When Donald Trump was elected, I had hopes that the members of Congress would reign in some of his worst impulses. While the Republicans had a majority in both houses, I assumed that since they were elected in their own right, they would owe nothing to Trump and retain some integrity.
If I understand it correctly, Trump repeated to a group of congress members his claim that millions of votes were fraudulently cast in the last election. At that point, at least one of them should have raised his or her hand and stated clearly, “No, Mr. President, that is not true, it is a fraudulent claim, and you should be ashamed to keep repeating it.”
That is what should have happened. It didn’t. What a craven bunch of Republican legislators. Don’t depend on them to keep President Trump under control.
I guess that even if they would it would have change in his demeanor. He just revolves around himself.
ReplyDeleteToday I sent a letter to Sen. McCain thanking him for saying we would not bring back torture. If I heard correctly, Paul Ryan said the same thing. Maybe there is some hope.
ReplyDeletep.s. - I have some clients who just moved to Prescot, AZ. I'll tell them to write to McCain too.
DeleteI actually feel more confident and upbeat today than at any time since November 8th. I went to a meeting last night in San Francisco put on by a new organization called the RFK Democratic club. I expected maybe 20-40 people, but there were 300+, 90% were under the age of 40, and they were completely realistic in what it's going to take to fight back. There was no petty in-fighting or "I'm more left than you are" BS. The club has a nice FB presence and seems very knowledgeable about social media. Here is a list of the panelists:
ReplyDelete• Nicole Derse, Principal and Co-Founder of 50+1 Strategies, California Senior Advisor for Organizing for Hillary Clinton for America 2016
• Dan Pfeiffer, VP of Communications and Policy at GoFundMe, Former Senior Advisor to President Obama, Co-Host of Keepin’ it 1600 podcast
• Michael Trujillo, consultant, served as advance for Hillary Clinton for America 2016
• Ben Tulchin, President and Founder of Tulchin Research, pollster for Bernie Sanders 2016 Presidential Campaign
Michael Trujillo, consultant, served as advance for Hillary Clinton for America 2016
Michael Trujillo suggested that people send donations to Kristin Gillibrand and then make sure to tell her why (because she is actually fighting the Republicans rather than trying to play nice). All the panelists agreed that if an elected official starts getting $ because of their stands, others will get braver. Actually, what they said was that elected officials are like lemmings and will all follow if they see one of their fellows benefit from a particular stand. Dems tend to want compromise and GOPers take advantage of that.
They also said it probably isn't worth constantly calling Nancy Pelosi/Dianne Feinstein/Kamala Harris, or any other representative from a heavily blue state. Better to reach out to friends in swing states and have THEM call their representatives.
I might be wrong, but it feels like a lot of people are willing to get serious about the 2018 mid terms, rather than just venting on FB and reading The Huffington Post, etc. I'm a moderate Democrat - I think that government regulation has become calcified and there is an over-emphasis on identity politics and gender neutral bathrooms (really? we were in grave danger of electing a demagogue and all people in swing states heard from us sounded like lectures on social issues).
Anyway, that's my take on the situation - I haven't been active in politics since the 1970's, but I am engaged now and plan to do everything I can to turn this dark situation around.