expiditing his insurrection trial, which the court could have simply picked up out of the docket, heard immediately and then ruled that what he did was insurrection. A legal expert no less prestigious than Jill Wine Banks made that observation.
With enough justices to eliminate the right wing bias, the Biden administration could have gone straight to the chief justice and he could have chosen to hear the case. But it simply doesn't appear that this crisis, which we all saw coming, was important enough, or fearsome enough, to get Democrats up off their rear ends. That's why it is difficult, now, to motivate me to give money or figure out what I'm going to support.
And What About Now?
Trump had four years of unending news coverage, free of charge, the full attention of the media, and everyone knew where he was headed. The whining and caterwauling over the election being stolen was a public, open warning that he was going to make a concerted effort to steal the next one. Democrats were warned, the methods they were using, getting county-level people who were trustworthy out of office, and replacing them with their people, especially in battleground states, was visible. And what did we do about it?
Nothing.
There was a lot of talk. There was our supposed ace in the hole, Mark Elias. And when the ballots were counted, and the numbers looked so even and arranged, the exact percentages it took to just eke out wins in those battleground states, where he increased his vote total in every county, which was quite suspicious, there were voices raised to at least go back and make a real effort to see if there was cheating of the kind they had almost announced they were going to do.
But that would have been too political. And all of their whining and caterwauling, countered by Democrats insistence that the election could not have been stolen, made it very difficult for Democrats to make the accusation that Trump stole it. But the candidate wouldn't make the effort, whether she was out of money, or tired, or didn't want to look political.
And so here we are.
There's no leadership and no sense of direction, no matter what straws some people are clutching. Harris and Walz disappeared. The lame duck months of the administration and Congress bore no resemblance to the activity that took place during the previous administration, and while I am not suggesting that should have been imitated, I am suggesting that we could have done a lot more to make this transition a lot less easy than it was. And that would have at least matched the rhetoric about Trump being an existential threat to Democracy.
I go back to what we could have accomplished legislatively in the first two years of the Biden administration if that filibuster was not there. And those who think the other side isn't going to get rid of it at the precise moment it is most convenient for them, I've got a lot of oceanfront property in Arizona I am anxious to sell. How much could have been put in place to plan for what we saw was coming? Because there was never any doubt that Trump was going to run again, and that he would be a threat to democracy, and as much as could be done should be done to stop him.
Republicans miss no chance, when they have a majority, to pass laws which, down the road, will weaken Democrats. They did it in 2010, when they got majorities in state legislatures and changed the makeup of Congress by massive gerrymandering that still has not been undone. But when maps are put down in front of Democratic legislatures, such as happened in Pennsylvania in 2018, we put the lines back where they're more even, not to our advantage. I count nine states now, where there are more Democrats than Republicans in the state, but where Republicans have supermajorities or majorities in legislatures.
So we've had some angry outbursts from Democrats in Congress, some finger pointing, some lawsuits filed to block attempts to rule by executive order, but he's still out there, on the loose, embarassing the country, demonstrating a measure of contempt for the institutions of democratic government and incompetence in knowing what and who they're for, and being the threat to democracy that was part of the campaign rhetoric.
We have three house seats, long shots by any stretch of the imagination, but being decided in special elections with nothing else on the ballot. Who, in Congress, is behind the election campaigns to try and win those seats, which changes everything? That's where my money is going, but I've found I have to contribute to each candidate individually. Who has made trips to Florida to stand with those two candidates, at this point? Yes, that's risky, they're fairly red districts. But it looks like business as usual.
I'm a lifelong Democrat, I started voting in 1976, for Carter, and while I don't have fortunes to give, like billionaires, I've given sacrificially. I've volunteered for campaigns, knocked doors, made phone calls, and I have the kind of education and political background that lets me contribute to intelligent conversation. I'm to the left of the center of the party, always have been. I'm just saying, that if the party wants to engage voters and supporters like me, they need to show some interest in doing it. Protecting turf and being more concerned about holding on to power than risking it to bring about change does not make me happy about giving my support or getting involved.
And if those we've elected and sent to Washington don't appear to be interested in doing much more than Carville's suggestion that they simply roll over, then count me out. It's time we elected new leadership.
No comments:
Post a Comment