Did you catch it?
he should work with us for humane immigration policy that reflects American values
The prez most certainly will not. As evidenced by his viciously racist characterization of Latinos during the very first minutes of his campaign in 2015:
When do we beat Mexico at the border? They're laughing at us, at our stupidity. And now they are beating us economically. They are not our friend, believe me. But they're killing us economically. The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else's problems. (PAID APPLAUSE) Thank you. It's true, and these are the best and the finest. When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're not sending you. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we're getting. And it only makes common sense. It only makes common sense. They're sending us not the right people. It's coming from more than Mexico. It's coming from all over South and Latin America, and it's coming probably—probably—from the Middle East. But we don't know. Because we have no protection and we have no competence, we don't know what's happening. And it's got to stop and it's got to stop fast.
As evidenced by how, at a rally a couple of months ago (as but one example among multitudes), the prez floated the idea of making the southern border a free-fire zone. (He wasn’t joking.)
As evidenced by the existence and aggressive expansion of a vast network of concentration camps in which federal and private guards illegally confine, orphan, torture, and even kill immigrants and asylum-seekers, including children and babies—camps which the prez boasts about.
You could rightfully say that it’s helpful for Democratic leaders to point out the painfully obvious things that Republicans should be doing differently, for the good of the country. You could call Pelosi’s statement a mere rhetorical flourish. But it is actually hugely significant and harmful. Here’s what it does:
It manufactures the possibility of Republican good intentions. (Leading congressional Democrats and the corporate press do this all the time.) It serves to pretend that we don’t already know that the prez is a proto-genocidal fascist. (We aren’t going to beat fascism with lies and innuendo. It takes frankness and boldness.)
Most importantly, it lets democratic leaders avoid the meaning of what is objectively true, in terms of what the Constitution and our well-being consequently require them to do.
So long as it’s within the realm of the possible for the prez to start abiding by our society’s rules and by basic humanity, leading congressional Democrats give themselves leeway to argue for that, as they go about politics as usual. But if they were to acknowledge objective reality and foreclose that possibility, it would mean that they need to admit to the gravity of the emergency that we face, re-evaluate their priorities, change what they are doing, and go all-out on stopping fascism and saving democracy.
The Democratic leadership doesn't want to do it. It’s understandable; most people don’t want to alter the arrangements and routines they’ve made in their lives. Long-time political leaders especially have built up years of deals and commitments to maintain. There are (I think mixed to incorrect) assessments of electoral risk. There are also less charitable assessments of motives, such as the maintenance of neoliberal empire and the avoidance of materially challenging subconscious (or not) white supremacism.
Yet our moment demands it.
Yet they refuse to.
We need all Democratic senators to vote against all Republican nominees. We need the Democratic House majority to zero out funding for irredeemably fascist agencies like ICE and CPB (yes, #AbolishICE), with all the public image fracas and institutional upheaval that that entails. Concentration camps are for liberating, not for funding. We need the House Judiciary Committee and other committees to immediately commence impeachment inquiries, so that in the end the House declares officially as the elected body closest to the people and as the opposition party that this prez and his administrators and judges are corrupt, criminal, malicious, incompetent, harmful to the republic, and dangerous to life on Earth.
Instead, the likes of Pelosi and Schumer openly strive to work with this prez on things like an infrastructure bill. They’re as much as begging to help fascists make the trains run on time. (And these fascists hate trains!)
Democrats: Stop trying to run the country and start trying to save it.
Ask yourself honestly: Do you think that Trump and Stephen Miller want non-white immigrants alive and treated well, or do you think they want them suffering or even dead?
And then, what does that mean the opposition party must do?
The possibility of avoiding serious difficulty and confrontation is foreclosed. To try to risk nothing actually risks everything.