Donald Trump and the Republican Party present a novel challenge to liberal democracy. For the first time in the United States we have a man with the power of the presidency operating without regard for the law and a party with enough power in Congress to grant him immunity in doing so.
Congress has so far shown itself unwilling to stop Trump’s abuses of power, leaving the question open whether we can retain a constitutional democracy. We are facing the backstop of an election where the American people can weigh in and stop the destruction.
But for that to happen, the country will need leadership from the Democratic Party.
Sadly, our party is complicit in the rise of Trump. We stopped presenting a credible counterforce to Republicans many years ago. The party adopted super delegates, which eliminated any organized official opposition at the presidential level. We allowed Bill Clinton to triangulate with the Republicans, giving them credibility. We started taking large sums of money from rich special interests.
This has to change if we are going to stop the abuse of power.
We need to allow the reform elements of the party to come to the front. Progressives need to lead the party.
Tl;dr
You will probably not be pleased to learn this diary is too long. For those who would prefer not to read the whole thing, here’s the point (spoiler alert):
- Trump is going to claim all Democrats are un-white women socialists who attack everything that’s great about America.
- We need to remind Americans that racism is un-American, criticism of the government is the American way, and unlike the scaredy-cat Republicans we aren’t afraid of socialism.
Of Strategy and Counter-Strategy
This isn’t about the presidential race alone. It goes to every layer of politics. Incumbents at the state and local levels need to back progressive policy and argue for it strongly. They need to come on board with reform. They need to seek more money from the rank and file and less money from those who already benefit from the system.
And everyone needs to concentrate on three vital elements of winning. These elements come directly from the Trump strategy, revealed this week in a series of tweets and live performances. The Trump strategy is:
- Energize racists.
- Make criticism of his actions toxic.
- Attack socialism.
Our response needs to be the defeat of Trump on all those lines of attack. I will label these efforts:
- Racism is not an American value.
- Criticism of our government is an American value.
- Socialism is fairness.
Racism Is Not an American Value
I’m not saying there are no racists in America, because obviously that isn’t true. What I am doing is driving a stake in the ground and claiming that you cannot be an American and a racist. I am creating a fact.
To the degree we all agree it is a fact that racism* is not an American value, we make it more difficult for racism to exist in the United States. That’s both the right thing to do and an important step in defeating Trump.
It’s confrontational to say that racism is not an American value. It’s controversial. But success creates a real problem for racists. If the public believes racism is un-American, it marginalizes racists. This is exactly what I want to do. I want to take their power away. I want it to be hard for them to make and keep friends. I want to make it hard for them to come out in public. I want people to look down on them because of their racism.
Also, this is a fight we can win. The vast majority of Americans consider racism morally wrong. Even if they feel racist themselves, they know it’s wrong. Making it explicitly outside the mainstream reminds these people it is wrong and can serve to constrain their behavior.
The American people have been confronted at the national level about racism multiple times in the past 200 years. We fought a bloody and costly war over the issue in the 1860s. America won and the racists lost.
A hundred years later we had a national civil rights movement. This culminated in federal law that prohibits various kinds of discrimination on the basis of race. These laws were passed by Congress and signed by the President, representing the will of the American people. The American people codified our opposition to racism in law. Again, America won and the racists lost.
Parenthetically, we also fought an all-out war with the Nazis, actual white supremacists. America won and the racists lost.
People can claim America was founded as a racist country and it’s operated as a racist country. No doubt. But it is not a racist country now. We changed. We learned. We became better people.
This is 2019 and racism is not an American value.
Here is the important thing: We must drive this home. We must take this flag and move it forward in politics. This isn’t a nice-to-have. It isn’t just something we need to do out of fairness to blacks and others who have been systematically oppressed, and are systematically oppressed now, compelling though that is. This is a vital part of winning the next election cycle. It’s a vital part of winning the future. Every person in the country has their skin in the game, so to speak, this time around.
