Well, it looks like the Trumpinator finally managed to find the shiny object he was looking for. In one stupid, wasteful ($70M taxpayer dollars), futile (the base was operating the next day) undeclared act of war, Trump finally got the distraction he was looking for. The next day I RANTED, followed that night by Lawrence O’Donnell that Putin may have craftily engineered it, to get Trump some breathing space.
Trump didn’t just hit a home run, he hit a grand slam, four for one. He finally managed to change the narrative from the Russia investigation, which to my mind was Putin’s goal in engineering it, since not only weren’t sanctions getting lifted, media digging was getting uncomfortably close to some valuable oligarchs. Trump managed to mask the fact that his hand picked congressional stooge, Devin Nunes had to step aside from the Russia investigation due to being investigated by the Ethics office himself. He managed to overshadow the fact that the March jobs report was miserable, the economy only created about 54% of the expected jobs. And finally, he even managed to mask the craven and cowardly process of demolishing balance in the Senate by steamrolling Neil Gorsuch to confirmation as a SCOTUS Justice. And as a walk off prize, he finally managed to garner more praise than ridicule for something that he did, although generally moderate and muted.
And now congress is on it’s two week “Spring break”. That phrase really bothers me. Somehow or other, whenever I hear “congress” and “spring break” in the same sentence, it just conjures images in my mind of sleazy, overweight politicians in Speedo’s, chugging beers on the beach and putting high school freshman moves on college co-ed’s, granted with all the success of high school freshmen. The nightmares last for days! I can just see these pompous, overstuffed GOP assholes at the airport, laughing and slapping each other on the back, promising to do it again when they get together in a couple of weeks.
Well, congress may be on vacation for the next two weeks, but that doesn’t mean that we are. We can’t be, we have them right where we want them, back home among us, and it’s up to us to make it abundantly clear to them that we aren’t falling for the glitter and lights, the smoke and bang, our eyes are on the main point. I called Senator Heller’s office on Friday, voicing my extreme displeasure at his conduct in the Gorsuch vote, and warned that the healthcare issue has not changed for me, and I’ll be watching for his stance if the House tries to sneak through a sleazy compromise bill that risks my health care. I also advised them that I would be watching keenly for his position if Trump came crawling to congress for approval for more direct action in Syria or North Korea.
This is no time to rest and reminisce over our past successes. Hear about your MoC appearing at a local event? Show up and express your feelings. Flood his district office with calls, be forceful but polite. Is he going to be in his district office? Pop on over, maybe bring bagels or donuts as a peace gesture, bite the first one yourself to prove it’s not poisoned, and have a little heart to heart with him or her. Town hall? I doubt it, but if a MoC tries to sneak one in, thinking everybody has other plans, disabuse him or her of that notion, pronto. This is our chance to make it clear that we are not distracted, that we are watching them, monitoring them, and that we know what the true, important issues are, and how we expect them to represent us.
We are off to a good start, they are wary and on their heels, and we’ve already created friction and discord between them and Trump, as well as their own leadership. But it’s going to be a long 18 months until next November, and they’re just waiting for us to get tired and dejected, to give up the fight, we must prove our resolve. Look forward with confidence and clarity of purpose to the battles ahead, for we truly fight for the existence of our democracy. Stand tall and unified, Indivisible,and maybe someday people will say about us what Winston Churchill said of the RAF during the Battle of Britain;
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour.