Campaign Action
This should be a no-brainer. Donald Trump is a dangerous, unhinged would-be despot. The Republican Congress clearly will not be a check on him. Hell, they don't even seem to understand they're supposed to be, and that extends to leadership. In this case, it is clearly up to the most powerful among the minority—the Senate Democrats—to use every tool at their disposal to limit the damage to the nation Trump and his lackeys will do. But apparently, that's not entirely understood in the caucus.
Shut out of power in Congress and the administration, Democratic lawmakers are constrained in their ability to have their demands for an independent Russia investigation met. But Democrats are not entirely without options. The party could invoke procedural tactics to disrupt and slow down Senate business, and pledge to do so until Republicans acquiesce to their requests.
But some Democrats aren’t ready to go that far.
“There’s a lot of business we’ve got to be doing right now that is unrelated to this, and I don’t think we should have an overall rule about not doing business,” Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia said in an interview, adding: “We can chew gum and walk at the same time.” [...]
Following Comey’s dismissal, Democrats seized on the fact that the president had fired the person heading up the election investigation. “The president of the United States just fired the person who was investigating his campaign, which should set off alarm bells across the country,” Senator Cory Booker said in a statement immediately after the news broke.
But it’s unclear, how far Democrats are willing to go to press for an independent prosecutor, or whether lawmakers will coalesce behind a specific course of action in the days and weeks ahead.
As unbelievable as it seems, there are still some Democrats who aren’t grasping just how dire a threat to our governing institutions Trump and Republicans are. These few seem to still be thinking that there are Republicans who care about the country and who will put patriotism before partisanship.
Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley isn’t one of them. They need to hear him. “I think we have to convey that it’s not business as usual,” says Merkley. “I think my caucus hopes that Republicans will join us in fighting for the integrity of the American system of government. If they won’t join us, then we’re going to have to take aggressive actions to pursue this where it needs to go, with or without them.” That’s the message Mitch McConnell and his Republicans need to hear. It’s the message Democrats need to be united in sending.