Wow! Not since the most racist nation in the world elected a Black president in 2008 have I been so inspired by an election. During the midterm campaign, President Trump pleaded with his acolytes to “Vote like I’m on the ballot.” Afterward he said, “I was not on the ballot. If I was, we would’ve won.”
As he is so often, Trump is talking out his ass, as evidenced by the congressional campaign commercials. The Dems were screaming along the lines of, “My opponent voted with Trump 100% of the time.” The GOP candidates acted like they never heard of the guy. It was like, “Donald who?” Trump was on the ballot, alright, and that’s why the Republicans got their butts kicked.
Don’t get too comfortable, however. The Dems have controlled both houses of Congress before and didn’t do diddlysquat. The euphoria of Nov. 3 needs to be followed up with action. Yeah, I know, the Dems impeached Trump twice before and the Senate failed to convict, but it’s worth another shot, if for nothing else to show our nation won’t tolerate such a man in its highest office.
Seven Republican senators joined Democrats, finding Trump guilty of inciting an insurrection in the 2021 impeachment trial, short of the required two-thirds majority to convict. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he thought Trump was guilty, but since he was already out of office, the case should be tried in a criminal court.
With 54 Democrats sitting in the new Senate, all they need is 13 Republicans to cross over to get a conviction. Given the dozens of Republicans who supported Democratic candidates in this year’s election, that’s not beyond the realm of possibility.
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tennessee) has authored 26 articles of impeachment, including abuse of power, oath violations, misuse of pardon power and emoluments clause violations, all high crimes and misdemeanors. I say throw the book at him. Hit him with all 26 and back them up with solid evidence.
Some are saying the Democratic Congress shouldn’t waste their time with another impeachment, but focus on important agenda items like the Green New Deal, Medicare for all, ending the war in Iran, cutting off military aid to Israel, benevolent immigration reform, reproductive rights for women, restraining campaign spending, artificial intelligence guardrails, raising the minimum wage and oversight of this administration’s extensive corruption.
All of this on top of impeachment proceedings is a full plate, indeed, but as Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Georgia) said, “We can chew gum and walk.”
One thing the House can do is stay in session. Every time the representatives were coming up on a vote Trump wouldn’t like, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) would send them home for recess. Consequently, the House has only been in session 72 days this year, 27% of the calendar year. The average since 2001 is 150. The five-month Colorado legislature was in session 120 days this year, the maximum allowed by law.
To accomplish all this, the Dems will need new leadership. Current Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) have shown themselves too weak to stand up to Trump.
They’ve failed to work effectively with the democratic socialists and the progressive wing of the party and those groups have grown in number since Nov. 3. Schumer and Jeffries are a little too cozy with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
I’ll go with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), but that might be a bit of a stretch. I’d settle for Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Georgia) and Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colorado).
Trump has vacillated from saying he’s going to be “Mr. Veto,” forcing the Dems to “make a deal” on everything they want to pass, to not wanting “to be sitting there for two years vetoing everything.” The Dems don’t have a veto-proof majority in either house. Somewhere between 250 to 260 Democrats will be seated in the House next year and 290 are needed for a two-thirds majority. As stated above, the Senate Dems are 13 votes short of a veto-proof majority.
There are issues where the Dems don’t have to worry about a veto. On the war in Iran and military funding for Israel, they could exercise their power of the purse and refuse to allocate the money.
Republican senators could threaten a filibuster to stop legislation they don’t want and the Dems would need a three-fifths majority to prevent that. That can be avoided with a budget reconciliation bill, which requires a simple majority and can’t be filibustered.
It’s been suggested Trump doesn’t have any political ideology. He just wants to be loved. He could sign very popular Democratic legislation and take credit for it. Or the Dems could play the blame game and hammer Trump with the bills the electorate sent them to Congress to pass and let Trump veto them. The voters will wreak their revenge on whoever the GOP runs for president and Congress in 2028.
Whatever, it’s going to be a very interesting next two years. I’m having very warm feelings about it. The people have spoken. Democracy will prevail. As Alan Moore wrote in his graphic novel “V for Vendetta,” “People shouldn’t be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.”