Senate Republicans had just released their heartless plan to strip health care from tens of millions of our nation's most vulnerable citizens—the sick, the old, the disabled. Tension quickly gripped the halls of Congress. GOP senators dodged cameras. Democrats declared the bill "meaner" than the House version, and from the floor Sen. Elizabeth Warren called its tax cuts for the nation's richest "blood money" that would cost "American lives."
Outside the office of the bill's creator—GOP Majority Leader Mitch McConnell—disabled Americans staged a raw and gutsy protest, quite literally fighting for their lives. As the protesters chanted "No cuts to Medicaid!"—Capitol Hill police literally ripped some of them from their wheel chairs in order to clear the hall outside the door of McConnell, who refused to meet with them.
Right then—as Capitol Hill reporters circulated images of disabled persons being dragged away—Donald Trump had a light-bulb moment ...
No time like the present to end this frivolous controversy over the nonexistent Oval Office recordings I claimed to have of James Comey. Ha—can't believe people fell for that! I think I'll tweet about it. Nothing else is really tickling my fancy.
Ah yes, Mr. Center of the Universe strikes again—smothering any smidge of humanity with his bloated, all-consuming sense of self. Never mind all those anguished folks at the Capitol, I've got better things do. And by "better," I mean my things to do.
Just one night earlier, Trump had told a crowd of his Iowa revelers, "I hope we're going to surprise you with a really good plan."
"Surprise," yes. Surprisingly cruel, that is.
Perhaps the truest utterance that escaped from the Windbag in Chief at the Iowa rally came when he complimented himself for thinking outside the box about using solar panels on his precious border wall: "Pretty good imagination, right?"
Indeed—those voices are truly something special, Don.
The synaptic lapse that transpired between Trump's Wednesday night appeal for some hint of humanity on health care and the toxic self-involvement that flooded his brain Thursday and drained out through his thumbs was just another day in the Oval Office.
This scene—the roll out of Senate legislation that is undeniably inhumane set against a pr*sident's thumbsy indifference—unfolded just a couple days after Republicans managed to survive yet another special election that was far closer than it ever should have been, but still ended in a Democratic loss.
Soul-searching liberals across the country wondered how Republicans could, yet again, manage to hang on to a seat amid this continually grotesque display of GOP governance presided over by a madman.
Some Democratic lawmakers, cheered on by their Republican counterparts, pointed the finger at longtime Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, who was forced to defend her leadership position at a Thursday press conference.
"So you want me to sing my praises, is that what you're saying?" the California Democrat remarked dismissively to reporters when asked why she should stay on as leader. "Well, I'm a master legislator. I'm a strategic, politically astute leader. My leadership is recognized by many around the country."
Pelosi is indeed a master legislator. The only person on the Hill as competent at counting votes as Pelosi is perhaps Mitch McConnell, and his mettle is about to be tested directly against hers with the Senate's expected repeal vote next week. When Pelosi had her chance to expand health care to millions of Americans in 2010, she managed to hold her caucus together to accomplish a goal that had eluded left-leaning lawmakers for nearly a century.
And when House Republicans needed Democratic help this year to avoid a government shutdown, Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer leveraged Democratic votes to negotiate a budget that increased domestic spending on Democratic priorities while depriving Trump of even a dollar toward his precious border wall. The resulting Democratic victory lap so enraged Trump that he sent out his henchmen to try to reframe the deal as a win for his White House.
In short, with Democrats entirely in the minority, it's a good time to have lawmakers who know how to squeeze lemonade from lemons. And yes, Democrats could also use some fresh ideas and fresh blood going into the 2018 elections. But Pelosi is a distraction Republicans actually want Democrats to take up.
Mark my words: It wouldn't matter who replaced Pelosi—Republicans would find another target, likely female, and likely from a liberal state, because nothing is scarier to the GOP's neat and tidy social order than a woman with power who thinks for herself.
Democrats do not need a leadership fight in the House right now. Anyone who has substantive ideas and a message that energizes the Democratic base can advance that message without toppling Pelosi. And the progressive base is definitely hungry for substance. Take it from Rachel Maddow, who has put MSNBC in the No. 1 spot in primetime cable news for the first time in 17 years. She's surged to that spot precisely because she has prioritized substantive reporting over Trump's drivel. As Maddow told Rolling Stone:
“I'm not interested in what the president has to say. [...] When speech becomes behavior, then it is relevant. I don't watch the press briefing. I don't read the president's tweets. In general, 'The president has tweeted X' is an overblown story."
Was Tuesday night’s loss in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District discouraging? Absolutely. But if you need a little inspiration to keep both the spark and fury alive until we find substance we can sink our teeth into, think about those Medicaid protesters outside McConnell's office—fighting tooth and nail for their lives while Trump shrugged his shoulders and let a few more tweets fly.
He's a monster—but we're going to need more than that to win elections.