Your lips to God's ear. Or maybe your keyboard to Bennie Thomson and Liz Cheney's ears. Cheney is already all over the interwebs very clearly stating that they have ample evidence that Trump committed a crime. If the committee fails to say that officially - with a referral - they are just proving the sense that what Trump should have said to Billy Bush is "When you're a Republican they let you do it". And more voters will order another round of that paralyzing cocktail of defeatism & cynicism, with a splash of disgust. Gaaah!
Different context, but this episode of Dem mealy-mouth-ness reminds me of Greg Sargent's piece about the "loudness gap" - which cited your book - which makes me even more eager to get reading it. No chance of releasing it any sooner than June, eh?
Really clear-eyed analysis. It's always helpful to receive reminders that irrespective of what the Dems do, the GOP will go all out in denouncing us. So, as you say, Dan, why hold back?
I appreciate your giving Dems an out… “I know social media and the pandemic shattered everyone’s brains and gave us the collective long-term memory of a gnat…” but this Dem habit of playing out political calculations in the open has long been a mystery to me. It seems to be born of a combination of liking to be a tipster, and getting caught up in being a political analyst instead of just being a politician. I know the GOP does it too, but Dems typically play every hand of poker with their cards facing outwards. I don’t suppose it will ever change. It seems ingrained. Funny, we are the far less cynical and hackish party, but we have the habits that make us look bad.
Yes, let’s send the referral. I have hopes that the Jan 6 Commission report will be compelling (can we get Ken Burns to produce it?). I hope that the report plus the SCOTUS rulings on the MS case will help reviralize the midterms.
Dems need to show strength, absolutely! I think the plan is to have hearings in prime time in the fall, and this will absolutely influence the election, as it should. We as advocates need to keep on the Dems in congress to show leadership and strength on this, in social media, in letters/calls, in opeds, letters to editor, direct lobbying and any other way we can!
I disagree. This decision will absolutely decide the election. Elections are first and foremost and always about getting the base excited and out. If the Committee does as I sadly expect it to do, and announces they have all the testimony they need and issue a milquetoast report sometime in August, we will lose and lose badly. Also we may not control Garland but we can surely put pressure on Biden. I think. He is first and foremost a Senator though and he will protect the Institution at all costs so I am not hopeful. We'll see.
The Dem party knows what the right thing to do is. But we OVER THINK everything and freak ourselves out and get scared of the consequences. Really what all voters are looking for is real and strong and moral leadership. We ARE that party. Let’s own it and do the right thing!
Completely agree, Dan. Predicating action on the anticipated response of a radicalized and bad-faith Republican Party is the worst politics for these times. Stand up for what you believe.
I agree 100% with your points here. But one sentence captures my current fixation, "Ultimately, we cannot control Merrick Garland." In your opinion, is there cause for concern that he will wimp out on going after Trump and his top henchman on criminal charges before the midterms? It feels like the elephant in the Party's living room to me at this point.
You make several good points, but this is the one that resonates most with me: “doing the “right thing” is not always the best politics, but obviously avoiding doing the “right thing” out of obvious political calculation is always bad politics.”
We are becoming a society without accountability. I never thought anyone could simply ignore a subpoena. I was sure being in "contempt of Congress" meant you were really in trouble. I believed that dishonesty, tax fraud, sexual assault, and trying to overthrow a legitimate election were crimes--and normally--the kind of thing that happened in other countries. Someone has to held to account--people need to know we ARE governed by rule of law, and the truth matters. Also--someone needs to be held to account that isn't simply a small fry. The big fish need to get caught. Do the right thing--and do not take a bow before the final act.
I don’t think they should send it. The second they do, they’ve handed Fox News and all GOP candidates the proof of the “witch-hunt”. They will, once again, use the rightful words Dems used to defend Hillary (she’s a private citizen, etc) against us. They are dying for this to happen.
Same with killing the filibuster. The second that happens and GOP is back in control, they will use the end of the filibuster to decimate protections and say then Dems made it possible to do it.Plus, this is not how trump goes down. So, all of us wishing for the Hollywood ending where the bad guy gets his just desserts should probably realize that in the real world, the bad guy rarely gets anything but several billion dollars from the Saudis.
What they SHOULD do is consider just telling the story without criminal charges. I think it will hurt more for trump to be tried in the court of public opinion most importantly because, as we keep being reminded, it’s hard to try or convict criminals of war crimes. trump and putin are equally insulated for similar reasons.