Make the point. Say it. Racism is not an American value. Equality for all is an American value. Equal justice under the law is an American value. That’s what I stand for. I believe that’s what the Democratic Party stands for. I believe that’s what America stands for. I’m asking you to stand for that as well.
Criticism of Our Government Is an American Value
Along with Trump’s racist and misogynist attacks on Democratic members of Congress, he pushed a couple other lies. One of them is that they were anti-American because they criticized U.S. policies.
I don’t personally know the history or political positions of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), or Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). But what’s important to me is that they are human beings. As such, they have a right to criticize the American government.
That’s the premise of the United States of America. It’s whole purpose, to sum it up in one phrase, is to “form a more perfect union”. Putting aside the question of whether there can be degrees of perfection, I think it’s pretty obvious improvement requires openness to criticism.
Why is Trump opposed to criticism? Is it just selfish worry about the political implications for him? Or is it his profound insecurity? Those are obviously factors, but beyond anything else his opposition to criticism is a strategy to prevent progress. He’s anti-progressive. He’s in the process of destroying the U.S. and its government. Those are his goals. Criticism might stop him.
Guess what? As POTUS you don’t get to criticize criticism. It’s your job, as a representative of the American people, to do what’s best for the country. That includes things you find personally difficult. That includes things you don’t want to do. That includes listening to criticism and responding positively to it when it’s valid. You are supposed to put your personal feelings aside and do what’s right for the country. You are supposed to take instruction from the American people.
How do you know what the American people want? Well, we have a process. We send a bunch of people to Washington every two years to form a “congress” and tell you what you, POTUS, are supposed to do.
As Akhil Reed Amar points out in his brilliant book, America's Constitution: A Biography, the articles of the Constitution come in a particular order. Article I is about Congress. The first part of Article I is about the House.
This is not an accident. Congress represents the people, and the House of Representatives is intended to most closely represent the people. The implication, in case anyone is as thick as Donald Trump, is that the President is supposed to listen to what the House says because the House directly represents the will of the American people. Congress has Article I powers of oversight and removal of the officers of government because they are supposed to represent the American people.
And here, I think, is where my bluntest criticism of the Democratic Party must come to fore. It is a sign of how weak and afraid of rocking the boat the party has become that our representatives did not immediately sit down and define articles of impeachment against Trump (and frankly many of his cabinet members) and pursue them methodically when they came to power in early 2019. Haven’t they read the Constitution? Did they arrive ignorant of Trump’s abuses of power?
Trump thrives on the weakness of others. He’s a bully. You weaken a bully by bringing the law down on that bully.
And when I see members of Congress dragging their feet on this it makes me wonder whose side they are on. Are they complicit? Do they agree that Trump’s violations of the law are okay? Are they such Republicans (hold your nose) that they are also willing to grant him immunity?
His attacks on members of Congress should be another article of impeachment. Do I have to write it up myself? Do I have to get elected to office just to put that on the table? Or could I just depend on the people whose job it is to do their jobs? He attacked Americans for criticizing the government.
Let me just remind you of something:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
[First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America]
Perhaps Trump and his Republicans haven’t noticed, but it is explicitly the right of the people to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances. When Trump attacks our Representatives for speaking out he is violating one of the bedrock principles of American values. He’s attacking their constitutional rights. How is it Republicans, great believers in the Constitution, don’t have the long knives out for him?
Socialism Is Fairness
As part of Trump’s racist and misogynist attacks on Democratic members of Congress, he complained they are socialists.
Really? The guy from Moscow, who is beholden to the soviet apparatchiks in Russia, is calling us socialists? An actual communist is calling us socialists?**
I’m tempted to say, “Go back to where you came from, Trump!” But then, he’s the son of a Scottish immigrant and the grandson of a German immigrant, and if we sent him home he’d have to go “back” to Scotland or Germany! They’d never have him, of course, because of his pronounced National Socialist tendencies.
