It’s time to get serious. In a matter of hours, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. It’s been more than two months since election night, and while I see great promise for what is to come for Democrats and our agenda, we’re not ready to deliver on it. And it is not because we lost the White House and both houses of Congress.
They are laughing in our faces at how easy it will be to accomplish so much more of their agenda in one year than we did in eight years.
Tillerson. Pruitt. Sessions. DeVos. Mnuchin. Puzder. Bannon. You have to fill the swamp before you can drain it. Shoot, they’re keeping an Obama appointee that the Republican Senate wouldn’t even confirm. And laughing at us.
They don’t care how far inside or outside the mainstream any policies or nominees may be or even what is or is not mainstream. The Republicans are playing for keeps and the ends justify the means.
It doesn’t matter that the President-elect changes positions on a daily or hourly basis. It doesn’t matter that the President-elect prefers Twitter to taking questions from the press. It doesn’t matter that the President-elect refuses to divest of his business interests to avoid potential conflicts of interest that could not only enrich himself at the expense of everyone else but could also threaten national security (and how could he divest? Doing so would require potential buyers – private investors or the public markets – to perform a valuation that would reveal among other things, the actual value of the businesses as well as all of the investors and debt holders. Good luck with that).
It doesn’t matter that the President-elect nominated cabinet secretaries who appear to be unqualified, ethically compromised or outright hostile toward the existence of the agencies they are nominated to lead. It doesn’t matter that millions of people are watching the confirmation hearings or that millions more may protest the inauguration on Saturday than will attend the inauguration on Friday. It doesn’t even matter whether or not Russian propaganda played a role in the election. Of course it did, just like it did in previous elections, just like every industrialized country attempts to influence the election of every other industrialized country.
It’s time to get serious and none of this matters. These are all distractions.
All that matters is that the Republican Party and Republican voters know exactly what they want, they are clear about it and they know how to get it:
- No new taxes or new spending
- No regulation (business and guns)
- No abortion
These positions are very clear, they are unanimous and Republicans are much better at making progress on each of these objectives than Democrats are at stopping them. Sure, there are other topics Republicans talk about, maybe anti-immigrant sentiment among certain groups that don’t typically vote tipped the 77,000 vote margin of victory this year. But those voters are all on board with the big three above. Democrats make all sorts of compelling arguments about how Bernie voters can’t support Hillary and Hillary supporters can’t vote Bernie, but in the end, it was the Never Trumpers who couldn’t stop the President-elect.
Did it matter when Republicans shut down the government? They gained seats in the next election. Did it matter when kindergartners were gunned down at school? Gun reform legislation didn’t even get a vote in the Senate. How many abortion bills will be overturned as unconstitutional before Republicans moderate? Trick question!
What about us Democrats? We’re on the right side of history on every issue imaginable. Guaranteed. But no one knows because we don’t know what our actual position is or how to get there.
- What is our position on immigration reform? Amnesty for all? Amnesty for some? Limits on certain types of visas (but not others)? Increased border security but no wall? It’s not so simple like the Republican Big 3.
- How about climate change? Yes, let’s fight it. But how? More solar and wind power? Nuclear? Carbon capture? Carbon tax? Cap and trade? How much? There’s no consensus on a path forward.
- It’s not clear if we’re happy with the Affordable Care Act or whether we should push single-payer or tax-based financing or something else entirely.
- Are we for charter schools or against charter schools or for them with effective regulation and without taking money from public schools?
- I haven’t even seen consensus on whether $15 is good for a national minimum wage or if it should be indexed to the local cost of living.
Wherever I go, I know what Republicans want. Democrats? It’s different everywhere. And that’s great. But it means nothing when we win three million more presidential votes and six million more Senate votes and find ourselves in the minority in all three branches of government. Couldn’t even get a hearing for a Supreme Court nominee. Good work.
So what if everything the Trump administration does is “unprecedented?” Driving a car was unprecedented when everyone else was riding horses. The point is that calling out the “unprecedented,” “hypocritical” behavior or demanding apologies for perceived slights or affronts does nothing to advance our causes. Just like last time, while we judiciously study the old reality, they’ll act and create new ones.
And all of this is why I am hopeful for tomorrow. Trump is running the playbook he always does: overpromise, underdeliver, take a management fee and walk away. It has failed him every time before too, leading to bankruptcy or to bailouts from the Chinese government or from the Russian oligarchy. These aren’t necessarily bad outcomes for a personal business but they aren’t available to the American government and the people underpinning it.
What is available is everything we have to offer. We will save us.
Will we get to the right side of history by default when the country is finally so turned off from the Republican agenda after what is about to happen that Republicans can no longer win? Or can we get our act together to prevent the worst from happening?
I don't think we have a choice.