What is to be done?
Josh Marshall has a post up at TPM about the current assault on the federal government by unelected Elon Musk and his unelected and unappointed minions. While the Trump cult GOP currently holds the executive branch and slim majorities in Congress for the next two years, there are still things their opponents can do to impeded their goals, which are dismantling the US state, weaponization of the legal system and destruction of the US economy.
“Fundamentally this is a battle over public opinion. And there are three areas of action to engage that battle.
“First, Democrats’ job is to make the case every day what a disaster Trump governance is and ask voters whether they’ve decided yet that they’d like to make a change. In a way any opposition must almost exalt its powerlessness. We’d love to stop these horrible things for you, voters. But you have to put us in power to do it. Second, there is the critical but highly compromised avenue of court action. It was blue states that brought the lawsuit which just put the budget freeze under a restraining order. Third, there’s the very limited but crucial moments when Democrats, even in the minority, can force the majority to come to them or simply delay or even stymie action. The debt ceiling, as I’ve been saying, is a key one of those moments.”
This won’t be easy stopping Musk’s latter-day Bolsheviks, and it won’t be fast, but inertia can be a counterforce:
“Getting into court — getting into court on a lot of fronts — is one of the ways you do that. Public opinion only comes into play in a hard fashion at the next election. But as public opinion shifts, if it does, it starts impacting anyone planning on facing voters in the next election. The courts are fundamentally unfriendly to democracy today because they all report up to the Supreme Court. But the point isn’t “courts will save us” malarkey. (In any case, that’s now mainly the mocking phrase of wreckers and sad sacks.) It’s putting sand in the gears, slowing things down as one front in the battle for public opinion.
“The legal status of what news orgs are now consistently calling “Musk’s team” is high on the list as one way to do this.”
Stopping team Musk
Three House of Representative seats are up for special elections — 2 in FL on April 1st & 1 in NY TBA. These elections could make a difference in House control. Considering the magnitude of the Trump/Musk/MAGA destruction of the democracy, why aren’t Democrats pulling out all the stops to maybe win these elections? There is very little discussion of these elections or their significance in the media. Yes, they are long shots in generally Republican districts, but considering the accelerating GOP trend to “kiss the ring” of autocracy, there may be a good chance to turn these districts around and allow voters to vent their anger with the GOP. It could also be the needed beginning of the 2026 Midterms campaign.
I’m talking nationwide campaigning & aggressive issue advertising and large-scale fundraising from all major contributors who care about the future of the country. While I, a very minor contributor, have received a few funding requests, it is certainly not the massive, all-hands-on-deck, major publicity effort that is called for and needed to overcome the GOP path to the destruction of democracy.
@JP,
It is very rare for my wife and me not to receive multiple fundraising letters in snail mail. They have gotten more abundant since the November election. And the midterms are two years away. That’s plenty of time for the failings of the Trump Administration to reach critical mass.
Joel:
I agree I am always being pestered for contributions. I will give once and then it is “do not bother me.” Our latest senator wants more donations after being elected.
I am watching AOC and what she is doing. She was just elected in 2024 an will be up again in 2026. I would like to see more like her.
i am believing Schumer’s time is up. He should staring to pass the leadership role to someone else. Too complacent. It could be an excinting time if Dems wake up and push back.
One of the problems in trying to flip a district like Florida 1 (Gaetz’s old district) is figuring out how to get information to the District’s voters, the majority of whom get their information from Fox and Joe Rogan. Flooding the Network channels with ads is unlikely to reach them. I want to know how they intend to spend the money before I will contribute. In the last election, the Democrats outspent the Republicans or, at a minimum, matched them, to little effect. When you’ve got voters blaming Biden for egg prices instead of Bird Flu, you begin to see the extent of the problem.
Hey, this is not your father’s typical political party differences situation of conservative v. liberal differences. This is more serious than it has ever been — it’s democracy v. autocracy!
67 million voters voted against Donald Trump and lost the electoral college vote by only about 115,000 votes in three states (WI, MI & PA). They’re mad as hell, angry, & frustrated as to how to fight back. Many have given up, checked out, and aren’t even following the day-by-day train wreck that is happening.
Here are just 2 fundraising messages I have recently received from Democratic Party groups:
*And now, Barack Obama just called us all to action and asked us to keep fighting: The race for the House is still going. THREE Republican-held House seats are headed to special elections. These races could decide whether Trump has enough votes in the House to RAM his dangerous Project 2025 agenda through, or we have a Democratic check on him at every turn.
What if Democrats launched a nationwide “Dollar For Democracy” ad campaign to fight for the 3 House seats & fund a nationwide education campaign. A QR code could link to an instant, pre-set, $1 contribution to be matched 5x-10x by a coalition of wealthy Democratic donors.
It would provide the extremely frustrated non-MAGA voters with a quick and easy way to fight back against the destruction of the country, democracy and the rule of law. It could be repeated as necessary as the situation predictably worsens.
@McJ,
Great comment! Thanks!