Preface
“Stop worrying about “Trump”, was what I was told. A friend noted that there’s plenty to talk about with the flaws in the Biden Administration. So I went back and looked at the week’s essays. I wrote one piece about the polarization of America (This Dis-United States), one about the media and Biden (Creating Division), and one about Biden foreign policy (Business is Business), The essay that generated the comment was about Trump and his staff knowing that the “stop the steal” campaign was a lie from the beginning (No New News). And the last was about the obligation Democrats have to reach an agreement in the Congress (My Fellow Democrats).
This week, like many in the past five years, is critical to America. Democrats will either show that they can govern, or they will fail to act and give the Party of Trump a huge boost to winning back control. So I will be writing about “Trump” once again, and Democrats, and where we will go from here. It’s too important to ignore, and as new information is revealed, it’s clearer now.
This Week
This is a big week in politics. The Democrats in Washington are either going to find a way to work together, or surely they will turn the government over to Republicans in 2022. I hope that the stark image of the “Party of Insurrection” in power will drive the Progressives and the Moderates into each other’s arms, even if they don’t particularly like each other. But my Party is certainly capable of screwing that up. As Will Rogers said, “I’m not a member of an organized party, I’m a Democrat” (Thanks Doug).
What We Know
It’s hard to imagine that it’s only a short ten months since the attempt to overthrow the Constitution. We are now learning that behind the “Insurrection” were multiple plots to stop the legitimate election of Joe Biden. Trump Advisor Steve Bannon said it in his Washington hotel “war room” on January 5th: “We’re going to kill it in the crib, kill the Biden presidency in the crib.” (Rolling Stone).
It’s still unclear what exact plan the Trump cabal had in mind. Trump lawyer John Eastman believed that Vice President Pence could, by simply recognizing both Biden and Trump electors from the same state, confuse the results. He could then throw those states out, reducing the “electoral majority” from 270 to 228, and declare Trump the winner. After the inevitable protests, Pence would then declare that no candidate reached a majority. His only choice then would be to send the election to the House of Representatives, where Trump would be elected (CNN).
Another Trump lawyer, Sidney Powell, hoped the Insurrection would delay Congressional election certification. That would give her long enough to get a Supreme Court injunction to stop the process from one of the most conservative Justices, Samuel Alito (Newsweek).
No Accident
The Trump team was “all in” on stopping the Congress from acting on January 6th, the day the President sent his crowd to march on the Capitol. We knew then, but now know even more, that his election fraud claim wasn’t real. And more recent revelations show that the Trump team knew that too. They were lying, with direct intent to stop the Constitutional process. It didn’t work. Pence wouldn’t throw out the state ballots. And Speaker Pelosi’s insistence that the Congress return and finish the certification that night amidst the destruction of January 6th countered the injunction attempt.
Yet no one in authority has borne the responsibility of that destruction. The entire leadership of the Republican Party is “behind Trump”. Those Republicans with the courage to stand up to the truth of the Insurrection, have been ostracized from the Party. Our nation faced the greatest Constitutional crisis since the Civil War, and yet the perpetrators haven’t been punished. In fact, many remain in office, and they may regain the power to govern. Unlike the Civil War, when there was a ten-year Reconstruction Period before the rebels were rehabilitated, these Insurrectionists are in still in office after ten months. And the Party that remains enthralled with Donald Trump can even anticipate political victory.
Minority Rule
The Republicans are already trying to consolidate their position nationwide. Republican controlled states are restricting the vote based on the “insecurity” of the election process. There is no such insecurity. Even the Cyber Ninjas in Arizona were forced to admit that. But in spite of the Arizona results; Texas, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania all are looking to “audit” the 2020 results. It’s not about accuracy or finding fraud, it’s about creating the appearance of “insecurity” to justify draconian voting restrictions. And those restrictions will keep voters who would normally chose Democratic candidates from voting.
Combine that with the ongoing Red Map gerrymandering project, and Republicans are moving to consolidate their power in the states, even as a minority party.
Duty
It’s not just about whether the “Build-Back-Better” agenda gets passed or not. It’s not about whether Bernie Sanders and Joe Manchin can reach a truce. And it’s not even about Mitch McConnell refusing to participate in governing.
Democrats in Congress have an affirmative duty to protect the nation. That duty includes preventing the Insurrectionists from regaining power, power that would allow them to consolidate their gains to change America into something “less” than a democracy.
Damn-it Democrats: figure it out. I don’t care if Manchin and Sinema are “closet Republicans” in ideology, or Sanders and Jayalpal are “un-closeted socialists”. Get it together and govern. This might sound hyperbolic, but it’s absolutely true. Failure may mean the end of the American Experiment as we know it.