Your lips to God's ear. Or maybe your keyboard to Bennie Thomson and Liz Cheney's ears. Cheney is already all over the interwebs very clearly stating that they have ample evidence that Trump committed a crime. If the committee fails to say that officially - with a referral - they are just proving the sense that what Trump should have said to Billy Bush is "When you're a Republican they let you do it". And more voters will order another round of that paralyzing cocktail of defeatism & cynicism, with a splash of disgust. Gaaah!
Different context, but this episode of Dem mealy-mouth-ness reminds me of Greg Sargent's piece about the "loudness gap" - which cited your book - which makes me even more eager to get reading it. No chance of releasing it any sooner than June, eh?
Amen! All of it!
I agree with you completely. Democrats need to show real strength and by that I mean fearless adherence to moral principles.
Really clear-eyed analysis. It's always helpful to receive reminders that irrespective of what the Dems do, the GOP will go all out in denouncing us. So, as you say, Dan, why hold back?
I appreciate your giving Dems an out… “I know social media and the pandemic shattered everyone’s brains and gave us the collective long-term memory of a gnat…” but this Dem habit of playing out political calculations in the open has long been a mystery to me. It seems to be born of a combination of liking to be a tipster, and getting caught up in being a political analyst instead of just being a politician. I know the GOP does it too, but Dems typically play every hand of poker with their cards facing outwards. I don’t suppose it will ever change. It seems ingrained. Funny, we are the far less cynical and hackish party, but we have the habits that make us look bad.
Yes, let’s send the referral. I have hopes that the Jan 6 Commission report will be compelling (can we get Ken Burns to produce it?). I hope that the report plus the SCOTUS rulings on the MS case will help reviralize the midterms.
Dems need to show strength, absolutely! I think the plan is to have hearings in prime time in the fall, and this will absolutely influence the election, as it should. We as advocates need to keep on the Dems in congress to show leadership and strength on this, in social media, in letters/calls, in opeds, letters to editor, direct lobbying and any other way we can!
I disagree. This decision will absolutely decide the election. Elections are first and foremost and always about getting the base excited and out. If the Committee does as I sadly expect it to do, and announces they have all the testimony they need and issue a milquetoast report sometime in August, we will lose and lose badly. Also we may not control Garland but we can surely put pressure on Biden. I think. He is first and foremost a Senator though and he will protect the Institution at all costs so I am not hopeful. We'll see.
The Dem party knows what the right thing to do is. But we OVER THINK everything and freak ourselves out and get scared of the consequences. Really what all voters are looking for is real and strong and moral leadership. We ARE that party. Let’s own it and do the right thing!
Completely agree, Dan. Predicating action on the anticipated response of a radicalized and bad-faith Republican Party is the worst politics for these times. Stand up for what you believe.
I agree 100% with your points here. But one sentence captures my current fixation, "Ultimately, we cannot control Merrick Garland." In your opinion, is there cause for concern that he will wimp out on going after Trump and his top henchman on criminal charges before the midterms? It feels like the elephant in the Party's living room to me at this point.
You make several good points, but this is the one that resonates most with me: “doing the “right thing” is not always the best politics, but obviously avoiding doing the “right thing” out of obvious political calculation is always bad politics.”
Send the referral. Any decision will be politicized by the Republicans regardless.
We are becoming a society without accountability. I never thought anyone could simply ignore a subpoena. I was sure being in "contempt of Congress" meant you were really in trouble. I believed that dishonesty, tax fraud, sexual assault, and trying to overthrow a legitimate election were crimes--and normally--the kind of thing that happened in other countries. Someone has to held to account--people need to know we ARE governed by rule of law, and the truth matters. Also--someone needs to be held to account that isn't simply a small fry. The big fish need to get caught. Do the right thing--and do not take a bow before the final act.
I don’t think they should send it. The second they do, they’ve handed Fox News and all GOP candidates the proof of the “witch-hunt”. They will, once again, use the rightful words Dems used to defend Hillary (she’s a private citizen, etc) against us. They are dying for this to happen.
Same with killing the filibuster. The second that happens and GOP is back in control, they will use the end of the filibuster to decimate protections and say then Dems made it possible to do it.Plus, this is not how trump goes down. So, all of us wishing for the Hollywood ending where the bad guy gets his just desserts should probably realize that in the real world, the bad guy rarely gets anything but several billion dollars from the Saudis.
What they SHOULD do is consider just telling the story without criminal charges. I think it will hurt more for trump to be tried in the court of public opinion most importantly because, as we keep being reminded, it’s hard to try or convict criminals of war crimes. trump and putin are equally insulated for similar reasons.