which is titled Trump inspired a movement, all right, and is well worth the brief time to read.
Robinson begins with this paragraph:
It matters that the crowd for the Women’s March on Washington was far bigger than that for President Trump’s inauguration. The new president often boasts of having started a great movement. Let it be the one that was born with Saturday’s massive protests.
He then cites Metro statistics, showing almost twice as many trips Saturday as for the inauguration. Here is is worth noting that while Robinson does say Saturday’s total was the 2nd highest in Metro’s history, topped only by Obama’s inauguration, he could also have mentioned that Friday’s total was less than on an ordinary weekday.
Robinson then reminds us of how many demonstrations there were around the country, and the world, cites Reince Preibus complaining to Chris Wallace that coverage of the demonstrations was an attempt by the media to delegitimize Trump as President, to which Robinson responds:
If Trump believes journalists can be so easily cowed, he’s in for a long four years.
As Robinson notes, Trump is skilled at diversionary tactics, intended to distract to the really destructive policy direction in which he has now headed. Robinson then offers this observation:
But whether Trump’s ostentatious pique about the not-so-historic size of his inauguration crowd is real or feigned, the fact that so many more people came to town to protest Trump’s presidency than to celebrate it is important. The new administration ignores the passion we saw on Saturday at its own peril.
He places this in the context of the rise of the Tea Party movement, which he observed at the time. Let me offer two snips of Robinson’s commentary from this section of the column. First,
I covered some of those early tea party rallies, and I saw similar levels of energy and engagement — and, yes, anger — at the Women’s March. The millions who participated nationwide now constitute the kind of broad-based network that can be harnessed into effective political action.
Many have already commented on the need to take the energy from Saturday and convert it into something lasting. Robinson then offers this comment:
If progressives are going to re-create the tea party’s success, Saturday’s multitudes will have to begin organizing at the local level. They will have to field candidates not just for Congress but for governorships and state legislatures, too. They will have to develop policy positions that go beyond “stop Trump” — and that also go beyond traditional Democratic Party dogma.
While liberal lions such as Sens. Warren and Sanders and Rep. John Lewis can help with this effort, it in fact must become something else, with
younger leadership with fresh ideas. The Democratic establishment now faces the same existential dilemma that the Republican establishment had to confront: adapt or step aside.
Many here have talked over the existence of this blog of the need for the Democratic party to change. Remember, there were two sequential goals of the site — to elect MORE and then BETTER Democrats. But we are still in a period of transformation of parties, politics, and ideology. So let’s look at Robinson’s concluding paragraph before I offer just a few more observations of my own:
The administration will argue that, after a bitterly divisive campaign, it is time for the nation to come together behind the new president. No, it is not. We are in the midst of a political realignment that is nowhere near complete, and it is more important than ever that progressive voices make themselves heard.
Making our voices heard is not sufficient if the party continues to operate as it has over the past few decades. When we see energy such as that so evident on Saturday, the party as it is — at state and local levels as well as national — cannot seek merely to coopt it in an attempt to maintain the status quo methods of operation. Party elders must not only HEAR the voices, but respond to them. And the responses may well represent stepping back somewhat from leadership directly to more of an elder statesman role to allow the new leaders to rise, to allow the voices to resonate more strongly.
When I told some former students that if they were upset they needed to turn to the next set of elections, forthcoming this Fall. Besides the three statewide races for Governor, Lt. Gov and Attorney General, Virginia for example will elect all 100 Delegates in the lower chamber of the legislature. I talked about the possibility of taking back that chamber even though the districts are heavily gerrymandered. If you were paying attention, our Daily Kos Election folks have now pointed out that Hillary Clinton carried 51 of those 100 districts despite their gerrymandered nature.
What we need to do is to take the energy of Saturday and IMMEDIATELY convert it to changing the political landscape. That includes recruiting people to run in EVERY district (rare in Virginia), building the local infrastructure, etc.
Our nation is very much at a cross-roads. Trump does, as Robinson points out, provide an organizing focus to get people involved rather than withdrawing. Will we do it?
Read the whole column and then consider, what are YOUR next steps to make a difference?