Risk and boldness, not politics as usual, are necessary to stop Trump.

[lees1975]

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2025/03/if-trump-is-existential-threat-to.html

There were voices, among younger, more aggressive Democrats, who exhibited an extensive knowledge of the Constitution, in providing a course of action for the Democratic party to take to end this charade, and prove they really believed Trump was an existential threat to democracy. Though we had narrow majorities in both houses, the ability existed to break the Senate filibuster, a huge obstacle to democratic action in a republic, and then amend the judiciary act to allow President Biden to appoint enough justices to the Supreme Court to over-ride the conservative majority, neutralize the pig-headed Roberts, and prevent the ridiculous immunity ruling they issued on Trump's behalf.

That would have been a bold move, but looking at where Trump is headed and what is happening, it was a necessary move. But Biden didn't want to give up the filibuster, on long standing tradition and principle. And in hindsight, a majority leader like Schumer wouldn't have gone along with doing it. They were right in claiming that Trump was an existential threat to American democracy, but they were wrong, dead wrong, in the manner that they chose to deal with that. I wonder if they really cared. They have the resources to protect their own interests and cover their rear. The rest of us are the ones who will suffer under this.

And that might explain why there wasn't a whole lot of enthusiastic support from voters in November of 2024. They might have seen Trump as a threat to democracy, but they didn't see Democrats as the best way to deal with it.

"The hard truth is that the Democratic party, in its current form, cannot lead the opposition that is required."

That's the evaluation of Ben Rhodes, a former deputy national security advisor under the Obama Administration, and a contributing editor to the New York Times. I've read some of his work before, and he's in a position to know, and be honest about it. Simple observation shows him to be correct. Our senate minority didn't have the stomach to do the right thing about the CR. How in the world are they going to confront the big stuff we know is coming?

[GoreWon2000]

1. The founders are rolling in their graves

If the founders had worried about what King George would've done to then if they failed, our country would still be a British colony. The Senate dems failed miserably in 2000 when they let W steal the 2000 election and then acted like he'd "won" legitimately which the grassroots knew he hadn't.. Then the dem elites disenfranchised 14 mullion dem party primary voters in 2024. Not a good look for a party claiming the other side is a threat to democracy.

[lees1975]

2. That's why I agree with Rhodes' assessment that Democrats need more than they've got now to lead the opposition to Trump

The donors call the shots. They should have made sure Biden stepped out two years ago and let the party nominate a candidate who would have, in all likelihood, defeated Trump by 10 million or more votes, that is, if they could have stayed on top of his efforts to steal the election, which he did.

[GoreWon2000]

3. The grassroots has always lead in the efforts to make our country

"a more perfect union." The grassroots are leading now while the politicians sleep in their ivory Washington towers.

[LymphocyteLover]

4. Not clear that letting the govt shut down WAS the "right thing", though the key point is

Dems can do very little without power. Elect them into power and they will do good things as they usually do. It's not complicated.

[GoreWon2000]

5. Don't forget how McConell stymied Obama

with a minority in the Senate. The government shutdown was the only leverage that the dems had and Schumer gave that leverage away. The repug CR is a blank check for tRump and Musk to keep destroying the federal government. It'll be 6 more months before Senate dems get that leverage back. tRump/Musk can do enormous damage in that amount of time.

[LymphocyteLover]

6. I know. But they could have done more damage with the govt shutdown and also get to blame Dems for any economic problems

[lees1975]

7. I don't think so.

Trump and Musk are all over the government now. Any recession, government shutdown (which would have neutralized DOGE by effectively shutting it down) or inflation and price increases will be blamed on them.

At any rate, this is a sign of the outdated, antiquated way some Democrats are still operating. The Republicans have already used this weapon to slow down a Democratic president and agenda. Democrats gained zero, zilch, zip from supporting a bill in which they had no input.

[GoreWon2000]

8. I totally disagree

The repug CR is a blank check that tRump/Musk can use to do enormous damage as we are now seeing. It also damages the lasuits because now Congress has given it's approval to the trump/Musk rampage.

[LymphocyteLover]

9. "Congress has given it's approval to the trump/Musk rampage." Can you be more specific and provide a source for that?

[lees1975]

10. The CR that they passed when Schumer and eight other Democrats voted for cloture gave Trump and Musk

includes continued funding for DOGE, which the shutdown would have cut off and at least temporarily stopped. It contained everything they asked for, including the spending ceilings they need to pass tax cuts for billionaires.

You can google it and find out all of the details of the resolution.

This is yet another left-over failure from the two years that Democrats controlled the House and Senate, and the White House, between 2020 and 2022. The failure is on the part of old line Democratic party Senators, like Schumer, Durbin, a few others, who, with President Biden's support, would not get rid of the filibuster to pass a budget over the Republican minority, and then draft legislation that would prevent these short term CR funding requirements, making it impossible for one party's slim majority to shut down the government.

It's described as bringing a knife to a gunfight. We took all of the serious and effective options to stop Trump off the table during a two year period when we could have done it, no matter how political it would have looked. The priorities weren't straight. That's why Bernie is getting all the attention now, and no one is listening to the other meaningless, powerless rhetoric. They didn't do it when they had the chance, so can we take them seriously now?

[LymphocyteLover]

11. I'm not sure that really shows that the CR OK'd the DOGE rampage on the govt, but

I won't press the issue.

I am confused what you're referring to here:

"We took all of the serious and effective options to stop Trump off the table during a two year period when we could have done it, no matter how political it would have looked"

What two year period was that?

[lees1975]

12. That would have been 2020 to 2022 when we had control of House, Senate and White House.

And we could have stopped it. If it weren't for old line, stuck in the past, Democratic party traditional thinking. If we break the Senate filibuster, Congress amends the judiciary act to allow Biden to appoint five more Supreme Court justices. That does several things for us. It saves Roe. It stops the ridiculous and totally unconstitutional Presidential immunity ruling. If they pick up the insurrection charges, that gets fast tracked, along with stolen documents if they want, and he's convicted and in prison before the mid-terms, tagged with sedition and "insurrectionist" and ineligible ever to run again.

There are a lot of other things they could have done. Legislation to prevent government shutdowns as budget threats.

It would have stopped the destruction going on now.

[GoreWon2000]

13. The repug CR

that was passed by Congress shows Congressional approval for the tRump/Musk rampage. Can't get more clear than that.

[LymphocyteLover]

14. approval in what way though? It can't be everything, like eliminating departments, I assume

[GoreWon2000]

15. It's tRump's "beautiful" bill that fulfills his dreams

[lees1975]

16. It contained a list of things Trump wanted done.

Schumer knew that, so did the Dems who voted for cloture. That lets them say "we didn't vote for the bill itself," but they stopped the procedure that was blocking it from being passed. It's old line Democratic party politics, sometimes referenced as "bringing a knife to a gunfight."

If Trump is the existential threat to democracy that they claim he is, and that's become obvious, then they should not ever compromise on anything whille they are the minority. Nothing. They should be as determined to make sure nothing gets through Congress while he is there as McConnell was when Obama was in office.