The problem for Democrats is that the Republicans have the bigger bullhorns. (And you know what comes out of bullhorns.) They are all going to claim Democrats are socialists and that’s (without explaining why) very, very bad.
We have to be coherent on this. Every time we hear the word “socialist” come out of them, we need to say:
Socialism is the application of democracy to the economy. What do you have against democracy?
(I need to credit Pete Buttigieg for making this argument. Thank you, Pete.)
I don’t want to hear people claiming they are not socialists. Weak. Ineffective. The moment you claim you aren’t a socialist you’ve lost because the audience will now believe (1) you are a socialist, and (2) being a socialist is a bad thing.
It’s not. it’s the application of democracy to the economy.
Why do we have socialism? The fundamental reason for socialism is that capitalism is based on a devil’s bargain. The bargain is that the capitalist will contribute capital and the workers will contribute work, and then the capitalist will scoop up all the profits.
Does that seem fair to you?
We don’t have time to discuss this in public forums. Instead of educating people in debates against the selfish we need to shut them down. If people want to find out what socialism is and what it has to offer, they can go to a class or look it up on the Internet.
So the answer to the claim we are socialists is to demand to know why the questioners are against democracy. This shuts down the argument.
And, to the degree anyone is open to actually learning anything, they will find out that socialism is a reasonable thing to consider. But frankly, I’ve yet to see any significant proposal from any Democratic candidate that’s actually socialist. The closest I’ve seen is Elizabeth Warren talking about giving workers a seat on the board at major companies. (In Germany, this is co-determination.) Or, perhaps Bernie Sanders talking about how we might profit (as a society) from more co-ops, and maybe it would be a good thing if more people organized them.
For a party full of socialists, where’s the socialism?
And look, what would be bad about a little co-determination? Germany has a regular $1 trillion-a-year trade surplus and we have a regular half-trillion-dollar-a-year trade deficit. All that horrible, horrible socialism hasn’t cost the German economy one pfennig.*** To the contrary.
The Weak and Ineffective Party
There are those who would say that if we run a progressive presidential candidate we’ll lose in a landslide to Trump. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The only way to beat Trump is to run someone who actually represents the voters. The voters are liberal. On just about every major issue they favor the liberal side, usually by significant margins.
The following poll results were displayed on the Jimmy Kimmel show, 30 May 2019, while he was interviewing Speaker Nancy Pelosi:
Medicare for All : 74%
Coverage for pre-existing conditions : 75%
Oppose expanded wall : 58%
Stricter gun laws : 67%
Universal background checks : 97%
Take action on climate change : 66%
Abortion legal on demand in most/all cases : 58%
These numbers are not outliers. This is representative of polls taken over and over.
Yet, the Democratic Party appears to be on the brink of running someone who wants to patch up ACA. Someone who wants to work with Republicans. Someone who had to be brought kicking and screaming to oppose the Hyde Amendment.
Never mind Republican election fraud. Never mind voter suppression. Never mind Russian interference. The Democratic Party will never defeat the Republicans if it doesn’t run on a platform that attracts voters.
A party running on a progressive platform would overwhelm the nefarious efforts of the Republicans and their fellow thugs. This election should not even be close. It’s only close because the voters take one look at what Democrats propose and yawn.
There’s plenty of criticism of Trump here on Daily Kos, and even occasionally criticism of the Republican Party, but we, Democrats, have to share some of the blame for Trump. If the right of the people to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances applies to the federal government it certainly applies to the political parties that dominate it, including the Democratic Party. So, get set for some criticism, Democratic Party officials.
Don’t be confused that I’m giving the Republicans a pass. I think the Republican Party is no longer a legitimate political party. They don’t have the good of the country even nominally at heart. Their entire message is that everyone should grab what they can for themselves. They’ve stopped believing in the common good, and they’ve started believing in selfishness as the ultimate good.
