When Barack Obama was elected President in 2008, Republicans in Congress met and agreed that their charge was to make sure that he became a one term president. They banded together, and worked to thwart Obama’s agenda and to elect a Republican when the next presidential election rolled around.
I was a Republican at the time of Obama’s election, but even I thought what Republicans in Congress were doing was wrong. Obama had been elected in a free and fair election and deserved to implement his agenda. That didn’t mean Republicans had to agree with him or vote for legislation they opposed, but I felt they had a duty to work with the President for the good of the country.
I recently wrote something similar about Donald Trump. He won a free and fair election, and he’s entitled to pursue his agenda, provided he does so within the bounds of the law. Of course, he’s not staying within the bounds of the law. He could be pushing his agenda through Congress, the way the Founders intended, but he’s not. Instead, he’s trying to rule like a king, believing that being president gives him the authority to do anything he wants, in any way he wants. But that’s not how things work.
The U.S. Constitution is written in a way that makes it clear that the United States has a president, not a king. So, when Trump tries to act as a monarch, he is threatening our democracy and the rule of law. If ever there was a time that Democrats should band together, it’s now, with the country experiencing an existential Constitutional crisis. So, what have they done?
They held up small auction-style signs at the State of the Union and refused to applaud for a young cancer survivor. It was embarrassing.
Then a few days later, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer gave one of his patented sleep-inducing speeches and agreed to vote for the Trump budget. He didn’t use the filibuster to prevent the vote from moving forward, and he didn’t negotiate anything in the process, such as protecting Social Security or Medicaid. He simply voted with the Republicans.
As a leader, Schumer is a feckless operator. He is a man out of his time, perhaps equipped to lead a political party in the 1980s or 1990s, but completely unequipped in today’s political reality.
Democrats in Congress need to do two things. First, they need to elect leadership that can muster the troops into a strong and effective coalition that can pushback in a meaningful way against Republican overreach. Second, they need to find an effective way to resist Republican efforts to rollback civil rights legislation and Trump’s illegal wielding of power. Holding up tiny signs is not effective.
The good news is that every single day, Trump and the Republicans give Democrats more and more material to fight back with. Much of what Republicans are doing is wildly unpopular with the majority of Americans. Yet, Democrats can’t seem to get their act together in any organized way to take advantage of the daily political gifts they are receiving.
Granted, Democrats are the minority party in both the House and the Senate, so their options are limited. But they need to make the case against Trump and his undemocratic policies. They need to offer better options. And they need to set themselves up to take back the House in 2026, and make headway in the Senate (Sadly, taking back the Senate appears unlikely).
And more than anything, they need to fight legislation they disagree with. Bipartisanship is great when both parties are willing to practice it. That is not currently the case and has not been for years. The game has changed, and Democrats need to start playing by the new rules. Someone needs to step up to lead the Democratic fight. Until they do, Chuck Schumer will continue to make monotone-infused speeches that don’t accomplish anything and plays right into the hands of the Republicans. And in the meantime, our democracy continues to circle the drain.
