The Long and Extremely Urgent To-Do List if Democrats Take
the House: In the 1972 movie The Candidate,
Bill McKay, played by Robert Redford, shockingly wins a Senate seat. Surrounded
by ecstatic staff and volunteers, a stunned and panicky McKay pulls aside his
manager and asks, “What do we do now?”
That
will be the relevant question for Democrats in the House and Senate if the wave
election that looks increasingly possible comes true and they win control of
both houses of Congress. There will be initial euphoria from everybody hoping
to put a halt to the nihilism and march toward corrupt autocracy driven by the
destructive narcissist Donald Trump and his minions.
But the euphoria
won’t last. The task for a party holding Congress and facing a hostile
president with no regard for laws, norms, or the Constitution and its
separation of powers—and a Supreme Court that has unleashed him—will be
daunting. If Democrats in the majority don’t handle it well, their majority may
not last long—and the country’s democracy and well-being will suffer deeply.
Start with three
big challenges. First, a lot of those who voted for Democrats are expecting
action to improve their economic conditions: Run on affordability, you better
improve affordability. Second, and related, with Democrats holding a sizable
piece of power in Washington, the failures of policy driven by the reckless
Trump and his administration could be blamed on them—and it is a sure thing
that hundreds of millions will be spent by Trump allies to try to pin the
problems on the Democrats. Americans already think Washington isn’t working; if
it looks like Democrats are a part of the problem and not of the solution, that
could have brutal consequences in 2028.
Third, it is clear
that the Democratic Party base wants toughness and serious pushback against the
corruption, misconduct, and mayhem that are the core of Trump’s presidency.
Witness the negative reaction to the private meeting between House Democratic
Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, looking for areas of
possible common ground after January 3. Rank-and-file… https://newrepublic.com/article/216138/to-do-list-democrats-take-house