I seem to have written a tome. I apologize for the length, I've been thinking about these things for a while. -Destruction is not inevitable, but what form the country takes will depend on the midterms. Meanwhile, the Dems have not been "doing nothing." During Congressional recesses, 1/8
several were out doing town halls in red districts. Chris Murphy was out early and often raising the alarm. AOC and Bernie Sanders did an impactful tour. Tim Walz and Eric Swalwell have been working independently and together with Sen Murphy to get facts out. Corey Booker 2/8
filibustered. Sen Warren and Sec Buttigieg are on the talk circuits. Rep Al Green (of Texas) files impeachment articles against Trump as a matter of course. And ten Dems, led by the admittedly problematic Schumer, voted to keep the govt running. This may turn out to be the most significant 3/8
vote of this era because it kept the judiciary open -- and the judiciary is blocking the felon's excesses seemingly on a daily basis. Being in the minority in Congress, Dems don't have much power, but the judiciary does. -So is any of this effective? Individually, no, but collectively there is 4/8
starting to be impact. One difficulty has been identifying an avatar of sufficient allure to counter Trump; another is breaking through the media's lazy rhetorical habit of "feckless Democrats" which is untrue. But now there is Newsom, who I suspect was unleashed in agreement with 5/8
the Democratic Governors Assoc, and the young(ish) firebrands in the House who are speaking out loudly and bluntly. -I've been following the DGA, partly because about 1/3 of US presidents were governors but mostly because I suspect that they're up to something that I want them 6/8
to be up to. A recent article by Chris Armitage on Substack suggests that the DGA has been quietly uniting around a strategy of soft secession rooted in "but we've got the money, honey." -So there is, I think, reason for hope. Pritzker, in particular, gives me hope. Meanwhile, of course it's 7/8
reasonable to be angry or frustrated or frightened or some combination. Just be mindful to keep facts and emotion separate and try to use the energy to move things forward. 8/end cmarmitage.substack.com/p/its-time-f...
Great article, but it goes right to the core of “tell people about what you’re doing” that Democrats always have big problems with.
And yet it shocks me that the people reporting that they don't know what the Dems are doing somehow know what the Dems are doing through . . . reporting. But also, somethings need to be held close until their time.