And the Republican Party is the party of death. Their policies are all designed to kill people (or plants or animals, or just everyone on the planet, generally). They obstruct any efforts to stop climate change, so that more people will die. They make every effort they can to kick people off their healthcare, so that more people will die. They are against even the most sensible environmental regulations against dumping poisons into our environment, so that more people will die. They want endless wars with increasingly deadly weapons, so that more people will die. They want bigger and better nuclear weapons, so that we can be increasingly closer every day to wiping out all life on earth. The Republican Party is the party of death. Look, they are literally in favor of the death penalty. QED.
The Republican Party should be decertified. Our strategy should be to demand people leave the Republican Party. People should never vote for Republican candidates. They shouldn’t contribute money or spend time on their campaigns. This includes all levels of government. Voting for a Republican for dog catcher still helps the Republican Party, and that party is the party of death and destruction.
Did you know that Republicans want to close up the EPA? We have the EPA because of Love Canal and the Valley of the Drums. They are the party of profits over people. Over people’s lives, to be exact.
But the Democratic Party needs its own reform. I mean, I think I can say that our party still has the good of the country at heart. Our policies aren’t designed to kill people. We aren’t in this for the money. (Well, most of us.) The Democratic Party is a legitimate political party. But we have been weak and ineffective for decades. That has to change.
After defeats of George McGovern and Jimmy Carter (for re-election), the party implemented super delegates for the 1984 presidential race. Under this system party insiders seek to keep control of the process. Since that time, the party has tried to run moderates. There are two, very serious problems with this.
Problem One, moderates send the signal to the voters that we believe in Republican values. A moderate is willing to compromise core Democratic values to get deals with Republicans. The effect has been to implement successively more odious Republican policy, while convincing the electorate that they should be conservatives.
Problem Two, centrism doesn’t represent the people. Most people in the U.S. favor progressive policy, usually by majorities of 60% or more. (See statistics, above.) Since the Democratic Party fails repeatedly to stand up for what Americans need and want, Democratically-inclined voters stay away from the polls or vote for Republicans they think are moderate. Centrism is a recipe for losing.
As part of this scheme, party insiders have been taking enormous payments from rich special interests to fund campaigns. This hobbles candidates who might want to stand up for Democratic values. It tends to make Democrats act like Republicans on all issues that matter.
Take healthcare reform as an example. Does anyone seriously believe we’d have an individual mandate in ACA if the party didn’t take money from corporate interests? What’s the advantage of forcing people to buy for-profit health insurance from the point of view of the actual people who need healthcare?
None. It’s a corporate idea. And since ACA generally fails to provide fair, affordable, and universal healthcare, it’s not very popular. The Republicans hate “Obamacare” and Democrats want a single-payer system. It has almost zero constituency outside the corporate lobby.
You know, if something looks like dog food, smells like dog food, and tastes like dog food, there’s a pretty good chance it’s dog food.
Climate change. What on earth was the “all-of-the-above” energy policy? Who addresses the onslaught of global warming by waving their hands and saying let the market decide? Republicans do. And, well, weak, corporate Democrats, apparently, think continuing subsidies to the fossil fuel industry don’t matter in the overall scheme of things. Heads in the sand.
Impeachment. What would that look like if the players were switched, mutatis mutandis? Suppose Trump were (stretch your imagination, stretch it more, a bit more, okay, hold it there) a Democrat, and Democrats controlled the Senate, but a bunch of Republicans took over the House. How long would it have been before they passed a bill of impeachment in the House?
My guess? Less than a month.
And, suppose it would have died in the Senate. That’s not likely, of course, because … Democrats. Democrats never would have allowed a corrupt criminal agent of Russia to stay in office. Weak they may be, but scared to show total contempt for the rule of law in front of the public. But, for the sake of an argument, suppose they dug in deep and backed their Trump.
The Republicans would have nailed every last one of them to the Tree of Law. They would have campaigned on “law and order”, meaning the Democrats were complicit with this lawless creature in the White House. This would have resulted in a steep loss of Democrats in the Senate, possibly giving the Republicans a veto-proof majority.
