Decorum

Norms

President Trump gave his “impromptu” State of the Union Address Tuesday night.  “Impromptu”, because traditionally the President doesn’t give a State of the Union in his first year in office.   After all, it’s only been a month and a half since he gave his Inaugural Address.  But, like most things involving the Trump Administration, there’s no tradition, no “norm” worth keeping (I guess).  

In the forty-five days Mr. Trump stomped on the Constitution so many times, that the Courts can’t keep up.  That’s a Trump legal strategy, by the way:  sue, delay, appeal, delay, obfuscate, delay, overwhelm; delay, and delay some more.   It’s how he managed to avoid two years of personal Federal prosecution.  It’s also how he still hasn’t paid the hundreds of millions of dollars he owes the State of New York. And, for now, he stole the “power of the purse” from the US Congress. He’s made it his own.  As a friend of mine says: even if the Courts disagree with Trump, it will take two years for them to catch up.  By then, it will be far too late, the damage done.

Shock and Awe

Through much of the “shock and awe” of Trump’s (and Musk’s) actions in the last forty-five days, Democrats have “sat back”.   We haven’t heard the leadership of the Democratic Party say a whole lot, or give alternatives to the renegade DOGE boys, or authoritarian ICE actions.  Rank and file Democrats are asking:  where are our leaders?  Who will stand up for us?  What can we do?

Perhaps some of the Democratic leadership are following the words of veteran campaign strategist James Carville.   He’s noted for his famous advice to Bill Clinton in 1992 when the campaign was struggling with the rumors of illicit sex activities:  “It’s the economy, stupid”.  That advice helped Clinton win the Presidency.  Carville today is essentially making this point: let Trump be Trump.  He and the Republican Congress will trip over their own two feet.  Let Trump make a mess of the economy with his tariffs and his shredded governing style.  Let the Republicans do it to themselves, then Democrats can pick up the pieces in 2026.

Speaking from the rank and file there are two problems with that.  First of all, many Democrats feel that democracy itself is at stake.   They don’t think that the election of 2026 is a “sure thing”, not for Democrats, and not even the physical act of counting votes.  Those Democrats think that the Carville strategy is based on “regular order”, on tradition, on those damn “norms”. They don’t think there’s any guarantee that “norms” will be followed. 

Like my friend said; many Democrats think that waiting for an election in two years will be far too late, the damage done.

Vacuum

And second, there appears to be a total vacuum in the Democratic leadership.  Harris is gone, and the Governors (Newsom, Whitmer, Moore, Pritzker, Walz, et al) are all too busy trying to navigate their multiple state crises caused by Trump’s actions.   Hakeem Jefferies, the Speaker-apparent (should Democrats regain the House), is laser-focused on legislation, not leadership of the greater Party.  And the “old guard”; Biden, the Obama’s, Pelosi; all seem to have ceded authority to the “next generation”, even if the leaders of that generation aren’t apparent.  

Some Democratic members of Congress recognized the emptiness.  They heard the call to action from their constituents,  and they tried to step up during the State of the Union.   Some cried out, calling to task Trump’s immeasurable number of lies and misstatements.  Representative Green of Texas went so far as to stand, yell, and shake his cane at the President, interrupting despite orders from the Speaker to “be seated”.  Mr. Green was ultimately escorted from the Chamber by the Sergeant at Arms.  

Other Democrats walked out, our held up placards with the word “False” written on them, kind of an old-school gymnastics  scoring thing (“10,8,10,4 – that was the Russian judge”).   But since the cameras didn’t cut away from the President, their actions failed to get much attention.  

Good Trouble

Still, on the media summary, many commentators decried the Democrats “breaking the decorum of the House”.  Meanwhile the President literally used an insulting term directly at one US Senator, and had no problem baiting Democrats and applauding his own sycophants.  It’s as if the norms and rules apply only to one side.  The MAGA side is given a full “pass”; because; well, that’s just what they do.   

If Democracy is on the line, then the rules, traditions, and norms are out.  We can’t wait for our leadership to determine a course, and we can’t hope that the Courts will save America.   In the end, we too must break the norms, and do what’s necessary to save our Constitution, and our Democracy.  As John Lewis liked to say, it’s time to get in some “good trouble”.   And if that means we break “decorum” – so be it.