While we pound our fists and cycle through the various stages of grief at the obstinate fecklessness of Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic House leadership letting Donald Trump get away with trashing what’s left of our democracy, we should really be organizing sustained pressure on Democratic members of Congress until they step up. The Ukraine/whistleblower story---a scandal hiding in plain sight, to the extent it’s hiding at all---is nothing if not an all-hands-on-deck moment. Who here’s old enough to remember the Resistance, the coalition of activists that helped save the ACA, marched for Women’s Lives, and supported an unprecedented number of women and people of color in first-time elections? Indeed, we had a Blue Wave. And then ….
We demobilized. Back in March 2019, Vox’s Matt Yglesias recognized the demobilization as a dangerous mistake, citing examples of Trump malfeasance from early 2019:
And then it stopped. There was no mass mobilization to call senators in advance of the resolution blocking Trump’s border emergency declaration. There were no crowds on Capitol Hill. There are no reports of Republican senators canceling town halls because they’re afraid to face angry crowds demanding a floor vote on the anti-corruption bill HR 1. There are no protesters demanding that Trump accede to Congress’s request for his tax returns in part because no request has been made.
The resistance has demobilized. And for Democrats, it’s probably a huge mistake.
Those fights from early 2019 seem so quaint nowadays. In a post-Mueller, post-Ukraine/whistleblower, post-El Paso world, the need for reinvigorated, remobilized resistance is essential. Part of the Yglesias’s theory was that the presidential primary---though perfectly healthy and necessary in choosing our next leader, who will hopefully take office in January 2021—is also distracting us from the clear and present dangers in 2019.
Instead of keeping up the pressure, we trusted a the Democratic Congressfolk to do the job for us, to translate the Mueller Report into a case for impeachment, to get those tax returns, and to protect our republic from demagogues. Yet, each new bombshell ends in a fizzle, subpoenas are ignored, fake privileges are asserted, and Congress is tied up in protracted litigation that may or may not resolve before the 2020 Election. Congressman Richard Neal didn’t see the urgency in using readily available tools to get the Trump tax returns (and is rightly being primaried). Some days, House Judiciary Chair Jerrold Nadler lifts our spirits by nudging the impeachment ball forward, then we have days like the disastrous Corey Lewandowski hearing, where somehow Nadler could only muster a wag of the finger and colleagues are trying to convince him to use the contempt power. Nadler may be doing more than most, but these hearings have proven to be one lost opportunity after another. I really like Congressman Adam Schiff and he runs a tighter ship than Nadler on the Intelligence Committee, but I am not optimistic that he’ll get any better results with the Ukraine/whistleblower investigation.
Our representatives in Congress and our roster of presidential candidates aren’t going to do the heavy lifting for us. We have to #Remobilize and make them act for the good of the Republic. Put up the “bat signal,” break out the rolodex, and follow me below the fold …
I realize it’s easy for me to say this---taking specific actions are much harder---but Ima do it anyway: Someone needs to start the phone tree that gets the Women’s Marchers and the Global Climate Strikers and the Black Lives Matters activists and the March for our Lives people and the MoveOn.orgs and in anyone else our magnificent coalition focused on a common cause: Urging Democratic members of Congress to take action-— to step up and stop being a subequal branch of government as dKos’s Kerry Eleveld put it eloquently yesterday. The reason for partnership is obvious: Until this Trump nightmare ends, women’s rights, the climate, racial injustice, gun control etc. will remain pipe dreams.
I also realize that “step up” is not itself a concrete action plan. The Coalition needs to support impeachment, methodically pressuring every single Democratic member of Congress to get on board the impeachment train through phone calls, postcards, town halls, sitting outside Congressional offices in D.C. and their districts. The Coalition needs to pressure the House Judiciary, Ways & Means, and Intelligence Committees to readily (without the hemming and hawing) use their contempt powers and encourage Pelosi to schedule floor votes on those contempt votes. I’m sure there’s more, let’s start with that.
This is doable. Our muscles may need a good stretch, but they are not yet atrophied.
Our efforts aren’t yet about convincing Republicans; we’re not looking to shift a Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski. It’s about shifting fellow Democrats: Whether in the American public, the media, or Congress. FDR once told supports clamoring for change: “I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it.” Let’s make them do it.
Lastly, I want to take a moment to recognize that painting with broad brushes risks leaving out the important people here, and in Congress, who are doing their jobs and keeping up the good fight. Our annieli has posted about the #KremlinAnnex and #WeThePeople marches this very weekend. Many of our Congresspeople, Senators, and candidates are trying to do the right thing every day; there’s just not enough of them yet.