And then they would have removed the offending President, presuming he even made it to a second term. Unlikely, because he would have been pilloried for months by the Republicans, as they reminded the public every moment how treacherous he was. They would have labeled him “feckless”. Trump the Feckless.
Do you see how totally ineffective our party has been on the issue of impeachment? You have to ask, where’s the spine?
An Effective Democratic Party
So, what would an effective Democratic Party look like?
* We would aggressively pursue progressive policy
* We would aggressively pursue voting rights
* We would aggressively pursue human rights
* We would aggressively pursue the rule of law
We need to stop blocking the most powerful elements of our party, the progressives. We need to aggressively pursue decertification of the Republican Party. We need to run people who are unafraid to back progressive policy, educating the public and changing public opinion.
We need candidates who will call out Donald Trump for his illegitimacy and his illegality. Trump is the most un-American President in history. He’s a racist who opposes fundamental American values of freedom. He’s caused federal government workers to torture asylum-seekers. His agents in various agencies are systematically destroying scientific understanding in the government by firing workers or transferring them to the hinterlands. It will take decades of careful work to repair the damage to our government caused by the Trump Administration, never mind the damage to our country.
We should not work with the Republicans until they reform. They need to show the good of the country is their goal. To do that, they need to do at least these three things:
- Agree climate change is a critical issue caused by humans, and put forward a credible plan for addressing it.
- Agree that healthcare is a human right, and put forward a fair, affordable, and universal plan to provide it to every U.S. citizen.
- Agree that Donald Trump has been breaking the law, including that he obstructed justice in the probe of Russian interference in our elections and should be removed from office.
[Note to Democrats. If you aren’t on board with these three things, then you should check above your head. It’s possible you are actually a Republican! You will be able to tell if there are corporate strings attached to your arms and legs.]
Until the Republican Party does at least those three things to show they are acting in good faith we should shut down all efforts to work with them on any controversial issue. If they agree with our democratic principles and are willing to do something that doesn’t require compromise, fine. But other than that, working with the Republicans is a non-starter.
We need to make our deals with the American people. Then, we can tell the Republicans what part they could play in implementing what the American people need and want.
How do we get the Democratic Party to shape up?
It is vital that we, the public, speak out. And, we must demand that our opposition party oppose Republican abuses of power. If we hope to have any political power in the future, it’s vital we exercise that political power now.
Trump thinks he is a winner. He’s not. He’s a loser, and he’s dragged the U.S. down to loser status with him. He’s unpopular, both domestically and abroad. He’s a failure. And he won’t win the White House again. “Win” and “again” should be in scare quotes. There’s plenty of evidence he didn’t actually win it to begin with. In the swing states where he got his Electoral College win the exit polls don’t match the official election results. There’s no guarantee he’s actually the legal President.
Get that? A total fraud installed in office by total fraud.
And he’s a Republican. That’s enough condemnation, right there. Trump is an example of what happens when a not-too-bright guy is subjected to Republican propaganda too long.
Yet, the Democratic Party struggles against him. There’s a reason for that. Tepid, mimsy Democrats handling the corrupt Republican non-party with kid gloves. Lackluster policy. Resistance within the party to anyone bringing forward any bold plan to address any critical problem. Resistance to holding the most lawless government official in modern history to account.
Come on, folks. Put a progressive at the top of the ticket. Fight for what you believe in. Push the Democratic Party forward. That’s how you make progress.
———
* By “racism” I mean the conscious and deliberate attempt to define someone by a racial category and use that as a means to do something materially detrimental to them. There can be unconscious tendencies or the classification by racial standard that is intended to help people, rather than harm them. Those are not in scope. I’m attacking overt, conscious, and malicious racism.
** I don’t have any proof Trump is a communist. I just know it’s true.
*** They don’t use pfennigs in Germany any more, as far as I can tell, because they’ve moved to the Euro.