I gather that a Democratic Parry outsider has started a petition drive to collect signatures of people who think it is time to start trying [I know it wouldn’t happen with the Republican leadership] to impeach Trump, and I am hearing pros and cons across the liberal blogosphere. So let’s talk about this for a moment.
There are two arguments in favor of not wasting time with an impeachment effort. One is Nancy Pelosi saying [paraphrased] “we don’t want to get distracted… Democrats need to be perceived as standing for something, not against….”. Another was a well articulated article here on Kos yesterday, about how the midterms elections will go better with demoralized Republicans not turning out to support Ryan and McConnell — whereas those same demoralized R’s will more likely turn out if Trump is “on the ballot”.
On the other hand WE ALL WANT TO SEE DONALD IMPEACHED. So I am weighing the above “con” statements. At the risk of making being completely wrong let me ask this leading question: have cautious Democrats done well in elections?
Over the years, I have come to see Nancy Pelosi as the poster child for Democratic inactivity. It is easy to be sarcastic: “ Ya mean don’t get distracted from all those BIG ideas you have been promoting?” or “What’s the matter lady. Can’t you walk and chew gum at the same time?”. At the moment the Democrats have zero governing work to do and only serve to block and resists the forces of tyranny, brought to us by the R party. So no, Nancy, you are not too busy. How is impeaching a distraction? A distraction from what?
To the author of the well written article yesterday, I have no response. You could be right. But if we look at this do/don’t impeach question let’s look at the most basic problem of the Democratic party: not standing for anything. Pelosi would be credible if she had spent the same microphone opportunity talking about ideas, including removing crooks from office and the American dream. In some ways this argument about keeping Trump “off the ballot” sounds like it could be another “11 dimensional chess” argument — too complicated and ultimately nonsense. How do I know what an R voter will be thinking next time around? As far as this goes: I am just not feeling it.
I fear that those shivering bunnies of the Democratic party believe they can win the next election by cautiously [cautiously!] introducing some plans to improve economic well being of voters. I can just hear how we (Nancy) will “take on Wall Street”. In this we see that, once again, the forces of inactivity are strong among our Democratic party leaders. Remember how Jeb Bush responded to Donald? Is that where Nancy is getting here playbook? I cannot see this as the best course for anyone wanting to beat the Republicans. So I want to say this clearly: the task is to take back America and do it in every viable way possible. We have to be smart AND STRONG. That includes defining new prosperity plans, and viciously attacking the forces of evil around us. Aren’t we finished with the politics of appeasement? It sure didn’t do well under Obama.
I think it may be difficult for a triangulating politician in Washington to grasp the simple idea that acting with integrity is a single, undivided, characteristic of the Democratic party. You cannot be “all for the people” while ignoring the monster in our midst. Getting rid of Trump must be part of the Democratic party’s identity.
Getting rid of Trump can only be part of the message. If Democrats are concerned that they will be portrayed [correctly] as a party with no ideas and no direction, then it is not a failure of the narrative but a failure to control the narrative. Ultimately it is the media that must be forced to cover the Democratic politicians.
And it is up to those Democrats to control the message — Trump is a disaster, the R leadership are badly corrupt, America is about average people (of, for, by), and there is more than enough wealth to go around. If you are worried that being against Trump will drown out the other messages, then that is the problem you should solve — enough of this damn “caution”.
