Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison isn't having any of this "wait and see" crap. Donald Trump's first several appointments are people who, taken together, represent the deplorable ideals of racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and misogyny, among others. Ellison said Monday he doesn’t need any more input to know “where he's going with this thing.” He appeared to be responding to the notion that we should give Trump a chance. David Wright writes:
"I am giving him a chance. He has selected [Stephen] Bannon, he's not talking about reform, he's bringing lobbyists in already," Ellison -- an emerging leader in the Democratic Party who is mounting a bid for Democratic National Committee chair -- said in an interview on "New Day."
"My thing is, yeah, we gave him a chance already. And he put in Bannon, he put in [ret. Lt. Gen. Michael] Flynn, and he put in Jeff Sessions," the Minnesota lawmaker continued, rattling off a list of hardliners and loyalists whom Trump has named to high-profile administration posts. "To me, he's already made it pretty clear where he's going with this thing."
Ellison noted that Sessions had been declined a judgeship in the Reagan era because of his "record of racism" and said he was concerned about that. Indeed—back in the ‘80s, Sessions was rejected from the bench but today he's qualified to lead our nation's chief legal department?
Ellison was also asked if he would step down from his Congressional seat to lead the DNC if he were chosen. He declined to answer, but added:
"Let's focus on what went wrong in the election. Turnout. The problem was turnout. And so that's what we -- we've got to get somebody who is good at turnout."
We're going to need this type of outspoken leadership in the face of the Trump administration if we're gonna right the ship to defeat him in 2020.